Show I iA A Londoner in New York 1 ork This is the voice of a friendly alien olien Ive I've been reporting this United Nations' Nations war since Septem Septem- September ber 1939 But first thing I had to do dowhen dowhen dowhen when I sought permission to visit U. U S. S A A. was fill out form for aliens This peacetime form is all rules and anda a yard wide full of highly personal cryptic questions It floored me Only two questions Im I'm certain I t. t answered correctly were could I read and was I masculine They asked me also if Id I'd ever been in- in in in- 6 sane Even in the evil Nazi prewar days when I went often to Germany the formalities were were never so tough f and Id I'd never been called an alien It seemed a symbol of our life and times that th t you and we so as I be be- believe believe believe lieve fundamentally alike in thought and ond aspiration should build and maintain barriers to association and understanding Symbol of our times too I never nevert E saw Liberty as we steamed upriver Liberty passed by as I was answer answer- answering answering answering t ing an FBI quiz Very charming very courteous those FBI men but butt t the over going-over they gave me wasn't less thorough for being so friendly Is it too much to hope that after the war the American and British peo pea peoples pIes ples may share common citizenship in each others other's countries That would be a war aim It might even prevent World War 3 t. t Y v I was entirely unprepared for New York Years spent in the jungles of Burma and on the vasty deserts of Egypt Libya and were poor training grounds for this ex ex- exhilarating exhilarating exhilarating contact A strange city city city- but the natives arc are friendly Every Every- Everything Everything Everything thing has been said of New York but I was surprised at its smooth velvety functioning the politeness of the inhabitants not surprised at its k fascinating ting window displays its high prices its nothing for nothing and andY Y damn little for a dollar attitude I f London has nothing of New Yorks York's spirit or character Paris had a little the same tempo same fruity smell of gasoline same gusts of warm air from the sub sub- subways subways subways ways chestnut trees Nostalgia l broke over me like a wave at sight of those chestnuts recalling Paris Maytime May time in 1940 Sydney has something of New NewYork NewYork NewYork York in its waterfront its irregular skyline its hamburger heavens and gay gaudy and swift taxicabs New NewYork's p Yorks York's women and Sydney's have f certain kinship too The skillful i makeup lithe figures slim ankles and well-shod well feet f et I am not dis dis- disloyal disloyal disloyal loyal to you you gallant British wom wom- women women women en who fill our factories clean pur our streets and man our guns On Fifth Avenue maidens in uniform are rarer rarer rarer er than on London's But those I saw rated a backward glance Unlike British women's service uniforms seemingly de de- designed designed designed signed by repressed spinsters as re re- revenge revenge re- re revenge on their sex US women's uni uni- uniforms uniforms forms are chic feminine frequently Perhaps occasionally un peu trop trap devised more for row front-row chorines chorin s than for front front- frontline frontline frontline line corps Theres There's something to be bei i Y said for ugly uniforms those who i volunteer to wear them must be ber r pure patriots A New v York girl asked me mc I III suppose you must resent our remote remote- remoteness remoteness remoteness ness from actual war and seeing buildings unscarred coming as you do from Britain and the African line front-line But of course not Be Be- Because Because Because cause my home is shattered and my people killed should I wish the same fate fat for others No does As they stroll on Fifth Avenue I Iguess Iguess Iguess guess they feel like me that its it's good to be able still to find unscarred loveliness and beauty in peacetime proportions Unaided I spotted Jack Benny Una Merkel Billy Rose and some lesser aristocrats Walter Winchell was there too doing his homework I was quite prepared to dislike Winchell Its It's the human thing to resent success in others I did not expect to meet a starry eyed youth but Winchell was much less sophis sophis- sophisticate sophisticate r than Id I'd imagined Maybe its it's f true what they say that every New NewYork NewYork NewYork York columnist yearns to be a farm farm- farmers farmer's farmers farmer's ers er's boy I taking Lunch-taking the other day I 1 pleaded for postwar common citi citi- citizenship citizenship for British Br and a p US peoples p ops British want America back But what with the heat the miners miners' min min- miners miners' miners miners' ers' ers strike the Roosevelt versus Congress issue the food wrangle and the race riots America was no gift just then And in Britain right now weve we've troubles enough of our own Talking to an intelligent New Yorker about the United Nations' Nations air assault on Germany these days I referred to the air Battle of Britain He Re had never heard of it I told him it was the Battle of America under another name Except that chops and steaks are elusive New York doesn't show signs of war privations But war isn't merely do do- doing doing ing lag without things war is heart heart- heartbreak break weak personal loneliness for those left behind For frontline soldiers it b 13 s short periods of Intense fear 1 long periods of intense boredom I L |