On her way to a student conference at Colgate University (Hamilton, N. Y.), Kathryn Lewis, daughter of C. I. O. Leader John L. Lewis, missed her train in Manhattan. Result: she was not aboard the Lake Shore Limited when it was wrecked at Little Falls, N. Y., killing 30 people, injuring an estimated 65.

Baltimore's sage, H. L. Mencken, coined a new term for strip-tease artistes: ecdysiasts--from Greek ekdysis; a getting out; ecdysis (in zoology): the act of molting.

Hedy Lamarr's first husband, Austrian Munitions Tycoon Fritz Mandl, now an exile, concluded a visit to the U. S. by buying two 10,000-ton cargo ships and sailed for Rio de Janeiro with his wife No. 2, Austrian Actress Herta Schneider. His use for the ship's: to carry cargoes to Europe from Argentina, where he is starting out afresh as a tycoon.

New York City Councilman Joseph Clark Baldwin (Republican) hired a new stenographer. The new officeholder: Sarah Alden Derby, 19, granddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the U. S.

Milwaukee's new singing mayor, Carl F. Zeidler (TIME, April 15), was inaugurated in a way that suited him. Instead of the usual simple ceremony in the 750-seat common council chamber, his inauguration took place in the 7,500-seat municipal auditorium, with the entire city council seated at desks on the stage, planes soaring over the roof, a police band tootling, choruses paeaning, a multitude admiring. The mayor's new bodyguard: a singing cop.

After a luncheon at Washington's swank Shoreham Hotel was held a charity fashion show. Its principals and onlookers were socialites, debutantes, Congressional wives. Among the mannequins were two Senators' wives, Florida's Mrs. Claude Pepper, Kentucky's Mrs. "Happy" Chandler. Name of the show: Gilding the Lily for Glamorous Days and Nights.

While inspecting munitions works in Birmingham, Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth was so miserable with torticollis (crick in the neck) that King George sent for Elmer T. Pheils, a U. S. osteopath, who gently, skillfully rubbed Her Majesty's royal neck for ten minutes, made it feel much better.

About to deliver a soliloquy from Hamlet at an actors' dinner in Manhattan, Actor John Barrymore struck a classic pose, spied a microphone beside him, snarled: "Take away that inverted spittoon."

To Arthur Stratton of Clinton, Mass., ambulance driver on muddy French war roads, went France's first World War II decoration for bravery by an American volunteer. His award: Croix de Guerre with palm. His deed: evacuation of badly wounded troops on the Western Front under machine-gun cross fire, heavy artillery bombardment.

Mrs. Edith Graham Mayo, widow of Mayo Clinic's late great "Dr. Charles," mother of eight children (three deceased), an adopted daughter, a foster son, grandmother of 22 offspring, blushed and stammered "I am just scared" when she was chosen American Mother for 1940. 1935's Mother: Mrs. Fletcher M. Johnson, Gainesville, Ga.; 1936's: Mrs. James R. Smith, Claremont, Calif.; 1937's: Mrs. Carl R. Gray, Omaha, Neb.; 1938's: Mrs. Grace Noll Crowell, Dallas, Tex.; 1939: Mrs. Elias Compton, Wooster, Ohio.

Informed that he had inherited the threadbare baronetcy of his uncle, the late Sir John Henry Lee Fagge, who was a handyman in Pepperell, Mass, till he fell heir to his title, Sir Fred Fagge, of Faversham, Kent, England, downed three beers instead of his customary two, wiped his mouth, announced his plans: to remain a farmhand.

To Cartoonist Percy Crosby (Skippy) went U. S. patent No. 2,197,174 for a helmet designed to prevent brain concussions. Shaped like a Tyrolean yodeler's hat, its crown rests on powerful springs which are attached to the brim. How it works: bullet comes, crown gives, bullet is deflected, crown snaps back, war goes on.

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