McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, April 27, 1939, Image 2
McCORMICK MESSENGER. McCORMICK. S. C.. THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1939
By LEMUEL
WHO’S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
F. PARTON
"NJEW YORK.—Not all the news
these days has to do with fight
ing and contention among the na
tions. On a week-end run to Wash
ington, this
writer found
Brazil borrow
ing Walter Ten
nyson Swingle,
America’s 68-year-old plant wizard,
in a unique and friendly deal which
probably will ring more cash regis
ters than would Mussolini if he
swallowed all the Balkans in one
gulp.
Plant Wizard to
Brazil to Grow
Goodwill Fruit
Busy all over the world for 40
years or more, Mr. Swingle has
created enough new wealth with his
plant conjuring to build a sizable
battle fleet. Brazil, getting on Uncle
• Sam’s cuff for $120,000,000, breaks
precedent among debtor nations by
immediately getting busy in a long-
range effort to set up a favorable
trade balance and get square with
the export-import bank. She thinks
Mr. Swingle can show her how to
grow many things which we urgent
ly need. Furthermore, she intends
to become entirely independent of
aggressor nations, not by ersatz or
by a strong-arm economy, but by
scientific utilization of her natural
resources in soil and climate. Mr.
Swingle departs for Brazil with the
sanction and co-operation of the
department of agriculture. His ex
penses are paid by the Brazilian
government.
Tung oil trees, rubber and
quinine will get Mr. Swingle’s
immediate attention. Brazil
thinks that, with some expert
coaching by Mr. Swingle, she
can bring all these through as
negotiable assets in interest or
amortization day. It looks to
this observer like a sunny break
in the blizzard of screwball eco
nomics which has been sweeping
over the world. The above will
be just a starter. Mr v Swin
gle’s research will cover virtual
ly the entire range of Brazilian
agriculture and forestry.
tn Search of
Plante for U. S.
A native of Pennsylvania, a bota
nist, educated at the Kansas State
agricultural college, he became an
“agricultural explorer” for the Unit-
— ed States gov-
Toared World ernment in 1902
working in near
ly every coun
try in the world.
He brought Egyptian cotton to Ari
zona and Acala cotton to California,
and helped establish the date indus
try in the latter state. In Florida,
he achieved miracles of hybridiza
tion in citrus fruits. He added im
measurably to the knowledge of pol-
lenization, hopped up the seeing
power of the microscope, and, in
French, German, and English, wrote
authoritative treatises on plant
pathology, cytology, taxonomic bot
any and citrus propagation. His
fame is widely international and he
is a member of every important sci
entific society in his field.
A homespun American, he is
as clubby as a suburban garden
er, exchanging garden lore over
the back fence with his neigh
bor. His export of ideas and
seeds and cuttings has yielded
vastly more goodwill and tangi
ble wealth than our exports of
scrap iron, and his imports have
run up into billions.
npWO years ago, it appeared that
John Logie Baird, the mop-haired
garret inventor who took the lead in
British television, was running sec-
„ . „ , . ond to other in-
Sunset Red and venters. The
Morning Gray; postmaster gen-
A Start On Way e** 1 A ruled
against him in
picking the Marconi-Emi system for
the British Broadcasting corpora
tion. But now his system is work
ing in London motion picture thea
ters and his representatives are here
to install it in several Broadway
houses.
The son of a Scottish country
parson, in an old tweed coat and
slacks, he lived meagerly in a
dark soho attic and worked with
a set of carpenter’s tools, a vac
uum tube and a few magnets,
with no results. When he start
ed thinking his way through a
problem, he went to bed. He
had been in bed a couple of
weeks, when, almost despairing,
he saw a red sunset through the
window. That suggested a take
off from the infra-red zone of
the spectrum. On February 3,
1923, he flashed a picture across
the ocean, a ghost face flickering
on the wall of the dark cellar of
A. M. Hart, of Hartsdale, N. Y.
In the old days, his trousers were
patched, his hair was a brush heap,
and he usually had one sock droop
ing. Now, as president of Baird
Television, Ltd., he is slicked up a
lot, and, according to all accounts,
is becoming a magnate. “Sunset
red and morning gray start the trav
eler on his way.”
e Consolidated News Feature*.
WNU Service.
i-aul.
Nature Made to Order by Movieland Technicians
Nature is merely a pawn in the hands of Hollywood movie technicians who make it rain or snow, and even
make the grass grow—all at a moment’s notice. A downpour was one of the desired effects in a production star
ring Merle Oberon, left, but rainfalls are somewhat unruly. So the whole company moved indoors. There in
the studio a complete countryside was rebuilt and overhead sprinklers were installed. Wind machines scat
tered the water and gave the “even downpour” effect. Cameramen had to don oilskins. Miss Oberon (pictured
in circle) is braving an indoor Hollywood “rainstorm,” manufactured to order.
