The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-09
rs Pegler Sees 1t
RY WESTBROOK PEGLER


transitory spouses, the con-men and gun
men. communists and innocents Of the
amusement industry, should be closely su-
nervised by adult editors of proven pro-
fessional judgment. Otherwise, these
strongly opinionated children may 40 mis-
chief where they may not so intend.
Since the discovery of the constitution
bv little party of serious thinkers con-
sistine of one night-tlub comedian, one
movie actress, press-agent and jeWelry
salesman, in the cub room OF The Stork,
in 1885, newspaper columns originally al
lotted to babble of no conceivable lmpor-
tance have been more and more usurped
for loaded subjects. Journalists who gradu-
ated from the rank of office boy by the
! process of putting on long pants have be-
! come editorialists of the most emphatlc
personality. They argue social platltudes
with a savage vehemence which lmpugns
the decency of citizens who .detest them
personally for valid reasons OF taste, man.
ners and intelligence.
They are not necessarily unintelligent or
even insincere although the standard OF
book-learning is not high and some have
become so rigidly fixed in holys attitudes
that they preach even in smirklng lnnuen-
does about current adulteries. ALI OF them
earnestly believe that they are competent
to lay down foreign policy, and would abol-
ish Jim Crow in Mississippi but not in the
Stork or Twenty-One.
The ensuing paragraph is an example OF
that political publicity, and propaganda,
which is published in the guise of innocent
babble about the amusement trade:
''At the Larry Adler opening at Cafe So
ciety, famous Helen Keller was able to fol-
low the harmonica rhythms this way: A
friend finger-coded the tempo to the palm
table, 10 Davidson alternately cried
'bravo!' and caricatured Larry on nap
l. kin"
This is from the column of Ed Sullivan,
of the New York News. Mr.. Sullivan sell
dom attempts coherent discussion OF any
of the strong subjects which he flicks That
would require continuous thought and Or
ganization of language. A child can string
together little 30-word blurts of unrelated
notes. Yung reporters and ageing journa-
lists of proven professional class are en-
bittered by the recognition and pay ac-
corded some OF the Broadway and Holly
wood tattlers.
Analyze this item.
Larry Adler is a vaudeville act. He plays
la mouth organ. The mouth organ is de-
vice, not an instrument. The playing of it,
however well, is more trick than an art.
He has been at it for years. No news here.
Helen Keller is deaf, dumb and blind
and an inveterate attraction, now 81. She
was communicating by touch before Mr..
Sullivan was born. She has been giving
these demonstrations in public for more
than so years. She knowingly chose her
political company long time ago. No
news here.
Davidson is sculptor identified with an
offshoot of the late Sidney Hillman's polit-
ical action committee. The title of his po-
litical cell suggests that it speaks for ar
lists, scientists and professional persons.
Actually few scientists joined it and the
a6 ho
means so to inform the public. Any dauber,
mudpie modeler, mouth organist or
Broadway Hollywood Miami gambling
house paragrapher may call himself an
artist or professional man. Mr.. Adler may
call himself an artist just as phrenologist
may call himself a professor Even Mr..
Sullivan is professional man in the sense
that he is journalist of sort He has
been implicated in some proceedings on
the platforms of movie houses as master
of ceremonies and he once wrote with en-
dearing naivete of the delight of painting
ones face and exposing ones self to the
rapturous awe Of the passing public by
standing at the stage door, He is not bad,
but juvenile. Yet he has the power to make
propaganda and grant free advertising.
Larry Adler is mentioned three times in
the reports to Congr ess of the late Dies
down to 1943. His name occurs repeatedly
in further reports not yet indexed
Helen Keller is cited II times down to
l943 Davldsons name is reported twice
to 1943 and several times more since A
head of one of the late Roosevelt's cosmic
Iboondoggles, Nelson Rockefeller sent Da-
wilson on a delightful South American tour
during the war and paid him $4,000 of the
citizens money to make mud casts of the
heads OF eight Latin-American presidents.
Most of them are political dead ducks now.
The Cafe Society (uptown) thus adver-
in i1o1 L
is the outpost of the downtown house of the
same chain. Both are frequented by COM
munists.
1t may seem incredible that Mr.. Sullivan
is so ill-read that he had not learned that
the Josephsons. who own both places, were
cited in the recent reports of the tce; commit init
tee ON un-American activities
Inc committee was told that Leon Jo-
sephson was communist who went abroad
on fraudulent American passport and got
counterfeit American passports for Ger
hart Elsler and others, Eisler is described
as the commanding communist of the So
wet treachery in the United States.
Lester Maynard, the U. S. consul-genera]
IN Copehagen, interviewed Leon joseph
son IN Jail there and told the State Depart
ment that Josephson said he was mem
Der of the inner circle of the communist
party OF America; that he considered the
orders of his communist central committee
to be superior to all the laws of the United
States and that he would commit anv act
short OF murder to carry out the commit
tees orders. Leon Josephson was convict
ed OF contempt of Congress and sentenced
to o one year in jail and fined $1,000.
aa,,s ~ was ste testified that Bernard Josephson,
LEON orotner, was the incorporation of the
company which operates both night clubs s
al ana that the wife of Leon owns one-half Of
ene ilquor license for the resort which Mr..
aul!lvan tNI advertised. There is further strong
'esslnony t1y concerning Bernard Josephson.
-, ~ mere was no news value to Justify
these persons. >'-'>'