Coral Gables Historical Archive
Coral Gables Riviera-Times
Friday, November 21, 1947, page 4 (of 12)
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Coral Gables Riviera-Times
Published Monday through Friday afternoons by the Riviera Publishing Company, 214-220-222 Aragon, Coral Gables 34, Fla. Established as a weekly news-paper January, 1926; combined with the Dade County & Coconut Grove Times, 1929. Published daily except Saturday and Sunday. MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSO-CIATION and Florida Press Association. Albert E. Harum, Editor and Publisher; Kenneth S. Reynolds, Business Manager; James S. Moore, Managing Editor; Helen Reynolds, Society Editor; Edward W. Wright, Circulation Manager. MEYER-BOTH-CO.-NEW YORK-CHICAGO-ATLANTA-DETROIT National Advertising Representatives MEMBERS ASSOCIATED PRESS, UNITED PRESS FULL LEASED WIRES, UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATIONS. NATIONAL EDITORIAL 1947 ASSOCIATION Active Member SUBSCRIPTION RATES - Three months, $6.00; one year, outside of United States, $15.00; local, $12.00; Entered as second class matter, under the Act of March 3, 1879, at the Post Office at Miami, Fla. Telephone 4-2571-4-2572-4-2573. Mail Address, Box 6573, Coral Gables 34, Florida. Coral Gables, "The City Beautiful." The Coral Gables Riviera-Times is liable for errors in advertising only to the extent of the space in which the advertisement appears.
Hitch-hiking
A University of Miami student came into the office yesterday to complain bitterly about the hitch-hiking situation in Coral Gables. He was so "burned up" as a matter of fact that he had written a piece about it that he wanted to publish. In it he accused Coral Gables of discriminating against disabled veterans, GI's and students because two of the University boys had been arrested and brought into court on a thumbing charge. Their sentence was suspended, but our informant says a lot of the students are still mad about it. So perhaps a little explanation is in order. There are a lot of cities throughout the United States that place an absolute ban on hitch-hiking. Coral Gables is NOT one of them. Such a law was proposed to the city fathers but they refused to pass it because they realized that a lot of ex-GI's needed to thumb a ride every now and then. Nevertheless they could not escape the fact that the practice of thumbing had reached such proportions that it was becoming a definite traffic hazard. They did not want the day to come when an automobile, making a quick turn around a corner, might crash into two or three hitch-hikers. So they did pass a law-but only forbidding thumbing by standing in the street to solicit their rides. If they remain out of the path of traffic and on the sidewalks of the city-then they can thumb to their heart's content. Perhaps many of the students are not familiar with the provisions of the ordinance. If they are not, then University officials should make certain that they all know about it. Coral Gables is not discriminating against students but merely trying to protect them and the motorist. It is a sensible law and one that the students should obey.
Captain of the Forecastle
To the people of the Union States, August 5, 1864 was as much a "D" Day as June 6, 1944. On that gray summer morning, Admiral David G. Farragut, Commander of the Naval Forces of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, led his ships in an attack on one of the most prominent strongholds of the South-Mobile Bay. At the wheel of the Admiral's flagship, the USS Hartford, was seaman John McFarland. He followed the course set by the Brooklyn, lead vessel of the line, while the Admiral climbed high into the rigging to gain a view of the battle area. As they entered the narrow channel leading into the bay, the Tecumseh, a Union monitor, crowded over toward the Brooklyn, while at the same time the Brooklyn crew sighted the buoys ahead which marked the torpedoes. Immediately, even sighting the buoys the Brooklyn backed away from the Tecumseh and the torpedo hit the monitor amidships causing a terrific explosion. At this moment Admiral Farragut made his famous remark, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead," and sent the Hartford into the lead of the line, breaking the defenses of the channel. Breaking through the narrow channel, Seaman McFarland, who was at the wheel, maneuvered the Hartford, under heavy fire from small ships, into position where she could train her guns on the enemy. Undoubtedly and with superb courage, McFarland stayed at his post until the Hartford was able to retaliate and drive off its attackers. Soon great, Farragut destroyed the threat of the Confederate monitor, Tennessee. He ordered McFarland to set a collision course for the monster. McFarland steered the Hartford straight for the Tennessee, and the Lackawanna, another Union vessel, followed. As the two vessels rammed the Tennessee and turned away to complete the maneuver, they collided and at the moment it looked as though the caps of the wheel would be crushed. However, as the debris was cleared away, the crew of the Hartford and Lackawanna found to their amazement that McFarland had remained at his post throughout the crash and through his coolness and bravery the Hartford was able to ram the Tennessee again, pounding it also with its guns. After the second attack by the Hartford, Admiral Buchanan, in command of the Tennessee, was severely wounded and Captain Johnston, second in command, surrendered the vessel to Farragut. On behalf of McFarland's coolness, without which the engagement could not have been a success, Congress voted to present him with the Medal of Honor, the Nation's highest award for valor. The citation read that such coolness and bravery expressed the spirit of the American Navy.
