Epistolarians
Chief Magistrate Henry H. Curran of Manhattan, who writes in his spare time, encountered that horrid word again in a probation officer's report, promptly dashed off one of his publishable letters. In the lingo of social workers, practically all brothers and sisters who are not twins are siblings. "To me," wrote the Judge to all probation officers, "it has a very doubtful sound, dubious, dismal, desperate. . . . How would you like to be called ... a coystrel* or a curmudgeon. . . . Exit sibling."
Harold Ross, picket-toothed editor of The New Yorker, read in Exquisite Lucius Beebe's rococo column that he was shy a front tooth. Ross wrote in reply that he had all his front teeth, had a whopping gap between two of them, had refused his dentist's suggestion that it be filled in. Cried Ross to Beebe: ". . . You are making an eccentric out of me."
Performers
Winston Churchill, having ceremonially received the "freedom of the city" at London's Guildhall, saluted a crowd with his familiar topper-twirling gesture, was caught by the camera in close resemblance to William Claude Dukinfield (W. C. Fields).
Eleanor Roosevelt, who had lately christened a barge at Port Angeles, Wash., got a phone call after she arrived in Seattle : a diver had gone to the bottom of the harbor, brought up the handbag she had dropped (with her plane ticket, money and eyeglasses).
Jimmy Savo, master of pantomime, finally replaced one of his trade-marks—the amorphous suit of clothes in which he has been clowning for 25 years. For a faithfully ill-fitting duplicate, he paid a Park Avenue tailor $200.
Marlene Dietrich & Jean Gabin, dining together in Manhattan's El Morocco club, gave themselves over wholly to Marlene's expert schmaltz.
Roger Touhy, of Illinois Stateville Prison, was not allowed a peek when a movie called Roger Touhy—Gangster was previewed at the prison. Neither were any of the other prisoners admitted to the show. It was to start at 8:30. It was 10 before it did start. By that time the sound equipment had been repaired and the air sweetened. Somebody had cut an electric cable. Somebody had turned on the steam pipes.
Royalty
Princess Elizabeth's future husband has already "been picked for her" and will "be unveiled after the war," reported Bob Considine, best-selling co-author of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (TIME, July 19). He also declared that:
King George VI slips out of bed at 6:30 these mornings, shaves himself, breakfasts on coffee, cereal and powdered eggs, has a hard time getting cigars.
Princess Sibylle of Sweden, handsome wife of 37-year-old Prince Gustaf Adolf, was about to give the Royal Navy cause to fire a salute. The Navy was ready last week with 84 shots if a boy, 42 if a girl. Sibylle has already borne three daughters—eight, six and five.
Hes & Shes