The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 135

I Y. lit 0 i Nancy Reid. of Evanston. Illinois, Pin-up favorite of U. S.

I officer prisoners in German camp. ft. a. I 1 I Jf I 77 to select one girl whose picture he ran in newspaper ads offering any serviceman who wrote for it a personally autographed photograph. Servicemen needed no second invitation.

Altogether some have written from all over the 0 is7 1 the night she was guest of honor at i the graduation ball of the Navy unit at 1 Colgate University. "I received seven proposals of marriage." she reveals. Owen Currier's most interesting experience was receiving an orchid lei from a captain in the Hawaiian Islands. The flowers were wrapped in dry ice and sent air mail. Rita Dalgle.

one of the most popular of the pin-ups. says her outstanding experience was a letter written with music bars. In reply she autographed her photograph with the notes for "There's something about a soldier that is fine. fine, fine!" The United States, declares one authority, produces the best tanks, guns and planes and the snazziest gams in the world. "Victory." he adds, "has been pinned up and fought for." Marie Benzel (left) and Clare R.

Van Syckle (above) were runners-up to Nancy Reid in camp vote. ihi.ii THE STORY HIS LISTENERS Lieut. John E. Glendinning. the sponsor of Nancy Reid.

TIME was endless and heart-treaklngly drab for the 1.000 United States Army officers held captive In Oflag 64. the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Poland. Since there was nothing to do they just and talked, and what they talked about was home and the one girl. Small controversies developed over which of the one girls was prettiest and then an officer had an inspiration. "Why don't we settle it the way we do at home?" he wanted to knov.

"You fellows send for picture; and we'll have a beauty contest. We'll find out whose girl is prettiest by popular vote." THAT was what led to probably tie first show of its kind in history a show of pin-up girls in a German prison camp. According to reports brought out of the camp receitly by two representatives of the National Council of the YMCA, the officers wrote home for pictures of "their personal pin-ups and hundreds were entered in the contest. The first prize was awarded Nancy Reid. formerly of Connells- ville.

now of Evanston. Illinois, whose picture was entered by Lieutenant John E. Glendinning of New York. The two were sweethearts at Rollins College. lieutenant Glendinning Joined the Army in August.

1942. and was captured in North Africa. The second -prize winner was Marie Benzel of Lincoln, Nebraska; and the third was Clare R. Van Syckle of Fort Lee. New Jersey, whose picture was submitted by her husband.

Lieutenant Richard Van Syckle. Mrs. Van Syckle has two small sons. Epes. six years old.

and Richard, born ten months ago. after his father was captured at Salerno. AS a morale builder in the prison camp the pin-up contest was so effective, say the YMCA representatives, that the officers now have organized several dramatic programs. The great post-war ambition of Glendinning and Van Syckle is to take their prison-camp theatrical group on a tour of the United States. The part achieved by these pinup girls and thousands of others in helping to boost morale was acknowledged and acclaimed recently in the Army newspaper.

Stars and Stripes: "They have given our fighting fronts a lift in some pretty grim times." Each edition of official publications aims to print such pretty girl pictures as that of the Caribbean Breeze (Sixth Air Force showing screen star Grace McDonald in a sarong and Susan Hayward enjoying a bubble bath. Beneath the latter a caption explained that the picture was printed only to convey an idea of what a bathtub looks like. "The girl Is not standard bathroom equipment." it said. VAESTPORT. Connecticut, has organized a Folks Back Home plan by which the town keeps track of its men and women in uniform all over the globe.

And this town has its Yankee Doodle Pin-Up Girl, lovely 17-year-old Greta Peterson who has been adopted by some 1.300 GIs now serving on all fronts. More pin-ups found their way into the battle lines when Walter Thornton, model agency man. conceived the idea that soldiers and sailors might prefer pictures of magazine cover girls to those of Hollywood stars. So last January he began at regular intervals I) I out curves Just a pose an ordinary girl would send her beau. And the morale officer of a Marine Corps group wrote, "There's something quite inspirational about seeing pictures of the lovely ladies of the United States every day out in these islands." Thousands of compliments in both poetry and prose come back to the girls.

