The Wilmington morning star., 1947-11-06
AS Pegler Sees 1t
Rv wEsTBROOK PEGLER


WASHINGTON, Nov. 5.-For three de-
lirious days and nights, the Statler motel
was just a glamorous little bit OF Holly
wood dropped into stately Washington, DC.
\ whole shipload of unreal idols OF our
dreams flew in to protest about the hear
ings about un-Americanism., Some Holly
wood committee about freedom OF speech
was back of the party.
BY happy coincidence most OF them
were on my floor Some times in the ele-
vator 1 even rubbed elbows with them.
wanted to ask Danny Kaye for his auto
graph in my book along with the auto
graphs of his friends Leo Durocher, George
Raft, frankie Boy Sinatra and Buggsy
Siegel, but 1 choked up. I lost my nerve.
One of the glamorous herolnes OF the
glittering world of make believe on my
floor was that girl who sat on the piano
at the press club that night when Harry
Truman was not yet President and he
played a few cross-handed licks and long
|zips. The next day some of the western
senators, who have a rude, frontier way
Of teasing their intimate friends, Joked Mr.
Truman by calling him professor" In the
slang of the wild and woolly west"
professor" is not the same as a professor
in college but merry old scalawag who
plays piano in places like ''The Last Chance
Saloon and "The Silver Dollar Gambling
He'll" Intoxicated outlaws toss him nickels,
dimes and quarters, and girls IN short skirts
of buckskin, bearing such names as Salome
Sal and Kansas City Kitty, sing songs about
boys and prospectors buy the professor
swig of beer or fire-water to keep the
poor fellow from thinking about his down
fall and his dear old mother in her lonely
grave among the cottonwoods beside the
Santa Fe trail
In their teasing way, next day, the
| frontier senators called Mr.. Truman pro
fessor" and allowed as how "that there was
mighty pert bit of calico settln' on top OF
the pie-anner down to the Silver Dollar last
night" He took it all in a spirit of clean
fun and hearty laugh was enjoyed by all.
| But after he became President, one OF
the grizzled old frontier senators called On
Mr.. Truman and advised him always to-
search the top of the "pie-anner' for strange
danes showing their limbs, after that.
Now this glamorous creature was righ'
on the same floor with me.
Her name is Miss Lauren Bacall and heI
intimates call her Baby but l suppose it
is my fate as a mundane, common man Of
the workaday classes to not ever have the
privilege to call her Baby"
"Needless to say 1 hardly slept wink
for thinking about a certain glamorous
dream girl.
Danny Kaye was the great jewel in the
diadem of fame, but needless to say,
Humphrey Bogart too was a tower OF
strength" as drawing card for the moy-
ing picture fans"
Tuesday night, Frank Commit, the
young columnist came into my place; He
lis amusing because he is so naive and his
neck swells and his face gets 'red as a
beet when he talks about how mistaken
the glamorous characters of Hollywood are,
only dumb" is the word he uses. When
think about those guys was with, and how
lot of them died and then to hear these
people how they actually don't seem toI
h.. uybp thayo
realize this is the way Congress has been
running Investigations since way before
they were even born and, otherwise people
would never had learned about Teapot
Dome honest I get so mad
Frank sputtered in such comical way
that the rest of us 'old heads just had to
break out laughing at his discontinue.
Mr.. Commit was combat correspond
ent in the war right up there mid shot and
she'll"
Danny Kaye got decoration last year.
He got an award for his great services to
to protect bullworks against bigotry 1t is
an award named after Maj j.-Gen Maurice
Rose who was killed in France
81 knew General Rose, personally MIR.
Commit said, land I don't think they honor
ed his name by giving that Rose memorial
to Danny Kaye, in my humble opinion. He
was fighting general"
Mr. Commit got medal himself, but
it was not medal for protecting true
Americanism against naziminded bigots
spreading disunity by whispering "com-
munism" at high-class Hollywood writers
and actors.
Mr. Commit got medal for swimming.
It seems that he was on landing boat that
hit mine and he swan several wounded
soldiers ashore.
STILL even if he does disagree with
Danny Kaye, Danny can't accuse him of
race hatred They were Negro soldiers.
O-@%o +S0~c