The Wilmington morning star., 1947-01-26
Along Broadway
RY WALTER WINCHELL


chell.s propaganda campaign 10 run ID Ohiel
7 Edgar Hoover for President the TACT that
Hoover has a secret dossier on Wlncnell a
nile one-including some particularly nasty
i1emse Hoover permits no one to see thls re-
nort and he will never know the name OF my
| informant, VINO was never supposed 70 See 1t
il the first place. Whenever WlncheA Who'
alas poor lad, still has amoltlons OF becoming
known as one Of the nations leading loefals
gets out of ~hand-Hoover merely eyebrows
i, reminder of the dossier. The ironic thing
about all this is that Hoover hasn't as much
on Winchell as Winchell thinks he has"
The Daily Worker, which so strongly adj
vocates secondary b%oycotts, is now gong INTO
secondary blu dgeonirgs 1t has the nerve
to say that John Edgar Hoover uses dossiers
against prominent citizens. Imagine Pravda
saving something like this about the head OF
the Russian police -. This brings up a ques-
ton which has been troubling us for a long
time. Just how much free speech is a foreign
agent entitled to when it masquerades as a
newspaper? The question should be answer
ed not by the ifs and butts Of the U. S. Su-
preme Court, but by the rifle butts of the
U. S. Marine Corps. In any event. its about
time that a fourth class publication lost its
second class mailing privileges.
The First Nights: The reviewers celebrated
Bobby Clark Week. Arriving in Victor He--
bert's 'SWeethearts,' the matchless cut-up
sets a howl-a-Ininute pace. Every laugh is
a belly-whopper. Critics frisked the dictionary
for every joyous adjective in an effort to
translate their outlaws into words. Brooks
Atkinson's mash note: 1T is Bobby personal
antic. To steal a word from 'Finian's Rain
bow he is sort of grandish' Who said
aislemen are tough? The last three musicals
to bounce into town earned plaudits aplenty
Temper the Wind is probably the only
show that has ever shared scoops. Many of
the events that the play dramatizes are be-
ing conf med by the daily bulletins from
HitlerVile.
The Cinemagicians: Mark Hellinger's latest
dandy is Swell Guy The title is ironic, for
the cinema is a superb study of a 7-letter male
who is lower than a fallen arch A tender
beautifilm. The Yearling'' sends its poignant
message via the telegraphy Of heart-beats.
Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman are the supe-
t~roupers. Dead Reckoning rockets an
other bing-bang Bo2art ure-firecracker. Liza
beth Scott helps him light the fuse Lady
Of the Lake comes out first with a unique
/ murder meller whiz aimed by Bob Mont
gomery. Her Sisters Secret offers the
usual Holywoo The Brute Man dis
plays a listless nightmare that aims for the
bogeyman and settles for the sandman.
The Wirelisseners: Ruth Etting returned on
the Vallee stanza like She had never been
away. The lovely lady can still coo a Tilt until
it purrs with delight. Those dialouseticians
are the reason why vaudeville would rather
be dead. A decent corpse wouldn't want to
be caught dead in their presence Abbott
and Costello are kernels off the old cob, but
their hayWlre caperlng eVokes an acceptable
quota of chuckles. Jacques Haley's She
nanigagging is jolly enough without that EN-
barrassing stooge The continued click
of Fibber McGee's wholesome frolic should
be a lesson to the obnoxious vomics whose
tasteless Glowing could make a gargoyle
vince.
The Press Box: The N. Y. Post on the Dist
paid a reader 81 for this pepigram: The
only thing that handicapped the Rankin and
Dies Committees wasn't a lack of funds, but a
lack of facts A word-for-wo~d lifting from
this column of Jan. 18th. Mrs. Mollie Kalman
of Brooklyn, who took that mearned dollar.
will 1--WE presume) rush it to the Damon
Runyon Memorial Fund 4or cancer research
ir care of US. . Headline: margin Re
Taxation No Spur to Stocks Fevvensakes,
You mean nothing will help, even when we
butt out? The only people who are happy
in the Durocher mess must be the National
League umpires Following the exclusive
report by this Sunday nighter on the air Chat
the Astor Hotel had been sold, which it WASH
Arthur Collins Wice-president of the realty
firm confirmed it to the N. Y. Suns late
editions Tuesday afternoon That night
lin an early edition of a Wednesday paper4
he denied it. AS did Walter Monsees Tin
charge Of Aston interests at q W. 26th Street,
who said: Il know nothing of any negotia-
tons The hotel president, Robert Christ
enberry. declared to that pape~: 1T has not
been sold." 1t also reported: "Officials
Of the City Bank Farmers Trust Co., trustee,
said they knew nothing of any such n~egotia-
TONS Such, reporting. Moral: Tune
in on that awful irresponsible Winchell on
Sundays and get some leads.
Now Read This! A Providence publisher cat
a meeting of editorial writer's the other day,
said that lin the 192Os the editorial page
waned and the prestige and influence of the
press diminished Of a sudden the news
report. still accurate as to fact, became cha
otto, bewildering, meaningless to most of US.
1t was at that period that so many publishers
went to the market to buy syndicated
columns of any trained seal who could pre-
tend to unravel the bewilderments of the
news for his readers ..."
l don't pretend, mister. I just report the
news. Just like newspapers, mister, honest.
Just like newspapers.
The Word Magicians: 7. T. Stone (author of
Underground to Palestine") relayed a touch
ing yarn via a Sabbath book section: Among
those seeking to enter Palestine was a Gentle.
He had saved two Jewish boys in Poland dur
ing the war and refused to be separated
from them. Now several mags are feud-
ing. Say, who do they think they are-coly-
umiists? A newsmag tags Taft as the
best informed man in the Senate That must
be quite a jolt to the other 50 Honorables.
Eest informed? Just gander his glaring mis-
information prior to Pearl Harbor Critics
and Crusaders HolD is an inspiring rnonu-
ment to the Unknown Civilian-men who de
voted their lives to fighting for decency.