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When he's happiest is when he's snorting, and he did plenty of it. But in his 80th birthday week, Harry Truman was all choked up between potshots at the press, the Republicans, and everyone else within BB range. President Johnson telephoned Kansas City with early congratulations. "I wanted to call collect," ho-hoed L.B.J., who then added: "When you blow out those candles, I hope you think of all the lights you have turned on during 80 years." But the biggest thrill came during a birthday appearance on the Senate floor. After eulogies from no fewer than 25 Senators plus a standing ovation, H.S.T. stammered: "I'm so overcome. This is one of the greatest things that has happened to me in my whole life." Afterward he was still touched. "If they had cussed me out, I would have known what to do."
Charlton Heston was not lynched last week. The reason this is remarkable is that he was actually trying to be fair to a studio. No big star is supposed to do this. But Heston had an attack of ethics. Though it was not in his contract, he had browbeaten Columbia Pictures into doing a couple of scenes his way in the just-completed Major Dundee. "In effect," he explained, "I applied the muscle without the legal right. The only ethical thing to do was to return my salary." Return his what? Yep, the whole estimated $200,000 salary he got for the flick. "Ghastly precedent," thought his fellow performers. "Gem of a notion," thought Columbia.
He is more untouchable than Eliot Ness, more famous than Dick Tracy, and more widely respected in his job than just about anybody. John Edgar Hoover, 69, has been head of the FBI so long that people forget he could have been replaced by any incoming Administration. Last week he completed 40 years in the post, and Lyndon Johnson weighed in with his own endorsement. Next New Year's Day the top lawman will reach the compulsory retirement age of 70. "I know you wouldn't think of breaking the law," said L.B.J. So to offset the requirement, the President signed a special executive order that will allow the hale and hearty bachelor to continue serving "for an indefinite period of time."
Women across America tuned her in for two decades to hear all the poop on products and personalities. Then in 1954 Mary Margaret McBride gave the mike a pat and retired from the daily network grind. "It seemed as if 20 years was enough," she said. Of course, it wasn't really. And last week as her 30th radio anniversary came around, Mary Margaret, 64, was still at it. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 to noon, her folksy chat goes out to WGHQ listeners. It's just a local station in Kingston, N.Y., and she mostly interviews the neighbors at her book-lined "retirement" home. But Richard Rodgers journeyed up for the show a few broadcasts ago, and the sponsors, as always with Mary Margaret, are breathlessly waiting in line.