Air Associates rush production as Army gives back plant
Output showed big gain after U.S. acted to end long labor dispute
BENDIX, New Jersey (AP) – The 60 days of Army occupation of Air Associates, Inc., are ended and the aviation equipment plant, scene of nearly a half year of bitter labor dispute, is again under private management.
Seventy troops, last of 2,000 who seized the plant and grounds October 31 under presidential proclamation to end the third strike in three months at Air Associates, climbed into trucks and rolled out of the area yesterday.
Fred G. Coburn, company president, and Col. Roy M. Jones, Army officer in charge since the Army took over, said in a joint statement the transfer had been made at 5 p.m.
“We’re all going to get to work and produce all the material we can to help the war effort,” Mr. Coburn added.
Production gain shown
Col. Jones urged the workers at a mass meeting to “give us in the armed forces the best you can.”
Announcing return of the plant to private ownership, the War Department said in Washington that production had been increased approximately 37 percent under Army control.
The plant had been under supervision of Col. Jones with direct management in the hands of Maj. Peter Beasley of the Air Corps. Maj. Beasley, former president of Lockheed Aircraft and for 25 years an industrial engineer, has been commended by War Department officials for his record of operation.
Kearny plant still held
Thus the second of three industrial plants seized by the armed forces in 1941 labor disputes in the nation was returned to private operation. Only the vast yards of the Federal Shipbuilding Dry Dock Co. at nearby Kearny, New Jersey, remain in Government hands. There have been recurrent reports that the Navy, which took over in August to end a CIO shipworkers’ strike of 17,000, would relinquish control shortly.
Earlier in the year the Army seized the plant of the North American Aviation Corp. in Inglewood, California. The California plant was soon returned to private hands. In that instance the CIO union on strike was blamed by the government, whereas in both New Jersey strikes the CIO had asked government seizure and federal officials asserted management was recalcitrant in accepting U.S. settlement proposals.
Eastern U.S. spas curtail guest lists as internees arrive
Axis nationals crowd White Sulphur and Hot Springs hotels
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia (AP) – The winter season for incoming guests at this eastern spa came to an end yesterday and for the next few weeks at least facilities of the multimillion-dollar Greenbrier Hotel will be mostly for the use of interned foreigners.
Assistant Manager George O’Brien confirmed that, at the request of the State Department, “for the time being we are not receiving new guests.”
About 150 German and Hungarian members of the respective diplomatic corps, their families and several newspapermen came here two weeks ago to await transfer home.
The Greenbrier and cottages have the heaviest population during the warm months but, the giant establishment in the heart of the Eastern Alleghenies also is a favorite gathering place for winter vacationists.
Japanese embassy force arrives at Hot Springs
HOT SPRINGS, Virginia (AP) – About 80 Japanese from the embassy at Washington, headed by Ambassador Kichi Saburo Nomura and Special Envoy Saburo Kurusu, arrived here yesterday on a special train in charge of State Department officials.
Agents with the party said the trip and arrival were made without incident. Other groups from Japanese consulates In the United States are expected to join the party here.
The Homestead Hotel, where the diplomatic party Is quartered pending arrangements for an exchange of the Japanese and American diplomats now in Japan, is closed to the public and no other guests are registered, a State Department spokesman said.
U.S. and Philippines ties strengthened by war, Sayre says
Quezon is inaugurated for second term as islands’ president
MANILA (AP) – Philippine High Commissioner Francis B. Sayre, speaking today at the second-term inauguration of Manuel Quezon as President of the Commonwealth, declared that the American and Filipino peoples were being linked by the present struggle in “a comradeship which can never die.”
“Because the events of the last three weeks have been hard,” he said, “we will not be discouraged. The real struggle is only beginning, but there can be no question whatsoever of its final outcome.
Faith and determination
“Death is preferable to slavery. As long as humanity believes that, no Germany arid no Japan can ever conquer the world. That faith and that determination welds all free peoples together into a mighty throng which is invincible and inevitably will be triumphant.”
Mr. Sayre read a special message from President Roosevelt extending congratulations and best wishes to President Quezon and Sergio Osmera, who was sworn in for another term as Vice President.
The message also expressed to the people of the Philippines the President’s “appreciation for the loyalty and effective cooperation… which they have extended to the United States government.”
The inauguration was held at the wartime seat of the government in an undisclosed place outside Manila.
Because of wartime conditions the inauguration was conducted with extreme simplicity. The oaths of office were administered to President Quezon and Mr. Osmena by Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos of the Philippine Supreme Court.
New members of the Philippine Congress, meanwhile, were sworn in by previously qualified officials in their home provinces or wherever they happened to be.
Mr. Quezon was elected for a four-year term under the amended constitution of the Commonwealth, but he said before the election that he would resign after two years and turn the office of chief executive over to Mr. Osmena. He already has served six years and believes that no President of the Commonwealth should remain in office more than eight years.
