The Scene Changes

Not so
long ago a group of young ladies who worked in the same downtown office
met regularly for dinner at Lindy’s restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard.

These
were gay, informal occasions, relished by all, and even after some of
the girls quit their jobs or got married they continued to gather
there, less frequently, of course, for gossip.

Then their changing lives fanned them out from San Marino to Pacific Palisades to Torrance and they met only rarely.

A
reunion was planned recently and in high spirits and anticipation, with
compasses and watches synchronized, they converged on Lindy’s.

IN DISMAY and confusion, Pat Parks of Torrance reports, they discovered Lindy’s was closed two years ago and demolished a year ago.

"In a way," Pat says, "we felt responsible."

This,
of course, is the history of Los Angeles. You not only can’t go home
again, you also can’t even recognize the street it used to be on.

TODAY’S
provocative thought concerns a well-known phrase, "In the background of
every successful man stands a woman." It was used, incidentally, when
Mamie Eisenhower was given an honorary doctorate of laws recently by an
eastern college. A heckler in the audience asks, "Who stands in the
background of every unsuccessful man, every criminal, alcoholic and
dope addict?"

These hecklers, always asking embarrassing questions, have got to go.

HEAD START

–JEFFREY RIMMER

AFTER A momentary qualm, Elsie Cordingley, a secretary, thinks the internal revenuers have a wonderful sense of humor.

The
way she added and subtracted in making out her Form 1040 she determined
Uncle Sam owed her $117. But she recently received a card advising her
she had made an error in her tax return. Naturally she had ominous
thoughts. The other day she received her refund check — for $124.

A MAN WHO has a Volkswagen and wanted another has run into a curious situation At the VW
agency he was told there was a six-month waiting list. But some other
dealers, agents for American cars, offer immediate delivery on them —
at a $300 to $500 markup. So he wrote the factory asking an explanation.

He received an immediate reply from K.L. Barths, head of Volkswagenverks, Wolfsburg,
Germany, describing what he called "a sorry condition." The factory is
turning out 2,300 cars a day, he stated, but through circumstances
beyond anyone’s control many of them fall into unauthorized hands. Any other statement about the situation, Herr Barths added, was "mere volklore."

ASIDE TO Hal Humphrey: We’re there, pal. Heard a lady exclaim, "Did you see the so-and-so show on TV last night? The commercials were wonderful!"

AT RANDOM — Overheard by Jim Mahoney
in the traffic fines building: "I guess I’m just arrest-prone!" …
Traffic baffler: A uniformed sailor was driving a green Army car on the
Hollywood Freeway … Julia Nye heard a man in a Hollywood restaurant
say, "What good will it do to send that Duncan woman to San Quentin?
She’ll just marry Caryl Chessman and collect his royalties" … Easter
bunny note: About a dozen jack rabbits were chawing at the weeds a few
yards from the thundering airliners at International Airport … Jack
Price’s appraisal of a delicate situation: The nicest part of flagpole sittin’ is the quittin’.