The Coral Gables Times

Suburbia Today THE MAGAZINE OF PLEASANT PLACES Published Monthly

In This Issue . . .

Max on Max . . . page 6 He wasn't born with a pencil in his hand, but he got hold of one soon after that blessed event—and he hasn't let go since. Here, in his own words, is the true-life story of humorist Max Shulman, from scrawling verses at the age of four to Barefoot Boy With Cheek; The Tender Trap; Rally Round The Flag, Boys; and most recently, I Was A Teen-Age Dwarf (starring Dobie Gillis). Bon, Better, Best Voyage . . . page 12 Before you go, say veteran travelers Luis and Jo Villalon, be sure you've done everything possible to enjoy your trip and to find home, on your return, as secure as it was when you left. Here are tips on "closing up shop," baggage, language, reservations, shopping, and other "points of departure." The Camera as Artist . . . page 16 A beautiful photograph is just as much a work of art as a Rembrandt or Picasso, says Ivan Dmitri, Director of Photography In The Fine Arts, even though, he admits, it may have been made by a tree branch tripping a shutter. This month he tells what makes photography fine art and describes some of the recent controversy surrounding the subject. Glug, glug and simmer . . . page 22 Once upon a time the best cooks were either little French men or big Italian men who would have died before passing on their secrets to anyone but their first-born son. Things have certainly changed, says author Herbert Brean, in a look at the cooking school craze now packing them in all over the country.

Homer Hill

A successful commercial artist whose fine-arts style has won him so many prizes the New Jersey Watercolor Society won't let him compete in shows any more, our cover artist brilliantly proves that rain, this time of year, can be a cheerful thing. Further proof is found on page 26, in a bright splash of the latest in pretty rainwear.

LEONARD S. DAVIDOW Publisher ERNEST V. HEYN Editor-In-Chief MARION LOWNDES Editor DELMAR LIPP Managing Editor CHRISTINA PAPPAS Associate Editor PHILLIP DYKSTRA Art Director JOHN BAILEY Humor Editor SUBURBIA TODAY is distributed nationally with newspapers in selected suburban communities. Editorial offices at 60 East 56th St., New York 22, N. Y. Advertising offices at 575 Lexington Ave., New York 22, N. Y. Business offices at 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, Ill. Patrick O'Rourke, Advertising Director. Ford King, Advertising Manager. Morton Frank, Director of Publisher Relations. © 1961, Suburbia Publishing Corporation, 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 1, Ill. All rights reserved.

"I'm not just unkind to you. I'm unkind to everybody." SUBURBIA TODAY

GETTING AROUND . . . to Our Pleasant Places and People

FRED T. GILLEY TELLS us that the Harry E. Thomasons, who live in District Heights, Maryland, heated their house comfortably last winter—for $4.65!—by trapping and storing heat from the sun. The solar-heating system also gives a full-blooming flower garden in early spring and year-round swimming in a 2,000-gallon outdoor pool and air-conditions in summer by trapping and storing "coolness" at night. Correspondent Helen S. Phillips reports the following curious sight: 200 pheasants belonging to retired optician V. C. Norwood, of Arvada, Colorado, all wearing red spectacles. It seems that pheasants are prone to peck each other to death unless something is done to prevent it, and Dr. Norwood explains that the red blinders spoil a bird's aim. The glasses come with small plastic hooks that slip into the bird's nostrils. "I have less trouble fitting my pheasants than I did my human patients," says Dr. Norwood. "No complaints, either." The latest slogan of a Hopkins, Minnesota, realty firm is "Sell by Noon or Else!"—Carl H. Noon, that is, new sales manager of the Vincent Else Realty company. The fathers' group of an organization called Parents Without Partners meets once a month, in Freeport, New York, to discuss in an informal atmosphere the problems that widowed and divorced fathers have with their children. Imagine the chagrin of Police Officer Fred Kellogg out in Ferndale, Michigan, who stood by as an irate motorist tore up a one-dollar ticket for overparking, right in front of the patrolman, and scattered the pieces all over the sidewalk. Mr. Kellogg didn't panic, however. He simply gave the offender a $5 ticket for littering. Honor students of the Reading, Massachusetts, high school who get at least three A's, one B, and no grade below B don't have to go to class says Principal Ara A. Karakashian. The plan i.. reward for excellence and requires that the lucky dozen who thus far have qualified must report to school, attend homeroom period, keep current on all assignments, and go to regularly scheduled quizzes and exams—but they don't have to go to class if they decide that independent study would be of greater benefit to them. When the Monroe Stambaughs, weekend guests of the George Allisons, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, went home to Middletown Township, New Jersey, they took one of the Allisons' carrier pigeons with them, so they could send a thank-you note via this special air mail. The bird delivered the note three hours after it was released, 200 miles from the Allison house. There's a large illuminated sign on a well-appointed hostelry near Hallandale, Florida, that announces: "We Honor Diners' Club—Hilton—American Express—Also Cash." Continued on page 4