‘Lady’ and the Mails

As you may have read, “Lady Chatterly’s Lover,” the controversial novel by David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), is okay again. At least for the moment.

Postmaster General Arthur F. Summerfield banned it from the mails several months ago as “obscene and filthy.” Critics and writers protested. (Read Alfred Kazin’s blistering comments in the July Atlantic.) The book’s publishers invited the Post Office “into the 20th century.”

Last week Federal Judge Frederick Bryan of New York overruled Summerfield’s
order. He stated, “The postmaster general has no special competence which qualifies him to render an informal judgment” and held that Summerfield’s ban order violated the guarantee of speech and press in the First Amendment.

Summerfield has pledged a fight to the finish and a recent issue of the Postal Service News, monthly magazine published for postal personnel, conveys his sentiments. It has a front page cartoon showing a hand holding a forked stick clamping down on a snake labeled “Obscenity Racket.” There is a montage of newspaper headlines dealing with mail order obscenity imprinted in heavy black type with, “We have declared war on muck in the mails.” The whole effect is of yellow journalism rampant. Most people will agree that real pornography, much of which originates in Los Angeles, should be wiped out. But many literary-minded postal workers don’t go along with the big boss’ impassioned tirades at “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” Although daring it in its time, it’s pretty weak in terms of present day writers’ preoccupation with sex. And you know what these employees call the Postal Service News? — ‘Summerfield’s Funny Book.’ :: HEREWITH spelling unchanged are the letters received from Hank Naylor, 9, attending his first summer camp. “Dear Mom: I want to come home. All the boys are mean to me. pleas send me some money. I can swim 5 yeards.” “Dear Mom: pleas send me some film and flach bluhes.” “Dear Mom Please divlep the pecture, nead money.” “Dear Mom I have a black eye it is not sireres” :: MALIBU MEMO Patties and leanies Look odd in Bikinis — G.B.H. :: REMEMBER WHEN day-working housemaids, before they would take on a new employer, used to ask, “Do you have a television?” The other day a maid was interviewing a South Bel-Air matron who sought her services. She inquired about the nature of the work and the conditions which prevailed. While still moodily considering whether to take the job she asked, “Does your house have air conditioning?” :: A JET transport from Los Angeles encountered a heavy thunderstorm recently as it approached New York and was unable to get immediate clearance to land.As it circled the area a bolt of lightning zigzagged across a wing. The passengers sat tense and silent with apprehension for a few seconds, until, F.C. Neumuth reports, a small boy piped up, “See, mother, I told you lightning was faster than a jet!” :: AT RANDOM — The teenage screaming set will be distressed to learn that Edd (Kookie) Byrnes gets an arrow in the chest in the movie “Yellowstone Kelly.” But he dies beautifully . . . Noting all the missiles that miss, Tom Cracraft contends the Cape Canaveral boys should call it the countup instead of the countdown . . . At last the question that has baffled people for years — why are some restaurants kept so dark — has been answered. Peppi Paunzen of Peppi’s on Ventura Blvd., confided, “I had the lights dimmed so the women will look 5 lb. younger” . . . You know what the actors call sagebrush sagas without a cattle drive or stagecoach holdup? — a “housebroken western.”