As he approached his 83rd birthday this year, Bernarr ("Body Love") Macfadden, who loves carrots and publicity, was overcome by a recurring conviction: he was still a boy because he had quaffed quantities of buttermilk and vegetable juice all his life. To prove his youth, Macfadden decided to parachute out of an airplane over Niagara Falls. When horrified U.S. and Canadian officials forbade the stunt, Macfadden let it be known that he would jump out over New York's George Washington Bridge. The cops threatened to arrest him.
He settled on a jump into the waters of the Hudson River, opposite Yonkers, where he would be outside the scope of big-city police, but still inside the orbit of big-city photographers. His brushes with officialdom had delayed matters ten days past his actual anniversary, but one day last week he climbed into a cab and rode to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport. When he got out, the driver demanded his $8 fare. Macfadden, who had no cash in his jeans, told him to collect later. His airplane pilot also demanded cash, on the ground that after the parachute jump, Macfadden might not be in a position to pay his debts. Macfadden. gave him an I.O.U.
Aloft, he stripped down to a costume consisting of long red underwear, a blue Mae West and a white helmet, got into his chute—and after heaving out a dummy to watch the direction of its fall—cheerily stepped into space. He floated grandly down, narrowly missed a clump of trees, and splashed into the water where he calmly floated on his back waiting to be picked up. Cried he as a speedboat rescued him: "I feel like a man of 25!"
Work & Play
Pointing out that the number of State Department employees had increased about 350% since 1942, Senator Paul Douglas called for a payroll slash. Said he: "When they deal with a problem, they feel the way to meet it is to hire a large number of people ... If three men are needed to do a certain job, they hire twelve to 15. They spend a large portion of their time communicating with each other . . . until finally the chief work of the State Department consists in its members talking to one another."
Speaking at the University of Denver, Ex-Congressman Robert Ramspeck of Georgia, now chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, had a suggestion pointing in the opposite direction: elect two Congressmen from each district—one to legislate and the other to pork-barrel for the folks back home.
A.F.L. President William Green noted the 43rd annual convention of the Hoboes of America, meeting in Tucson, sent, Hobo King Jeff Davis a fraternal greeting "While the members of the A.F.L. believe in steady jobs and the members of your organization are conscientious objectors, we entertain a sympathetic interest in your problems."
Ups & Downs