UNITED STATES

Southland Times, Issue 19987, 29 September 1926, Page 6

UNITED STATES

A NEWS LETTER THE DEMPSEY-TUNNEY FIGHT DEATH OF VALENTINO. (From Our Correspondent.) San Francisco, September 8, 1926. It often happens that one has to go away from home to hear the news, so this paragraph from the New York Herald-Tribune may, or may not, come within that category— “ ‘Wanted —Girls as Shepherdesses.’ This call for aid has just been broadcast in Great Britain by the New Zealand and Australian Governments. It is made clear, however, that Dresden shepherdesses with beribboned crooks and picturesque costumes are not wanted. There will be no opportunity to play at farming, as the members of the French court once played in the search for a new thrill. Young women recruited will have to undergo a preliminary course of three monlSfe and must be prepared to perform hard manual labour. On arrival, the shepherdesses will be placed on various sheep farms which are short of help. The experiment is part of the general movement >to get the surplus population out of England.” THE MIXTURE OF RACES. Strange accounts are read of the polyglot character of the population within the confines of the United States. This mixture was brought home recently to residents of the Pacific Coast, as they read the regular advertisements of The Emporium, the famed department store in San Francisco. Twentysix foreign languages are spoken by different members of The Emporium staff, and this shows the cosmopolitan nature of the average large industrial enterprise in this country. Beside the object of better serving customers with merchandise, these groups of employees are “a melting pot of ideas, methods, nationalities and personalities, striving for one purpose.” The ■ languages spoken in the particular store mentioned are Arabic, Armenian, Bohemian, Chinese, Czecho-Slovakian, Danish, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Mauri, Norwegian, Patois, Philippine, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh. It will be noted that English is not listed, so evidently the management of The Emporium is satisfied that the Mother tongue does not come under the foreign appellation, though, to hear it spoken at times, there might be doubt on that score. Maybe Mauri means Maori. THE LAST RESTING-PLACE OF MAGGIE MOORE.

The famous actress of Australia and New Zealand, as well as of California, rests in the perpetual-care section of Holy Cross Cemetery in San Mateo County, adjoining San Francisco. The tall eucalyptus trees are nearby, and the birds sing and the flowers bloom, thus taking away the sorrow that is rendered more acute under distressing circumstances. The cemeteries where San Francisco’s dead lie are noted for their beauty. Under the perpetual-care plan all graves are kept green for ever, so far as that phrase can be humanly used. Mrs J. F. 0. Comstock, Maggie Moore’s surviving sister, has a grey marble stone erected over the grave, and the sacred place is cared for tenderly. Mrs Comstock wants to thank the kind friends in New Zealand who have sent their sympathy and expressions of regret.

One of those coincidences that attract attention was noted by San Franciscans. After the death of J. C. Williamson of theatrical fame, his widow married Mr Roberts, though she was always known by her stage name. She died on March 15 last in San Francisco. On July 12, 1926, Margaret Roberts, a native of Australia, died in San Francisco. DEATH OF TWO WELL-KNOWN MEN. Fame performs strange feats, and the Press of the United States has drawn attention to the deaths at the same time of Rudolph Valentino and Dr Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University. The first-named, “the perfect lover of the screen,” was, a dozen years ago, a dishwasher in New York City, taking all kinds of menial jobs to “get by.” Suddenly he burst forth in the moving-picture world, and his appearances on the silver screen have made him known all over the world. As he lay cold in death, thousands of curious men and women, and boys and girls, waited for hours in heavy rain for a chance to view the remains in the Gold Room of one of New York’s undertaking parlours. The casket was one of the costliest obtainable. The morbid crowd rioted at one time, and the whole scene was a reflection on all that constitutes reasonable conduct. The Press contained page after page, that gave accounts of the life and death of Valentino. His moral standards, judged by his matrimonial ventures, were not over high. Now he sleeps at Hollywood in Southern California, in the midst of the scenes of his picture triumphs. Dr Eliot had lived 92 busy years. On one occasion President Theodore Roosevelt said—“ Charles W. Eliot is the only man I envy.” This was praise indeed, when the source is considered. Perhaps America’s leading educator, famed in the sciences, and active in all good movements, the late President of Harvard University left a name that will stand out among the notables of the United States. And yet scant notice appeared of his passing. All the tributes that usually accompany fame were bestowed on the 31-year-old actor, Rudolph Valentino. Popular acclaim was not for the man of letters. He seemed to belong to a bygone age.

