St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 27

MARCH 2, 1971 ST. LOUIS POST- DISPATCH 3 Marquis Childs Challengers Of Optimism American reporters have repeatedly challenged official optimism out of Saigon and Washington. One of the first instances was in 1962 and '63 when aggressive, abrasive young correspondents brought down the wrath of official Washington. In 1962 things had gone well for Ngo Dinh Diem who, with his family, had begun to exercise an increasingly authoritative rule over South Vietnam. Gen.

Paul Harkins, commander of the approximately 16,000 American troops in the area had become apostle of optimism. Predicting the war would be "won within a year," he sent glowing reports to the Pentagon that sparked the same optimism in the highest quarters. THEN IN 1963 things began to go badly. Diem ordered the wholesale arrest of Vietnamese youths suspected of sympathy with the Communists and seeking an end to the war. The Buddhists were in open revolt.

As immolated themselves in protest, Madame Ngo Dinh Diem's sister, apSuthey plauded, saying she was never happier than when the bonzes were barbecueing themselves. All this, together with doubts about what was happening in the field, was reported by David Halberstam of the New York Times and the other reporters who were not confined to the hothouse atmosphere of Saigon and the tender care of escorting officers. They were writing what was contrary to the official line and the teletype between Saigon and the Pentagon burned up with angry protest. President John F. Kennedy was finally prevailed upon to act.

He called the top brass at the New York Times to suggest that the national interest would be served if Halberstam were replaced by another correspondent. The Times backed their man. Lyndon Johnson briefing reporters about to go out to Vietnam would cite Halberstam as an example of one who had betrayed his country. WASHINGTON IN ANY BALANCE SHEET of the damage done by nearly 10 years of the American war in Indochina, a large debit must be entered for the way it has set Americans against each other. With the Laotian adventure greatly enlarged and the outcome in doubt, a tide of opposition is rising that can mean still another encounter with officialdom.

Increasing bitterness and hostility have marked these encounters. Support of the war is being made a test of patriotism. In one way in particular the division is destructive. "Kill the messenger who brings bad news." That practice out of the ancient past has been applied in a rather less stringent form to the messengers reporting the news of the Vietnam Kennedy war. OTHER REPORTERS have come under this same at- tack.

One was Francois Sully, the courageous and able correspondent for 20 years of Newsweek, killed in the helicopter crash that cost the life of Gen. Do Cao Tri. Sully was expelled from Vietnam by the Diem regime in 1962 with the American mission doing little or nothing to resist what was an act of censorship. Both Peter Arnett, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter in Vietnam, and Horst Faas, photographer for the AP and also a Pulitzer Prize winner, were assailed. The Laotian "incursion" has been shrouded in greater darkness than any action during the entire war.

While permission was finally granted for American reporters to go in American helicopters, there are no reporters on the ground. The South Vietnamese high command takes a jaundiced view of the presence of American correspondents. THE OFFICIAL VIEW has therefore had greater weight than ever before. It may be true, as the President and Henry Kissinger are said to have indicated to visiting foreign reporters, that Laos will mean the end of substantial Communist resistance. The task remaining will then be for a minimum of American troops to buttress the South Vietnamese until such time, the President made clear in his State of the World report, that all American prisoners are released and a peace, is negotiated.

been at times over-reported by zealous young correspondents. Television for the first time brought blood and gore into the living room. The alternative was censorship blanking out all but the official line. Can anyone seriously believe this would have been better? BOOKS THE SKYJACKER By David G. Hubbard Macmillan, $5.95 An aura of romance somehow clings to that pirate of the skies, the airline hijacker.

The defiance of authority, the identification with Cuban revolution and the dangerous odds give the skyjacker a public image far beyond that of a mere criminal. Pyschiatrist David Hubbard has concluded that the glitter is nonsense and the skyjacker is really a pathetic thief. With rare perseverance Hubbard interviewed most of the available air priates and found some interesting parallels. His profile of a typical skyjacker is that of an inept, apolitical failure who thinks his actions will give him the recognition he deserves. The only interest i in Cuba seemed to be that it was beyond the United States jurisdiction.

Hubbard believes that skyjackers are also motivated by intense jealousy of the astronauts. He points out that most of the hijackers interviewed had almost total recall of the United States space efforts. He also cites the high incidence of hijacking immediately following both American and Russian space shots. Hubbard suggests the answer is to acknowledge that skyjacking is a medical problem. Once the glamour is removed, he contends the would be skyjacker will turn to less dangerous forms of headline seeking.

