DON IDDON'S DIARY
WRANGLE OVER LIBERTY
N
New York, Tucaday.
EW YORK is at its best just now. Day after day the weather has been brilliant. The girls-every American female from 16 to 60 refers to herself as a girl
are going around town bare-backed and bure-armed, in cool prints, and men are wearing seersucker, orlun, nylon, and Palm Beach suits and cocoanut straw hats.
The sidewalk cafes and air- conditioned bars are doing big business in Tom Collins, Julig Collins, frozen daquiris, xin and
Jum punches. Ionics, smaller business in mini juleus and plantera punches.
Striped awnings in white and green, blue and white, red and yellow splash colour over the
pavements, and Central
Park,
Scarcely anything the Govern- ment has touched lately has come off well,
It is fortunate for the Elsen- hower Administration that the period of recession has vanished. if un imployment had continued to rise and business to dwindle, have been sunk almost without then the Republicans would
trace.
Good for Britain DUT
business
ها
booming
again, the stock market is buoyant, and dividends will probably hit a record this year. British business men are here in force, and in some instances showing the Americans how to hustle.
A Mr. H. M. Pulin, a director of the British Cycle and Motor- cycle Manufacturers' Union, came to see me the o'her day and told me an impressive suc cess story,
Before the war the British not yet burnt brown and dry, sold 10,000 bicycles here. Today
almost as
T Hyde we sell 400,000. We have Park.
15
multiplied our business by 40 New York In June, the month times, and it is still going up, of weddings. school-closing, In fact, there is such a Je- reunions, cRII be
pleasant mand for British bicycles that
place.
The serpent
TNTO
Rome 11,5, manufacturers are
against
lobbying Adial present tariff
on British
The
bicycles
Mr this Eden Stevens introduced a 15 73%
Is 7 percent on most machinea serpent. The Democratic candid 13 percent on a few, depend-
date for President. In a widely printed speech at New York's Columbin Univerally, says the United States is at the cross TOBLA of Democracy nud Fascism.
wheel size. Now the
are
ing American manufacturers trying to get the tariffs increased. Some distributors of British cycles here allege that the U.S. manufacturers have bogun campaign of calumny" against Stevenson talks of America's the British product, claiming "national neurosis" of self that the bicycles are not sturdy. doubt and declares that the are unsafe, and light-weight public are acing "76 Though Actually the
British bicycles the whole nation is a security risk."
Stevenson, running as hard as he can to get the Democratic Presidential nomination again, seems to be out of breath.
BO
are so sturdy, so safe, and superbly proportioned that three American manufacturers are importing them and selling them under the American brand
with the
tag-line I have never known so much "Specially made for
In England."
space being occupied in news- japers and magazines by writers and politicians bewall-
name
LIN
Zsa Zsa again
Zsa Gabor andt Porfirio
Ing the Jack of space for free-qubirosa have formed a com-
dom of expression.
All shouting
NEVER has 20 much time been occupied on the radio airwaves and on television by "Liberals" deploring the gagging of Liberalism,
The extreme Left Wing has never shouted so loudly that if cannot
31 chance to be heard. Every night of the week Columinis Circle and Unlon at Square the orators spealt their pieces and the police move them on only if they start a minor
pony to make a Western Alm for Republic Studios, Hlubirosa has been offered 100,000 dollars to make another im in Cubu dollars and has had a bid
of 300,000 for writing the true of his life. If he goes on story like this he will make as much money us Liberare (pronounced Liber-ah-cher).
Liberace, at 33, is by all odds the most sensational and suc- cessful figure in show business. to filled Madison Square Gar- den with his concert, although
a superb showman.
rot. Ticre are mass meetings he is an indifferent pianist but
every day and twice on week- ends.
His white full-dress suit, his shock of wavy hair, his dimples and his wink, send every
the girls
guga. His fan-following is big- ger than Frank Sinatra or Rudy
THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1954.
"Whoa there!
Here come some of 'em back from Le Mans."
