The White Falcon - 06.03.1943, Blaðsíða 4

4
THE WHITE FALCON
OUR FORCE - ALWAYS ALERT
Published by and for the American Forces, under the super-
vision of G-2 Section. Managing Editor, T/3G. Gene Graff; Asso-
ciate Editor, T/5G. Joseph T. Koren; News Editor, T/5G. George
Bartholomaeus; Art Editor, T/4G. Harrison Standley; Wire Edi-
tor, Pvt. Orlando Aguero; Circulation Manager, Pfc. Anthony J.
Schulte. All photographs are by the U.S. Army Signal Corps un-
less otherwise credited.
This paper has been passed by Censor and may be mailed
home for one cent.
Bombing Of Berlin
The devastating bombing blitz of Berlin earlier this
week is far more significant than merely to indicate
that the U.S. Air Force and RAF staged a successful
assault on the German capital. The damage was severe
and thoroughly bewildered the populace, which had
been “assured” by glib-tongued Hitler that Allied plan-
es never would be able to trickle through Berlin’s “in-
vulnerable defenses.”
More encouraging than the results of one night’s act-
ivity is the evidence that air initiative over Europe has
been won by the Allies. No longer , is Hitler’s terror-
dominated territory fearful of Nazi air power as 'a
means of repelling the anticipated “second front” of-
fensive if, and when, it lashes out for the knockout
blow. The skies are now virtually cleared for come
what may.
Berlin’s punishment, alone, might be interpreted as a
gesture to frighten German civilians. But when it follows
in the wake of wide-scale jolting sorties over the vital
core of industrial Europe, Hiller can’t possibly make
futile excuses to shake off the approaching disaster.
When hundreds of planes, carrying lethal cargoes of
high explosives, can strike at Germany’s heart with
accuracy and comparative safety, the legend of Luft-
waffe supremacy is a faint memory of the days be-
fore the Allies rolled up their sleeves and waded into
the decisive stage of World War II.
And Hiller must be frantic to explain to his war-
weary civilians why they must take time from their
customary activities to clean the streets of Berlin. That,
so he told them, “could never happen to us.” That’s
like the fight manager who rasped into his fighter’s
ear between rounds: “Go in there and fight. He can’t
hurt us.” 1
“But I tell you it’s no longer necessary to keep notifying your
draft board of your whereabouts.”
7Ae. Jnquihinq.
QeptVit&i
(The Inquiring Reporter, hear-
ing that many of the AEF here
plan to get married when the
war is over, “popped the baby
question” this week.)
T/5G. Andrew Yokovitch, 28,
Infantry, ex-
plained that he
and his girl were
married just be-
fore he left for
overseas duty.
He smiled bash-
fully and said, “1
think it would
be nice to have
three boys.” “Andy” formerly was
a steel worker in his home town
of E. Chicago, Ill.
Second Lieut. Eleanor Merrick,
ANC, from Leo-
minster, Mass.,
asserted, “Nurs-
ing is a career
with me and I
never gave babi-
es much thought,
but I think three
children would
make an ideal
family.” Miss Merrick worked at
the Boston Memorial Hospital
before entering the Army two
years ago.
”11 doesn’l matter much to
me,” declared
Pvt. Jessie Bell,
23, Infantry,
quickly adding,
“children don’t
fit into my plans
for the future.”
Jess admitted
that he thought
one girl would
probably be all right though.
With a far-away look in his
eyes, Pvt. Wal-
lace Cook, 22,
Medics, said,
“Two children,
a boy and a girl,
would be just W
right, but I
might comprom-
ise on a girl.”
Cook comes from
Scranton, Pa., where he was a
; truck driver.
Tell ’em it’s raining daffodils, Adolf!”
They Say....
CHAPLAIN’S CHALLENGE
“As a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he.”
Many hold the erroneous
idea that material accomplish-
ments alone serve as a baro-
meter of the character. In
truth, the nature of a person
is recognizable in his very ap-
pearance. Frequently, a minor
trait or a trivial habit reveals
the man in a joke, an expres-
sion, or an incident. Peculari-
ties often suggest the explan-
ation for some major feature.
Character is always interpret-
ed by the symptoms of a per-
son’s behavior. “Nowhere is
character more clearly reveal-
ed than under duress, in dang-
er, or removed from the fam-
iliar supports of home and
country.”
ERNEST FOSTER.—Lov,emak-
ing technique of Hollywood’s
matinee idols may be all right
for them, but don’t try to imit-
ate it.
Actor John Payne readily ad-
mits he made this mistake. He
went through agonies until he
discovered that the best love-
making system is the easiest.
Now Payne is romancing with
Sonja Henie for the second time
in their current 20th Century-
Fox picture.
“At the beginning of a screen
actor’s career,” Payne relates,
“he is attacked by embarrass-
ment and self-consciousness
when he has to kiss and make
love to a famous leading lady.
“The first and most natural
thing he does is the biggest mis-
take he can make—he tries to
imitate the romantic technique
of some famous star.”
When Payne tried to copy the
clinch of a romantic male star
which the audiences had ap-
plauded in the original, it led
to one of his most embarrass-
ing moments in pictures. The
female star, whom Payne pre-
fers to leave unnamed, turned
to him and said with a note
of derision:
“Are you kidding?”
DAMON RUNYON.—It is im-
possible to ordain songs to pop-
ularity with the public, as OWI
valiantly tried to do, asserting
— not without some justification
— that many of the war ditties
of the day were just slush.
OWl’s idea was that the song
writers ought to put their muses
to the grindstone and turn out
things that would reflect the
seriousness of war and a lot of
writers really leveled and gave
their very best all along that
line, some of the songs being
commended by OWL But in most
cases the cantankerous public
has turned deaf ears to both
words and music.
Our folks just naturally insist
on singing what they like. The
lyrics of a song may be com-
pletely banal and the music an
offense to highdoned. sensibili-
ties, but if the people like the
song they are going to sing it
and that is all there is to it.
Often the people pick songs that
are pretty good from any stand-
point.
My esteemed contemporary,
“Variety,” which knows more
about popular songs and song
writers and the song business
generally than any other public
print in existence, remarked last
week that the current crop of
disk releases “Again points up
the old Tin Pan Alley adage that
you can’t scienlificize the pro-
duction of hits; that they just
happen and no expert can pre-
dict which will prove a hit.”
Which just corroborates my
argument.
DOROTHY KILGALLEN. —
(The Column’s Fourth Annivers-
ary).—I was in the audience
when Billy Gaxton and Victor
Moore tried to revive vaudeville,
and now I wish some musical
comedy producers would revive
Gaxton and Moore .... I cov-
ered the opening night at El
Morocco the year John Perona
decided to make it look like a
pink velvet birthday cake, and
1 think I was the first to re-
commend that he bring back
the old zebra stripes and red-hot
stars .... It was in my era as
a Broadway columnist that Ethel
Marco changed partners, Garbo
laughed, and Chaplin forgot to.
The face of Broadway has
changed. When I first began to
write about it, it was a blind-
ing bright street that never grew
dark until dawn, when the cbor-
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