Hubbard is a psychiatrist not a writer, but despite poor editing and technical jargon, this is an interesting book. Hubbard's ideas have the candor and originality to supplant the myths and hysterical solutions to this international conundrum. Jeremy Shea FIREFLIES A novel by Shiva Naipaul Knopf, $7.95 In his first novel, Shiva Naipaul has ably recreated his native Hindu colony on Trinidad. The head of the wealthiest family of the colony is Govind Khoja, who doles out to his five sisters and cousin in miserly driblets. The women of the family have been conditioned to venerate the men in their lives.

As children they took beatings never administered to their brother; as wives they take similar abuse from their husbands. The heroine of this interesting novel is Vimla, the poor cousin raised by the family. "Baby," as Vimla is always called, had been taught that she was of even less importance than the sisters, for the sisters have their close blood relationship to Govind to give them status. "Baby" brings loyalty and obedience to her arranged marriage. She believes these virtues to be the only contribution she has to offer.

After "Baby's" inept husband dies, Vimla is forced to go to Govind for help in educating her sons. In answer he recounts his favorite tale of resourcefulness: a wealthy doctor friend had come from a family too poor for electricity or even an oil lamp; as a young boy the doctor had nightly gathered fireflies in a jam jar and studied by their light. By taking in boarders, "Baby" does manage to send one son to India to study medicine; the other son, a "conglomerate shadow of a 100 Hollywood heroes," eventually marries a wealthy Puerto Rican and disappears from his mother's life. The supercilious Govind's only activities are on a scale in keeping with his pretensions: he runs for political office; he attempts to form an "enlightened" school based on the principles of Rousseau; he tries to write his autobiography. His failures at these endeavors never change his self-image.

Mr. Naipaul shows astonishing talent for portraying the native culture from which he's obviously alienated. The accounts of Hindu weddings, funerals and religious festivals are vividly done. There are some long passages that contribute little to the forward thrust of the novel, but on the whole the writer advances his story with the aplomb of a veteran novelist. Dell Chubb Max Morath At Center By MYLES STANDISH An ancient Edison cylinder phonograph tinnily wheezed a tune on the Loretto-Hilton Center's stage last night.

A lithe man with brown derby and rattan cane spryly sprang from a ramp facing the stage and took up the tune. "Everybody's doin it," he sang jauntily. Doin' what? The Grizzly Bear, that's what. Max Morath was on the stage with his oneman show, "At the Turn of the Century," and a fascinating evening was under way. Morath, who was born in the '20s, is more than an entertainer or a purveyor of nostalgia.

He is a social historian who wraps up the moods of decades long ago in breezy anecdote, flip observations, tunes pounded out on player rolls on a grand piano by himself with gusto and authority. He is an actor who can build a picture of a personality of the old days with a few lines; he sings in a light popular vein and he can toss off a few dance steps. He spices the show with wit and pungency. Doin' what? The Turkey Trot, the Grizzly Bear, the Chicken Scratch, all pernicious dances, he announced solemnly, which undermined the foundations of American morality because they brought girls closer to the boys. He sang "She's More to Be Pitied Than Scorned" as a tribute to the fallen women of that day.

"Today," he observed dryly, "There are no fallen women. Just good friends." As an example of the lugubrious ballad of the 1890s, he sang. "Don't Go Into the Lions a Tonight" and observed that ragtime saved America from that sort of drivel. Ragtime is his specialty, and he obviously loves it. And so does the audience when he plays it with such prightly, electric brilliance.

He banged out a refreshing piece, "Call Me Before Breakfast," as an example. Ragtime, he related, was born in the red-light districts and at first was denounced as music of the devil guilt by association. "It was called obscene," he said. "And it didn't even have words." evoked some of the images; Prohibition "How Are You Going to Wet Your Whistle?" and suggested Lydia Pinkham's elixir, 18 per cent alcohol. There was women's suffrage, pioneer on the road Women's Lib is traveling now "Mrs.

Belmont said, 'Pray to God. Perhaps she'll answer." There was tobacco Fatimas, Murads, Three Kings. "Smoking then was fun, therefore sinful." He recited the ballad of the Great Yukon Paper Shortage, apparently by Robert W. Service, about the sourdough who used pages from the reformer's Bible to roll his own and thereby acquired salvation. He quoted Dooley's pithy aphorisms, paid tribute to Jelly Roll Morton and Irving Berlin as the writers of early rags and to Scott Joplin Maple Leaf He tucked in all sorts of odds and ends of Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" and "How Can You Tell the Depth of the Well by the Length of the Handle on the Pump?" It was a bouncy, light-hearted show and a pleasant evening for all.

Morath will be there through Saturday. Church Built At Christ Tomb Believed Found JERUSALEM, March 2 (AP) The remains of the original church built over the grave of Jesus has been discovered, a Greek archeologist said today. The archeologist, Athanasios Economopoulos, said the church was built in 335 by Constantine the Great, the emperor who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Economopoulos said the discovery was made in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, inside the walled city of Old Jerusalem. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which controls a part of the church, decided to explore the area during restoration of the present building, he said.

