L»T. SUNOCO - Tuesday. March, 13. 1954 Good Evening, Everybody:- Nearly everybody has been wondering what would be the outcome of that controversy between President Roosevelt and Colonel Lindbergh concerning the air malls* One outcome of the exchange of arguments is this: Charles Lindbergh has been appointed, by the Secretary of War, to a commission thaljwill mahe a study of the Army air equipment, appointed along with Sxrxiii* Orville Wright and others. That1 s a cheery development of an affair which j^emed to pit against each other the two men so singularly high in the esteem of this nation, Qhere were many of us who felt our loyalties were tom in having to make a choice between the smiling man in the Wiite House and the Lone Ehgle of the North Atlantic, Last Saturday Colonel Lindbergh flew to Washington and had a long heart—to—heart talh with Secretary of War Dgrn, t LEAD - 2 People wondered "What1Q it all about?" — this confab between America' s Humber 0ne Atman and the Boss of the Amy? It was just at that time that President Roosevelt Issued the order grounding the air mall for at least forty-eight hours so that the fatalities that had occurred might be Investigated and flying the air mall by the Army made safer* And now comes word of the newly appointed Committee of Airplane Safety with Colonel Lindbergh the outstanding member. And there's another man of mighty reputation on that committee — Orville Wright, one of the Wright Brothers, There is Clarence Chamberlain too, -who flew the Atlantic, Major Oeneral Hugh Drum will be the Chairman, The Committee w4-l-l - eonduet—ijw-ee tigatiron o f--the—planee-i^shrumeirfe-s-, flying -me-thcd-e—and—personnol- e-f—the-^Army- Air—G- orpe^- HBC r:W_,. ■iS ROOSEVELT For some time as we have observed, the President has been encountering more and more opposition in Congress. Sooner or later things had to come to a test, a show-down. It came with the lower House passing the Bonus Bill in spite of the President*s protest. The President expects to handle that in the Senate. The hour of test and show-down in fact, seems to draw even nearer with the prospect of a presidential defect in the matter of that Saint Lawrexice Waterway Treaty, That is another of Mr. Roosevelt’s pet projects, as it was of his predecessor, Mr, Hoover. Senator Robinson of Arkansas has told the President that unless the White House executes some kind of master stroke, another set-back is in the offing. I *ve a notion the country at large feels that when the show-down with Congress does come, the imperturable Master of the White House will come out on top. MBC CRIME Th.e Police Conuniasioner of JJew York comes out with a new cure for crime* and ne goes hack into ancient Greek history for it. So I suppose we will have to be classical for a moment and take notice of something else the Greeks had a word for -- the word "ostracize." Nowadays it means every­ body giving somebody the cold shoulder* but in the Athens of Pericles it meant exile, chasing somebody out of town. So General C^Ryan, the Police Commissioner of New York, wants to ostracize the criminals — chase ’em out of town. He points out that criminals ply their trade, in cities generally, and don’t like the country, i'hey don't yearn for the cows and chickens. He doesn't add that country folks like crooks even less. NBC INSULL Here13 a brief line* It comes from Athens* On the surface it sounds exceedingly commonplace* They have given Samuel Insull his Amerlcan passport* But you can expand those ordinary-sounding words into a volume of dramatic meaning. From that it might be inferred that the former money king of the Mid West was about to return to the Windy City, where they are waiting to put him on trial* However, the latest rumor before this was that he planned to take refuge in Turkey* But the return of his passport would indicate that his destination might be Chicago after all* I wonder. He says he is ill. The Greek authorities are watching him, to guard against the possibility of his attempting to commit suicide, which other ex-potentates in his plight have done* Meanwhile in an old English village, at a house and farm that goes back to the sixteenth century, a caretaker is waiting* Tie farm is Samuel Insull1 s* He bought it and furnished it years ago when, as the Lord of midwestem utilities, he Intended it as a quiet place to rest and be tranquil* LVi. $,y . | tnsull — S Around It is a great garden of roses; and the grounds are enclosed by tall hedges of evergreens. The caretaker used to be Mr. Insults valet. In English rustic fashion he has been waiting patiently for the Master to return. But for the Master the^only road left seems to lie to the windy bustling roaring city of Chicago, once his El Dorado and land of promise — today for him a haunt of menace and ill omen. I suppose thejnext thing we'll hear is that the Kaiser is on his way home from Holland# NBC ft--- -------- TI....... .