(By VIRGINIA VALE
He leased by Western Newspaper Union.
T\/fARY ASTOR certainly
started something when
she signed up as master of
ceremonies for that new
Thursday night air show, in
which she is starred with
Charles Ruggles and Mischa
Auer. Within a week sponsors were
being deluged with plans for pro
grams on which girls would act as
emcees. And just ask John Charles
Thomas if the ladies are taking
over! He’s a placid, composed in
dividual, but he nearly lost his calm
MARY ASTOR
recently, at one of his Sunday after
noon broadcasts, when he saw six
new girl members of the orchestra.
-*
Penny (‘‘Blondie’*) Singleton is a
very proud young woman. She now
answers to the name of Mrs. Major
Sparks—her husband was recently
promoted, after performing distin
guished service as a captain. Pen
ny’s more elated than he is!
-*
If it’s announced that Capt. Clark
Gable will appear at your local
movie house in a new picture,
"Wings Up,” don’t expect to see a
great deal of him in it. The film’s
an Office of War Information short
subject, and it's certainly worth see
ing, but Gable isn’t on the screen
much of the time. He acts as nar
rator, and makes an appearance
only in the concluding scenes.
-*
Now you’ll have to add another
Ameche to your list. He’s Jim Jr.,
son of Jim Sr. of the Sunday “Here’s
to Romance” broadcasts, nephew of
Don. The five-year-old appears on
CBS in the “Big Sister” serial.
-*
To make the cloud effects for the
Heaven scenes in "A Guy Named
Joe,” starring Spencer Tracy and
Irene Dunne, the air must be un
disturbed and the temperature even.
So an air lock system is being used
on the heavy double studio doors,
and a watchman’s been installed to
see that the outer one’s closed be
fore the inner one’s opened. Of
course the cast has nicknamed him
Gabriel.
-*
Among the congratulatory wires
Bill Stern received when he switched
to a Friday night spot on NBC was
one signed by George Raft, Betty
Grable and Tommy Dorsey, He’s
slated to make a movie with them
some time next fall.
'Is
/IN
They put Marie McDonald into a
wig, for the first time in her life,
for scenes in “Tornado,” since her
own blonde hair was too short. So—
when she lighted a gas heater in
her dressing room, gas which had
escaped during the night exploded
In a burst of flame, which caught
the long ends of the wig. The wig
was ruined; Marie would have been
badly burned if she hadn’t thought
fast and snatched it off.
-*
Signe Hasso, of “Assignment In
Brittany,” has been signed to con
tract by Metro, and around the stu
dio they are predicting that she will
be one of the biggest stars in Holly
wood after two or three roles in top
v pictures.
f -*
Anne Shirley, the romantic inter
est of “Bombardier,” has the larg
est collection of service men’s flying
wings of any Hollywood star—42.
But Donna Reed has a set of flying
reports taken from a Jap flier shot
down at Guadalcanal, a bomb frag
ment from London, and walrus tusk
sewing needles from Iceland, all
sent her by soldier admirers.
-*
Susan Peters and her fiance,
Richard Quine, had a bad spill the
other day. They were showing off
before some friends with a bit of
trick double riding, on Susan’s new
motor bike—it went down and so
did they, but hurt nothing but their
pride.
-*
ODDS AND ENDS — Humphrey
Bogart and Robert Young have made
more free appeanmccs for the Screen
Guild Players than anybody else—
seven broadcasts apiece for the charity
... “A Date With Judy,” another serial
about an American family, will replace
Eddie Cantor’s “'lime to Smile” pro
g.amJor the summer . . , The day after
Phillips Lord blasted tire stealers an
“Gang Busters” he started for Maine—
and somebody stole the tires of his
roadster . . . George l.owther, writer
narrator-producer of “Superman * says
he s never had mike fright because he
spent three years as cheer leader at New
Haven high school, megaphone in hand.
I • '
The Comforts of Home Under the Sea
The USS Cuttlefish, a modern submarine, was built to provide comfortable quarters for its crew as well
as to raise havoc with the enemy. Its facilities include a reception room, shower, and radios used solely for
amusement. At left, a yeoman keeps records in the sub’s office. Those records show that the Cuttlefish
has sunk one Jap warship and three Jap merchant ships although it was launched very recently. At cen
ter Is the crew’s quarters, and at right, the cook smiles as he prepares turkey for dinner. The spacious engine
room and other compartments of this sub belie the visions of cramped living conditions so often associated
with submarines. The Cuttlefish is powered with Diesel engines and has the latest safety developments in its
escape hatch.