London Express Bervice
RENE MacCOLL INSIDE RUSSIA
© K
Bingo! I caught him such a nifty one
Ꮤ
HEN I woke in Alma Ata, a highly stimulating town of sunshine and orchards, where Moscow is 2,500 miles away and China only 200 to the south, I had west, had an ensy, engaging lead to the mighty back-
RENE MacCOLL, Roving Reporter in Russia, turns up the notebooks of his journey through the hidden heart of that vast country and takes you to a place where people laugh and sun shines — ALMA ATA, Kazakstan,
a very sure shoulder.
How I got it I shall ex- plain in due course.
Trees are the great thing in this hot part of Asin, and trees have been generously provided. Every street has them and it makes stroll- ing a pleasure.
A
"Our greening offensive is
success, no?" scarcely
says the guide.
The laws of libel in the news-
that papers are so lax conceivable fonn of opinion and abure is priisted and anyone ever sues,
Even
the arch-viitain Senator Joseph
McCarthy
Vallee ever commanded.
Matrons too
is losing IBERACE'S followers are not
some of his meuare, 1 have only bubby-soxers
has
adore
him
100.
the mat- When
watched the televized hearings rons of McCarthy versus the Army Liberace plays, If you can call for several hours each day and I believe that much of the fire randelabrum on the piano. The 1. that, he always has a silver gone out of the Wisconsin resull Is that the randelabra wonder-mon.
business is booming all over the hear-country
country.
Liberace souvenirs are out- attention of the entire selling Hop- Along - Cassidy country and putting a road- novelles. block on all other public busi-
The net result of the ings, which are still absorbing the
had
never heard of Liberaco
ness, is that the Republican until six months ago, but now
Party has split itself in Party
The Democrats should romp could probably pack the Albert
two. he has genius for headlines and home in the November cloc- Hall. He can also dance. tions and capture both the has earned over a million dol- Senate and the House.
lars this year.
DESIGNS
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
ART DEPARTMENT specialists in publicity.
SHAM STREET HONG KONG TELESKIE(N LIMAS)
He
the
manner.
Beforehand
We enter the cottage of one of the hands, a cool, white-washed exterior, and there in the bed- room-a big, steel bedstead with #carpet pinned to the wall as decoration-ies spread out 4 sensational meal.
Let's see: there жда aliced cucumber, herring in sour milk, three sorts of sliced sausage, sliced radishes (great big ones, as big as small tomatoes and very mild), huge whorls of fresh butter, bread, chunks of chicken, tinned tuna fish, omelettes, and
hot meat and potatoes, spread all about so that the entire table
drop of mountains, it is
no top was hidden. I impressed rough and ready like on the guide-who flew out farm you can think of. here specially from Moscow to help me that I wanted to spend no more than two wound up by spending live. hours at the farm. So we
We We
We walked miles. drove scores of miles. saw hulls weighing over a ton each and stalifons which screamed in the sunshine. We felt cabbages and ad- mired potatoes.
Alma
Ata is a sort of great big oasis, and beneath the trees grow flowers, and all round the town are vast We had statistics tossed these orchards are the ap- 420,000 eggs yearly, 3,000 orchards, and the pride of at us till our minds reeled
ples, which are sald to be tons of apples from 370 beyond compare.
hectares, 4,000,000 roubles ne of yearly on apples,
At the ballet one of Lenin's earliest abiter dicta
"Art is for the people"- flanks the stage on great red banners.
By the way, this ballet is extremely good. Many of the dancers in the large cast I saw performing "Sleeping Beauty are Kazaka, and they are fine.
KNOCKOUT
THE Kazak girls, with their pretty little faces and neat little figures, are entrancing.
And, talking of Kazak girls, when I visited the Álma Ata film atudios I saw one of the most beautiful
15,000 sheep, 700 horses.
The farm is like nothing you ever saw in the British Isles. Standing there, all 11,000 acres of it, against the green foothills
MR
which
The manager and my guide and I are joined for that by two men-foremen-and we women of the household, a gold-toothed granny
not join us but hover watchfully.
The roads and paths are other so bumpy that a couple of fall to The times I almost go through and the comely young wife, do cottages are primitive to a the roof of the car.
degree.
