People: Quiet Zone

In Manhattan, burly Novelist John Steinbeck leaned against a stair railing, went right on through it, dropped one flight, settled down in a hospital with a strained back and fractured kneecap.

In Havana, great-nosed, terrier-browed Sir John Boyd Orr, 66-year-old Director General of U.N.'s Food & Agriculture Organization, underwent repairs after his taxicab hit a trolley: stitches in his face, six stitches in his right ear.

In Detroit, Joe Louis attained the age of 33, still whole in limb and wind (see cut). An interviewer asked the ancient champ if he wished he were 21...

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