Fierce tribesmen aid Philippine refugees
MANILA (AP) – Refugees reaching here from the Baguio mining districts in Northern Luzon said today they had been aided by fierce mountain tribesmen who appeared to have abandoned their hostile attitude toward Christians since the outbreak of war with Japan.
The refugees, who traveled over little-frequented mountain trails to avoid hampering operations of American and Filipino troops, said Igorot tribesmen had guided them on their way and had supplied them with salted deer meat and other food.
The Igorots, they said, knew war was under way and were prepared to deal with any Japanese troops reaching their territory.
Rich American reported dead in Japs’ Luzon camp
MANILA (AP) – The Manila Bulletin said today It had received from usually reliable sources a report that Robert E. Manly, one of the wealthiest Americans in the Philippines, had died recently in a Japanese concentration camp at Naga in Southern Luzon Island.
Mr. Manly, about 75 and long an invalid, was born in Rushford, Minn., and came to the Philippines during the Spanish-American War as a member of the First North Dakota Volunteers. He later settled down at Naga, began the practice of law there and ultimately acquired large interests in rice lands and transportation companies.
For more than 30 years he served as national democratic committeeman for the Philippines.
Baseball broadcast job again interests Helen Dettweiler
She is eager to couple work as golf pro with minor league post
Helen Dettweiler, Washington-born feminine golf professional, may return next year to broadcasting of baseball games, one of her first sports ventures when she was a prominent amateur competitor in golf tourneys around Washington.
Back in Washington for the holidays with no ill effects from a recent automobile accident in Texas, Helen said she has been discussing broadcasting of minor league baseball games in the Middle West during 1942, She will not give up her job with a Chicago sports equipment manufacturing concern, she said, but will tie in her golf work with broadcasting if the baseball deal is arranged.
Helen suffered only a bruised knee in the auto accident near Corsicana, Texas, which put Patty Berg, her companion, in a hospital for 10 days and will keep Patty out of golf for three or four months. Red-headed Patty now is at her Minneapolis home, her knee in a cast. She will not be able to compete in the Southern winter tournaments. In addition to a broken kneecap Patty suffered cuts about the face. Helen’s new sports roadster – a yellow convertible job – was badly wrecked in the accident.
Helen’s plans for the winter are vague. All the golf equipment manufacturers are wondering what is going to happen in the industry in the light of a certain stringent golf ball shortage and predicted curtailment of steel for club shafts. Until an edict comes from headquarters of her firm in Chicago regarding 1942 plans, Helen will remain here. In past winters she has gone to Florida, making Miami her headquarters for a golf promotion job in the state. She may compete in a women’s open tourney at Hollywood, a few miles north of Miami, around the middle of January.
O’Doul tutors Cooper for character role in Gehrig picture
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – To Frank (Lefty) O’Doul, manager of the San Francisco Seals and former New York Giant, goes the task of coaching Gary Cooper for his role of Lou Gehrig in the film version of the late Yankee first baseman’s career.
O’Doul, retained by Sam Goldwyn as technical adviser on the picture, will have as his first assignment teaching Cooper to throw and bat left-handed.
Babe Ruth has been signed to play himself in the picture and is expected here within two weeks.
Stocks sweep up with long-sought year-end rally
Some ‘blue chips’ rise 9 points or more in fast dealing
By Victor Eubank, Associated Press financial writer
NEW YORK (AP) – The long hoped for but sometimes doubted year-end rally hit the stock market today with a buying wave that swept recently weak leaders into the best upswing since late 1940.
Early irregularity caused by heavy tax selling soon gave way to strong reinvestment demand which made the ticker tape hum and lifted favorites 1 to 4 points generally and scattered “blue chips” as much as 9 or so.
Dealings were exceptionally fast at intervals, although slow-downs cropped up after midday. Transfers, however, were around 2,600,000 shares, one of the largest turnovers since May a year ago.
American Telephone was far and away the stellar performer of the day, climbing by leaps and bounds to around nine points above its final price of Monday. At its peak of the session the stock was about 13 points over its low quotation of last week.
Prominent stocks on the bulge included United States Steel, Bethlehem, General Motors, Chrysler, United States Rubber preferred, Western Union, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Great Northern, Union Pacific, Standard Oil of New Jersey, American Can, Westinghouse, Union Carbide, Dupont, Allied Chemical, Douglas Aircraft, Sperry, United Aircraft, Anaconda, Phelps Dodge.
Gains of fractions to around 2 points in a fairly large group of rail issues enlivened the bond market.
Going into the final hour most other groups were moving with the carriers with small gains in the majority in all except United States governments, which held mostly unchanged from yesterday’s prices.
