Peggy Cummins, long the leader in the Hollywood clamber for the Amber role in Forever Amber—Irish-born, London-developed, 5 ft. i in., blonde, babyfaced, ripe-mouthed, grave-eyed and 20—bagged it.
Renie, mononymic Hollywood fashion designer, peered into the future, spied something eye-bugging: "transparent covering over the bosom for cocktail and evening clothes—and complete exposure in some instances." To the surprise of few, the Hollywood-Broadway axis straightway began to bare its collective breast:
Carole Landis thought it better to "leave a little to the imagination."
Paulette Goddard protested coyly: "I just got over one cold."
Jane Russell looked forward to the competition: "Maybe now I could get a little peace and quiet."
Ann Corio, veteran stripteuse, didn't believe it. "Renie shows that she doesn't know what she's talking about," snapped the uncharitable ecdysiast, "because 90% of the girls in Hollywood have nothing to expose in the first place."
Guests in the House
Lady Astor, drawing newshawks as a honeypot draws flies, was still ad-libbing for publication, three weeks after she landed in the U.S. Her advice to U.S. Anglophobes: "You had better get on your knees and thank God for Great Britain." Her advice to occupation authorities: "I would send a Salvation Army to Europe with Bibles. ..." Lady Astor on the sexes: "Women have more moral courage than men. . . . We didn't make this world." On the future of the male: "I think you ought to have a rest, really."
Bishop Thomas Tien, cardinal-designate, of Tsingtao, China, and two noncoms from Brooklyn made a striking picture of international amity (see cut) when a troop transport arrived in San Diego from the Far East. The noncoms were going home at last; the bishop was bound for Rome and investiture as China's first cardinal.
Winston Churchill, last in Cuba as an impetuous young lieutenant taking a first excited peek at a shooting war, returned after 51 years of a roving commission. In 1895 he had ridden (as an observer) with a Spanish column pursuing Cuban rebels through the bullet-buzzing jungle; now he rode in a motorcade through Havana streets choked with Churchill-cheering crowds. He lunched with the President, gave the V-sign from the wedding-cake palace balcony, uncorked a brave "Viva la perla de las Antillas!" The world's most celebrated cigar-smoker relaxed in the land of plenty. Given 100 Havanas by the Minister of Agriculture, he responded with a testimonial: "They have a good effect on my temper."
Oceans of Love
Major Arthur Wermuth, famed "One-Man Army" of Bataan, announced that in Michigan he would be a candidate for the U.S. Senate. In Manila one Olivia Josephine Oswald, shapely Filipina, announced that she was Mrs. Arthur Wermuth, sued for an annulment (and 200 pesos a month). He had married her, said she, on the roof of a Manila hotel in 1941; as parti i evidence she produced a group photo of herself, the one-man army, and another couple. She called it a wedding-day picture. Major Wermuth, married to a U.S. girl since 1935, called it just a picture. Said he: "I don't know a thing about it. I never really knew her."