Evening star., 1953-12-18


So will the man who first
pushed through the most famous
barrier of all, the sound barrier,
in 1947. That, of course, is Maj.
Charles E. Yeager, who also is
the man who hit that 1000
mile-an-hour speed the other
day.
The seventh barrier still
stands. That is the thermal
one. which will be conquered
when man figures out a way to
fly much faster without melting
what he is flying in. That will
be touched on. too, in wings
Over Barriers"
THE CURE-If Mr.. Shayon
still has a small hole in his
script, incidentally, and would
like small human drama, we
can supply it. It's about the at
torney, an old friend of the fam
lily. who was called in by Mr..
Sperry when he came here to
get the gyroscope patented.
The attorney, World War I
flier whose career ended in
spectacular crash, thought he
ought to see how the gyro
worked. The Sperry people
agreed and they all went out to
the airport and climbed aboard
the Sperry airplane.
They were barely in the air
before terror he hadn't known
was there emerged from the
wartime pilots subconscious.
Let me outof here!" he shouted.
''Take me down" AS quickly
as possible the Sperry pilot
obliged. Then, as the test plane
took off again, after the attorney
said he'd watch the demonstra-
tion from solid ground, a by
stander wandered over. What
was the trouble? he wanted to
know and the attorney told him.
"Aw, that's nothing" said the
man. You're just not ac-
customed to that big closed plane.
It's not at all like the planes you
we're used to. Come on over
here" He led the way to small
open-cockpit biplane. The at
torney climbed in the rear cock
pit and settled himself as the
other man continued to talk re-
assuringly. In a few moments
he decided that this did feel
better and agreed when the pilot
suggested they go aloft.
The pilot wasted no time. but
took out after the Sperry plane.
Abreast of it, he leaned back in
the front cockpit and cupped his
hands in back of his head. Be-
hind him, the attorney waved
happily at his Sperry friends
with one hand as he flew the
ship with the other.
4 X
SOME GHOST - There have
been some snide remarks that
the TV critics television set
needs a repairman, or maybe
a pSychoanalyst. It is in worse
shape, some have suggested. than
the set belonging to that woman
who protested that it showed the
same picture for three days. This
one, the critics critics are say
ing, must have the most perSiS-
tent "ghost" ever burned into
the face of a picture tube.
How else, they ask, could the
TV critic have noted the other
day that Griffing Bancroft does
the II pm. newscast on WTOP-
TV? The last time Mr.. Bancroft
appeared in that spot was a year
ago. This is a good question.
How else, indeed? 1t is, of course,
Ron Cochran in the IL pm. spot
on WTOP-TV, which he has Oc-
cupied since September, 1852.
The strange part of this lapse
is that Mr.. Cochran is the man
from whom the critic most often
gets his II pm. news. The one
consolation is that such lapses
are rare, but not uncommon.
There was movie critic once
who, for no reason i'm the world,
never could remember whether
that character actor was named
George Zucco or Alan Mowbray.
A WTOP spokesman, inciden-
tally, declares that Griff1ng Ban
croft was NOT substituted for
Eric Sevareid the other night
just to make TV critic look
sillier, but I'm not so sure.