Spending exceeds most expensive World War month
$2,197,358,728 laid out by Treasury for first 26 days of December
By the Associated Press
The Treasury has disclosed that in the first 26 days of this month it spent $2,197,358,728, as compared with $2,061,000,000 in December 1918, the most expensive month in the first World War period.
Defense accounted for $1,585,968,821 of the December 1941 spending. Official records did not show exactly how much of the December 1918 expenditure went directly for war purposes, but a substantial part of it was money lent to the Allies.
In the 1941 counterpart of such loans, lend-lease expenditures in the first 26 days of December aggregated $227,264,706. The Army took more than half of the defense total, spending $839,724,360. The Navy was next with $415,861,130.
On a fiscal year basis, World War totals were due for overshadowing. In the most expensive fiscal year of the World War, the government spent $18,522,895,000. In the current fiscal year, with a little more than six months yet to go, spending already aggregates $11,193,115,238.
Demand for sirens soars as cities arm against air raids
Only few U.S. factories make kind big enough to be effective
CHICAGO (WWN) – Not so long ago the siren reposed in the same merchandising class as the blimp. You could sell one occasionally, but you had to find the right party.
Big sirens, that is, the kind whose breath can rattle window panes and send old maids scurrying to the preserve cellars for miles around.
Well, the war has changed all that, too. Sirens have become a commodity. They’re in demand in every city, village and military station exposed to attack from the air.
In the shops of W. S. Darley Co., for instance, production has tripled since the United States was plunged into war. The Darley line begins with a baby about the size and shape of a fire hydrant and ends with a metal-throated monster whose roar can be heard for seven miles.
Only few manufacturers
A company spokesman said there were probably only half a dozen companies in the country turning out sirens loud enough to be used as air-raid alarms.
These wailers operate on the principal of centrifugal force. Electric motors turn the rotors, which are something like shallow pieces of tubing, partitioned into compartments and with slots in the side. The rotors are set to spinning about 2,800 rpm, where the best pitch is obtained. Air is sucked into the rotors from above and below, filling each of the compartments. Then, almost explosively, it is expelled through the side ports in a continuous scream.
The biggest Darley model is seven and a half horsepower. The spokesman said it was considered impractical to build a siren any bigger because the sound has a tendency to blur and lose its penetrating quality. The biggest siren has a range of from three to seven miles in all directions, depending on wind conditions and other factors, such as tall buildings, hills and the like.
Installation of sirens is largely a trial-and-error proposition, the spokesman said.
Army, Navy supplied first
The night must be right, first of all, with the siren clearing all ledges of the building or tower upon which it stands. Tests must be conducted to make certain it is not playing such tricks as making itself heard on the periphery but not at the center of the region it is supposed to alarm.
The Army and Navy, of course, have first call on the noise makers, but orders are still being filled for municipalities on the coasts, where the danger of air attack is most immediate.
The company built four sirens for Thailand, but before they had left San Francisco Thailand was overrun by the Japanese, so San Francisco bought them. A seven and a half horsepower one has been shipped to Pearl Harbor, and other units have gone recently to Seattle and Centralia, Wash Savannah, Georgia; Gulfport, Mississippi; Reading, Pennsylvania; Corpus Christi, Texas; Nome. Alaska; Havre de Grace, Maryland, and Huntington, Oregon.
Former aide misses Churchill by hours, awaits his Return
Dr. Jill Cossley-Batt worked with statesman during World War I
She worked with Winston Churchill during the last World War and missed an interview with him here by two hours. She came here from New York City only to find that her former chief had departed for Ottawa, Canada.
However, Dr. Jill Cossley-Batt, of the faculty of the University of London, says she will remain here in the hope that she may see the British Prime Minister when he returns, to Washington. But in the meantime, she expects to present Vice President Wallace with seeds of the cinchona tree whose bark yields quinine. She gathered the seeds in the Orient.
With Dr. Irvin Baird and an expedition she spent five years in the high Himalaya mountains studying customs and culture of Tibet inhabitants. The expedition brought back reports of inhabitants who had lived as much as 130 to 150 years. She attributed this longevity to a proper diet, the high altitude and the administering of herbs at proper times.
Worked with Churchill
Dr. Cossley-Batt has been in this country a year working on a book doing research. However, she strongly wishes to serve her country in any capacity that may be needed.
She explained that during the last war she worked with Mr. Churchill in the Chemical Warfare Committee office and since then has visited many countries and has a broad background, not only of languages, but of international events which may prove of value to the British Empire and the United States.
Among her numerous clippings was a letter asking full cooperation for her and the expedition during the stay in Tibet. Signed by the 13th Dalai Lama, it was in the native tongue.
Visits White House
Since her arrival her Sunday she has visited the White House, the British Embassy and the Canadian Legation. However, she declined to reveal her discussions with officials except to say that she was here to do her part in the war effort.
