The Press: Hearst Is 80

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William Randolph Hearst, monarch of a communications dynasty (16 newspapers, eight magazines, four radio stations, one news service, one feature syndicate, one photo service), art collector, exponent of yellow journalism, worshiper at circulation's shrine, reporter, reformer, politico, columnist and multimillionaire, was 80 last week. For a man of his means and mightiness he celebrated modestly.

At the lavish, enormous Santa Monica, Calif, beach house of ex-Film Star Marion Davies he talked with friends, read congratulatory messages, played his daily hour of tennis. (Hearst tennis compares unfavorably with that of Octogenarian King Gustaf V of Sweden: no one ever keeps score; Hearst covers the court only to arm's length each way and it is taken for granted that the ball must be hit within his reach.) Birthday dinner guests were Marion Davies, four Hearst sons and their wives, a handful of Hearst publishers, Movie Columnist Louella Parsons, ex-Georgian Prince David Mdivani, Film Actor Arthur (Dogwood Bumstead) Lake, several others. They nibbled a red and white cake (16 candles).

Despite his age, Tycoon Hearst has not shriveled. Grey, jowled like a coon dog, no longer nimble, he still stands impressively erect to his full 6 ft. 2, is remarkably healthy. He still bubbles with new ideas for his publications, over which he maintains the vigilance of a whimsical despot. His newspapers are still wild-eyed, red-inked, impulsive, dogmatic, often inaccurate, and littered with grade-A, boob-catching circulation features. Currently Hearstpapers are making lurid attacks against "Stalin's Monstrous Double-Dealing," and are promoting "Total Warfare Against Japan . . . NOW." But Hearst personally has mellowed in his declining years, if his press has not. A recent edict of "advice to reporters and editors" said: "Be courteous and considerate. Make newspapers and newspapermen popular."

Commented Hearst's Los Angeles competitor, the Times, in a birthday editorial : "... Even those who have not always agreed with him can wish him well at this milestone in a career which will be long remembered."