Back on the Carrousel

When rough & ready Robert S. Allen hopped off the "Washington Merry-Go-Round" five years ago and went to war, Partner Drew Pearson wrote a sentimental prophecy: "I shall miss Bob, but . . . he'll be back handing out brass rings, punching the tickets for rides on the old 'Merry-Go-Round.'" Few Washington newsmen would have bet on it, for the famed team of inside dopesters had been notoriously cold toward each other. When Allen came home in 1945, he was in no hurry to get back to the old stand. For more than six months, he and Pearson did not even meet or speak, though Allen longed to share the spotlight and the audience (20 million a day) of the carrousel.

But last week Pearson's prediction finally came true. Allen's byline reappeared--alone--on the "Merry-Go-Round." "I'm just filling in while Pearson takes a rest," he said modestly. At week's end, as forecast, he was busily bestowing brass rings. The recipients: selected members of the working press. One was the San Francisco Chronicle's Charles Raudebaugh, who, said Columnist Allen, wrote a "vivid and dynamic chapter ... in Our Fair City [Editor: Robert S. Allen], best-selling study on municipal rule in the U.S. . . ." Another was Richard S. Davis, who wrote the chapter on Milwaukee. Three were Scripps-Howard Washington correspondents: Marshall McNeil, Daniel Kidney and Ruth Finney (Mrs. Robert S. Allen). "They know more about operation of the Government than most of its so-called operators," Allen confided. "Also about lobbyists and other finaglers, who on innumerable occasions have been frustrated by these writers' exposes."

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