The Coral Gables Times

THE Coral Gables TIMES

Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at 308 Aragon, Coral Gables, Fla. | Second Class Postage Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL | Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS | President Robert M. Slane | Advertising Manager John Mullin | Circulation Manager Mrs. Irene Stoeber | Classified Manager Miss Helen Reynolds | Society Editor Mrs. Eleanor Newsholme | Office Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere

Not So Wild a Dream

We're a town of 35,000 people. Typically American in size, we are, and when it's all toted we probably are typical in most other ways as well. That's why a term like "foreign aid" seems fuzzy, a remote idea. We know we pay taxes and that some of our Federal money gets shipped overseas but that's about the extent of our personal involvement in foreign aid. This community has reason to be puffed up over what some of its members, under the direction of Dr. Robert L. Cherry, are doing in Cartagena, Colombia. A total of 20 men went down last week at their own expense bearing pharmaceuticals which were the gift of American drug companies. Other Gableites besides Dr. Cherry were Drs. Homer V. Briggle, Louis F. Jourdain, J. R. Taylor, Kennth G. Wittich, W. L. Wagener Jr. and M. A. Gonzalez. Not only did they carry drugs, they took their professional knowledge as dentists and doctors. This, truly, is the best of foreign aid. Here were Coral Gables citizens personally showing their willingness to help those in another nation in need of help. The Christian Church, for different motives, pointed the way many years ago. America need not fear the ideas of any ideology when it can point to such work as this. It is but a re-expression of the original American dream which to-day is often lost in the haze of our over-powering well being.

It Looks Very Inviting

Remember The Times 25 Years Ago

Speaking of inspections, several Gableites are predicting vigorous protests when the time comes to renew driver's licenses. Seems that the boys think that a driver's license should come under state jurisdiction . . . Picture of nonchalance: Two Gables firemen standing easily on the back platform of a racing fire engine, laughing and chatting . . . The University of Miami swimming team returned from Lake Worth this week with both high point trophies for the Junior and Senior AAU meet. They also chalked up six new records to their credit . . . Mrs. Richard Giersch was elected regent of the Coral Gables chapter of the D.A.R. . . . Ernest R. Graham, owner-manager of the Graham Dairies, announced his candidacy for the office of state senator. His platform consisted of abolition of the poll tax, removal of the schools from politics, reduction of gasoline tax and adequate representation for Dade County in the legislature . . .

Everybody's Business

By Rolfe Neill Married Life Overheard at the A & P last Thursday night: He (irritably): "You look like a poodle shedding." She (irritably): "Oh, I need a shampoo. I'll get one Monday." * * * Author, Author Writer Philip Wylie, who lives just off Sunset Drive at the South end of the Gables, has plenty of privacy on his spacious lot. Apparently, though, all that vacant land adjacent to his home has stirred buyers' interest. On the lower end of the lot there's a sign tacked to a tree: "No for Sale." In searching for an old favorite Wylie volume at the Bus Station newsstand I was delighted this week to find him surrounded with good company. To his left was Pearl Buck. On top of him was William Faulkner and beneath, John Steinbeck. Who could ask for better? * * * Challenge Attorney Ray A. Morrissey Jr. of 1421 Columbus Blvd. is proud of the Coral Gables Civitan Club of which he's president. Ray says they are the only civic club in America to sponsor a Junior Achievement club, that they recently turned over a total of $4,000 to worth-while projects and on top of this donated a truck and scholarships to other needy causes. Any other club claim to top the Gables' Civitans? * * * Cool, Man Interesting are the reasons people come to Florida. Jack Lester, in Tony's Riviera Times Barbershop, is an Englishman who came to America eight eyears ago. He went first to Washington, D.C., but moved here because it was "too darn hot" there in the summer. "I wouldn't dream of going a... where else now — not even back to England. "When I was there I had my own shop right across from Wembley Stadium. But I didn't know what I was missing." * * * In Passing City Manager L. W. Robinson Jr. was being boomed by one influential Dade Countian for the Metro public works post which came open last week with the firing of the man who held it. However, the job was filled a few days later and the we-want-Robinson movement never had much of a chance to get moving. Robinson most likely knew nothing of it.

