The Theater: The Post v. Winchell

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The feud between the New York Post and Columnist Walter Winchell last week moved from the news columns into the courts. The Post and Editor James A. Wechsler filed libel suits for $1,525,000 against Winchell and the Hearst Corp., his radio-TV sponsor (Gruen Watch Co.), and American Broadcasting Co. Said the Post: in his columns and on his radio-TV programs, Winchell has been engaged in "journalistic gangsterism . . . [He has] spread the impression that the Post and its editors are disloyal to the United States and support and defend the Communist Party and C.P. figures convicted of conspiracy and espionage." While its case begins the long journey through the courts, the Post plans to run another series ("Winchell Revisited") as a sequel to its first 24-part scorcher, which started the fight (TIME, Jan. 21). Said Winchell: "A year ago when they started their series on me [the Post never thought] that their headlines would one day say, 'Post Sues Winchell.'" As soon as the Post starts its new series, Winchell has "a bank of eleven columns readv to use."