Economopoulos said he was engaged by the Greek government and the patriarchate. Restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which has been under way for a number of years, is expected to be completed by next year. Jesse T. Herzog Funeral Thursday Funeral services for Jesse T. Herzog, retired businessman, will be at 11 a.m.

Thursday in Drehmann-Harral undertaking establishment, 7733 Natural Bridge Road. Burial will be in Lake Charles Cemetery. Mr. Herzog died Monday afternoon of a heart attack at St. John's Mercy Hospital.

He was a former president of Artistic Furniture 419 East Gano Avenue, and a board member of the Valley Bank of Florissant and North Western Savings and Loan Co. Surviving are his wife, Ethel Dillingham Herzog, and two sons, Gordon and David. Louis A. McMahon Jr. Funeral To Be Tomorrow Help something wonderful happen! CAMPAIGN KICKOFF: Clarence C.

Barksdale (right), general chairman of the 1971 Arts and Education Council fund drive, showing this year's campaign poster to Mrs. William L. Spencer, chairman of the women's special gifts division, and Leif. J. Sverdrup, board chairman of the council, at a luncheon yesterday opening the campaign.

(Post-Dispatch Photo) Arts Fund Goal Set At $950,000 The Arts and Education Fund campaign has set a goal of $950,000, the highest in its nineyear history, for 1971. If Leif J. Sverdrup is right, the drive will top $1,000,000. Sverdrup, chairman of the board of the Ares and Education Council, said at a luncheon opening the campaign yesterday that he expected the drive to do better than ever this year. "I will bet it tops $1,000,000," said Sverdrup.

"So if you feel loose with your money, see me and I'll cover all bets. "All I win will go to the fund." The 1971 goal is $25,000 higher than last year's but scarcely compensates for inflation, said Clarence C. Barksdale, president of the First National Bank Two-Piano Recital By ROBERT CHRISTENSEN The New Music Circle used a magnificent house at 33 Portland Place last night as the setting for a four-hand piano recital by Suzanne Goell and Elizabeth Gentry Sayad. The program was colorful and the performers had ample op-! portunity to show off dramatic flair and sensitivity to lines. Two of the pieces, Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" and Hindemith's Sonata, were coincidentally heard earlier this week at a four-hand piano recital sponsored by Washington University's Music Department.

Last night's performance was far superior. The program opened with the Ravel work. It took, the performers a while to into the music, but in the third section, "Laideronette," things started to happen and the piece took on its storybook charm. Phrases were nicely shaped and splotchy chords had the right brilliance. More could have been done with coloring, such as the dream-like glissando in "The Beauty and the That section was too deliberate, but in general the pianists achieved the composer's intentions.

The Hindemith Sonata closed the program and it contained the necessary juxtaposition of turbulence and repose. It had an inordinate amount of drive, which added to the excitement of the piece but tended to be bombastic at times. This could have been the fault of the reverberant hall. The scherzo movement was the pinnacle of the evening and was repeated at the close of the program. It was rhythmically alert, glittering and bright.

Two other pieces were pre-! sented between these important works: Erik Satie's "Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear" and a first performance of "Mutations" by Ray Wander. Satie fit well into the scheme of things, but Wander's piece had contrived climaxes and exhibited a rather dull use of materials. One bit of material won a hodgepodge contest: it was not a "mutation" of materials in the transformational or developmental sense. There was a feeble attempt at modernism when Mrs. Sayad reached inside the piano to hammer out the already monotonous one-note drone heard at the beginning of the work.

There was a interesting use of color, but again it was rather contrived. The color came about by playing at the extremities of the piano rather than being built within the texture of the music as the other three composers had so effecively done. The piano tone was somewhat muffled (the lid was half way up) and needed further tuning; the upper notes were not holding. The hall, which was the foyer of the house, was filled with approximately 250 persons. Billed "A Monday Evening Salon," the concert took on the desired Chopinesque character.

Funeral services for Louis A. McMahon a St. Louis architect who designed the chapel aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. McMahon, 27 years old, died Sunday of Hodgkin's disease at his home, 6300 Northwood Avenue, Clayton. Services will be at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 7148 Forsyth Boulevard, University City. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. While a naval officer in 1968 Lt.

(ig) McMahon was a member of the shakedown crew of the Kennedy and designed its interdenominational chapel. He contracted Hodgkin's disease, an affliction of the lymphatic system, and retired from the Navy with the disability. He then worked as an architectural designer for McMahon Associates, a firm owned by his uncle, Robert G. McMahon, in St. Louis.

