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Show Typewriter Monologue: The news from Africa gave Americans Amer-icans the first hip-hip-hooray feeling of the war, coming as it did after toe British had sent the Fascist and Nazi armies staggering across the desert . . . There were loud cheers for Midway, and toe triumphs in the Solomons were hailed. But it's more inspiring when toe senior partners part-ners of toe Axis are getting the slapping slap-ping . . . Even a neutral can cheer when a Nazi is having his schnozzola rubbed in the sand. There's something some-thing very beautiful about one of those bragging squareheads biting the dust. They yell uncle so sincerely sin-cerely ... If you enjoy nervous Nazis, tune in on the Berlin short wavers and listen to them pretty up toe African disasters. Their broadcasters sound like lush-rollers in police court explaining how the victim's wallet gave them such a surprise when they found it in their hands. Hollywood is panicked by the wage ceiling, limiting the yearly pay check to 25 Gs net. The biggies big-gies can collect $67,000, which is the legal 25 plus tax, but everything over stays in the boss' hip pocket ... It calls for adroit handling. If an actor keeps on working, he is toiling for free. If he lays off he runs the risk of being forgotten by the fans . . . Biggest fear of all is it may wreck the star system. If the studios get into the habit of paying actors wages that keep them within the legal limit, they might get to like it and keep it up after the limit is off . . . Agents are scared stiff. They get 10 per cent of a client's earnings. As one of them put it: "Ten per cent of zero is zero," but there are those who think that's a fair wage for agents. The OWI can't be seeing many "B" movies, judging from its advice ad-vice to pulp fictionists to make their villains Japs . . . Every week the cinema offers a Nipponese Nasty for slugging purposes. That makes him a pushover heavy . . . It's no surprise sur-prise to anybody (and no drama at all) when Basil Beautiful clips the Japs in the teeth and tells him that squares Bataan. It leaves you wanting want-ing a lot . . . The place to make the Japs the heavies is in the news-reels, news-reels, especially if it also shows the heroes getting hunk. We don't want to just pretend we're hurting them. It's much better if it's the McCoy. Oh, ever and ever so much. A Frenchman, who lived In England Eng-land for many years, turned on it with written attacks after France was licked . . . When Winston Churchill heard about it, he said: "We thought we had a friend we only had a client." The Magazines: Eugene Tillinger, in Pic, relates that there is a caste system among the Berlin Murderers' Murder-ers' Set. Frau Himmler, he reports, re-ports, gets snooted by the wives of Goebbels, Goering, et al, because her husband, Mr. Gestapo, butchers people for a salary, while others do it for medals . . . John Erskine, in the American Mercury, grieves that American poetry is namby-pamby namby-pamby because the poets "have forgotten for-gotten how to curse" . . . Mebbe that's because they keep their cussin' for their letters to critics . . . I. F. Stone's pungent pieces in The Nation are waker-uppers . . . Look's literary snapshot of Ambassador Ambas-sador Winant points out that he looks like Lincoln. But more important im-portant he thinks like him . . . Kyle Crichton did a success story on actress Marjorie Reynolds. He reports she earned $600 a week in horse-operas but got a break in the films at $250 per week . . . Huh? Typewriter Ribbons: H. L. Mencken: Menck-en: Conscience: An inner voice that warns us somebody is looking . . . Anon: He was a cashier who wished to be one of the 400 but now is only No. 387 .. . S. Butler: She gave the impression that her mind was wearing trousers . . . Christopher Christo-pher Hale: Don't slam your mind in my face . . . Jean Tennyson: The only ambition in life a paper napkin has is to get down off a diner's lap and play on the floor . . . Anon: The snow is beautiful if you are watching the other fellow shovel it . . . Goethe: One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man . . . H. Shriner: Henry Kaiser Old Man Riveter ... A. P. Herbert: Her-bert: To me, the conception of two living together for 25 years, without a cross word is absurd, and suggests sug-gests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep. Where there is spirit there must be sparks. Hero Bulkeley saw "Sons of Fun" the other night and howled at it. Later he asked Olsen & Johnson: "How can you stand it night after night all that noise and shooting?" . . . Kenneth Miller's suggested slogan for Loudmouths: "Loose Schmoose Can Cook Your Goose!" .' . . Gracie Fields is a click at the Wedgwood Room at the Waldorf. Gets all the stuffed shirts to sing "Always Be an England" and "God Bless America" . . . Ginny Simms has told RKO she'll do no more B films. |