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Show LlS 1 1 - - - j .:v,I.,,LW.-.....a The Washington Express: Report from Our Capitol Hill-Billies: Hill-Billies: Congressman Everett Dirk-sen Dirk-sen (the acrobatic Illinois solon) reminds re-minds you of Harpo Marx when he's debating. His blond hair flies in all directions, his arms ditto and his grimaces are eyebrow-lifting. . . . A large bookcase covers one wall of the senate foreign relations committee chamber. The largest number of tomes is on oil; the sec-jond sec-jond largest, on Russia. ... As far as the state department is concerned, con-cerned, the two key nations of Eu- rope are Italy and France. If they 'go Communist, all of the continent 1 will come under the Red flag. . . . I White House attaches fear that the full tally of the telegrams (telling I the President what to do about the ! labor bill) will be at least 14 million. . . . Secretary Forrestal is one of those rare politicos who attempts to steer clear of the spotlight. He has even nixed filling out a questionnaire question-naire for "Who's Who." Congresswomen have a standard stand-ard reply for interviewers who ask if being a woman is a handicap: handi-cap: "Only in climbing trees." . . . One reason solons spend so much time in cloakrooms: Smoking is not permitted on the floor of the house or senate. Off the Ticker: This gives you an idea of how thorough the FBI is: During one kidnaping case G-men probed 24,000 possible suspects. sus-pects. . . . Reminder to those who fear the planned "disloyalty" probe of government employees will endanger en-danger civil liberties: The FBI has been doing such work for years since the Hatch act gave the G-men power to give government employees em-ployees the once-over. . . . Congress has pigeon-holed the public health bill, which would give government aid to those who can't afford medical med-ical care. But congressmen can go to a government hospital and get medical care gratis. And most of them take advantage of that free ride. . . . Top GQPress agenis earn more wampum than the senatorial hopefuls they are boosting for the presidency $20,000 per year. . . . The Supreme court's conference room is completely soundproof. . . . Sign on Senator Overton's office door in large lettering: "This office runs on standard time." Bilbo is having a howl all to himself at taxpayers. Although he hasn't been sworn into the 80th congress, Bilbo still collects col-lects $50,000 a year from the U. S. treasury (that's you) in addition to his own wage. The big bite is to pay his staff at his senate office and his "office" in Poplarville, Miss. Show Business Folks in Congress: Six years ago Rep. John D. Lodge was playing the juvenile lead in "Watch on the Rhine." . . . His wife, a former dancer (Francesca Braggioti), occasionally does her stuff for kids, at parties and for legislators' kin. She also runs a charm school to teach solons' fraus how to be slim and lovely. . . . Rep. Helen Gahagan Douglas, a former actress. . . . Senator Glenn Taylor, Idaho liberal, used to sing and strum the gittar on the radio. . . . Then there's Cong. Sol Bloom, who nearly 50 years ago impresario'd a j kootchee dancer at the Chicago World's Fair. Add B'way Casualties: A penny arcade! ... As Steve Gibson says, business isn't off it's offul. . . . The re-bop recession has hit the pianissimo. There are 3 musicians musi-cians in New York for every available avail-able job (26,000 musickers for 8.000 jobs). . . . Add summer styles for men deep blue shoes. Whoopssss. . . . The recession, as it is called, has struck hard in Washington, where thousands of government workers receive dismissal slips daily. . . . Veteran railroaders tell you that many wrecks are due to speed-up orders a system to "beat the airlines." One Midwest train (going at 110 miles per hour) kept the passengers from sleeping all night. Frankie Carle asked the engineer en-gineer (at a stop) to slow down. He said he had his orders. Fine thing. . . . What'll they think up next? A novelty concern is offering shoes that light up. Moscow's "executive mansion" man-sion" at 200 West 88th street has a peekaboo slot in the door to inspect you. Like in the Prohibition Pro-hibition hooch days. The Late Watch: New York will have 108 conventions this summer. ... Is the War Surplus commission trying to hush up the fact that some workers take sun lamp treatments during working hours? . . . This is the time of the year when all the milk-train troupes come to Broadway Broad-way and the B'way stars go to the barns. Because the dough always looks greener in the other guy's bank. . . . The unique solarium j (above Polyclinic hospital) is decked out like an ocean liner. Life- j rings, portholes and a rowboat 16 stories above Manhattan. . . . War Must Be Over Item: Beardless, teen-age youths have replaced the grandpaw messenger boys over al Western Union. |