Rats Get Air Trip
NEW YORK-(UP)-Twenty-four large brown rats left La Guardia Field aboard a Sabena Belgian Air Lines plane for Brussels. They will be used for experimental work in fighting an epidemic of infantile paralysis in Belgium.
ABOUT TOWN Late Season By Jim Moore
JIM MOORE So we have a late season this year. It's true. You hear it all over town. Normally by this time a big portion of the advance guard of the winter visitors have arrived, but this year they seem to be conspicuous by their absence. A good index is the list of rooms at the Chamber of Commerce. This year the file is bulging with over 200 rooms and they aren't rented. What's the answer? Why is the season late this year? I think that the answer is simple. There are four factors that have contributed to the general situation. In the first place I think we can lay part of the blame to the cold snap we had last month. I know a particular case of a couple folks who have but two weeks to a month to escape old man winter in Florida. Those who arrived during our "unseasonable" chilly period were downright disgusted. They complained bitterly to the Chamber of Commerce office as if they expected the staff there to magically turn on the warm weather. When they went back up North, their first response massed by the necessity of wearing sweaters and coats here, they spread the word that Florida was a heck of a place and stated firmly that they'd never return. And they won't-for a couple of years. The second factor is this year's weather generally. The hurricanes and the high water that followed. Most of you probably saw the newsreels that depicted only the deluge. Reports carried in the northern press and by radio commentators were exaggerated. One hysterical commentator even went so far as to describe Florida's gold coast as being wiped off the map the night of the storm. Those reports are bound to have an adverse effect, even though we all know that the hurricane season officially and actually ends before the visitors start coming. The third factor is one for which the people of South Florida are largely to blame. It's an attitude in which the winter visitor is regarded as fair game for whatever we can soak him. This is not quite so true in Coral Gables as it is in places like the Beach that cater almost exclusively to the tourist trade. As soon as the first tourist crosses the Florida line, hotel operators, night club owners and the like pour on the old price jacks and start jacking. The fever is contagious and prices of other commodities start on the upward spiral, too. Thirty bucks for a hotel room per day. Forty bucks. How much can we take this guy for? Why leave 'em enough to get home on-they can always wire for more. Coral Gables isn't free from the gouging practice. How about the woman who asked $100 a week for two rooms in her home? Another guy that wanted $40 and offered no private bath, no private entrance-just a room, a bed and an outstretched hand. In many cases we've already killed the goose that laid the golden egg-at least killed his desire to come back again this winter. The fourth factor ties right in with the third-it's the general tightening of belts that's going on all over the country. Call it a buyer's strike, consumer's resistance or what you like, but it all adds up to the fact that a lot of people have cashed in the last of their war bonds, can see no end to the rising price spiral and have decided that it's time to retrench and try to sock a little money away again. The post-war era of free-spending is fast coming to an end as John Q. Public quits lighting cigars with his dollars and begins to count them again. Fortunately for us, Coral Gables is less affected by these four factors than the purely resort areas. Most of our winter residents come back year after year. Many of them own winter homes here. We don't worry a lot about tourists because we haven't any place to put them if they did come. But nevertheless, we're bound to feel some effect from what everybody is calling, "a late season."
