Higher Education
Sirs:
Since third grade geography I've thought the world's largest island was Australia. TIME [Jan. 27] says it's Greenland. Who is wrong, my third grade teacher or TIME?
MAC F. CAHAL Chicago
P: From the fourth grade up, Australia is generally regarded as the world's smallest continent, Greenland the largest island.--ED.
In the Jefferson Line
Sirs:
I think you will find that General Marshall is the 51st Secretary of State and not the <(48th ... in the line started by Thomas Jefferson" [TIME, Jan. 27]. You could arrive very close to your figure--49--by eliminating the return engagements of Daniel Webster and James G. Elaine, but that isn't good political arithmetic, albeit reportorial face-saving. . . .
LEONARD TRAUBE New York City
P: The State Department, which should know, calls Marshall its 48th Secretary.--ED.
A Republican, Maybe--but Taft?
Sirs:
TIME [Jan. 20] labels Senator Taft of Ohio as "by all odds the best informed man in the Senate."
Let us hope that he is better informed than he was in the fall of 1941 when he solemnly declared in a debate at the Cleveland City Club . . . that it was preposterous to think that Japan threatened the U.S. in any way!
W. D. TODD, U.S.N.R. Lakewood, Ohio
Sirs:
. . . Had to laugh at TIME'S comment on Taft: "He has great political courage. . . .
He attacked the ... Nurnberg trials--to the deep embarrassment of his party."
Surely TIME is not unaware of the large number of Americans of German descent, in Ohio & elsewhere, who have strong German sympathies, although they are not overtly Nazi. This was just smart politics. . . .
His briefcase may be bulging with facts, but his brain apparently ignores those it doesn't like. Those of us who trained with wooden guns remember a few of the men like Taft who, to further selfish and party interests, fought Roosevelt's preparedness program. . . .
DENNIS M. MAYLAN
Fort Devens, Mass.
Sirs:
... A Republican President in 1948--maybe! But never, never Robert Taft!
DOROTHY W. GIBSON San Diego
Pundits & Peddlers
Sirs:
Fie on TIME for being so provincial as to base its year-end report on the state of the cinema almost entirely on the opinions of the New York critics: "Most film critics announced their lists of 'ten best'--and, in view of its wealth and its energy, Hollywood had made a miserably poor showing" [TIME, Jan. 20].
The annual poll taken by Film Daily, a most reliable motion-picture trade publication, lists the selections of 559 critics and commentators throughout the country. Only one foreign film (Henry V) was chosen for the "ten best" list, and only three importations (Caesar and Cleopatra, The Seventh Veil, Blithe Spirit) were cited on the honor roll of 51 pictures. . . .
The critics voting in the Film Daily poll represent a cross section of our country's taste. . . .
In the future, let TIME properly evaluate the ivory tower musings of the New York pundits. . . .
BILL McCoRMicK
New York City
P: Let M-G-M Pressagent McCormick go peddle his pictures. Despite Holly-woodenheads, the "ivory tower pundits" will go right on cutting most of the U.S. critical ice.--ED.
Stinkeroo & Piperoo
Sirs:
Re: Cinema: TIME, Jan. 20.
I have squirmed through many a flitting, giddy, unsteady Hollywood movie, suffering miserably. I would like nothing better than to sentence the entire Hollywood moviemaking bunch to sit through that most wretched of all stinkeroos, Centennial Summer, once a week for a year.
After reading your year-end movie comment this week, I saw Open City. The stark, savage realism of Open City fills me with admiration for actors and technicians to whom moviemaking is a true art. ...,$. LOUIS ASSAFF Detroit
Farley for the Record
Sirs:
TIME [Jan. 27] quoted Jim Farley as saying on our radio program, Meet the Press, that Harry Truman was dead political timber.
I don't see how your reporter got that from what Jim said, and for the record 1 think it ought to be corrected.
LARRY SPIVAK New York City
P: In summarizing the transcript, TIME erred. The record:
Bert Andrews, of the New York Herald Tribune: "Do you think he [Truman] would be the strongest candidate the Democrats could nominate?"
Jim Farley: "At the moment he would not be. He might be then ."
Andrews: "Who do you think would be stronger?"
Farley: "I don't want to mention any name because maybe the man I have in mind might not be interested."--ED.