In the Kind of House We Used to Live In Oldtimer Recalls Root Beer, Raisin Wine

The author of the following article is a Coral Gables housewife, Mrs. Vangie (Robert S.) Grant, 911 Venetia Ave. Her husband is an executive with National Airlines. The story was provoked, she says, by a recent ed she saw in The Times with the caption "Don't Be Victorian." The house in which she grew up was in Washington, D.C. By VANGIE GRANT Do you remember the old-time houses? Ours, I guess, was a typical one, and they just don't build them like that any more. Start with the basement. There was a boarded-off section up front for the coal. We had two kinds, though I don't remember why. One was called pea coal, and the other was just plain coal. And it came regularly from Colliflower's Coal Yard. Next, of course, was the furnace, which someone always had to "shake" and which was always in danger of going out. In the rear of the cellar was a storage room, always locked. In the summer, it contained quilts, blankets, coats, galoshes and Christmas tree decorations. In the winter, mother stored our summer frocks and white shoes. Out the back door was an "areaway" to the trash barrels and garbage can. Come up the stairs to the first floor. To the right was the pantry. (Why don't they build those any more?) It was always stocked with goodies — spices, flour, sugar, home-made chili sauce and root beer, tins of crackers and cookies. Just outside the pantry was the fireless cooker. Boy! I can still smell the corned beef and cabbage that cooked all day. And what kitchen was without a rocker for whoever peeled the vegetables? Do you remember the old icebox with the basin underneath? Heaven help the one who forgot to empty it. Off the kitchen were the backstairs to the second floor. Such a wonderful escape. Through the swinging door to the dining room. Here was our oval walnut table, with extra leaves for big family dinners. There were the corner china closet with shelves full of Aunt Susie's hand-painted dishes and the big buffet with Grandmother Downey's cut-glass bowls. Inside were our white linen napkins, each in its own silver napkin rings, and Dad's special tea spoon that flipped open to hold the tea leaves. Then there was the dismal wallpaper that changed from time to time and finally gave way to a modern coat of paint. What a scraping job that was. The double glass doors that opened to one of two parlors, which in turn were separated by portieres. There stood the upright piano. No "player piano" for us. Mother was talented, and how we loved to hear her sing "Oh Promise Me" and "The End of a Perfect Day." In this room, also, was the music cabinet, with the shelves that pulled out for your selection of sheet music. In the "company" parlor was a fireplace, beside which sat a pink jardiniere. I still don't know what it was for. On the walls were havy, glass-ed-in pictures. Whatever became of the bearskin rug? And the tiger skin with the stuffed head? My, they were smart, but I think the last time the cleaners picked them up Mother said not to bring them back. There were shades on the windows, white glass curtains, and draperies which changed each spring and fall. In the hallway was that odd piece of furniture called a hall rack. There was a mirror in the center and the seat opened up to hold our rubbers. Hats and sweaters hung on side hooks. Next to this was the umbrella stand. At the very front of the house was the vestibule. Here the mail landed on a small marbled floor, after being pushed through a slot. Upstairs in the bedrooms, one might find such things as buttonhooks, cut-glass powder jars, matched silver brushes and hand mirror. And don't forget the nail buffer. In the bathroom, do you remember the razor strap and shaving mug? The rubber stopper in the claw-foot tub, chained to the spigot? I'll never forget the hissing radiator on which we always put our bath towel to get it nice and warm. Of course, one could go on forever about old houses and the things in them. I know I could about ours — the parties, the huge wooden crates of groceries delivered from the market, the home-made ice cream (peach and chocolate) on Sunday nights, and oh! the beer and raisin wine that Uncle Harry used to come over and make. Indeed, those were the good days, and how well I remember them.

CITY SIDE

By Maurice Labelle "This is the most beautiful shopping center I've seen in my life," Lee Harward, representative of Marquam and Company, told the Retail Merchants Division board last week. And this was before they endorsed his company's plan to solicit ads for the Homestead AFB guide and directory too! At the same meeting Mace Harris, Gables appliance man and Stanley Abrams, manager of Modernage, advised the board not to take a stand opposing re-zoning the "Burdine" tract on South Dixie Highway for more business. In a new spirit of cooperation between businessmen, Harris told the group, "Let's get members who are going to work with us ..." The City Commission later in the day denied the zoning move. —ML— The request for a trial by Mrs. Shirley Searle and Norweida Barrow, meter maids recently dismissed by the city, will once more pit City Attorney Ted Semple and Attorney William Pruitt. Pruitt defended Tax Assessor Tommy Blount in 1954 after Blount was fired by former city manager William McIlwain. Blount won reinstatement. —ML— Charles Berry, a candidate in the recent election, suddenly found himself in the role of official greeter when Gov. Farris Bryant arrived at Sebring recently for the auto races. —ML— People who give up smoking usually enjoy telling how they accomplished the tour de force. City Publicity Director Bert Burris is no exception. Burris tells how he got "gigged" out of it while in Officer Candidate School in wartime Miami Beach. Having cigaret packages bulging from shirt pockets netted candidates gigs or demerits and a certain number of gigs meant dismissal. Bert found it easier to quit smoking. He hasn't smoked since. —ML— A young Gables boy was both hero and villain recently — he turned in his older brother for swiping a dead end, a motel and an apartment sign, a fire extinguisher and four rubber bumpers used in painting lines on streets. The items were taken in Fort Lauderdale during the recent annual coed sun and fun conference. —ML— One of the reasons the People to People Committee wants to incorporate is that a few fun lovers who went to Cartagena last year almost turned the trip into an organized version of the "Ugly American." The committee says it wants to screen out the socializers from the serious workers. —ML— A "high rise" building was approved by the City Commission last week without a whisper of opposition. It was the nine "short" story UM library building. Building is equivalent to about seven or eight stories because book storing floors are sub height.