People, Feb. 29, 1960

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Playwright Arthur Miller, husband of Cinemorsel Marilyn (Some Like It Hot) Monroe, wished aloud that the public would pay more attention to her lines and less to her curves. Said he: "She would not have lasted so long except for her genuine acting ability." As a case in point, he referred to Marilyn's forthcoming stardom in a Nevada-made movie titled The Misfit, written especially for her by Playwright Miller. "When this film is finished, everyone will recognize my wife's ability."

Doing a six-month stretch in Tennessee's Davidson County workhouse on an inciting-to-riot rap, Yankee Segregationist John Kasper, 30, fresh from a five-month respite in federal stir for contempt of court, was contemptuous of his treatment by the feds, laudatory of his local jailors. Observed he: "You know exactly what is expected of you at the workhouse. You eat, sleep and work, and that's about all of it. The federal system has too many bureaucrats. I always had the unexplained sense of great eyes watching me. And they go in for psychological brainwashing." At the moment, Kasper was laboring with three other prisoners, collecting litter and offal on county roads. Allowed one of his guards: "He'll pick up a dead dog quick as anybody."

Brooding over the possibility of a woman as U.S. President, a New York Post columnist recalled that a Maine constituent once inquired of doughty Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith: "What would you do if you woke up one morning and found yourself in the White House?" Senator Smith's tart reply: "I would apologize to the President's wife and go home."

Not since the 11th century, when its owner, Macbeth, murdered King Duncan in his sleep, had there been such anguish at stately Glamis Castle in the chilly hills of Scotland. A fire broke out in an uninhabited wing, was extinguished by the local fire department before it engulfed the cozy apartments where Queen Elizabeth once romped, Princess Margaret was born, and the Queen Mother's family have lived for some 600 years. The Earl of Strathmore, the castle's present guardian, tried to brave the flames to rescue his Labrador puppy, then thought better of it.

The puppy was sitting outside with the crowd, watching the fire.

Although few Negroes are inclined to take direct action when their race is slurred, sultry Songstress Lena Home, dining in a Hollywood restaurant with her white husband, Musical Director Lennie Hayton, took umbrage when a nearby patron voiced an insult at the singer and her race. Pretty Lena responded with drumfire—a hurricane lamp, some dishes and three ashtrays. Her startled detractor wound up with a gash over his eye. By the time cops arrived, cooler heads had prevailed, and no charges were brought by either side.