SHORT QUIRKS Francs Fool Portuguese
LISBON, (UP)-Great confusion is being caused in Portugal by the flooding of the black market with 20-cent one franc pieces brought in the country by tourists. They are being mistaken for the Portuguese 50 centavos piece which are worth two and one quarter French Francs.
Families Work Together
WEST WARREN, Mass. (UP)-Employed at the William E. Wright & Sons Co. factory are 86 family combinations, including 198 of the 450 employes. Topping the list is the Zalewski family-father,son and four daughters.
Bostonians Thrifty
BOSTON (UP)-The Boston Five Cent Savings Bank has announced that total deposits now exceed $200,000,000, the largest figure ever reported by a New England savings institution. The deposits are the savings of 180,000 persons.
Not Too Old to Parade
NORWOOD, Mass. (UP)-In the parade celebrating this town's 75th birthday rode Mrs. Marsha Tomm, 105, Norwood's oldest citizen.
Radio Goes Realistic
NEW YORK (UP)-Unexpected realism was injected into a rehearsal of a radio adventure at the studios of radio station WOR when a small fire set off the sprinkler system. The actors were drenched.
BURGLAR PERSISTENT
Lewistown, Pa. (UP)-Clyde Bailey, 30, not only returned to the scene of his crime but came back to commit the same crime again. Bailey was charged with burglary of the local Moose home and freed on bail. Three weeks later he was arrested while trying to pry open a window of the same building. * * * Marine Mariner Ship 38 will meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the Housekeeper's Club, 2985 So. Bayshore Dr.
ODD BUT TRUE By RICK MEYERS
BASKETBALL ON ICE ICE-SKATEBALL, A NEW SPORT INTRODUCED AT LAUREL IN THE PINES, NEW JERSEY, REQUIRES TWO NURSES ON SKATES TO STAND BY FOR FIRST AID TO PLAYERS. BEAR FACTS SOLDIERS IN ALASKA HAD NO GARBAGE DISPOSAL PROBLEM. THEY MERELY PLACED THE REFUSE OUTSIDE THEIR DOORS AND BEARS WOULD TAKE IT AWAY. HIGH-WAY ROBBERY AN IDAHO SHERIFF REPORTED THE RECENT THEFT OF A 20-TON STEEL BRIDGE THAT CROSSED THE MALAD RIVER. GOOD WILL LIGHTER A WILL SCRATCHED WITH A SHARP NEEDLE BY A SOLDIER ON HIS RONSON LIGHTER WAS ADMITTED TO PROBATE. THE SIGNER LEFT EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE LIGHTER, TO HIS BROTHER.
REVIEWING THE NEW BOOKS By UNITED PRESS
Current lively interest in the novels of Henry James makes this an opportune time to brush up on his life and background. F. O. Matthiessen, foremost James critic, has gone all out in producing a "group biography" of the intellectual Jameses-father Henry, Sr., psychologist William, novelist Henry, Jr., and sister Alice. This huge book, The James Family (Knopf, $6.75) together with another tome, The Notebooks of Henry James, edited by Matthiessen and Kenneth Murdock (Oxford $6) furnish a veritable literary feast. Born wealthy, the Jameses might have frittered away their time in idleness, but the drive of active minds was not to be denied. Henry, Sr., a pioneer thinker and familiar of the great writers of the day was a shrewd and unpredictable character. William's lectures at Harvard and writings on pragmatism made him America's first great psychologist and best known philosopher. But the passage of time has favored most the stature of Henry the novelist, and it is he who draws most of Mr. Matthiessen's critical attention. Henry's notebooks, published for the first time, furnish a peculiarly intimate view of a great mind at work. There one may trace his masterpieces in the making. * * * Fabulously wealthy Americans who were able to indulge their every whim, whether in good taste or bad, are described in Era of Elegance (Funk & Wagnalls, $3) by Andrew Tully, a former staff writer of the New York World-Telegram. "Roughly," the author says in a foreword, "the Era of Elegance comprised the period of 1865 to 1914-the fabulous between-two great wars when the nation's industrial pulse was quickening and the very wealthy enjoyed their wealth without the pricking of social conscience." Thus, Henry Clay Frick, the steel and coke monger, embittered when he broke with his former partner, Andrew