He helped to design 22 vest-pocket parks to be built in the Model City neighborhoods. He was a graduate of St. Louis University High School and received an architectural degree from Washington University in 1967. Kennedy Louis A. McMahon Jr.

Architect dead Surviving are his wife, Sarah Stifler McMahon; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis A. McMahon two sisters, Mrs. Harry B.

Mathews and Miss Mary McMahon, and two brothers, John P. and William P. McMahon. Austin B. Duke Funeral Thursday Funeral services for Austin B.

Duke, a former police lieutenant in St. Louis County, will be Thursday at the Pafford undertaking establishment in Lexington, Tenn. Burial will be in Darden, Tenn. Mr. Duke, who died Sunday, in Lexington after a long illness, joined the county police force in 1955 and left it in 1965.

Surviving are his wife, Petra; four daughters, Mrs. Nancy Nagel and Connie, Janet and Betty Duke; three stepchildren, Mary, Ralph and Joseph Lageman; and two brothers, William B. and Curry Duke. Richard Zanuck To Join Warner Bros. BURBANK, March 2 -Richard D.

Zanuck, who resigned under fire as production head at 20th Century-Fox, will join Warner Bros. studios, it was announced yesterday. Moving with Zanuck to Warner Bros. next week is David Brown, Fox's former creative director, who was ousted with the son of board chairman Darryi F. Zanuck.

At Warners, the younger Zanuck will have the title of senior executive vice president. Brown will be the senior production executive in New York City. School Aid Budget Hike in St. Louis and campaign chairman. About 1000 volunteers will work in the campaign.

Services offered by the 10 agencies that benefit from the fund drive have been expanded also, Barks dale said. "The needs of these a a a a a a en cies are much greater than the money we will try to raise," he said. The agencies receive no public funds, Barksdale pointed out, and must rely heavily on the Arts and Education fund drive for much of their support. Campaign goals for the agencies this year are in the St. Louis Symphony, KETC, Channel 9, Adult Education Council, Community Music School, Shaw's Garden, Little Symphony, Young Audiences, $8000; Arts and Education Council, Mark Twain Summer Institute, and the Museum of Science and Natural History, $70,000.

J. C. Penney Estate Is $35,000,000 NEW YORK, March 2 (AP)- James Cash Penney left an estate of about $35,000,000, it was disclosed yesterday when his will was filed for probate in Manhattan Surrogate's Court. His widow, Karen, is to receive half of the gross estate, and his four children share equally in the other half, after taxes and bequests. Mr.

Penney died Feb. 12. The largest of the institutional bequests, $700,000, went to the James C. Penney Foundation, New York City. The SPRINGFIELD, March 2 (AP) Gov.

Richard B. Ogilvie will recommend a 1972 budget of $775,000,000 for state aid to elementary and increase secondary, schools, an $51,000,000 over the amount for this fiscal year, he said today. In a message sent to the General Assembly a day before he is due to disclose his full proposed 1972 budget, the Governor said he would ask for three major increases in state aid to education. He warned that "the extraordinary burden of providing elementary and secondary education in Chicago and other large cities is not being met." Ogilvie said he would seek and increase of $18,000,000 in the special allocation for some schools in urban areas. The figure for fiscal 1971 is $28,000,000.

He said the other major proposed increases would be $13,000,000 to counter a loss of personal property tax revenue to certain school districts and a $29,000,000 rise in the basic grant divided among them. Ogilvie again proposed a program of aid to private schools. He said that "if financial deprivation forces them to close their public institutions worM be all but swamped with 450,000 new students. HCSC Foundation of Riverside, was to receive $50,000, and 19 other institutions, mostly educational, received bequests. Mrs.

Blaiberg Rewed TEL AVIV, Israel, March 2 (AP) Mrs. Eileen Blaiberg widow of Philip Blaiberg, the South African heart transplant patient, was married last week, rabbinical sources said yesterday. Mrs. Blai be married Herbert Blum, a retired Israeli government official, last Wednesday, they said. It's an Old Forester kind of day This is Formula 1.

The world's finest motor-racing. Its elegant excitement lasts the whole race through. And it doesn't have to end with the checkered flag. There's another Formula 86 An ounce and a half of Forester and a half ounce of Bols White Creme de Menthe on the rocks with a twist. It's fitting after watching the best in racing to enjoy the best in Bourbon: Old Forester.

At 86 or 100 proof "There is nothing better in the market." P.O, Box 883, Maple Plain, Send Minn Formula to: 55359 I set Forester of glasses Formula (4): $2.95. OLD Offer only valid where legal. Limited time only. FORESTER KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKY Sis whisky dust 4 a ale with PASTILLES AND FLEE BROWN- FORMAN DISTILLERS CORPORATION AT IN EAT 00. Bols Liqueur, Distillers Louisville in Kentucky 1971.