Milford chronicle., 1959-02-13


said, would rather act a love
scene with Charles Laughton than
any other actor in the world" This
is a must for those interested in
the stage and screen. Singer traces
Laughton's theatrical genius from
his earliest appearances on the
London stage when, as student al
lhe Royal Academy, his natural ga
iety, lust for life and great humor
same to the fore after an unhappy
childhood spent in a small English
own His marriage to Elsa Lam
chester, his arrival in America, his
effect on Hollywood, his perform
ince in such famous films as "The
Sign of the Cross, sMutiny on the
Bounty, "The Private Life of Hen
~ VIII, "Salome", and "Hobson's s
yhoice", make this fascinating story
rich in the lore of the English and
American theatre.
The three additional titles will
De reviewed next week.
Kurt ID. Singer-AuthOr and
Lecturer
The world of espionage has fas-
:inated Kurt ID. Singer for over
swo decades, and among the twen-
y-six books which he has written
-welye Ste concerned with inter-
national spies, ranging from Mata
Hari to DIR. Klaus Fuchs. A Wen
nese by birth, DR.. Singer became
IN American citizen in 1916 He has
.ectured widely throughout the
United States, warning America to
be alert against enemies within
its boundaries. An ardent foe of
Doth Fascism and Communism, he
1as actively participated in expos
|fng their foreign agents. His ar
ticles on treason and counteres-
9ionage were Incorporated in the
official report of the Atomic Ener-
gy Commission, entitled Atomic
Espionage" (195ll. He has been a
sonsultant for Allied military and
civilian governmental agencies,
and special speaker for the Uni
ed Nations.
THE modern spy" DIR. Singer
has said, lis an emissary from one
world to destroy another. He is a
diplomat, a scientist, a man of
knowledge. 1t is more important
for any espionage system to get the
latest industrial and laboratory
secrets of nation than to kidnap
an 'emigre' general" Microfilms
and short wave transmitters have
replaced secret links and DISCUSSES,
but Singer points out that the work
Of spies is as important as military
power in today's struggle between
che democracies and the totalitari-
IN countries. America has lost her
~wo-ocean protection with the COM
ing of the jet plane and the H
bomb he emphasizes, "but we are
newcomers in the field of interna-
siopal intrigue"
He was the editor of Mitteilungs-
blatter, an underground anti-Hit-
Ter weekly, in Berlin, Germany.
The Nazis put price on his head,
held his wife as a hostage, ard
Singer escaped to Sweden in 1885
where he worked in the Scand::ea-
fian underground Among his bio
graphies are TGoring", published
N England in 1910; Carl Won Os-
sietsky'';; Martin Niemoller"; "The
Story of a Hypnotist" with Franz
]. Polgar) and 1.-The Laughton
Story, a biograph of the actor
Charles Laughton.
Kurt Singer was born in Vienna,
Austria on August 10, 1911 of
Czech parents, Ignaz Deutsch and
Irene Singer. He took his mothers
maiden name as a pen name His
father died when he was fourteen.
Moving to Berlin, he attended the
Kaiser Friedrich Schulz and was
graduated in 1929. He then attend
ed Handels Academic in Berlin and
,ater the Eidgenosische Technische
Hochschule and the University of
zurick in Switzerland.
When Singer was fourteen, he
net Artur Schnabel, the great pi-
mist, who told him to find the
Jeauty in life, in art, in the past
md in the future. When / was
eventeen," Singer recalled, Il
wanted to write biographies like
emil Ludwig George Bernard
shaw, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer
we're my silent teachers. Without
ny mother opposing nay writing
sfforts (she burned my first po-
sms), would never have become
1 writer. / had to show her that l
ould." His mother advised him to
earn trade "To be a writer
ifeans to starve," she said. Accord
ngly, he became an apprentice in,
railroad car factory, building
ank cars and learned to repair
hem in Juedlinburg, Germany.
His first book, a collection of
poems, was published when he was
eighteen. DR.. Singer contends that
Hitler and Stain convinced him
hat everyone had 10 defend de-
mocracy against st such political can
;ers. Sweden and America taught
him real democracy. He published
one of the earliest German under
ground newspapers. His wife, Hill
da Tradelius, whom he married on
December "a, 1882, is an X-ray
technician. After he had escaped
TO Sweden when the Nazis indicted