The
But the point is that it works.
mentioned before, the rule of
...BRANDY
NOW the toasts are starting
In the Soviet Union, as I've
In brandy, and you must thumb is that if something pays down a tumblerful each time. off it doesn't matter a row of There are seven toasts in all so
that you empty vodka bottles what 1t
calculate the num- looks
like. Grooming
ber of tumblers of brandy that I and tidying-up and prettifying? That welcome aboard. can come later.
When they drink my health is explained that I have to drink it too.
CHICKEN...
Constitutional College
By Harold James
London.
RST term of the "school for legis- lators" has just ended at West- minster. And back to their over- Bens homes go the 27 students --- members and officials of Commonwealth: legislatures after studying the Mother of Parliaments at first hand.
What they learned at the invitation of the British Parliament will be practised in the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Blerra Leone, Singapore and Malaya, the West Indles, Aden and Uganda, Australia, Ceylon and the Sudan.
parlia The course included lectures on mentary practice and proceedings, explanations of the party system, the dulles of Whips, con- stituencies
and
elections, and the functions of various committees.
As colonies move towards self-govemment, their legislatures are growing in slature, power In the space of a few years
and number forities have replaced official
unofficial
Ministers are being elected by the peoples of the territories. The Governor is relinquishing his combined duties of Speaker and Govern- ment spokesman to stand aloof — ar Her Majesty's representative should from the rough and tumble of political life.
Many colonial legislatures, in fact, are be coming microcosms of the House of Commons, with all its elaborate procedure and ceremonial.
But most of the new legisla
THE MALOQLI
13
tora have much to learn. Few have served an apprenticeship
In local government; many have como atraight from villago counell chambor,
The officials of these overseas parliaments are new to their duties, too. The Speaker, un- Ike his Westminster counter-
part, will not have had tho chance of graduating as a pri- vate member, gradually learn- ing his job from the back- benches.
A Spooker
of the House of
Commons once said: "The House is always kind and in-
but it by: "Comrade MacColl
iis B dulgent,
expects to be Speaker drinking master." The Botwin-should be
right. If he nicht of
found tripping, his the vineyards that's authority anust soon
be at an MacColl.
He sticks out his enormous paw and we shake hands. Next moment-whami He has fetch- ed me a colossal blow on the shoulder which makes my teeth rattle. Just an old Kazak custom.
end.
And so, to avoid "tripping," the Speaker from the colonial legislature comes to West- minster to see how Spenker Morrison controls the House.
I knock back some red wine, The "school for legislators" shake hands with him and
tries to cram into a few weeks what British parliamentarians bingol land a nifty riposte on
may his shoulder. (hois stingsking a lot of both pupils and take years to absorb. It is my left and, as it happens,
teachers. But the teachers am a jeft-hander).
tho warld's best in this eld to
and the students are eager All
learn.
Rosrs of laughter from and from then on we crash blows on one another's should- ers 31 intervals as hard as wo cun,
All good, clean fun of course -but oh, the aching shoulder afterwards.
The only sour note Was when the manager suddenly turned serious and said quietly: "We
are
Sometimes, though, age-old British institutions puzzle them. "What do you do," asked a Nigerian on the course, when Ministers refuse to vacate their posts?"
in
The best teacher could do then was to point out that Britain these things are "Just not done."
SERV
Mr Anthony Eden sald once listen to B.B.C. broad-that whether he was in the բուկ ПОГУ and then and Houses of Parliament in Colombo although these are not as hostile or Canberra he felt at home. as the Voice of America yet There
the
Inace, the they often say untrue and un- Speaker's chair, the benches. kind things about us," B.B.C. all modelled on Westminster. In please note.
questions, the House followed the same rules. Debate procedure But that was a fleeting inter-was governed by
the
WELL, anyway, at the end of Churchill and I think I can lay brandy and cucumb among the authority, Erskine May.
the fourth hour I make ready to leave. But oh, no. In Kazakstan If you are a guest it is utterly unheard of to leave without some slight refreshment.
All right, I say, envisaging perhaps a cup of tea, or beer.
HUSTON
BUT
HE
By
London. Bogart would play the film TOHN HUSTON, pro- director.
ducer of "Moulin Rouge" and
"Bogart's an old friend. Knows me pretty well,"
The
19-year-olds that I have African Queen;" the man
At one point we drink to
with little fear of con- tradiction to have the honour of being the only Englishman who has ever toasted Sir Winston on a collective farm in Kazakstan.