Carnegie, could say, when he saw Carnegie's $1,000,000 house, "I'll make that place look like a miner's shack." He proceeded to build a mansion in Manhattan that cost $17,000,000, and filled it with a $30,000,000 art collection. The book tells of the dinner party at which swans glided over a miniature lake built into the huge table; of Harry Payne Whitney's $20,000 dinner at which each guest discovered in one of his oysters a costly black pearl; of Mrs. Astor's famous gold service, which was found, after her death, to be plated; of J.P. Gould sleeping in an almost monastic chamber, and of J. Pierpont Morgan betting 50 cents he could carry a tune. * * * The Very Rev. Dr. Hewlett Johnson has come to be known as the "Red Dean" of Canterbury through his espousal of the cause of Soviet Russia. Johnson has had probably unequalled opportunities to observe the Soviet Union, most particularly in a three-months trip there two years ago. He moved all through the Caucasus, taking in Soviet Armenia, Georgia (Stalin's birthplace), and winding up with an almost unprecedented tour of Soviet Asia. He saw Tashkent and Samarkand as well as Yerevan and Echmiadzin. Out of his experience he has written Soviet Russia Since the War (Boni & Gaer, $3) which is surely one of the most informative of the traveler's books to come out of Russia since 1945. Johnson had an interview with Stalin which cast more light on the attitude of the Soviet Union toward religion than any other conversation which the Soviet ruler has yet given. And he has faithfully investigated the status of all the leading Soviet religions-the Russian Orthodox, the Moslem, the Baptist, the Jewish and the Armenian church. For anyone who is interested in facts rather than prejudice about Russia this volume by Johnson is a goldmine of information. * * * Otto Eisenschiml and Ralph Newman, in their book The American Iliad; the Story of the Civil War as Narrated by Eyewitnesses and Contemporaries (Bobbs-Merrill, $5) have turned out a work which all scholars of the 1860-65 period will enjoy. The story, as told through those who were actually engaged in the doing, has a surprisingly modern ring and many authentic touches so obviously missing from your latest best-selling novel. One of the finest is the description of the death of the great Confederate cavalry leader, J. E. B. Stuart. Manassas, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Battle of the Wilderness also live in its pages.
HOLLYWOOD FILM SHOP By PATRICIA CLARY United Press Staff Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD (UP)-For the first time in 11 years, Dorothy Lamour doesn't have a single sarong. "I feel like a new woman," she says. "I'm acquiring my own personal new look." Miss Lamour did her sarong swan song in her new picture, "A Miracle Can Happen." It used up her last sarong. "A producer will have to come along with something super-special to get me to wear one again," she said. "From now on it's going to be shorts, slacks and evening gowns." It was an independent producer, Ben Bogeaus, who persuaded Miss Lamour to take the last fling in a sarong for a sequence in his "Miracle" picture. She consented only because the role would let her burlesque herself and Hollywood in general. Miss Lamour does everything from comedy falls to treadmill running and cooch dancing in her song number, called "Queen of the Hollywood Islands." Anything for Art "I even imitate Lassie," she said. "That's how far I'll go for my art." The final sarong which the actress wears in the number was designed by Edith Head, as were the other 26 sarongs which Miss Lamour has draped around her in past South Sea Island epics. Miss Head whipped up the number on the night before it was to be worn. Miss Lamour went to her closet and discovered that the other 26 sarongs all were out on bond tours. "I got rid of them by offering them as prizes for bond selling," she explained. The current sarong was earmarked for another tour before Miss Lamour even finished the picture. It made a personal appearance in New Orleans, the actress' home town.