NO CAR—NO WORK
Comfort? Home Was Never Like This
Because Sir Reginald J. T. Hild-
yard, governor of Bermuda, was un
able to persuade the Bermuda as
sembly to allow him the use of an
automobile on the island he recently
tendered his resignation to the Brit
ish colonial secretary’s office. He
will retire in September, before his
normal term of five years expires.
When easy-going William Porter, 59-year-old odd job man of East
St. Louis, 111., decides to rest a bit, he really wants to rest. He has
designed an easy chair equipped with 17 (at the last.count) acces
sories. Built from the frame of an old bed, the chair contains a built-in
radio, book case, fan, food compartment, bar, gear shift for raising and
lowering the back, and many other conveniences. Porter plans on
adding still more as he thinks of them.
New Mexico U. Plans Anniversary Celebration
The Estufa is a well-known landmark on the campus of the state university at Albuquerque, N. M., where
Harold L. Ickes, secretary of the interior, will deliver the commencement address early in June, in connec
tion with the dedication of new campus buildings. The Estufa is used as an initiation center by a Greek letter
fraternity, and it is the boast of members that no member of the opposite sex has ever set foot in the building.
Nation’s No. 1 Trailer Family at Home
All the comforts of home are claimed by R. F. Vale, head of the
nation’s No. 1 trailer family, who is busy working at his lathe during
a short stop in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Vale, busy with housework,
is aided by her daughters. The two youngest children were born in
the trailer, and none can remember any other home. Mrs. Vale super
vises the children’s education.
HAPPY REUNION
When Jerry McDonald, six, moved
from Chicago to New York, neigh
bors promised to send his Boston
terrier on to him. When they failed
to do so Jerry’s mother notified Chi
cago police, who took possession of
the dog and shipped him to the boy’r
home in a big crate.
Star Dust
★ Sleuthing for Talent
★ A Glutton for Doing
★ Typical Actor at Four
By Virginia Vale
I F A stranger bobs up in your
town and begins asking
people to take screen tests,
don’t be surprised; just blame
it on Jesse Lasky, who began
making pictures way back in
the early days. Probably
you’ve listened to his “Gate
way to Hollywood” on the air,
and perhaps you heard the
final result of that search
for movie talent—the selection of
Rowena Cook and Ralph Bowman
as the two fortunate young people
whose names will be changed to
“Alice Eden” and “John Archer,”
with the leading roles in the picture,
“Career,” as their first screen ap
pearances under these names.
Six other contestants were given
contracts, and the search- for new
faces for the screen will probably
be taken up again by some of the
big producing companies. About
every so often this search seems
like a good idea to the movie-mak
ers; usually it is practiced for a
while, with plenty of ballyhoo and re
sults that are anything but spec
tacular, and very little in the way
of real talent is brought into the
studios.
Carrying it on with the aid of
radio, as Mr. Lasky has done, may
be the solution. Certainly there are
plenty of potential movie stars in
our midst, and all they need is a
chance to make good.
—&—
Jean Parker seems to be the pub
lic’s favorite actress for the roles of
file heroines of Gene Stratton Por
ter’s novels. She appeared recently
JEAN PARKER
in “Romance of the Limberlost,”
and was signed recently by Mono
gram to do “Her Father’s Daugh
ter,” by the same author.
^
“Never a dull moment” seems to
be Leslie Howard’s slogan these
days. Playing a leading role in
“Gone With the Wind” isn’t enough
to keep him really busy, it seems,
so he has signed with Selznick In
ternational to act as associate pro
ducer on “Intermezzo” and play the
leading role as well. It is scheduled
to go into production early in May,
and he is spending his spare time
on pre-production plans.
There’s an amusing story going
around about Sally Eilers’ four-
year-old son, one that would indi
cate that he’s losing no time in
acquiring the typical actor’s point
of view. He made his screen debut
in “They Made Her a Spy,” his
mother’s latest picture. And when
he was shown some of the rushes he
demanded, like any actor greedy
for close-ups, “Where’s more shoots
of me?”
—&—
Seems hard to believe, but Major
Bowes’ “Capitol Theater Family
Hour” celebrated its 852nd week on
the air recently. It’s the oldest of
the broadcasts, and the Major de
serves a few bouquets for the way
he has handled it.
