(2 of 2)
Oh, bless the gods who wrought her.' Last March John Macrae, president of E. P. Dutton & Co. (books), called the Book-of-the-Month Club "an octopus that sucks away the life blood of the book business." His specific charges: i) Club judges were influenced in book selections by the Club management; 2) discount rate of book purchasing by the Club sometimes exceeded its announced rate; 3) the Club's purpose was misleading. Piqued, the Club sued President Macrae for libel, asked $200,000 damages. Admitting he was "wrong," President Macrae last week retracted his charges. The Club dropped its suit. President Macrae, however, reiterated his disapproval of such clubs, said his company would continue to submit no books to them.
Margaret Sanger, American Birth Control League President, returning from Europe, prophesied Roman Catholic opposition to birth control would soon end. Said she: "A pronouncement from the Vatican denying that the Church is opposed to the practice of the dissemination of necessary information is certain to come." Her alleged discoveries abroad: In France, State opposition is greater than Church opposition; in Germany, Roman Catholics practice birth control without the clergy's criticism.
Georges Carpentier, French onetime fisticuffer, lately cinemactor, traded a portion of ear for a "new" nose. He explained: "When some 200 prize-ring opponents work on your beak, why the old beezer is bound to deteriorate to a point of disadvantage in the pictures."
Maurice Chevalier, cinemactor (Innocents of Paris), adored playboy of Paris music halls, returned home from the U. S. Cried he to a surging crowd of welcomers at the Gare St. Lazare: "L'Amerique, c'est swell! Nouveau York, c'est swell! L'Hollywood, c'est la plus swell!"
Capt. Harold A. Cunningham navigated the S. S. Leviathan westward from Cherbourg with a record-breaking number of passengers aboard (2,730). With millionaires bunking with the crew, dowagers traveling third class, Captain Cunningham wired a berth-seeking friend: "Would put you up in my own cabin but every locker is full. Reserving bottom shelf for you next trip."
Alfred Emanuel Smith was thus publicized in a Japanese newspaper which reached the U. S. last week as a merchandise wrapper: "Mr. Alfred E. Smith, ex-candidate for the presidency of the Democratic Party, has secured one-fifth interest in the management of the Giant baseball team . . . and, according to unconfirmed reports, he will be chosen the chief player of that team."— Senator William Edgar Borah of
Idaho, in the course of his Jewry v. Islam speech at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden (see p. 26), said: "Generally, when I do not reflect, I say what I think."
*Already Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. makes gas-electric buses (to save gear shifting in traffic) and oil-electric rail cars (which need neither third rail lines nor great power plants). Recently Canadian National Railways put into service a great oil-electric locomotive on its Toronto-Montreal route. *For a confirmed report of Mr. Smith's newest occupation, see p. 55.