Evening star., 1954-05-14
By Mory McGroy

OpeIllI1S I1lSIlUS QOIl ldSU 1OI"
ever, even at the Mccarthy
Army hearings.
The overture to the search for
truth has been prolonged and
positively deafening.
Amid the din, however, four
of the five main characters did
manage to get onstage, however
briefly, clashed and withdrew.
And after Secretary Stevens had
played to an agonized audience
for almost two weeks, the pro-
ducers came up with an OBJ
viously efficient young principal
in the person of John G. Adams,
an Army Department counsellor.
With that, the hearings
seemed to settle down a bit, and
even to provide a reasonable
facsimile of other congressional
hearings.
1t has been a little like having
Hamlet" played with the last
act first. The stage was Uttered
with the corpses of dead reputa-
tionS before they seemed about
to go on with the show.
No shell-shocked survivor of
those narrowing days when to
look up was to be smitten with
a curving insult or a flying FBI
letter" is apt to be nostalgia
about the nerve-wracking OPEN
ing.
Even Mccarthy Subdued.
Senator Mccarthy has appar-
| emily sworn off points of order"
since last Tuesday. He has been
busy reading the paper and sip
ping milk.
In the slackening tension, sew
eral understudies got a chance
at big parts.
Mr.. Tom Prewitt spelled \Spe-
cial Counsellor Ray Jenkins in
the role Of cross-examiner. Slow
talking as his boss. Mr.. Prewitt
still managed in a brief time
to map out a considerable area
of disagreement between Mr.
Adams and the Mccarthy side.
Mr.. James st. Clair, assistant
to Mr.. WEIGH, who has estab-
lished himself as the leading
character actor in the senatorial
drama, got a crack at the part
of Army counsellor, Mr.. Welch
was indisposed in his dressing
room. Mr.. st. Clair suggested
very automatically to Mr.. Jen-
kins that sometimes a witness
could cut off a questioner just
as drastically as questioner
(Mr. Jenkins) could cut off
witness (Mr. Adams).
Mr.. jenkins, plainly enxiOus to
prolong this little era of good
feeling which had settled-who
knows for how long-over the
tense hearings, responded hand
somely.
"Mr. st. Clair" he said, sis a
partner of Mr.. Welch, and much
of Mr.. Welch's graciousness has
rubbed off on him"
Long Run Ahead.
Plainly. the McCarthy-Army
hearings had settled down to a
longish run on the Senatorial
circuit.
A goodly number of the gilt
tering first-night audience had
retired in consequence. Mr.. H.
Struve Hensel, a bulky and in
dignant principal. no longer
looms large at the far end Of the
committee table. The generals
who provided scenic backdrop
for Army Secretary Stevens have
retired with their chief. Only |
colonies remain.
The press corps has been di-
miniShed by one conspicuous
member. Mr.. Walter Winchell, a
New York columnist.
Ever since his arrival, Mr..
Winchell seems to have served |
as q ightning-rod for most Of
the off-stage sensations at the
hearings.
He had hardly set foot over
the caucaS-room threshold when
an over-wrought spectator ran
amok in the audience. He
quoted Mr.. Winchell in his
TRADE
Mr.. Winchell spent the noon
recess filling in press colleagues
who live more pedestrian lives
with the details,
Ready Source Of Quips.
|. Every morning thereafter Mr..
Winchell hurried into the hear
ing room, and as if the other
habitues of the press table were
Mr.. and Mrs. North America,
fed them a steady stream of
quips, tips and "bombshells," the
latter thus far unexploded.
Throughout, he kept in close
touch with developments in the
back, of the room. A spectator
tainted at one point. PromRtly
w. W., as he signs himself, INT