Ernst Lubitsch Dies!

Note: This is a post I originally wrote for the 1947project in 2005. I’m reposting it for newer readers.

CAIRO, Nov. 30. (AP) With Arab bitterness mounting in the Middle East, Syrian demonstrators set fire to the United States Legation in Damascus today.

The Arab League’s secretary general declared his people will never permit the United Nations to partition Palestine.

A reliable source here said King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia has agreed to contribute the oil revenues of his kingdom—paid to him by American oil companies and estimated at $18 million a year—to support Arab military forces to fight partition.

There was no indication the Arabs planned immediate military action, but six Jews were killed and 16 wounded in Palestine outbursts today.

In Damascus, 6,000 youths, dominated by Moslem brotherhood members, marched to Government House and asked for arms and a jihad (holy war). Premier Jamil Mardam Bey told them:

“President (Shukri) Al-Kuwatly approves your demands because partition threatens not only Syrian independence but the very being of all Arab nations.”

Bonus factoid: Ernst Lubitsch dies at his home in Bel-Air. He is 55.

Quote of the day: “Why not? I have nothing to go home to. My mother died when I was 16. My two brothers and a sister are in an orphanage. I have a job at home that pays $12 a week. What have I to live for?”

Audie Murphy, who was awarded a Medal of Honor for climbing on a tank destroyer that was set on fire by a direct hit and using the .50-caliber machine gun to repel a German advance, single-handedly killing dozens of enemy soldiers.