1921

A diabetic, Dave Bowen with three other men was lost at sea. Edith is then a weeping widow? No. A joyful wife. After a night-mare adventure Dave flourishes on dry land. In 32 hours of uncontrolled drifting the 20 foot runabout out of Provincetown could have been rammed by freighters or swamped in a storm. The trouble arose when eight miles south of Boston Lightship it ran out of gas and with no flashlight aboard the compass light failed. A Coast Guard search involved 35 ships.

Kent McKinley also had a date with Death and failed to keep it. Now he has a new goddess: Therapy. Much appreciated, she did not loom large on Kent's horizon until after some three weeks of oblivion. On March 11 he fell off his roof, hit his head on earth, but his shoulder crashed on concrete. For 21 days he was so heavily doped as to be practically unconscious. With a pin, surgeons pieced together his smashed shoulder. Plans for London theatre and restaurants, enthusiasms fully shared by Marshall Exnicios, had to be cancelled.

In Kuwait Leighton Tracey with Crete hopes to write a book. Oil has enabled it to become the most prosperous welfare country in the world: no income tax, free telephone calls and TV programs, and no tuition for schools, colleges, and health services. `Prostratingly hot, Kuwait has more air-conditioning and a bigger sea-water distillation plant than any other capital. The population of 400,000 is better fed, better paid, and better clothed than the vast majority anywhere. One of every six persons owns an expensive automobile. In a violent world Kuwait without revolution or bloodshed has achieved a democratic government. On leave of absence from the National Federation of Independent Business, Melrose, Mass., Leighton as District Manager tries to promote and protect the American system of private business with equal rights for all and to aid small businesses.

Mary Palmer and her husband HaroldHoch, not far from Kuwait, have visited Alexandria and that ancient Syrian city, now Baalbeck, Lebanon, which once built a temple to Baal, had its name changed under the Greeks to Heliopolis, and under Julius Caesar become a Roman colony which built the Great Temple. In Naples Mary bought an accordion which a German sailor who spoke no English {she knows only "Ja" in German) taught her to play so well that passengers on local cruises break into song.

Pan Am manages Cape Kennedy and develops hotels. RCA rents automobiles (Hertz), publishes books (Random House), and sells data processing. Westinghouse makes nuclear reactors for subs, builds water desalting plants, develops land, sells educational materials, and bottles Seven Up. In a Wall Street Journal article about how the impact of big combines on the economy defies old-fashioned analyses and how professors and trust busters are seeking new data about conglomerates at work, Russ Goodnow is given important space. President of Maine Parts Corporation, Providence, Russ is a distributor buying various industrial mechanical parts and equipment from many suppliers, many of whom have been taken over by conglomerates. "Pressure on a conglomerate's division manager for immediate profits," remarks Russ, "can result in a form of exploitation, or cashing in by the conglomerate, of customer goodwill that a division had created during the years it was an independent company." Though deterioration does not happen all at once, Russ is convinced that this very gradual, inexorable process of design-change too often means (1) cheapening of the product, (2) somewhat relaxed quality control and inspection, (3) inventory cutbacks, and (4) changes in manu-facturing, assembly and shipping procedures, all to the end of bolstering profit regardless of the effect on customer welfare.

Sandy Sanders and his Wellwood Oil Company of Houston are making the industry sit up and take notice. In the first half of 1968 he could report the completion of 11 oil and four gas wells in 28 tests, a higher percentage than the usual criterion of success, 46%. The oil completions were in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico; the gas wells in West Texas, the Texas Gulf Coast, and the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Again on the move, Doug Storer is opening in Cypress Gardens the first of a series of Florida exhibits under the auspices of International Tourist Attractions. His new book, "Amazing But True Stories Behind the Stamp" is on the Scholastic Book Club List. On the move also are his One Vote Campaign and his Christmas and Garden Monthly Advertising Special Direct by Mail Series. In Florida and New York City he sees something of Joe Schultz, SkinnyMoore, Ort Hicks, Harry Chamberlaine, and Paul Belknap.

In an article "New Hampshire - Here We Come" in "American Forests" to which Bill Embree subscribes, Bob Burroughs is praised as the Manchester American Forestry Association Director active in promoting the yearly meeting this month in Wentworth-by-the-Sea, Portsmouth. "New England Revisited" will feature foods famous in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Dr. Paul Dudley White, the heart surgeon, will be the banquet speaker, and Senator Muskie of Maine will lecture on pollution. Rabbi Jacob Weinstein of Chicago will comment on spiritual and aesthetic values found in the outdoors.

Blair Watson attended the first month-long leadership seminar of the American Film Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with 39 other invited guests from all over. The purpose was to increase the quality of film education at all levels by bringing influential educators into close contact with the professional world of the film. Director of the University Film Association, Blair also attended the fort-nightly University of Denver annual con- ference.

One of 1921's best dressed men, LarryNardi remarks that styles are getting crazier than ever. Where it will end, he can't say, but the clothing industry is stimulated. "I do love the vivid shades being flaunted by the ladies," Larry admits, "and the mini skirts on those who have pretty legs. But everyone wants to look like everyone else, and when one sees some men and women in their new get-ups, it's more fun than a circus." Larry should know, for he is a power at Saks Fifth Avenue starting his 20th year. Larry and Alice are planning a vacation in Glasgow and London where for 40 years he has been a stranger.

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE. During 14 weeks working for H & R Block, Washington, Mac Johnson handled 443 tax cases, mighty challenging. ... At the end of trying days in the First National Building of Minneapolis, Gene Leonard finds solace in playing his Hammond organ. . . . GeorgeBeaudoux and Furb Haight had a pleasant reunion in Laguna Hills, Calif. ... A football player and vice president of the Senior Class, Ray Mallary showed considerable dramatic flair in The Players. His histrionic ability his granddaughter has inherited. Catherine, daughter of the Rev. R. DeWitt Mallary Jr. '47 of New York City and Fairlee, Vt., gave a concert in July at Bonnie Oaks for the benefit of St. Martin's Chapel. She is a student at Juilliard. . . . Hugh andBetty McKay spent part of the summer visiting his 96-year-old mother in Rochester and friends on a lovely Lake George private island. . . . On Rustins Island, Casco Bay, Ing Baker leaves most of his sailing to his 17 children and grandchildren, has sold his dream sloop, but has kept his 27-foot lobster boat for transportation. . . . Fully recovered from surgery, Bill Fowler in his Boston office three days a week tries to reduce his commitments. . . . Chosen from more than 300 entries, "On Earth and Fire" by RalphSteiner was one of 38 movies given awards at the closing dinner of the American Film Society at the New York Hilton. ... In Scotland Bill Embree was given an elaborate tour of the John McEwan distillery in Leith, near Edinburgh. The result is an article about the history and processing of Scotch whisky published in the June issue of "Cherry Circle."

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