Coral Gables Historical Archive
Coral Gables Riviera
Friday, February 28, 1941, page 4 (of 10)
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THE CORAL GABLES RIVIERA
Page 4 THE CORAL GABLES RIVIERA FRIDAY, FEB. 28, 1941
Tropical In Shipshape; New Season Opens Monday
One hundred and ten days with nary a broken-down horse is a record being shattered daily at Tropical Park where everything is set for the 34-day Spring session that gets underway Monday, March 3. New high-water marks in mutuels play and attendance have been the rule at the Gables Racing Association, and while these records are pleasing it is to the 110-day safety performance of the thoroughbreds officials point with the greatest pride. Just three short years ago the Tropical Park running strip did not enjoy its present reputation for safety. That was before 81-year-old William A. "Dad" Myer was imported to completely revamp the course. Backed by more than 40 years experience at 26 major American tracks Myers pitched in with a vengeance. His first move was to tear up completely the existing strip and lay 15,000 feet of new dirt. He added a dozen or more harrows, all home constructed under his direction, and began to shower from 40,000 to 60,000 gallons of water daily on the track surface. "A race track like Rome, is not built in a day, however. There were innumerable jobs demanding to be done; new soil to be spread; new chemicals to be added to the turf. Yet today, with three years of painstaking effort behind, Tropical Park can survey the results with mingled pleasure and pride at the 110-day no safe performance which thoroughbreds have set since the course was opened exactly 110 days ago. Since that first afternoon more than 1000 horses have been stabled at Tropical Park, in addition to many shipped from Hialeah Park for the 16-day winter season. These horses have appeared again and again over the Gables strip, and yet not a single one has returned distressed or lame. It is a record all racing associations would like to attain. "The race track proper, contrary to popular belief, takes its worst beating during the training hours," said spry, 81-year-old Myer when caught between duties at Tropical Park. "Horses continue to pound a narrow belt of turf, no more than a few feet wide, time and time again, day in and day out, and this dirt naturally loses its life and bouyancy and becomes old and pulverized. New, young dirt must then be added, low spots must be filled in and weak sections strengthened. This all calls for constant alertness, but the finished product is worth the long hours entailed. "Tropical Park has been congratulated by many horsemen, too, for its quick-drying qualities. They may have overlooked the fact that, even during its worst condition, at the peak of the winter season storms, the slowest running time for six furlongs was but 1:14 2-5. That, too, is something of a record." Myer lays it all to the bouyant top surface and to the billiard-table smoothness of the under layer of dirt; also to his coterie of assistants who are all farmers, and keen experts on dirt. All are abxious to see the 110-day record continue on to brand new levels of safety during the coming 34-day Spring season which opens on March 3 and continues through the final roundup of Miami racing on April 10.
America's Young Men Find a New Kind of Life in the Army
THOUSANDS of young men, volunteers and draftees alike, are today swelling the ranks of the U.S. Army as the nation's gigantic defense program moves rapidly forward. And in the Army, America's young men are finding an entirely new kind of life, different from any they have previously known. Regardless of his background in civilian life, the young recruit shares his tent or barracks with five or more other men whom he has never seen before, learning the theory of soldiering and the reality of the comradeship of men in arms. Most important single individual to the young recruit is his drill sergeant, who supervises practically all of his activities, is sometimes severe but always a teacher. THE QUARTERMASTER CORPS of the Army maintains 12 schools for bakers and cooks where a four-month course is given to train mess officers. Keeping up to the American standard of food consumption, the U.S. Army makes liberal allowance for an unfailing supply of healthful food. No scrimpimg is encouraged, and today's soldier finds that his daily fare is varied and substantial. The Quartermaster Corps buys food in large quantities and then distributes it to the various posts. Eggs, milk, vegetables and other fresh foods are bought in the area of each Army post. Average cost per day of feeding a soldier is about 42 cents, with variations depending upon local prices. BASIC UNIT of every army is still the infantryman, and his rifle is still a powerful weapon. Not until he has mastered its use, with other fundamentals of combat, will he be taught the mysteries of the more complicated arms. The lessons that American Army men have learned from the wars in other lands are being put into practice today, the latest March of Time film, "Arms and the Men — U.S.A.," reveals. The film, which shows how the young men in Uncle Sam's new citizen army live, what they are learning, how they are being trained, and many other phases of the nation's defense program, points out that the U.S. has but recently begun to mechanize its army. Young Americans take an absorbing interest in everything mechanical, and today they are being taught the complex details of tanks and planes along with the new techniques of battle. In dress rehearsal, the film shows, every man plays again and again the part he may some day be called upon to take in deadly earnest.
Fifteen Open New Comedy Wednesday
Next week the Fifteen will postpone their usual Tuesday evening opening one night in order to donate their services for the benfit performance of "Big Hearted Herbert", sponsored by the Lions Club of Coral Gables. "Big Hearted Herbert" will be presented Tuesday evening, March 4th, at 8 p. m. at the Coral Gables Elementary School to raise funds for sight conservation of underprivileged children and funds to purchase uniforms for the elementary school band. "Big Hearted Herbert", a hilarious comedy by Sophie Kerr and Anna Steese Richardson, will open its regular run at the Theatre of the Fifteen Wednesday evening, March 5th, and play through the remainder of the week. The play attempts to settle the question as to whether Father or Mother knows best how to bring up the children. The authors seem to side with Mother and prove their point very logically in their uproariously funny picture of family life. James Crow plays the title role of Herbert, and Mary Greene the part of his long-suffering wife who finally turns the tables on him with hilarious results. Louise Long plays their daughter and Willard Thompson the Harvard man to who she is engaged. Others in the cast include Vaughn Baggarly, Barbara Parmley, Elise Werthman, Frank Rollinger, Richard C. Sullivan, Elisabeth Cope, Samuel Leiderman, Virginia Adams, David Derbyshire and Andre Ricou. "Big Hearted Herbert" is directed by Hale McKeen. The settings are designed and executed by Edward Sheffield.
Beer Truckers Robbed Monday By Two Bandits
Hot on the heels of the three-holdups that shocked Coral Gables during the last days of last week, this Monday night brought another armed robbery to the city when two truck operators of a beer company were robbed of their day's receipts and locked in the back of their own truck by two armed bandits on Levante Ave. near Red Road. Fred West, driver of the beer truck, said that the two robbers, who were driving a small 1937 sedan, pulled up beside the truck on lonely Levante, produced a gun, and ordered him to stop the truck. The bandits took $424.90 from West and his assistant, Alfonso Nordella, and forced the two men to climb in the back of the truck, where they were locked in. The robbery was discovered when West managed to break a small window and reach the horn button. The horn attracted a police car, and West and Nordella were released.