FOR YOUR REAL ESTATE NEEDS SEE LESLIE H. COOMBES REALTOR
2312 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Phone 4-2586 Member Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation
FROM A RIVIERA NOTEBOOK By Mary Helm Clarke THE FIRST WEDDING AT THE BILTMORE
As this column is being written the air is full of romance. It is Princess Elizabeth's wedding day (and incidentally the sensible day of Philip Mountbatten). Even the Riviera Notebook has caught the excitement of the day, for its pages turned automatically to the description of the first wedding in the Miami Biltmore Country Club, that of Miss Harriet Whyte to Mr. Alfred Lee McCarth; The fall of 1926 was Coral Gables' fifth social "season," but prior to January 1926, the Miami Biltmore Country Club had consisted of a golf course and a group of portables. Then, early in the year, John McEntee Bowman opened his fabulous Miami Biltmore Hotel, with the sumptuous Country Club separated from the hotel only by three swimming pools. The high winds of the hurricane in September, 1926 did no appreciable damage to the Biltmore, which in fact, stands stories above the city of Coral Gables, but at 139 S. E. 15th Road, where Harriet Whyte was planning her fall wedding, the home was buffeted by waves as well as winds, and came out much the loser in the frenzied struggle against the elements. In casting about for a setting suitable for the informal, home wedding, noon breakfast and reception the Whytes had planned, the new Miami Biltmore Country Club came to mind, and the choice was perfect. The ceremony took place before an improvised altar arranged at the fireplace in the East Room. The East Room and the dining room were decorated with tall baskets of white chrysanthemums and bride's roses, and arranged about were palms. The wedding breakfast was served in the banquet hall overlooking the rolling fairways to the south and opening onto a balcony and stairway leading to a tree shaded patio at the north entrance. Monogrammed silverware and table appointments conveyed the elegance of a home dining room, and in the spacious banquet hall the guests lingered after the breakfast to dance. The broadcast of the wedding at Westminster Abbey caught the thrill of romance that fired the imagination of listeners in Miami, but there was more thrill in actual participation for those who attended the first wedding in the Biltmore, that of the Alfred Lee McCarthys.
It Says Here
Robert T. Rickert, better known as "Rick", who directs the current play at the Ring Theater was a bombardier-navigator during the war with 44 missions in the South Pacific... Capt. Lou Reeve of the police has been listed in the phone book for years as Reeves (with an S) despite the fact he's tried to get it corrected on numerous occasions.... We thought we were giving Larry Larson a pat on the back when we itemed here the other day that the Lions Club Bulletin had called him "A Model Lion." But today we received a note from him stating, "I object very seriously to being called a Model Lion. I just looked up the definition of "model" and Webster says it is a small imitation of the real thing." They tell us that Billie Harting looked like Carmen Miranda at yesterday's fashion show... We got a kick out of one of the U. of M. floats in the parade last night. It had a big can of chloride used on meat with the label stating "canned by the University of Miami-approved by Harding." ... A fellow who drove into a parking slot which showed 40 minutes on the meter was heard to remark: "It's a pity I have only 20 minutes for lunch."... Dick Danner, that City Manager from up north, told us he's gotten up many a morning determined to quit his post... Silliman Evans Jr., whose Dad owns the Nashville Tennesseean and who was once a U. of M. student, was a spectator at the Vanderbilt game.... he rooted for Vandy, the home town team. ... Plans have been drawn for a new bar and soft drink fountain at the Country Club of Coral Gables... the bar was added by Dr. Washburn turned spectator at the 15th concert of the Philharmonic... He brought a Yankee snivel back from New York with him... C. F. Bielman, prep of Hugo's restaurant says he has no time to himself anymore since the Riviera-Times comes out daily... just readin' and readin' and readin'.
Book of Numbers
NEW YORK (UP)-Mrs. Bertha O'Neill, candy store operator, was arrested for possessing policy numbers, which the arresting policeman said were hidden in a Bible in the store. Magistrate Morris Rothenberg commented: "This is another illustration of the old proverb that the devil will use the Scriptures to serve his purpose."
Mayor Sticks Neck Out
Wabash, Ind. (UP)-Mayor Homer T. Showalter has resolved never again to fine anyone else a kiss. The mayor claimed a fine of a kiss from a bride and dismissed traffic charges against a wedding party. The resultant publicity brought him a letter from a "lonesome friend" in Indianapolis asking him to get him a wife.
LET YOUR INVESTMENT AND SAVINGS FUNDS earn 2 1/2% PER ANNUM Our Current Dividend Rate
Each account is insured up to $5,000 by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. Your account may be opened and handled by mail. CORAL GABLES FEDERAL Savings & Loan Association GEORGE B. CASTER, President 2501 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Telephone 4-7627 Member Federal Home Loan Bank Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation