People: The Gracious Gesture

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In his weekly column in the London Sunday Dispatch, Britain's Professor Cyril E. M. Joad began by answering a simple question about the clothing of American children visiting England with the British war-bride mothers. But he soon dived into deeper issues: "[American fashions for children are] terrible, aren't they? Little boys of seven . . . dressed in check suits, long trousers, and blue trilby hats . . . cowboy suits . . . bobby socks ... violent tartans ... Poor little brutes! Eating their cake too early, they will get through it too quickly . . . It is precisely this too-early maturity in ... manners, customs, habits and dress in Americans which makes them reach such an early, uninteresting and uniform middle age. What could be lovelier than an American girl at 19 or 20 . . .? What more dreadful than the American woman of 40 with her horn-rimmed spectacles, her leathery skin, her strident voice, her rushing about to lectures and committees, her general air of running the country and . . . culture? . . . Why is ... America the most uncultivated of all the great nations? The answer is surely because culture is the job of women, while the serious business of life, moneymaking, is left to the men."

Two days after Cinemactress Elizabeth (Ivanhoe) Taylor, 20, returned to Hollywood from England, where she left her husband, British Cinemactor Michael Wilding, 39, awaiting his U.S. immigration quota number, Elizabeth informed her M-G-M studio bosses that she may not be able to star in the movie called The Girl Who Had Everything. Reason: she is expecting a baby next January.

Cuba's Strongman Fulgencio Batista, making a friendly bow toward his great & good neighbor to the north, announced that a small park on Havana's seawall drive will be officially dedicated next month as "Fourth of July Park."

Back in his native Denmark, Captain Kurt Carlsen went aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog for a half-hour chat with King Frederik IX. Commented Carlsen: "It was a simple meeting between two sailors."

In Princeton, N.J., at a family get-together that included six of their seven grandchildren, U.S. Senator (since 1944) & Mrs. H. Alexander Smith celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary.

On the French Riviera, Auto Heir Horace E. Dodge Jr., 51, gave some expensive publicity to sometime Actress Gregg Sherwood, 26, whose announcement last year that they would get married was pooh-poohed by Dodge as just an attempt to get more free publicity. On the terrace of the Palm Beach Casino—where 40 guests enjoyed mounds of orchids ($15 each), 60 lbs. of ice-encased caviar and a $1,000 display of fireworks—Horace presented his platinum-blonde friend with a $4,290 gold bracelet (her collection of gewgaws from Dodge already includes a $3,000 gold cigarette lighter and a $74,290 diamond ring). Said Dodge, who is still waiting for a final divorce decree from wife No. 4: "I do hope to marry [Gregg] some day." Purred Gregg: "Friendship."

The Strenuous Life