A Little Modest

In 81 years, Charles (Henry) Davis of Cape Cod, Philadelphia and New York has accumulated more than a million dollars, a distinguished white mustache, a list of 40 miscellaneous clubs and societies (including the Bankers Club, National Association for the Protection of Roadside Beauty), and a bagful of curious ideas which he will dispense upon request. Last September, Davis, attired in a yachting cap, double-breasted blue jacket with a saucer-sized gold highway badge pinned on the inside, astounded his guests with the simple announcement: "You're looking at the next President of the United States." Later he disclosed that "I have the perfect defense against the atomic bomb."

Fortnight ago, eccentric Millionaire-Engineer Davis revealed his version of a fey project for a Dover war memorial pro posed last summer (TIME, July 29). Davis' idea: an 80-foot statue of Winston Churchill holding a mammoth cigar over his head like the Statue of Liberty torch, mounted on a 100-foot-high pedestal bearing an inscription, "Never was so much owed by so many to one man," which thoroughly squeezed the juice from a great Churchillism. A model (see cut) was prepared by a New Hampshire sculptor, Viggo Brandt-Erickson. Davis offered his idea to the mayors of 14 towns on the English Channel coast.

Last week flamboyant Davis had an answer wrapped in a typical British understatement. Said Mayor Arthur A. Goodfellow of Dover: "We agree that a memorial to Churchill might be a good thing, but something more modest and utilitarian would be preferable."

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