Though as yet no appointment has been arranged she also expects to visit a number of federal agencies. The wild quinine seeds she gathered for presentation to Mr. Wallace came from Nepal, India, she said.
The Oxford and London University educated woman left India in 1935 and since then has been in England, Canada and the United States.
Colossal means 960 cues to musical’s stage crew
‘Hellzapoppin’’ has 156 for orchestra, 804 for the Army in the wings; Variety to sponsor benefit
By Jay Carmody
Probably on the theory that drama editors got that way by flunking mathematics courses and thus becoming disqualified for more respectable work, press agents are wont to resort to statistics from time to time. As they come across the figure items, laying out their literature, it is a part of their routine to turn suddenly to the jaded editor and say: “This will stun you.”
The editor, who stuns less easily every week and sometimes becomes a bit worried about his emotional and intellectual health as a result, looks hopeful. Nine times out of ten, the look and the hope die aborning.
An exception is the statistical chart prepared by Reuben Rabinovitch. Mr. R. (whose name is always thus abbreviated to save space plus wear and tear on typewriters) is running around the country hacking out a welcome for “Hellzapoppin’.” It was one of his notions that, so much having been written about his show, there should be one piece simmering it down to plain figures. Not little figures, you can be sure; plain ones, but imposingly large.
Mr. R. does not let you see the chart at first. He takes it, looks at you as if you were Oscar Levant that night he tiffed with Clifton Fadiman, and asks:
“Do you know how many cues there are in the show?”
“No,” you say, “does the stage manager?”
With no appreciation of the wit of the counter question. Mr. R. asserts: “There are 960 cues in ‘Hellzapoppin’.’”
“Well, I’ll be ------ My! My!” says the editor, censoring his reaction just in the nick of time.
“You can see what a terrific backstage job that is,” says Mr. R. “How would you like to have 960 cues?”
“I’d hate it. but there’s not much danger,” says the editor, who has a hard time with one or two in the course of the average day.
“Would you like to know how these cues are divided?” Mr. R. continues, feeling clueless at the moment.
“Why not?” the editor (talking as if he were stunned or something) asks.
“The cues are divided 804 backstage, 156 for the orchestra,” Mr. R. goes on impressively. “That is anywhere from four to six times as many as the average show has, the rather complicated average musical show, that is.”
“Boy,” whews the editor.
If Mr. R. had wanted to go on from there, he could have pointed out that the 960 cues are supplemented by a prop list of 1,270 articles all of which have to be in a certain place at the split second they are needed.
He apparently did not want to go on.
The editor forgave him.
Washington showmen, members of Variety Club, will sponsor the opening night performance of the “Ice Capades” at Uline’s Arena on January 14, the proceeds to be given to the Navy Relief Society. Chairman Carter Barron of the Benefit Committee wires: “We know the cause for which we will sponsor the opening night is one close to the hearts of every American who will never forget the great heroism of our men in blue who serve in both oceans. We promise additional entertainment for the premiere, which will not be included during the regular engagement.”
Bulletin board: There will be special midnight shows in a lot of movie houses tomorrow night for those stay-out-lates who would like a pre-breakfast movie. … The Earle, Ambassador and Metropolitan and all Warner neighborhood houses will be open. The Pix will show its new British attraction, “A Girl Must Live.” … And Henry Hiser’s Hiser will have a special showing of “I Met a Murderer.” Appropriately, but only accidentally, two critics showed up in dinner clothes last night for the screening of “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” … They were going to supper afterward, thus setting no precedent which might be embarrassing if they later tried to dress for a Tarzan picture. … Or one with Dorothy Lamour.
Back of star’s neck has a double in Marine Corps
HOLLYWOOD (WWN) – Pvt. Phillip Earle of Milwaukee, who is in the Marine Corps at San Diego, broke into the movies because he looks just like John Payne – in the back of the neck.
While Payne was on location at the San Diego base, a scene called for him to get a regulation, close-clipped marine haircut. But Payne needed his hair for other scenes in the picture.
Earle’s neck won him the job. He posed for four minutes while the camera shot from the back – got $75 for his work.
“From now on,” said Earle, “if my gal wants my picture she gets the back of my neck. It’s my best feature.”
A wisp of a role
Humphrey Bogart has emulated Walter Huston by doing a tiny role in “In This Our Life,” Warner Bros.’ picture being directed by John Huston.
The father of the young director portrayed a bit part – without formal screen credit – in the first picture directed by his son, the immensely successful “The Maltese Falcon.” In “In This Our Life,” which co-stars Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent and Dennis Morgan, the elder Huston is making a similar paternal gesture, playing a barkeep who has one line to speak.
Bogart, who was the star of “The Maltese Falcon,” considers that picture was so beneficial to his career, that he decided to make a similarly sentimental gesture. In the younger Huston’s second picture, he will be seen fleetingly as a shadow glimpsed through a glass door.
