The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, July 27, 1961, page 4 (of 24)

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THE Coral Gables TIMES

Established Jan. 18, 1926 Published Weekly at Second Class Postage 364 Seville Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL | Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS | President Robert M. Slane | Advertising Manager Roy Speier | Circulation Manager Maurice Lebelle, Raymond Lang, Becky Doyle-Quinn | Reporters Mrs. Irene Stoeber | Classified Manager Miss Helen Reynolds | Society Editor Mrs. Eleanor Newsholme | Office Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere

A Library, Yes; A Consultant, No

A story in the Times last week noted that the City Commission "balked" at spending $6,000 to hire a consultant to plan the proposed new library. The implication was that the city fathers would think the matter over and then act. We hope that when they've thought it over they will not appropriate a penny for a library consultant. We do not believe one is needed. The Times has backed vigorously the building of a new building. And certainly it would be folly to spend an estimated $450,000 on a facility and not have it well planned. But the question is, Is a planner needed? We would suggest not. It seems to us that there is available - both in published form and in the only-to-be-asked-for advice of other cities - a plentitude of material which will tell us how to go about our new edifice. Certainly, our own admirable bibliophile at the liberary, Margaret Beaton, has sufficient background to give intelligent direction to its planning. On top of this, we have already invested several thousand dollars in an earlier consultant whose work, through no fault of anyone locally, turned out to be unacceptable. Let's take that $6,000 and put it where it's really needed - on the bookshelves in new volumes.

Say Hey, Mr. Haley

While we're a mite tardy in the comment, we'd like to add a post script to Reporter Becky Doyle-Quinn's recent interview with Gables architect Curtis E. Haley. Mr. Haley opined, among other things, that 30 years from now the modern homes here may be walled to the property line, two stories in height and be centered around a patio area. We don't know what label that architecutre may carry (a reader wrote calling Mr. Haley a "pessimist") but we have hopes it will be considerably Spanish in its orientation. It has always struck us as odd that there is such an absence of Hispanic influence in our home design here. Except for the occasional Cape Codder or a Gone With the Wind mansion hereabouts (even if incongruous a relief), much of our homes' architecture is as sterile as a Texas ranch house. In fact, this ranch house seems to be the prevailing pattern. Give us balconies, courtyards and airiness. A Florida Room by any other name is still a den. And while we're at it, down with jalousies, too.

EVERYBODY'S Business By Rolfe Neill

She's Right Grace Parks, secretary at the First Presbyterian Church here, wonders if this newspaper might not start a campaign "against persons who open car doors into a line of moving traffic." Grace's complaint is about folks "who actually enter or exit from their cars into moving traffic. "I have had it happen to me so many times, I either have to jam the brakes on and take a chance of the person behind me ramming into me, swerving into the left-hand lane and being sideswiped, or mutilating the thoughtless person (which, believe me, I have felt like doing)." Movies, Morals After seeing the movie "Fanny" this week I got to thinking: Hollywood can put a skilled actor before the camera, have him repeat some convincing lines, pluck a few violins and make even the most Puritanical audience condemn such acts as adultery. Personally, I am glad to to see realistic themes treated by American movie makers although in many instances I think they could take lessons from their foreign competitors in tasteful ways to do it. "Fanny," although implausible, is good entertainment. But it sure makes you aware of the capabilities of the camera. What the cinema does, of course, is not ask your approval of a morally offensive act. Instead, it wins you to the character who has committed the violation. You end up liking him and thereby implicitly condoning the violation. Pleasure I generally find out something interesting in talking to subscribers who call in about their paper. This was true with Mrs. Fred E. Hasty Jr., 5911 Leonardo St. We got to discussing weekly newspapers and she said she still takes the small town weekly at Bellaire, Md., where she and her dentist husband had once lived "to find out the news." Our readers may not be aware of a trend in the newspaper industry but weeklies are increasing in numbers as dailies decline. This is because the big cities' people work there but live in the suburbs (a ala Gables). Nowhere except in a parochial press such as the Times can they find out about the person they're most interested in - themselves. The dailies, necessarily, can't cover the mass of personal matters or multitude of municipal and civic affairs occurring in all the communities within their circulation. Borrowed From the Chapel Hill N.C.) Weekly: If Patrick Henry thought taxation was bad without representation he should see us with it. Question Mrs. Margaret Merrell of Itahca, N.Y. wrote to the Christian Science Monitor recently to ask a question about the history of the ampersand or character "&." To me, the figure "&" has always been the most graceful symbol used in English, although it seems to be in poor repute with grammarians. It's the flourish and free form which I like. As to the history, the Monitor says: "In earlier days, when reciting the alphabet it was neccessary to insert the phrase "per se" whenever the letter by itself made a word. "Thus the first letter of the alphabet was "& per se &," soon corrupted to "ampersand." "The character itself is a combination of the letters "e" and "t" of the Latin "et" meaning "and."

