Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1942)
Page 2- -THE BATTALION- -THURSDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 17, 1942 The Battalion STUDENT TRI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER Texas A. & M. COLLEGE The Battalion, official newspaper of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas and the City of College Station, le published three times weekly, and issued Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. Entered as second class matter at the Post Office at College Station, Texas, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1870. Subscription rates $3 per school year. Advertising rates upon request. Represented nationally by National Advertising Service, Inc., at New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Office, Room 5, Administration Building. Telephone 4-5444. 1941 Member 1942 P\s so doted GotlefSiote Press Brooks Gofer Editor-in-Chief Ken Bresnen Associate Editor f»hil Crown - Staff Photographer Sports Staff Mike Haikln Sports Editor Mike Mann Assistant Sports Editor Chick Hurst Senior Sports Assistant Advertising Staff Reggie Smith Advertising Manager Jack E. Carter .' Tuesday Asst. Advertising Manager Jay Pumphrey Saturday Asst. Advertising Manager Circulation Staff dill Huber ^Circulation Manager H. R. Tampke.— Senior Assistant Carlton Power. Senior Assistant Joe Stalcup Junior Assistant Bill Trodlier Assistant Thursday’s Staff Jack Keith Junior Managing Editor John Holman Junior Editor Tom Journeay Junior Editor Bill Jarnagin Reporter Open Forum THANKS A MILLION—AND ADIOS! When I said, “Cut, print it,” on the last scene Sunday afternoon in front of the Aggieland Inn, I wanted to take the microphone from Freddy Frank and make the only speech of my life; but I was afraid my intense grati tude to everybody at Texas A.&M. College from the Board of Directors and the Pres ident, down to the newest Frog on the cam pus would cause me to bungle, so I take this method of telling you all, through the Bat talion, how deeply grateful I am for the co operation and patience and the splendid act ing all of you Aggies did for “We’ve Never Been Licked.” I am writing this while awaiting the plane which will take me back to Hollywood The month I spent on the campus is fresh in my memory. I recall how I felt when Walter Wanger assigned me to direct the picture. He told me about the wonderful spirit at Aggieland. Norman Reilly Raine told me about it. I was told to go to College Station and see for myself. Freddy Frank, Milt Krasner, Alex Golit- zen and myself came down. We stayed near ly two weeks. About the fourth day on the campus I knew what Wanger and Raine meant when they said “the Aggies have the finest spirit in the world.” We returned to California and prepared to shoot the pic ture. We arrived back at Texas A.&M. on November 14 and began work. We now have finished our work and all that remains is to take what we did at A.&M. back to Holly wood and fill in the dialogue. Throughout the entire period nor one request was made that wasn’t fulfilled bet ter than we expected, and the response was immediate. No individual or group was requested to do anything that wasn’t performed with a willingness to cooperate that we do not even get in Hollywood where we are ac customed to pay for everything we do. There was work in hot sunlight, on cold nights, long hours of standing patiently, numerous retakes, unexplainable delays— all without protest, with a fine spirit of co operation. I want to use this means of expressing my deepest appreciation to every person on the campus and the fine Bryan folks who helped us. Nowhere but in the great institution of Texas A.&M. College could we have accomp lished what we did. Finer people do not live anywhere than those at Texas A.&M. College. My two sons are going to be enrolled at Texas A.&M. College. Sincerely and gratefuly, (signed) Jack Rawlins Director, Universal Pic tures. Something to Read IBy DR. T. F. MAYO: Their Way and Our Way If you like dramatic contrasts and if, at the same time, you would like to set over against one another, in bold relief, two ways of looking at life, I recommend Clarence Dar- Man, Your Manners PRIVATE BUCK .-. By Clyde Lewis , m a a \\ he IBy I. SHERWOOD: Choosing a gift for your girl should give you pleasure as well as her—if you give the matter thought. As a rule, men wait un til the last minute, then rush into a store, and take the advice of a tired disinterested clerk on what to buy, and as a result they buy something they are not sure of or happy about. A gift should be a particular thing, therefore, it is difficult to give general sug gestions on what to buy. Etiquette books caution young men to use discretion in their purchases; if you are engaged you may, with propriety, give her personal and expensive gifts, otherwise be stow, lingerie and jewelry sparingly, and money never. The standard list of gifts may sound old-fashioned but if you stick to it you will be perfectly proper; it includes books, flow ers, stationery, perfume, handkerchiefs, and