Monday at 6:30
a.m., as Marvin Hanks of East L.A. walked from his home to his garage
to drive to work, he observed that the full moon in the western sky was
green–grass green.

"What goes on here?" he asked himself. Later in the day, he referred his wonderment here.

What
you saw, Marv, was a celestial phenomenon known as a green flash. It’s
unusual but not rare and has long been the subject of study.

As Ray Holmes, APCD
senior meteorologist, explained it, the light rays from the moon bend
as they pass through different atmospheric densities, creating a
rainbow effect that can change from pale yellow or orange to blue. The
green is more easily seen that the others.

Conditions must be
exactly right for the green moon. The light must be very bright and the
air must be unusually clear. We had both Monday.

See what can happen when the air clears?

THERE’S SUCH a thing as a person being too conscientious, Jim Bloodworth, the writer, will tell you.

As a filip
to his proposed visit to his home town, Memphis, over the Christmas
holiday, he decided to give a party for his family and friends there.
He wired a hotel to reserve a room and addressed Christmas card
invitation to 50 persons.

Then he decided against it, canceled the hotel reservation and discarded the invitations.

On
his arrival in Memphis, however, a friend congratulated him on his
wonderful idea of giving the party. Baffled but in there fighting, Jim
hastily called the hotel and retained the room. The party was a great
success–$500 worth.

On his return here the mystery cleared. His
houseboy said, "I was sure glad to do you that favor. You know, you
accidentally brushed all those invitations into the wastebasket before
you left. I bought stamps with my own money and mailed them."

BELVEDERE, out in enchilada country, is bursting with pride over the appointment of a local boy, Carlos Mendoza Teran, 41, as a municipal judge.

As a boy, Teran shined shoes and sold papers at 1st and Rowan and attended Belvedere
Junior High. Later, he went to Garfield High, where he played end on
the football team although weighing only 145, and UCLA, where he was
middleweight boxing champion. Incidentally, he almost became a
professional boxer.

One sad note dimmed his appointment. His
mother died two months ago. He would have liked her to have been
present when he was sworn in Monday.

TWO CIVIC CENTER habitues
were discussing juries and the suspicion that sometimes they hold off
announcing their verdicts in order to get an extra free meal. One
observed, "Most of the juries I’ve seen look like they could use a good
meal–especially after the ear pounding they take from those attorneys."

Sustained.

AT RANDOM–While in Tokyo with Bob Hope’s troupe, reporter Frank Laro
headed into a cafe but was stopped at the door by a polite Japanese who
said, "Orientals only." Gave Frank an odd feeling… Ray Southworth
nominates for oblivion the politicians’ phrase "At first blush." Ray
doubts that second blushes are much less embarrassing these days…
Speaking of blushing, This Week magazine for next Sunday — printed in
advance–will have an article titled "The First Man Into Space" by Don Dwiggins of this paper. It’s about A. Scott Crossfield,
North American test pilot who will fly the secret X-15 a hoped-for 140
miles into space. Don wrote it last May… While on that subject,
Alberto Diaz overheard a paisano
remark, "That vodka really gets you high’… A group of Hollywood
writers have tape-recorded a mythical telephone conversation between
Mickey Cohen and Chief Parker, very ribald and full of double entendres.