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Show HI Aiir Club Patriot: MacArthur wasn't the only hero on Bataan Peninsula, as this story, just arrived, reveals. In the early days of the campaign. MacArthur summoned an engineer and asked: "How long will It take to throw a bridge across this stream?" "Three days." was the reply. "Good." snapped MacArthur. "Have your draftsman make drawings draw-ings right away." Three days later, the General sent for the engineer and asked him how the bridge was coming. "It's all ready," was the answer. "You can send your men across now, if you don't have to wait for them pictures. They ain't done yet!" Meow! A catty actress visited the "Now, Voyager" set in H'wood and congratulated I!ka Chase on her re-cent re-cent book. "I enjoyed it," she said. "Who wrote it?" "Darling," clawed Ilka. "I'm so glad you liked it. Who read it to you?" In Moore's the other dinner time Eddie Cantor, Lou Holtz and Chico Marx were wondering about Ben Bernie. "Are things all right?" one of us queried. "Don't worry about Bernie," said an eavesdropper. "I happen to know that whether he works or not, he has an income of $22,000 a year." "Is that enough the way he bets?" asked Chico. "Those who'll suffer," gagged a wag, "will be his relatives." From Variety: "Only three pictures pic-tures have played five-week engagements engage-ments at the Music Hall before Reap the Wild Wind.' They were Snow White,' 'Rebecca.' 'Phila. Story' and 'Woman of the Year.' " Isn't show business bad enough without arithmetic like that? Harry Hopkins is supposed to have asked a Soviet big-shot: "How is it you purged so many Generals-yet Generals-yet you're doing so well?" "In Russia," was the answer, "we executed the Fifth Columnists, In France they put them in the Cabinet!" Cab-inet!" And over here they get on the staff of the hate sheets. John Gunther, the commentator-war commentator-war correspondent, was interviewing interview-ing the head of a gov't bureau, who was complaining about the confusion, confu-sion, red tape, eto. "What do you really think of Washington?" Gunther asked. "I think." he said, "it is an insane asylum!" "Oh, come now," Gunther ribbed, "that's a time-worn phrase." "You don't understand," said the man. "This is the most different kind of an insane asylum. It is run by the inmates!" America's Assembly Line. America's assembly line is complete. com-plete. It runs straight from the great heart of a free people to the hearts of their fearless fighters. The money streaming into our war bonds is already streaming out of the mouth of the cannon. The capitals of the enemy are panicky. pan-icky. Dollar for dollar wheel for wheel and tank for tank the enemy en-emy is losing the battle of the factories fac-tories Which means that man for man the enemy must give final account ac-count on his own battlefield. He knows that more goes Into a defense stamp than the 25 cents It costs. And that our men with their hammers are driving home more than rivets. The money pouring Into the United States Treasury means Americans have no price on their liberty. Billions for defense means tanks against tyrants and bullets for bullies . . . American working-men working-men are too busy to look up, but the smoking chimneys of their factories mean the smoking ruins of Berlin and Tokyo. The American armament program, pro-gram, which Includes 183,000 fighting fight-ing planes, was called "fantastic" by Hitler in a radio speech. This is to report that our plane production produc-tion will be even greater than Hitler fears. Midtown Melodrama: The col-yum's col-yum's spy over at B. Altman's department de-partment store overheard this dialogue di-alogue the other afternoon: Lady Patron riease charge it Salesgirl What is the name, please? Lady Lillian Gish. Salesgirl Would you please spell it? In Fewer Words: Vaudeville Is definitely making a comeback. The showmen obviously figured: If it's so successful in Congress it oughta be a cinch for Broadway. AVu York Heartbeat: The Big Parade: Detective J. Broderick, famed for his courage against gangsters, frightened stiff over appearing in a film depicting his career. Spurned an offer of $100,000 from MGM to stay on the police force at $30 per week . . . Chet Shaw, new managing ed over at Newsweek. The Purple Heart ribbon in his lapel means that he was wounded in the last war . Private Carl Laemmle Jr., who spends his week-ends at a swanky 5th Avenue hotel on $21 a month? |