McCarthy Ghost Still Haunts

Two teachers who have been subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee here Sept. 15 called on a staff member the other day to tell their stories and ask a favor.

One
is a middle-aged, married, soft-spoken woman who teaches kindergarten
in a nearby city. She has never been associated with any Communist
activity, she said, and has no idea why she has received the summons.

She
had talked to her principal after it was served and told him that the
only reason she could remotely give for the subpoena was that she had
expressed disapproval of some of the material used in the early grades,
notably the book "Little Black Sambo," which she felt was racially discriminatory.

DESPITE THIS,
the principal suggested she resign to protect her record as a teacher
and to prevent a furor in the community, which is notably sensitive to
the slightest taint of subversion, even if unproved. And so she has
resigned.

The other is a philosophy professor at a college in
the community. His record is also clean and he has no idea why he was
subpoenaed. Like the kindergarten teacher, he has also signed a
teacher's loyalty oath.

He told the head of the college that he
had searched his memory for a possible reason for the summons and the
only thing he could think of was that he had signed a petition, as
others have, urging that the House Un -American Activities Committee he
abolished. The college had expressed understanding and there has been
no suggestion of resignation.

Why did they come into the main
office to talk to a newsman? To ask that, although innocent, their
names not be printed when the list of persons subpoenaed is released to
the press. In the subversion league, they know, public accusation is
tantamount to conviction and the smear is permanent.

The ghost of Joe McCarthy continues to hover.

::

AN EXECUTIVE of Beckman
Instruments in Fullerton invited a friend to his home and at the time
he was due to arrive the phone rang. It was the friend, who said, "I'm
at 1st and Palm — what should I do now?" He was talking from his
cruising car. The host stayed on the phone and talked him in, just like
at the airport with a plane lost in the fog. Paul Chase, who was there,
is working on a new system to be called GCA — Guest Controlled Approach.

::

THE PET
female rabbit belonging to Kathy Mellon, 8, has become a nuisance, and
the other day her father, who prides himself on his selling ability,
saw a chance to get rid of it. He asked a neighbor boy, 10, who has a
male rabbit, "How would you like to get in the rabbit-raising
business?" He painted a glorious picture of the immense profits of such
an enterprise. The boy thought that it would be fine but he said he'd
have to ask his mother.

The response came cold and sharp
directly from the boy's mother. "We have guinea hens," she said. "How
would you like to get into the guinea-hen business?"

::

TOM CASSIDY of KFAC
took his son Johnny, 4 1/2, to Family Night at the Hollywood Bowl and
was pleased at the boy's seeming absorption in the program — until an
announcement during a cowboy interlude. At which Johnny commented,
"Boy, he sure goofed! He said Annie Oakley was on Channel 7 — she's on
Channel 11."

::

AT RANDOM — En route to Peoria, Ill., where he'd served 27 years with the fire department, Aylesworth R. Place of L.A. died in a heart attack. For his funeral in Van Nuys a few days ago his widow called the LAFD
and asked if three pallbearers might be furnished as a tribute to a
fellow fireman. Nine volunteers responded . . . One of the luxurious,
modern living room displays at the Home Show is titled "Penthouse on
Bunker Hill, 1960" — premature perhaps but prophetic.