costume jewelry. If a man knows a girl’s interests, he shouldn’t have any trouble making a choice, for instance, if she is ath letic and loves tennis or golf, give her the implements to play the game; if you want her to write often, give her a desk set or a desk pen or if she is a girl that is careful about her looks, give her a vanity; one of the lovely plastic toilet sets would make most any woman happy (I hope Santa Claus sees this.) Exchanging photographs with a girl you are not engaged to may give you some con cern as well as embarassment when you try to get it back at a later date, especially, if you have inscribed it with your undying de votion. L tn □ □ □ . Q 1.1 | □ ca a nq tn cj cn tn campus ^ i dSractions by a a & □ cn in a a □ o “Buck is always arguing. Last night it was with the Sergeant about dim-out regulations!” BACKWASH By Jack Hood “Backwash: An agitation resulting from some action or occnrrence n — Webster Penny's Serenade Nip & Tuck IBy W. L. PENBERTHY: For about the past month the normal life of the student body has been somewhat dis rupted because of the filming of “We’ve Never Been Licked,” but I am sure we all learned some things by being in the pic ture or by observing the shooting of the various scenes. I am also sure that the per sonnel of the Universal Company made a very favorable impression on our students and campus people in general. From my ob servation I feel that they contributed to our education in two ways. First, I feel that most of us found out there were some ways of spending time that were more painful than attending or teaching class and sec ondly we learned that everything connect ed with movie making was not rosy for I heard many make the remark that, on the basis of what they had seen in the filming of this picture, the Movie Industry was one industry with which they would not care to be connected. Personally, I was much impressed with the patience shown on the part of the direct ors in the, handling of the actors and ac tresses and the meticulous attention that was paid to the minutest detail in the film ing of shots. In this respect they reminded me of the coach of a squad drilling his team on a complicated play because every little detail had to be just right and the play had to be rehearsed until everything went off letter perfect. They were not content with having a scene be pretty good—it had to be just right and they stayed with the job until they got it that way. This is sure ly a fine lesson we should have learned from one of the biggest industries in the world. One of the best wise cracks I heard was made by Richard Quine while the scenes were being taken at Kyle Field. The entire football squad was acting as background and was going through practice routines while the scenes were being shot. Dick was having a little trouble with his lines and of course the scene had to be retaken each time something didn’t click. After the second time it had to be retaken Weldon Maples hollered over and said, “Dick, the next time you mess that scene up, we are coming af ter you.” “Oh yeah,” replied Dick, “I’ll take you guys on one at a time—at Ping Pong.” May you have a fine Holiday Season. You’ve heard (undoubtedly) of a rumor mill going full blast some where. The way the papers and radio have been bouncing the news around the last few days, it’s no wonder . . . but that doesn’t mean they’re at fault. However it seems the big boys are on the verge of making some sort of definite state ment. Tuesday night the radio made the ERG boys sit up by announcing “Me For You Forever” is a sen timental tune, one of those I-could- dance - with - you - to-this-forever things. The music was written by Harry Revel and the words are by Paul Webster, who did the lyrics for “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good.” The song gets a break by being introduced in a Walter Wan ger picture. Wanger uses only one new song per picture, and so far a goodly percentage of those new songs have made the Hit Parade. “THE FLEET’S IN,” showing at Guion Hall today is a funfest filled with enough humor, dancing and singing to suit any and everybody. Among those appearing in the show are Dorothy Lamour, William Hol den, Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton and Jimmy Dorsey and his band. Most of the film has the navy in the background, as the name in dicates. The plot all. centers around a scheme on the part of Holden’s pals to get him to woo and kiss publicly a luscious femme known as “The Duchess” (Miss Lamour). Bets are laid on all sides because Holden is a girl-shy guy and ap parently has never kissed a girl in his life. As it turns out, he falls in love with the Duchess and she begins to feel the same way for him. But about this time, she finds out about the bets being laid on his kissing her and calls the whole thing off. Naturally, he has to prove to her that he was really serious and was making love to her regardless of the bet. “The Fleet’s In” is a good all- around show for light entertain ment. Betty Hutton is