FOREIGN RELATIONS: Slice Sliced

"A living slice of Americana," burbled a fashion-industry press release. The slice: the 47-model fashion display to be shown four times a day at the U.S. exhibition opening in Moscow late this week. But when 250 fashion editors of U.S. newspapers and magazines saw a preview in Manhattan last week, 41 of them signed a petition protesting that the half-hour show was "not representative of the American way of life."

The signers had various complaints in mind. One thought the display was "too frivolous," showing Americans doing a lot of playing—dancing, dining out, picnicking, traveling—but very little working. Others objected to a scene showing teenagers romping to raucous rock 'n' roll. But the fashion industry committee that put the show together (at the request of the U.S. exhibition's General Manager Harold C. McClellan) felt that the "not representative" charge was aimed primarily at scenes showing whites and Negroes mingling at social events, notably a civil wedding with a white couple serving as the attendants of a Negro bride and groom. Having shown dubious taste by including so phony a scene in the first place, the committee showed a poor sense of propaganda by slicing it out.