The Times

Suburbia Today THE MAGAZINE OF PLEASANT PLACES Published Monthly

In This Issue...

Art Buchwald | page 7 To the millions who read him and laugh, Art Buchwald has become known as the American in Paris. Now he tells how to get a child's hair cut the easy way: only a single day's effort, and it costs no more than $10.50, not counting wear and tear. A Merry Chase | page 12 Ilka, that is-actress, wit, writer, lecturer, and TV personality. She has already been around the world and is now writing a book about her travels, "The Carthaginian Rose," to be published next fall. We persuaded her to take time off to do the article in this issue, "If I Went Around The World Again," to make her valuable hindsight available to everyone planning (or daydreaming) a trip. The Impudent Improvisors | page 18 "Mike Nichols is not a member of the Actors Studio, which has produced such stars as Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Eva Marie Saint . . . and others too numerous to mention. He has never toured with Mr. Roberts and has never appeared on such television programs as the Goodyear Playhouse and the Kraft Theatre. "Miss May does not exist." In spite of this succinct biographical sketch on the back of a recent best-selling disc, Mike Nichols and Elaine May are an incomparable pair of irreverent comedians currently quipping their way through their first show on Broadway, around the grooves of two hit records, and into the pages of SUBURBIA TODAY. Artist's House | page 28 Cartoonist Milton Caniff lives in New City, New York, in one of the most unusual and attractive suburban homes we've seen anywhere. In a cluttered studio, surrounded by scores of precisely fashioned model airplanes (Caniff has been decorated twice by the Air Force), he draws the well-known Steve Canyon comic strip. Ceramist Henry Varnum Poor designed the house, drawing on his vast knowledge of craftmanship to make the rest of it as inspiring to creative activity as Caniff's second-floor studio. Laura Jean Allen No, it's not a mirage. Those happy people are all there, sunning, bathing, chatting, tanning, and having a glorious rest and a wonderful time. As our cover artist so brightly points out-it's winter-cruise season!

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 405 Park Ave., New York, 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.

GETTING AROUND . . . to Our Pleasant Places and People

"He was sleeping fine, Mrs. Smith, until your phone call woke him up." SUBURBIA TODAY WHATEVER ELSE you're cooking up for Valentine's Day, here is one recipe, still as good as it was 70 years ago, discovered by the Yankee Pedlar of Dover, Massachusetts, in an 1890 cookbook. It's called "How To Preserve A Husband," and the easy-to-follow directions read: "Be careful in your selection. Do not choose too young, nor too old. Some insist on keeping them in a pickle, while others keep them in hot water; this may make them sour, hard, and sometimes bitter. But even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender, and good by garnishing them with patience. Then sweeten well with smiles, and flavor with kisses to taste. Wrap them in a mantle of charity; keep warm with a steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream. When thus prepared, they will keep for years." Sign in a Santa Monica, California, shop: "We Are Selling Dresses For Ridiculous Figures." Some "Texas" stories are all too true. On a highway being built near Grand Prairie, Texas, they've got a concrete mixer so big that a whole crew of construction workers has to work at top speed to keep even a couple of steps ahead of it. The more-than-three-stories-tall mixer lopes along, waiting for trucks to back up onto it and dump sand. Then concrete is casually mixed, using water from the machine's own supply, and poured onto the waiting roadbed-while the harried help hurries to keep up with its "Texas-sized" production. Near Westgate, Florida, the Meridian Daylight Masonic Lodge holds its meetings at 4 A.M. (The Daylighters are night workers, in case you're wondering.) When the student council of the Grayslake, Illinois, High School put on a "Bundle Days" drive for the Save The Children Federation, it also put up $25 for the class bringing in the most cast-off clothing. The prize was an added incentive for all. The satisfaction of helping others and the hope of helping themselves-a double character builder for these young people-is an approach to charity we'd like to recommend to other groups contemplating similar campaigns. There's a motel on the Buford Highway near Dunwoody, Georgia, that is, so far as we know, the only one in the world that caters to its patrons' spiritual needs as well as providing them lodgings for the night. The owners of this motel have built a small chapel, right next to the motel units, in which their guests are welcome to hold service . . . or just use for quiet meditation. Now that Edith Cooke, of Jefferson County, Colorado, has been named Executive Secretary of the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, may we, we hope, be the first to suggest that the title be changed to "Chief Cooke and Bottle Watcher"? From an Oakwood, near Dayton, Ohio, source comes the following bit of good news: Instead of plunging candles into the icing of a birthday cake, try placing small marshmallows around the outisd of the cake, on the plate itself, and use these as candleholders. They're an extra attraction, and the kids can eat all the ones that don't get dripped on. Continued on page 4