^ ------ And again tonight — Slavish. L>i>s the Insull affair it 'has been, persistently In the news day after day, i?eac after week, I don*t hnow of any other long-continued news story that has sustained such strange, bizarre Interest as that affair of the fantastic Russian swindler who almost plunged France into revolution* On a street in Paris a young nan was seal acting strar^ely. A soldier went by, He young nan slapped the soldier* An officer went by* He young .nan slapped the officer* And all the while he nattered incoherent gruablings about the Stavishy affair. When he was tab si into custody they found his quite rad. He was a witness, in, the Stavlsky scandal* He ms about to be called upon to testify and had gone insane brooding about it* With this incident goes xacrkwr another, that of a girl witness in the sane case,She too has gone insane, anchrer victim in the list of deaths, blasted reputations, ruined careers, suicides and fry*** insanities that hare resulted xr STAVISKY And agfiin toniglit — Stavisky. Like the Insull affair it has been persistently in the news da.y after dayf weds after week. I don’t know of any other long-continued new§ story that has sustained such strange, bizarre Interest as that affair of the fantastic Russian swindler who almost plunged France into revolution. On a street In Paris a young uan was seen acting strangely. A soldier went by. 'lie young, man slapped the soldier. An officer' went by. 'Ihe young man, slapped the officer. And all "the while he muttered incoherent grumblings about the Stavisky affair. When he was taken into custody they found him quite mad. He was a witness in the Stavisky scandal. He was about to be called upon to testify and had gone insane brooding about it. With this incident goes xk & ekx another, that of a girl witness in the same case.She too has gone insane, another victim in the list of deaths, blasted reputations, ruined careers, suicides and kxxsdc insanities ^hat have resulted xx STAVISKY - 2 from the incredible rogueries of the wizard of swindling. Some new facts have come out about his fantastic career, vivid touches to be added to the portrait of this most insolent of latter day knaves. Earlier in his career he pawned a set of massive meeralbs, royal jewels he said, for some millions of francs. Enter the police. The royal emeralds were colored glass. Stavisky stepped in Mid saved himself with a theatrical gesture, plunking down a heap of bank notes and repaying the loan. Once he gave a magnificent reception for aristocrats, statesmen and millionaires. In the mid ole of the resplendent festivities enter once more the police. Stavisky smiled, walked up to them and held out uis wrists. The detectives snapped on the handcuffs, ■^e bowed to his guests, paid a gallant compliment to a Countess, made a witty remark to a Minister of State, -- the perfect man of the world as they led him, away to jail. We will hear more of that affair Stavisky. The scandal of it is biting deep M0re about Hitler and his Nazis. A blast in a prominent French newsp^er declares that a systematic world-wide campaign of Nazi propaganda is underway. A Trench Editor claims that he has obtained a copy of confldBntial instructions which propaganda Minister Groebbels has sent to Nazi agents all over the world. And then - of Jewish faith will hereafter be permitted to serve in the German any or navy. This is Hitler1 s latest decree,which however, makes an exception of Jews who served in the World War or sons of men idio were killed in Germany^ struggle. I suppose the bitter Jewish comment might be that the sons of Jews who died for Gen any will now have the privilege of getting killed for Germany in the next war. Now for a lighter note from Germany — or rhther a lighter color. Brown Instead of black, for evening clothes and dinner Jackets. The rumor is that the brown shirts^not content with having their xjuck shirts brown are going to have their - another blow at the ancient race* / No man NAZIS - 2_ formal evening attire of the same color. A brown tail coat and a brown tuxedo. I say, Meadows, my brown soup and fish! That is doing it up browni me HITLBE - RADIO In Moscow the Red Soviet lias a broadcasting station so powerful that it reaches all of Europe, some thing like these towers of WLW between Hamilton and Cincinnati where I am tonight. And Herr Hitler doesn't want the Germans to hear all that Communist propaganda. So he Is licensing the forty thousand radio dealers in Germany, trying tm make^hem sell only low-powered sets so the Germans won't be able to tune in on Moscow, so they will have to listen only to the German stations and Mr. Hitler's home brand of propaganda. That war of the ether is becoming a curious thing over in Europe where hostile nations are clustered closely together. Modern enlightenment is supposed to create peace and good will. I guess It does. But it also creates new causes for quarrels, new ways