Personal Glimpses

BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF THE LIVES OF THE FAMOUS

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GENTLEMEN'S PREFERENCES

"I always wonder," said a friend to ANITA LOOS, "how you could write Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when you are a brunette?"

"That's how I know," sighed Anita.

—WALTER WINCHELL, December 1954

RETIREMENT AGE

Said writer SOMERSET MAUGHAM, on his 75th birthday: "When I was 20, I made up my mind to quit at 50 and have a good time. When I was 50, I decided to keep at my work until I was 70."

"And at 70?" asked a newsman.

"At 70," said Maugham, "I realized how right I had been at 20."

—JOHN CAMERON SWAYZE, McNaught Syndicate, December 1954

NECESSITY CREATES INVENTION

The vigorous young president of the Philippines, RAMON MAGASAYSAY, was making an inspection trip to a new irrigation project on the big island of Mindanao. He was worried about the project because motorized equipment for pumps from abroad had not been delivered on the expected date. But when he arrived at the site he found the project way ahead of schedule. The engineer in charge explained that they had found some old U.S. diesel trucks, surplus property, and had torn them apart, improvised and adapted, and got them to work in place of the new pumps which had not yet come. The whole operation was as complicated as a Rube Goldberg invention, but it was evident that somebody's ingenuity and skill had produced efficient machines out of these awkward-looking makeshift monsters.

The president sent for the public-works engineer. “Are you responsible for this?” he asked, pointing to the improvised pumps.

“Yes sir,” the engineer replied, not without some trepidation for having bought surplus property and proceeded full steam ahead on his own.

“Raise your right hand,” the president said.