The
with manager roars laughter and says something to the guide which turns out to
great
In showing the younger Par- liaments of the Commonwealth Before beaving for a visit to how it conducts itself, the House a Kazak opera, of which I have of Commons is helping to bulld only a rather hazy recollection, up 0 tradition overseas of I was ceremoniously presented democratic parliamentary gov.
box of chocoica
ernment which present and future generations of legislators That's ite down us the farm. will cherish.
wills
3
IS NOT FLATTERED,
IS
DOESN'T CARE
To
CHARLES BANNISTER'
►
CARE
about me, I don't mind a six so he can liv: the le danın. Am I like the of a country squire wher character in the novel? he feels inclined. There is Well, I guess that's how the man who goeal foghurt,
I am or refurbished by this nedvity
writing scripts.
not."
nana M
times Zelf-deprecatingly, “agout Johnston:"
A'I've always, Ipócked 'arquind Ab world since I was 16. I've bden R′′poker, and ‚X was if the at 20, 1'vd orugh "Ruben | Art
that come from a string of racehorzow
| ever encountered. Name of who finds it hard to live on anys Huston, "so I guess. Viertel saw me, but I can't ing treo days a week d Moxie brood; whe; TA
Zamzagul Sharipova, and £1,000 per week, is to be he should be good in the y, whether she'd be a knockout any the subject and not the part." where in the world. Like a maker of a film now being young Anna May Wong planned.
plus.
WOULD NOT SUE
sponds the other four days pinka ing explázivo, habits.
and
IS NECESSARY A Two sol tits, horses par, but
I'vault habits.
There is the playboy who ute, I wouldn't be any good If I didn't load this sort of
best bars
and restaurants necessary to my work"
I was talking to Huston at the London flat where When Huston went to
he is staying during the This was her first film. Afrien with "Daughter of the Desert" Bogart and Katherine Hep- director in the novel it ring Gregory Peck and Leo commutes between the as a writer or director. It'
Humphrey
The portrait of the film making of his current pic- ture, "Moby Dick,' atar. (you can guess that Alma burn to make "The African is called "White Hunter, Genn Ata, with his lovely climate Queen,"
Heart" lanot N one of his script Black and doridly glorious range writers was author Peter exactly flattering. But Hus- of snowy mountains between Viertel.
My appointment with of New York, Paris and A few days ago, in a town ton feels no animosity to him was for 4 p.m. I found London. There is the finan- near the Pyrenees, ke“ met it and China, is a natural for film-making).
Afterwards, Viertel wrote gave him a signed under scarlet-lined dressing gown a film company and will, a film of one of his books,
wards his script-writer. He him wearing pyjamas, a cier who has invested in Ernest Hemingway to discuss a novel, which became a taking that he would not and velvet slippers with as a result get 25 per "Papa was keen on the idea," bestseller in America, about sue for libel before even foxes' heads embossed in which "Moulin Rouge is This is not surprising "
cent of the £2,000,000°° says Huston, a film director named John reading the manuscript of gold over the toes... and a writer named Pete the book What is more,
expected to make. There is Huston is, of colapse, la colla
Hemingway
mythology film has determined to make gressive character in the lyn Monroe her fre
living i Obviously there fat more
And there than one John Huston, who sliz There is the man who rents?
IT WORKS!
then before I left who go on a
Ata. I drove out to big-game huntingwriting, he is employing Viertel on Is he really like the ag. the man who gave Marie harmed by the myth thre a collective farm, one of baring safari to Africa. version of Kipling's The novel? Didicult to judge, part.
8,000 : which... flourish in Southern Kazakstan.
- soul- his next picture, a film
Now, Huston tells me, Man Who Would Be King, Hollywood producer, Lenter In which Bogart and Clark Cowan, is planning film Gable will stür.
KIES Bays Huston:
The manager; a sun- burned, curly haired fellow who hails from the Ukraine, af, the novel with ands of miles, to the and Hepburn as th
■ 80-room house, inviraland with domestic: intune of
ven if it coit Lion more than
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