Neat but Gaudy
Sirs:
... As men's fashion consultant to several advertising agencies, men's trade publications, and several large consumer magazines ... I take exception to using the statements of Hollywood's Adolphe Menjou as a criterion on how to dress well.
Mr. Menjou's dressing habits are of another age and another country. In fact, the impeccable Mr. M. doesn't even follow his own rules.
The enclosed picture [see cut], taken at the recently held Los Angeles Open Golf Tournament, does not need an expert to refute his statement, "The well-dressed man is never conspicuous" [TIME, Jan. 20]. Close observation of the picture shows conspicuous Mr. Menjou with gold watch chain and gold collar pin--technically known as jewelry.
Furthermore, if Mr. Menjou rules, "Never wear a striped shirt with a striped suit" (I don't agree), then please, Mr. Menjou, what about a checked tie with a checked suit ? For another Menjou dribble, note the tightly knotted tie and absence of trouser break at the instep. . . .
Rather than taking Menjou's silent cinema mode of dress as an example, I'll recommend today's talkie model, Clark Gable.
LEONARD A. ROTHGERBER JR. Men's Apparel Research Guild New York City
Big Enough Challenge
Sirs:
TIME [Jan. 20] erred from its usual outstanding accuracy in implying presidential or vice presidential ambitions to me. In fact, the quote which you ascribed to me is exactly the opposite of the comments which I made to a number of reporters, any one of whom, I believe, can testify that I stated substantially this: "This is one fellow whom the presidential and vice presidential bug has not bitten. We've got too much work on our hands in 1947 and 1948 in the Congress itself to dawdle in speculation about the presidency." As Chairman of the [Senate] Judiciary Committee and member of the Foreign Relations Committee, my ambition is to fulfill these responsibilities to the best of my ability and to serve the 3^ million people of my state [Wisconsin] faithfully and loyally. This is a big enough challenge for any one man.
ALEXANDER WILEY Washington, D.C.
Answer to a Prayer?
Sirs:
The sad and savage picture of a man with haunted eyes which you labeled Sinclair Lewis in TIME, Jan. 20, together with the news item that he had been entombed like another Carrie Jacobs-Bond in that Forest Lawn of the Arts which is Hollywood, reminds one tragically of 20 unproductive years since Main Street and Anowsmith. . . .
It is two decades since this man, who might have been great, held a stop watch on the Eternal and hurled a childish challenge at God to strike him dead. Could 20 barren years be the answer to that prayer?
RUSSELL C. STROUP
Lynchburg, Va.
Disbeliever in Berlin
Sirs:
I wish to call your attention to quite an error in your International Edition of Jan. 13 re cinema actress Lida Baarova, wife of Gustav Frohlich, in the famous Goebbels slapping incident. Your article states Frohlich has not been heard of since. He is not only alive, but just finished a picture in Berlin, which is at present playing in Theater Wien on Kurfurstendamm. ... I told Frohlich he was dead, but he would not believe me. . . . JOHN F. RENICH
Berlin
P: TIME hopes to have better luck in convincing AP's Berlin correspondent.--ED.
Greenland & $70,000,000
Sirs:
Although I have been for six years a steady reader and admirer of TIME, I was shocked to read in the last issue [Jan. 27] that "Washington military men thought this might be as good a time as any to buy Greenland, if they could" and I was just as disappointed in your obvious approval of the idea.
You realize rightly "that Denmark's national pride-would stand in the way of a sale," but . . . don't you think it would be fair to ask the Greenlanders if they want to be sold to the United States? . . . The answer is No. ... They pledged their faithfulness to the Danish King. They consider themselves as Danish citizens, and they want to remain Danish citizens.
You would get the same answer from the Danes themselves, not on account of national pride but because it would be indecent to sell their own countrymen.
These two facts you left out of your article, and they are far more important than 800,000 square miles of land and ice and $70 million which Denmark owes the U.S. investors. It may be true that it is "more dollar exchange than Copenhagen can easily raise," but . . . this is more than a question of national pride and dollars. It is a question of vital significance to all small countries in the world. They have been given the impression that the United States fought for the same principles that they themselves believe in; but if the United States now adopts the methods of the totalitarian states, they may as well throw in the sponge. . . .
HELGE LARSEN
Copenhagen, Denmark
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