There is the consolation, however, that time brings. In this particular discussion it is realised that as the years go by the name of Dr Eliot will live, while the fleeting fame of Valentino will perish. Rabbi Louis I. Newman of San Francisco put the matter nicely when he said—“ The ‘thrills’ which came from the achievements of Eliot will abide, but these which the young hero of the screen awakened are for a moment. To-morrow the latter will be a dim memory, while President Eliot will take his place on the bright pages of American progress. The same instinct which drives people in crowds to a fire sent them to the bier of the young player; the impulse allied to appreciation of an immortal poem, a symphony, a work of art or literature, must function to cause a sincere understanding of President Eliot.” NEW ZEALANDER LIKES SAN FRANCISCO’S ARCHITECTURE.

Mr J. H. McKay, the architect of Wellington, praised the new structures of San Francisco during his recent visit. He said—- “ The most impressive of all the comparatively recent additions to San Francisco building are the Palace of the Legion of Honour at Lincoln Park, the Telephone and the Standard Oil Buildings. The first of these, the Legion Palace, transcends anything I have seen in sheer beauty and magnificence of design. As an architect I can appreciate this fact, and as a lover of art I can understand the great pride which San Franciscans have for the contents of that palace. Two outstanding models of architectural and engineering skill are the Telephone and Standard Oil . Buildings. One wonders, however, why every large American city insists on emulating New York by constructing skyscrapers. Lower buildings would be a great relief. New Zealand limits the height to 100 feet.” FIGHTING, BUT NOT FOR GLORY. Four or five days before this letter reaches New Zealand the prize fight between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney will be fought, if the promoters have their way. Thursday, September 23, at the SeequiCentennial Exposition Grounds in Philadelphia, is the date and the'place, as viewed two weeks ahead. A storm of law-suits menaces the contest. The church people have announced their opposition in no- un-

certain tones; such phrases as “a threatened disgrace to Philadelphia,” a “debasing influence,” spreading “evil suggestions” throughout the country, and a few other stirring epithets, based on more facts than an outsider might imagine, have been hurled at the instigators. Despite the anti feeling, it is expected that the enormous sum of £400,000 will be drawn to the box office, and that 150,000 people will crowd the Stadium. So the small boys, instead of working out problems in arithmetic, are wondering whether Mr Jack Dempsey’s “lifted” nose, as the result of a surgical operation, will withstand the onslaughts of Mr Tunney’s mighty fist. New York did not look kindly at the fighters, and Philadelphia needs the boost for its Exposition. And the promoters and contestants need the money, which, after all, is the dominant note. Glory has departed PERSONAL ITEMS. William Gillanders, well-known in Y.M.C.A. circles in Maoriland, talked to the Berkeley (California) Kiwanis Club on August 17 on the subject of “New Zealand.” Dr L. C. Acourt, New Zealand dentist, was in San Francisco early in September. Miss Pauline Frederick, who toured New Zealand last year, has been playing on the legitimate stage in San Francisco in plays that have not been highly praised. She says she will make just one more motion picture, “Justin’s Wife,” for Tiffany. Then she’s “through,” to use her own word. Miss Beryl Mills, of Perth University, Australia, was selected by a Sydney paper as “Miss Australia,” the beauty of the continent. Her arrival in San Francisco led to an official jazz to get into the limelight, the Mayor, the Chief of Police, and sundry others, paying their homage in extravagant ways. Miss Mills has had all sorts of jobs wished on her. She had to select the handsome soldier at the Presidio, welcome the Fleet, tell why she doesn’t powder or paint, describe her swimming exploits, and what not. Jack Dempsey refused to shake her hand in order to have pictures taken. Miss Gertrude Ederle’s feat in swimming the English Channel in record time for a woman has delighted the inhabitants of the United States. The newspapers are giving space to the exploits of the other swimmers »who have been successful George Winter Sanborn, visitor to New Zealand in 1925, is giving radio talks in California on his travels. Sarah McDowell is advertised for in the San Francisco papers by George G. Rose, solicitor to the Public Trust Office in Wellington. She is wanted to settle the estate of her half-brother, Andrew McDowell.

Arthur Dunn, importer and exporter of Wellington, told the San Francisco Chronicle that no other part of the British Empire produces so much in proportion to its population as New Zealand. He continued—- “ New Zealand is a small country with a small population, but her output of primary produce amounts to about £60,000,000 annually. Our Dominion supplies over half of all the mutton and lamb imported to Great Britain, and it sends nearly the same 'amount of butter as Denmark-and 45 per cent, of the imported cheese, also 25 per cent, of the wool used in English milk comes from New Zealand.”