&
Columbia is coming to the aid of
all of us who have been complaining
about the short pictures that we
have to sit through in order to see
the long ones. They are prepar
ing a series of six, to be called
“Fools Who Made History,” which
will deal with men whose ideas real
ly helped the human race, although
their contemporaries thought they
were slightly haywire. The first will
be based on the work of Dr. Mor
ton, who discovered anesthesia.
—*—
When Don Ameche was in the
East he went to Connecticut and
bought himself a house; Connecti
cut is now practically a second
Radio City, what with practically
all radio stars either buying or
renting there. But just when Mr.
Ameche is going to find time to en
joy that house ts a puzzling ques
tion, for Hollywood apparently can’t
get along without him; he seems to
make twice as many pictures as
anybody else does.
&
ODDS AND ENDS—That new “Au
thor! Author!” program that is broadcast
on Friday evenings promises to be almost
as popular as “Information Please” ...
And “Information Please” has made it
practically impossible to get a dinner
party together on Tuesday evenings if
there's not a radio in the dining room ...
“ff hat’s My Name?” which recently left
the air, will return to take Fred Allen's
place when he goes on vacation.
C Western Newspaper Union. 1
Curtaining Windows
To Increase Width
By RUTH WYETH SPEARS
A READER living on a rural
route in South Dakota writes
me: “My parlor is 16 by 14 feet
and has an 8 foot ceiling. Right
in the center of the 16 foot wall
are two windows, each 6 feet high
and 3 feet wide. They are only 1
foot apart and 1 foot from the
ceiling. How should I curtain
these windows? Should the drapes
AN OUTLINE DRAWMG Of WALL MADE TO
SCALE SHOWS THAT WINDOWS ARE
BADLY SR4CED AND
SHOULD LOOK WIDER
THE TWO WINDOWS TREATED AS A UNIT-
DRAPES EXTEND 6"OVER WUL AT SIDES
cover the 1 foot space between
them? How long should they be?
Would you extend the drapes
nearer the ceiling? I have been
advised to do this.—S. A.”
These questions are nice and
definite and all dimensions are
given. A scale drawing was made
a little larger than the one shown
here; Vs inch to a foot. This
showed immediately that the win
dows needed to look wider rather
than higher. By framing them
with a valance and side drapes to
the floor they are made into a unit
of pleasing proportions.
Give your own home a fresh
start with new curtains; slipcov
ers; and other smart new touches,
which you will find in Book 1,
SEWING, for the Home Decora
tor. Book 2, Gifts, Novelties and
Embroidery, illustrates 90 em
broidery stitches and many ways
to use them. They are 25 cents
each; with each order for both
books, Crazypatch Leaflet showing
36 authentic embroidery stitches is
included FREE. Address, Mrs.
Spears, 210 S. Desplaines St., Chi
cago, 111.
AROUND
THE HOUSE
Reviving Serge. — Blue serge
suits can be revived by sponging
with vinegar and water before
they are pressed.
• * •
Important Trifle.—A pinch of
salt added to hot starch will give
a high glow.
* • *
Scorched Linens. — To remove
light scorches from linens, wet the
stained area with cold water and
expose it to the sun until the stain
disappears.
• • •
Renovating Shades.—A coat of
flat oil paint will prolong the life
of window shades.
* • •
A Treat for Plants.—A little am
monia in the water once a week
when giving the plants their drink
will keep the soil sweet and the
leaves glossy.
Can’t Eat, Can’t
Sleep, Awful Gas
PRESSES HEART
"Oss on my stomach was so bad Z could
not eat or sleep. It eren pressed on my
heart. A friend suggested Adlerik*. The
first dose bronght mo relief. Now I eat as Z
wish, sleep fine, and neTer felt bettor.’’--
Mrs. Jas. Filler. Adlerika acta on BOTH
upper and lower bowels. Adlerika gives your
intestinal system a real cleansing, bringing
out waste matter that may have caused GAS
BLOATING, aour stomach, headaches,
nervousness, and sleepless nights for months.
You will be amased at this efficient intestinal
cleanser. Just one spoonful usually^ rekevee
GAS and constipation. Adlerika does not
Select Few
Better be with a few who an
right, than with many who are
wrong.—Jarvis A. Wood.
SNOW-WHITE PETROLEUM JELLY
The Real Test
It is much harder to be honest
with yourself than with others.
• The best place
to start your shop
ping tour is in
your favorite easy-
chair, with an open
newspaper.
Make a habit of reading the advertise
ments in this paper every week. They
can save you time, energy and xnonay.
SHOPPING
Tour