April 10, 1941: Lee Shippey writes about the wildflower fields of Kern County. “Now I have seen them and I know that until one has seen them one cannot comprehend what California's spring wildflower show is like,” he says, never tipping off the reader that he had been blind for years. He once said: "I never saw humanity clearly until I lost my sight."

Tom Treanor visits a factory that makes women’s shoes….

A consensus of cameramen listed Marlene Dietrich as the most easily photographed star, Norma Shearer as the most difficult, Jimmie Fidler says. 

April 9, 1941: Whom do you think of as the Lone Ranger? Clayton Moore? Brace Beemer? Meet Earl Graser, who played the Lone Ranger on the radio until he was killed in a car accident at the age of 32.

Lee Shippey has a letter about conditions in occupied France and Tom Treanor has a roundup of items.

Jimmie Fidler says: If ever I saw a new career launched in bad taste and with minimum good judgment, 19-year-old Marjorie Woodworth, Hal Roach "find," is getting such a sendoff. In Life magazine appears a photographic layout of the girl — a layout based on her resemblance to the late Jean Harlow.

April 7, 1941: Reporter Leland Stowe certainly drew attention on his sweep through Los Angeles. Lee Shippey has another column about him!

Tom Treanor, who was killed covering World War II for The Times, says: A little gruffly, without exactly tipping their hats, the men in the manufacturing end of the aircraft industry are welcoming women workers.

At one factory I visited last week the first women's department had begun operation the day before and at another plant tests were being run off to determine where women can be fitted in speedily.

Consensus of opinion is that women will do the best at work which requires nimble fingers. The factory which installed them last week is using them for assembly of electric hookups.

 MALIBU BEACH AT A GLANCE: Uniformed guards wearing guns and who-the-hell-are-you stares, Jimmie Fidler says.

April 5, 1941: A well-paid reporter was thinking of quitting journalism to write fiction. He sought advice from a reader for a publishing house, who told him to stick to reporting and write fiction on the side. The reporter was so infuriated that he quit journalism and became a well-known author, Lee Shippey says. [His name is on the jump.]

The Charles Spencer Chaplins have reached this understanding: Each may date "outsiders" but neither will take legal steps on that ground, Jimmie Fidler says.