especially good in her wild dance numbers and of course, Jimmy Dorsey fur nishes that sweet swing for which he is so well known. The Lowdown—a fleetful of fun. The invisible man is brought back to the screen and given wartime Berlin as the locale for further pursuit of his imperceptible she nanigans in “INVISIBLE AGENT” now showing at the Campus thea ter. Cast includes Ilona Massey, Jon Hall and Peter Lorre. The picture has more and better of the thrills, suspense, action and trick photography that made pos sible its predecessors, and has the additional asset of its appropriate war time theme. Jon Hall has the secret invisibility formula perfect ed by his grandfather. He protects the formula from several Nazi spies and then volunteers to go to Berlin as an American spy. The Lowdown—now you see him, now you don’t. ry Russian Relief Needs Excess Seed Of American Farms the ERC will be called into active SWGGping'S . duty in a few weeks. Wednes day morning a paragraph on the front page of a metro paper stat ed that the ERC will be called in a few weeks and that basic ROTC students are sub ject to induction. But on an inside page was a story advising collegians to “sit tight” while some sort of committee meets to decide what to do with them. (Probably the committee for hold ing collegians in suspense). Paul McNutt has taken a load off the minds of the nation’s educators by announcing intentions to continue liberal arts education in colleges . . . which boosts Aggieland’s “bus iness as usual” chances. What's New One prominent man on the cam pus has this to say, “So they named it ‘We’ve never been Licked’? Well, if they’d stayed here about a week more, they could change it to ‘We’ve Never Been Licked—But Once!” ... a worried cadet, un doubtedly in the ERC, got Colonel Marshall out of bed Tuesday night at midnight to ask him about the radio statement regarding the ERC . . . He probably got told . . . The Singing Cadets nearly picked up an extra member in Houston on their recent tour. Aggie-Ex Travis L. Smith, Jr., ’98, Houston oil man, fed the SC at the YMCA Saturday p.m., and they sang for him then. From there he followed them to the USO, Mother’s Club Meeting, First Methodist Church, Ex-Stu dents Meeting, and to the Sym phony . . . Der Fuehrer’s Face went over^big on the tour . . . the SC praise the strictly good eats they were treated to . . . ... in the way of songs is dis cussed by Sister Mary Brown of the TSCW Lass-O: Girls who witnessed and partici pated in the filming of the dance scene in WNBL predict more and better parts for singer David Street and popularity for the song he plugs, “Me For You Forever.” Da vid is making his first picture, al though he appeared with Bob Cros by on the Kraft Music Hall, with “Six Hits and a Miss” on the Burns and Allen show, and with Freddie Slack and Orchestra. Chemicals in Wood Give Varied Flames Aggie Crgptogram Dim Out Light Developed by G E (The following cryptogram was enciphered by taking a plain-text quotation dealing with Aggieland and dividing it into groups of five letters, then arranging each of these groups alphabetically.) row: For the Defense, by Irving Stone and Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi, by Gregor Ziemer. I cannot claim that Clarence Darrow is a typical American, and I refuse to believe that Adolph Hitler is a typical German. But it is true, I think, that only the U.S.A. could have produced Darrow and eqhally true, I believe, that Hitler could have evolved into what he is only in Ger many—and only, moreover, in such a tor tured and twisted and sick Germany as has existed since 1918. These two books, therefore, offer a sen sational contrast between two attitudes, each of which embodies a powerful part of the national ideal of a great people. The follow ing passages speak for themselves: From Education for Death (p. 114, ff): (Experts from “Hail to Our Fuehrer,” a highly recommended and popular book for German boys): “Thanks to those hard days in Vienna, while our Fuehrer had to battle Jews and corrupted statesmen, our Hitler himself became hard; it is thanks to those hard days that he has acquired unusual strength of character. This hardness often stands him in good stead now.” Today's Aggie Cryptogram: EFFIT EFNOR CCHKU ADINW ADEFN AHPPY ADILN GNS. —B. H. Luther Tuesday’s Solution: AGGIES LETS HAVE A WHITE CHRIST MAS WITH MOM POP AND HER. “Our Fuehrer could nof even see mice go hungry. Even dumb animals can touch his heart with pity. But with his enemies— that is a different story. With them he can be hard.” From the introduction to “We Maidens Sing,” a popular songbook for girls: “Holy is our food, and the ground where it groWs. The ground where now we stand has drunk German blood in streams. . . . Oh, Bloody Acre, thou that dost nour ish us, Bloody Acre dedicated to Death, Make us worthy of Power.” From Clarence Darrow: For the Defense (p. 513) : “The lords of creation think that the Almighty meant that they should be rich and the great mass of people poor. Men have got to do these things