Remember The Times

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The University of Miami announced the purchase of the old hotel building on University Drive that it had been using as a dormitory (now known as San Sebastian Residence Hall) . . . Several Coral Gables merchants have petitioned the City for permission to install slot machines. They feel that as long as Gables residents are going outside the city limits to play slot machines, the profit from such operation can just as well go to local merchants and the city treasury . . . Mayor and Mrs. Roscoe Brunstetter of 825 Lisbon St., are leaving for a three week trip to California, Washington and Oregon. 10 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK The newly formed Southgate Country Club will hold a dinner dance at The Dixie Belle Inn. The club's first dinner was held on July 15 . . . Members of Riviera Presbyterian Church held a "family supper" to celebrate the first year's pastorate of the Rev. John D. Henderson . . . The selection of James J. Keller as new chairman of the Dade County Community Chest has been announced by Sam H. McCormick, Chest president. ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK Bernard Weksler, Coral Gables attorney, has denied rumors that he will seek the mayor's office. He says he would "have nothing to gain by running for political office." . . . Miss Nancy Jean Casey of 3245 Riviera Dr. and Ferdinand G. Kelly were wed at St. Stephen's Church. They will live in Fort Worth, Tex.

The War on Shirt Tails Should Be Public's Fight

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent A South Carolina police chief has declared war on shirt tails. He can't stand the sight of them when worn outside the trousers. In this the chief will command some sympathy, for unconfined shirt tails present one of the unsightliest sights there is. But is this because the spectacle is inherently ugly, or because we aren't used to it? Orientals have worn their shirts that way for generations. The human mind is so constituted that whatever it is accustomed to, is moral. And so whatever is new and strange and different is immoral. Hence the demand for laws, statues, ordinances, regulations and police interferences. Almost any town has on its books ordinances that have become outmoded or can't be enforced, and hence are conveniently forgotten. The chief in question should have learned something from the losing war other police chiefs have waged against the retreating bathing suit. Not many years ago police regulators were measuring bathing shorts with tapes an putting people in the jug for wearing unclothed torsos. But shapely girls replied with Bikinis and the regulators were licked. When the automobile first appeared in the midst of horse traffic, town aldermen tried to outlaw the horseless thing and passed laws that now cause more laughs than comic strips. There are certain matters that do not come under the head of police or aldermanic business. Shirttail regulation had better be left to public opinion, not law. Human habits are determined by custom, not moss-covered ordinances. Custom grows out of necessity or desirability. In the USA there is at present a strong trend toward authority - central, sweeping and wielding power fro above. But permanent growth comes from below.

INK•SPOTS

THE HIGH RISE DECISION IS UP IN THE AIR... JUDGE IRVING CYPEN IS TAKING THE CASE UNDER ADVISEMENT. "I'M GLAD TO HEAR THE DEAN'S REQUIRED THAT OUR MALES BE WELL ATTIRED. I'D LIKE MY GUY TO LOOK REAL 'COOL' EVEN WHEN HE'S IN SCHOOL." VICTOR I. RENUART MAY ANNOUNCE HIS INTENTION TO OPPOSE CONGRESSMAN DANTE B. FASCELL. IF HE DECIDES TO ENTER THE POLITICAL RACE, HE WILL BE THE FIRST RENUART TO SEEK PUBLIC OFFICE. ... WITH HIS FAMILY BACKGROUND HE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUILD A STRONG PLATFORM. ONCE BUDDY-BUDDY, GREYHOUND AND TRAILWAYS BUS SYSTEMS ARE NOW FEUDING. FORMER BUDDY! LATE PAL NOT THE PROVERBIAL SARDINE CAN, BUT VENETIAN POOL WHERE 100 ADULTS ARE LEARNING TO SWIM.