Evening star., 1950-05-02
South Pacific Winner
OF Pulitzer Prize for
Best Drama in 1850
BY the Assoc1oted Press

NEW YORK, May 2.-"South
Pacific" the smash hit Broadway
musical, won the 1850 Pulitzer
Prize yesterday as the best original
American play of the last year.
The drama award was one OF
13 similar honors handed down
by the prize committee for
achievement in newspaper work
letters and music.
The prizes were announced by
President Dwright D. Eisenhower
Of Columbia University.
South Pacific" the latest sue
cess Of Composer Richard Rodgers
and Oscar Hammerstein, II, is an
adaptation of James A. Mitch
ener's book, Tales of the South
Pacific" which won a Pulitzer
Prize if it's own for fiction in 1948
The RodgerS-and- -Hammerstein
team received a special Pulitzer
Award, but no prize, for their
earlier musical hit, Oklahoma, -
in 1914.
Carry $500 Grants.
The prizes, which carry grants
of $500 each to the individual WIN
ners, have been given for the last
80 years under the will of the late
newspaper publisher, Joseph
Pulitzer.
The 1850 prize for fiction went
to A. B. Guthrie for his best-selling
historical novel, "The Way West"
The prize for meritorious public
service by a newspaper was split
this year between the Chicago
Daily News and the st. Louis Post
Dispatch for their joint stories re-
vealing the presence of 81 Illinois
newspapermen on the State pay
roll.
The articles were written by
George THEM and Roy j. Harris.
The prize for the newspapers is
q gold medal instead of cash.
Stories Cleared Professor.
The other 10 prizes were:
Distinguished reporting Of ma
tional affairs-Edwin o. Guthman
of the Seattle Times for his stories
that cleared Prof. Melvin RAIDER of
the University of Washington of
charges of communism after a
State investigation. His series,
part detective work and part news
writing. dug up evidence that led
to the young professors public
clearance by the university ad-
ministration.
Local affairS-Meyer Berger of
the New York Times for his re-
porting of the neighborhood pistol
slayings of Howard Unruh, berserk
war veteran, at Camden, N. j.,
last September.
international affairs - Edmund
Stevens of the Christian Science
Monitor for the series. This Is
Russia-Uncensored." The stories
were summarized in series dis
tributed by the Associated Press.
Editorial Award.
Editorial writing-Carl M. Saun-
ders, editor of the Jackson (MichD
Citizen-Patriot. for his editorial
that led Congress to designate
Memorial Day as day of prayer
for peace.
Cartooning-James T. Berry,
man of The Washington Star. His
cartoon, Cali Set for a Super
Secret Session." showed Con-
gressional committee earin g
scene surrounded by a forest of
microphones, television cameras
and other symbols of publicity.
Mr.. Berryman's father, the late
Clifford K. Bergman, also won
O Pulitzer Prize for cartooning in
1914. 1t was the first time
father and son both have attained
the honor.
News photograph-Bill Crouch
of the Oakland Tribune for his
action shot showing how a stunt
ing plane narrowly missed huge
B-29 bomber over a California
field. The picture moved on
the Associated Press Wirephoto
network last October 8.
History Prize Awarded.
Most distinguished book on
United States histoty-C. w.
Larkin of Smith College, North
ampton, Mass. for his Art and
Life in America"
Biography-Samuel Flagg Bemis
of Yale University for John
Quincy Adams and the Founda-
ton of American Foreign Policy"
Mr.. Bemis was the only two-time
winner on the 1850 list, having
taken an earlier prize in 1927.
A Negro poetess, Miss Gwen
dolyn Brooks of Chicago, won the
award for verse with her Annie
Allen" a story of Negro life in a
combination of ballad form and
modern idiom."
The prize for music went tc
Gian-Carlo Menotti, Italian-borr
composer Of modern opera, whose
prize-winning production, "The
Consul" is a new Broadway sell
out. 1t is a story of Illustration In
attempts to escape from an un-
named European police state. II
also is the winner of the New York
drama circle critics award.
A special Pulitzer Award. the
annual $500 travelling scholar
ship to an art student found "the
most promising and deserving,
went to Leonard Everett Fisher oi
Brooklyn.