themselves, but men are awfully hardhearted. Kindliness comes A new control switch developed by the General Electric Lighting Division permits satisfactory “dim- out” operation of traffic signals during a blackout. It allows illumi nation of the entire lens instead of a reduced area, making for greater traffic safety, but the light is not discernible from the air. The device can be mounted in the base of the controller cabinet with out drilling extra holes in the con troller panel or making any wiring changes. It consists of a transform er and a single-pole switch with two positions. With the switch at the “normal” position the signal lamp burns at full brilliancy; at the “blackout” position, voltage is reduced and the lamp filament just glows. A visor must be pro vided for each signal lens to screen the upward light and decrease the range of the signal beam. Do you want varicolored flames in your fireplace during the Yule- tide season? You can have them if the pine cones or logs are soak ed in different chemical solutions. Fireplace fuel soaked in a lith ium chloride solution will produce a purple flame, while strontium nitrate will present a beautiful red. Copper sulphate wil give you blue, and calcium chloride will burn with an orange flame. Yellow is produced with sodium chlorate. Wood or cones that have barium nitrate in them will give green flames. The directions are simple. Dis solve one pound of the chemical powder in one gallon of water, have the fuel soak a few minutes, and then let it dry. Large logs will also produce the same efects if the chemicals are dusted on them before being plac ed in the fireplace. These inexpensive chemicals can be bought in drug or hard ware stores. American seedsmen should not only give their full cooperation to the seed campaign of Russian War Relief, Inc., but should assist in directing the efforts of the,cam paign so that the greatest possi ble benefit will result, according to a statement made to the whole seed trade industry by A. J. Biggio, president of the American Seed Trade Association. Biggio assured seedsmen that their contributions would not en danger our domestic seed needs or disturb the Lend Lease seed pro gram. He reported that all relief agencies soliciting American seeds men for seed contributions were ob liged to keep Lend Lease seed authorities and the President’s War formed of their collections and purchases in seeds. Thus, Biggie’s statement pointed out, the seed coll ections made by Russian War Re lief, Inc., will be charged against Russia’s seed allocation. In view of this clarification, Big gie’s statement declared: “Now we can give our whole hearted support to these fine en deavors (the seed campaign) with the full knowledge that they are of real patriotic signifiance and are under proper governmental sur veillance. “We can appreciate that some of the great benefits resulting from successful (seed contribution) programs of this type is the fine effect upon the morale of the people of both the giving and re ceiving nation.” Biggio further urged that when seed contributions are made, trade members give “only seed of high est quality, adopted to climatic conditions and in usable quantities.” Russian War Relief, Inc., is sol iciting the entire seed trade in an endeavor to provide Russia’s hard- pressed farmers with part of the vegetable seed they need for the planting of millions of new tilled acres. Much of Russia’s former food producing areas are tem porarily in the hands of the Nazis. Seeds sought by Russian War Re lief, Inc., include carrot, beet, cab bage, turnip, onion, radish, squash, spinach and lettuce. Dr. Martha Steffy Browne iS*be- lieved to be the first woman to hold the title of economics instruc tor in University of Cincinnati his tory. (See SOMETHING TO READ, Page 4) At least 39 colleges and profes sional schools have closed their doors or merged with other insti tutions since spring. May We Express Our Appreciation . for your patronage during the year and wish you a Merry Christmas and Very Happy New Year. CAMPUS CLEANERS Two Convenient Locations New “Y” and Over Exchange Store WHAT’S SHOWING At the Campus Thursday, Friday, and Sat urday — “Invisible Agent,” with Jon Hall and Peter Lorre. At Guion Hall Thursday, Friday — “The Fleet’s In,” with Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton. PALACE RHONE 2-8879 THURS. - FRI. - SAT. “White Cargo” ^ with HEDY LAMARR WALTER PIGEON PREVIEW SAT. NIGHT 11 P. M. “A Night to Remember” with Loretta Young Brian Aherne Telephone 4-1181 Box Office Opens 2 p.m. TODAY - FRIDAY AND SATURDAY Also Comedy — Sport Variety Views PREVIEW SAT. NIGHT SUNDAY - MONDAY “Ride 'Em Cowboy” ANNE GWYNNE ABBOT and COSTELLO Dr. Rupert Vance, research as sociate at the University of North Carolina, believes the south will enter a period of wide industriali zation immediately following the war. New Weekday Schedule Box Office Opens 2 P.M. Clones 10 P. M. THURSDAY - FRIDAY I DOROTHY WILLIAM ©DIE LAMOURHOLDENBRACKEN THE FLEETS BN Plus Snapshots — Sartoon Red Riding-Hood i t \ 4) 1 * *