So do gifts of foreign paper money, art work, flowers. snapshots of the servicemen. One pin-up girl has assembled a collection of a thousand pin-up boys in uniform. When some of the girls were polled for their most interesting experiences as pin-ups. Virginia Kavanaugh said hers had been NEVER HEARD with honors.

An extra-curricular activity was organization of an orchestra which played theaters in Philadelphia and twice during the summer was engaged to play on trans-Atlantic liners. On one of these trips Miriam Hopkins, the movie star, then a Broadway actress, gave the youthful orchestra a lift by becoming its soloist. Zest for radio, stage and screen plus the spirit of adventure sent Bill rushing to California in 1930 in an effort to lighten the burden of his father who was feeling the sting of financial reverses. Pooling resources with a friend, the two drove Bill's car West where they found that all was not as In- dicated by Horace Greeley. Radio Jobs as spot news announcers were few and far between; so were jobs in pictures.

But the boys were broke so from a major studio they accepted roles of digging holes for cement posts at $5 a day. XAHILE Bill was paying his rou-" tine visit to a casting office, vainly as usual, he became acquainted with a youngish woman and her two adolescent daughters. They, too. Just had been turned down and the four tried to forget their disappointment in a plan to lunch together. When Bill surreptitiously attempted to count the change in his pocket, the girls offered to pay their own small checks.

After lunch one of the girls, young and very blonde, sang and danced. The world knows her now as Betty Grable. Bill made another friend in the son of the famous showman, the late S. L. (Roxy) Rothafel.

and on a visit to California Mr. Rothafel persuaded the boys to return to New York. A year later Bill was stage manager of the Roxy Theater; and in 1932 he became stage manager for both Radio City Music Hall and the Center Theater. Not until 1934 did he acquire an actual place in radio when he worked with the late Oraham Mc-Namee during the football season. Ambition, however, distorted Bill's judgment and after about four assignments on his new radio job he pulled an ancient and amateurish trick to get ahead.

He agreed to subsidize cost of telegrams his family and friends were to send from all over the country, congratulating the boss on NBC's splendid new sports commentator. Bright and early on a Monday morning Stern was called to the office of the boss who was half buried under a sea of yellow telegraph blanks. "You're fired!" sputtered John Royal, vice president of NBC. "The only thing I want to know is how much these telegrams cost you." Bill says he never will forget the humiliation of that yellow tide wavering before his eyes. Bill then traveled as a guest commentator for another network.

It was while en route from Birmingham. Alabama, to Tex- Bill Stem's trophies include numerous bronze statuettes and a variety of gold-sealed sheepskins and official certificates. world, especially from ships as well as from far places where white women are unknown. Some of the writers express themselves eloquently in as many as five pages and wind up with pleas for letters. A Seabee wished a picture with his career mingled with those destined to become celebrities, he now has a fund of anecdotes to tell when he visits veterans' hospitals or military training groups about such stars as Betty arable.

Susan Hayward, Lana Turner, Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien. He never discusses his automobile accident with hospitalized men unless they bring It up; but to those similarly Injured who seek advice he tells of the progress in scientific equipment and offers sympathetic encouragement regarding possibilities which lie ahead. Bill, himself, is handicapped only in running and fast walking. He bowls a high-score game, dances as much as he likes. Small wonder that patients' eyes light up after he has visited a hospital ward.

Already overwhelmingly popular with a vast portion of our population, he becomes a hero to wounded lads. AS a boy. Bill was a typical all-around American kid. He was born in Rochester. New York, in 1907, the son of wealthy parents.

His education In preparatory schools was somewhat ambulatory because school authorities failed to see eye to eye with him on the subject of the saxophone taking precedence over books. Also outside interests frequently interfered with study. At Tarrytown, the second to last port of learning, for example, he was expelled after three successful trips down the drain pipe to keep dates with Ruby Stevens (now Barbara Stanwyck) in a New York dance hall. Then at 16 Bill landed in the Pennsylvania Military College Preparatory School at Chester, Pennsylvania, and there was graduated Tall, good-looking Bill Stem is ace sports commentator. as for a broadcast that Bill's accident occurred.