to fight, new battlefields* Maybe you*ve heard that rumor, the rumor that the Crosley Radio Company ‘built that extraordinary high-powered station fourteen miles out of Cincinnati with the help of Uncle Sam, by government subsidy. Presumably this rumor arose because WLW is now t,he most powerful station in America, possibly In the entire world. On that account some one evidently assumed that the stepping up of WLW had some military purpose, in case we should ever be dragged into a war. Today I am in Cincinnati, as the guest of WLW, M& I spent several hours seeing this new installation which is the talk of the radio world. Among other things I learned that there was absolutely nothing to that rumor. The new Installation was built without a cent of subsidy. What is more, it has no warlike object whatsoever, I am not enough of a technician to be able to convey to you the things I saw. The principal object that struck my eye was the new giant vertical antennae. It towers up Into the sky eight hundred and thirty-one feet. Though almost i : tjj/- — f WLW - 2 as hish as the Elf el Tower, It was a far more difficult piece of engineering. It's a»^S»^^**Sing to look at. At first thought it suggested to me the famous beanstalk that Jaefc climbed to giant land, but Mose Strauss, the witty managing editor of the a. ^ Cincinnati Times-Star, suggests that it looks more like a gigantic £ ^ Mae Ifest. feEXKsxxiix^iac Ciirves and all. Better come up and see it sometime. Although I am actually broadcasting from a special studio in the Netherland Plaza. Hotel, every word you are hearing Jumps out at you from a metal ball eight hundred and thirty-one feet in the air atop that Mae Westian tower. LT. The giant municipal art exhibition in Rockefeller Center, New York, has stirred up artistic ructions. Brickbats are flying at the heads of the modernists of art, From the Rockefeller Center Art Exhibition, Irwin Barry, an expert, delivered a blast against paintings in which the human body locks like a stuffed sausage. He denies that an ugly hall bedroom with a horrible brass bed and a bedraggled woman with her hair hanging in the cooking is an inspiration to the American people. It is the lovely ladles with the lovely figures, in the high art pictures, who are the inspiration to the American people. Ahem, Prosper FORD When President Roosevelt and General Johnson called upon industry to shorten hours and raise wages, the reply of many industrial leaders was; "What do you suggest we should use for money?" So it is significant that the first spectacular •yes11 to the White House should come from Henry Ford. From Dow Jones we hear that the Ford Motor Company^ restoring of the five-d ollar-a-d ay minimum wage will eftect forty-seven thousand men, more than thirty-six thousand of them in the Detroit area. At the same time, however, this doesn't mean that folks who learn this news should pack up their traps and trek for Detroit. Dow Jones PEET Here1s a story about two feet, not two feet long. The feet in question are the kind you wear shoes on. Whose feet? Why, Greta Garbo's, How, this is a subject which nobody but a great expert would dare tackle. Anyone else might step on Uies Garbo's toes. The expert in this case is Andre Perujia, described as a famous Pari si en designer of shoes -- souliers, let Andre talk for himself, I would never dream of venturing an opinion on such an arch subject, Greta Garbo's feet," explains M, Andre rapturously, "have beauty, but, they are badly shown on the screen. This, he says is because she is so tall, as she stands beside her puny leading men, that they give her ugly flat-heeled shoes to shorten her,The master mind of shoes Pari si en closed by saying that "Great Garbo's feet are in exquisite proportion to her tall, beautiful statuesque figure," SLANG- - ENDING AND now. let's cr*ack down on this one, the common belief that General Johnson invented the expressive "Crack Down." It is a favorite of the Poobah of N.R.A*, but we are told that it was invented by a New York Times reporter who, in talkkng to the hard-boiled General about an N.P..A. violator, asked the question, "Will you crack down on him?" Ihe hard-boiled General liked the term and adopted it into his hard-boiled vocabulary. This we learn In connection with a Wisconsin professor of English, who declares that any slang word is okay and will live on if there 1s no other word that will quite express what it means. He giwsahlxxxix gives his professorial approval to vif" * Appld" ISauce" as a term of light derision, Xh fact which derides so lightly that no other word will do the same* The professor also takes to his academic bosom A1 Smith's pet word "Boloney" which I believe was invented by Rube Goldberg. Likewise "Chiseler," a favorite of President Roosevelt's. In his austere scholastic way the Wisconsin Prof describes all these as Swell Nifties. And the best nifty I know, is — SO LONG UNTIL TOMORROW