New Gun Is Sturdy, Accurate and Light
- - -—-— ■ — -— _ —.in —i——■—nwi—iiMMiriminiini —wiimnnnf iriniM ninfiinnrruininninr'iiTn."rr-'inrmn "I—ItmTrrrrrf
An Allied weapon which is causing all sorts of trouble for the enemy is this sub-machine gun which
Is small enough to be carried in a briefcase yet so sturdy that 49,000 rounds of test firing improved rather
than decreased its accuracy. Corp. Lloyd W. Ricketts is shown in two poses with the gun which is a .45
caliber weapon, weighing less than nine pounds, and has been named the M-3. It is capable of firing 450
rounds per minute and costs less than $20 to produce. Amphibious troops have found that rain, salt, spray,
or even complete immersion in sea water has little effect on the reliability of the M-3.
Samoans Invest in U. S. War Bonds
These “skirted” members of the Fita-Fita native guard in Samoa
are regulars in the United States navy. They receive overseas pay for
serving at this station which is home to them and promptly spend 50
per cent of their income in U. S. war bonds. Boatswain’s Mate Suitonu
(center) and Coxswain Hopati buy bonds from Samoan Postmaster David
J. McMuUin.
Jap Scores Bullseye but U. S. Fliers Safe
Officers and crewmen of a Liberator B-J4 bomber are pictured beside
their plane somewhere in the Southwest Pacific shortly after raiding a
Japanese base at Gasmata, New -Britain. A Jap Zero pilot scored a
bullseye through the center of the bomber’s marking star but failed to
brine the plane down. Four other heavy bombers took part in the raid.
On His Last Leg
. I, i • V ‘-V
Apparently Axis troops are using
one-legged men. An American sol
dier is ghown examining an artificial
leg which was left on a Tunisian
battlefield by some German or
Italian soldier who is literally on his
last leg. Artificial limbs are a
rarity on a battlefront where men
are assumed to be in perfect con
dition.
A Rookie Again
•
Private Terry Moore, formerly an
important member of the St. Louis
Cardinals ball team, is shown with
his equipment just after being sworn
into the army air forces in the Canal
Zone.
Hundreds Offer Home to Soldier's Waifs
Their father is in the army and their mother is ill in the South, so
the four bright-eyed brothers pictured at top were waiting at the Chil
dren's Aid society in New York for someone to give them a home until
their parents can come back. Hundreds responded to their plea ex
pressed via a newspaper. Among them was William G. Hells, mil
lionaire oil man shown at bottom. Hells is a Greek-Americaa who
has contributed over $1,000,000 to Greek war relief.
He Made Salt Water Drinkable
“Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” This cry of
the shipwrecked sailor is no longer true. Lieut. Clare R. Spealman,
USN (left), has discovered a simple process to make sea water drink
able which can be carried out in a few minutes by a shipwrecked sailor.
He is shown being congratulated by Capt. William L. Mann.
Paralysis Healer at the White House
President Roosevelt meets a famous Australian nurse. Sister Kenny,
who has developed a new method of treating infantile paralysis. Pic
tured above are President Roosevelt, Basil O’Connor, head of the National
Paralysis Foundation, and Sister Kenny. She was a luncheon guest at
the White House.
L.■ ■ -- .. ... .-.
WAVES Learn to Rule Waves
The historic Charles river in Cambridge, Mass., where Harvard mas
culine crews practiced and raced for many decades, is now the scene
of a training headquarters for WAVES. A group is shown carrying their
shell from the boathouse. They learn to row, handle a small boat, and
other water lore. >
Warning!
“You guys better get out of here
while the getting's good.’* That’s
what the characters on this imita
tion leaf told the Japs on Kiskm
island. The leaves were dropped by
U. 8. aviators to enemy forces who
are supposed to have an aversion
for the leaves, supposedly from n
Japanese Kin tree.
The Road Back
With the Axis cleaned ont of North
Africa, refugees like the ones shown
above can move back into their
homes. These people are returning
to Bizerte aboard their carriage
which is fitted out with springs, rub
ber tires, and a wheel assembly
from a Rolls Royce automobile.
Zip Off Zoots
Servicemen and soot suit wearers
fought a small war of their own in
Los Angeles, sending many youths
like the one above to jails and hos
pitals. The servicemen were strip
ping the “looters” in revenge for
previous assaults.
Limbering Up
*
Gunder Haegg, Swedish distance
runner, limbers up with Greg Rice,
America’s speediest two miler,
after Haegg arrived in New'York
for the National AAU championship
track meet.
. \