He was flown to New York where little hope was held for his recovery. And after three tortuous months he began to hope that death would relieve him of further agony. Then one morning John Royal. Bill's present boss, walked In and matter-of-factly placed the breakfast tray beside the bed. "If you don't eat.

Bill, how will you get well enough to broadcast next season's football games?" he wanted to know. From that time on Bill began to mend, partly, as he admits, from determination to prove to Royal that he would make good. Finally in June. 1937, he became a regular member of the NBC Special Events staff. URING football seasons.

Bill Stern has little time to spend at his home in the country where he lives with his wife, Harriet May, their son, four-year-old Peter, and their infant daughter. That is because the Saturday game usually Involves three days of travel and evenings Bill is in New York recording the commentary for the news reels. But his family Is with him throughout every big game via the radio. "Why does daddy talk so fast and get so excited?" Peter asks his mother as they listen to the familiar voice over the air. Bill never takes a broadcast for granted but rehearses each aspect of the day's sports news.

He is credited with being eminently fair about his reporting, adding only the color of drama. "I'll continue to work to please the public and hope I can succeed," he says. A beacon of encouragement in today's world of stress. Bill Stern's success story cannot but serve as inspiration to young men hurt by the cruelty of war. PAGE THREE 2V Sud f.

tVauftt "TONIGHTS human interest I story" is a phrase as well known to radio listeners as are the poignant talcs Bill Stern tells on his nightly broadcasts. What the great air audience does not know is that the narrator's own story rivals' in human interest any of those he tells. Eight years ago Bill was driving his car at top speed when a tire blew out and changed the entire course of his life. He came out of the accident minus a leg. amputated because of two fractures.

But now he is famous as America's ace radio sports commentator, also is the familiar vibrant "voice" of MGM news reels. Bill Is tall, good-looking, with brown hair and warm brown eyes and appears younger than his thirty-seven years despite the sprinkle of gray at his temples. He is so modest that the NBC network decided to display some of his trophies in the corridor outside his New York studio. THE assortment Includes framed sheepskins with gold seals which attest to the fact that for four succeeding years Bill has been the choice of radio editors in the United States and Canada as tops in his field. A variety of bronze statuettes bear inscriptions of merit resulting from popularity polls.

Certificates from the Treasury of the United States acknowledge Bill's meritorious work in the National Defense Savings Program; and the United States Maritime Training Service expresses appreciation for his aiding morale. Since Bill from the "beginning of Patience It's Wonderfiil IN 1884. "General" Jacob S. Coxey, of Massilon. Ohio, led an army of 5,000 jobless followers on to Washington, and attempted to deliver a speech from the Capitol steps.

Coxey, crusading for interest-free federal bonds as a depression cure, was driven oft the giounds by police. On April 30, 1944. he mounted the same steps and completed the address begun more than a half-century before. Senator Robert A. Taft.

of Ohio, thinks we can pay oft the national debt in 2245 A. D. Here's the lawmaker's reasoning: We will owe $300,000,000,000 when the war ends in 1945; then we can start paying it oft at the rate of a billion each year. The British Royal Navy retired Admiral Sir Bertram H. Ramsay in 1938.

In 1940 he evacuated the English expeditionary force from Dunkirk. Later he planned the naval phases of the North African expedition, organized the Sicilian invasion, and played an important role in the preparations for Allied landings in France. In May, 1944. the Admiralty decided that Ramsay deserved reinstatement on the active list. C'ACK in 1931.

Frank Cassata ignored a police summons in Brook -c' lyn. N. for speeding and driving without a license. The law never caught up with him. A few months ago he applied for a pjrmlt to operate a shooting gallery, and an eagle-eyed clerk dug up the old records.

Cassata, nonplussed, paid $20 to square himself. A London court recently found a truck driver guilty of negligence in a traffic accident, and ordered him to pay damages of more than $5000. Since the defendant was married and earned less than $16 a eek. he was given more than a century to pay it off at $1 a week. Not long ago.

The Gulf. Mobile and Ohio Railroad received a tliree-dollar money order from a Michigan citizen, who explained he had helped himself to some rocks from the lines' right-of-way in 1909. IVIIYIOOT I WIIKIV, DICIMIII 10, COPTIIOHT It44. TMI PHILADIIPHIA INOUIRI.