Loading...
The Seaforth News, 1961-06-08, Page 2These Dolls Are Worth Real Money A, rare treat even for those accustomed to turning up sur- prises during visits to the Smith- sonian Institution — or. Uncle Sam's attic as it is sometimes called — were three charming Swiss mechanical dolls recently on view there. Each is equipped with intri- cate mechanism amazingly in- genious even in today's age of automation. They are almost as large as children, about three- quarters life-size, and represent an artist, a writer, and a lady musician playing an organ. Made nearly 200 years ago by Swiss watchmakers Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his son, Henri -Louis, they were lent to the United States for a short, 'first trip to Amer - lea," Prof. Edmond Droz, a fifth - generation descendant of the doilmakers and a professor of mathematics and physics at Neu- chatel School of Mechanics, is accompanying the dolls on their American tour, He is the only person authorized to operate the mechanism that puts the autom- atic dolls through their paces. As might be expected, they are highly prized and meticulously protected because el their unique character and long history, He will put two of them through their pacee at frequent demon- stration periods each day be- tween 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The third has been damaged and will need about 100 hours of labor before it can operate again. At their first performance there on opening day, the lady musi- cian exhibited poise and evident mastery of 18th -century organ technique as her hands moved up and down the keyboard, her head and eves moved, her fin- gers pressed down on the keys, and her bosom rose and fell to simulate breathing, writes Her- bert B. Nichols in the Christian Science Monitor. The four tunes which she plays were composed before 1775. The "Writer," a boy with quill pen and a freshly filled inkpot, dips his pen in the fluid and writes several lines of script using both capital and small let- ters. When in operating condi- tion the "Artist," also a boy in satin knee breeches and velvet coat, drew four different pictures with a pencil on small cards, ono rf which depicts Louis XVI of cane and Marie Antoinette, �e dolls performed at the ench court shortly before the ench Revolution. They were built before and *wring the American Revolu- Terrific Trio PRINTED PATTERN 4851 10-18 IV ea t le i tail er 6 a I. jllii iii. I �;a:M �int lii r, BINE a Gy—l+r+a -4Gsts One skirt is arrow -slim. one a whirl of fluid pleats — both go beautifully with the boxy jacket that's favored above all for Summer, Choose cotton, linen. Printed Pattern 4851: Misses' Sizes 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 Size 16 jacket Pe yards 35 -inch: slim skirt 178; full skirt 3% yards. Send FIFTY CENTS (:stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern, Please print plainly SIZE, NAME, ADDRESS, STYLE NUMBER. Send order to ANNE ADAMS, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New 'Toronto, Ont. ANNOUNCING the biggest )Cashion show of Spring -Summer, 1061 — pages, pages, pages of patterns in our new Color Cata- e - ,lust out! Hurry, send 33 '".n-..19'6?. tionary War, During the days' of the French upheaval, they were taken to England and sold. Moved to Spain they were "lost" for about 10 years, until they were found by agents of Na- poleon, reassembled and ex- hibited in. Paris, Then followed almost a century of travels around Europe before they were finally sold to the Museum at Neuchatel, • E According t o Ambassador Blanc, each doll is insured for $60,000 and it took considerable persuasion on the part of influ- ential Swiss citizens to persuade the museum to allow the dolls to make this short visit to the United States with Professor Droz "to show the love of the Swiss people for America." Exactly What Is A Billion Dollars? At some point every year there is always hopeful talk about new efficiency and economy in gov- ernment, and some politicians al- ways piously suggest that they will be "disappointed unless the savings which are effected are in the hundreds of millions or even a billion dollars." It seems to us that we should be happy with whatever blessing we may get in this respect—especially if they are counted in terms of a billion. One billion dollars, we all tend to forget in these days of multi- billion dollar budgets and expen- ditures, is a whale of lot of money. Sylvia Porter, the noted financial columnist, once sug- gested a guide to help people visualize just how much a billion dollars is. Here is what she said: 'Whenever I try to comprehend such statistics as these, I mumble to myself: ('If I had a billion dollars and I set out to count it at the rate of $100 a minute for 48 hours a week, it would take more than 66 years to complete the job.',.,.)" And if you are still a little hazy on how much $1 billion is, here is another formula for meas- uring it which is a favorite of ours: If a business founded at the beginning of the year 1 A.D. had been losing $1,000 a day since that time, it would not yet have lost $1 billion, In fact, it would still have nearly $300 mil - ion to go—and would not reach a $1 billion loss for another 750 - odd years. Obviously, a n y competitive business that continuously loses $1,000 a day for even a few years would be hard pressed to attract employees a n d stockholders. Government agencies and bu- reaus are unfortunately not sub- ject to the pressures of compe- titive free enterprise which has so long served to weed out the inefficient, businessman or the industry which no longer pro- vides a useful product or service. By Edward E. Hale, Doubts About That Blood Pressure The doctor winds the long, flat cloth tube of the sphygmomano- meter around the patient's upper arm, pumps it up, then notes the readings on the pressure gauge when the patient's heart con- tracts and relaxes. This time- honored procedure, of course, is supposed to show whether the blood pressure is normal (for an average male, 130/75), high (200/ 130), or low (90/60), But does it? "Not necessarily," says Dr. Sidney Roston of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, who has spent three years working on a mathematical analysisof the human circulatory system. In New York last month at a meeting of mathematicians and biologists, he gave his con- clusion: Blood in various parts of the body may move at different rates of pressure. "There have been eases of enlarged hearts," Dr. Roston told the meeting, sponsored by the New York Aca- demy of Sciences and the Univer- sity of Chicago, "where the blood pressure in the arm was normal." If the present practice of tak- ing blood -pressure readings in the arm is of "limited" value in diagnosing heart disease. Dr Ros- ton has no ether solution to of- fer. it would take surger•ne ad- mitted, to get pressure readings of suer, important internal or- gans as the brain or heert. "The important point," he warned, "is that doctors should be aware that even if the biers -pressure in the arm is normal, there may be dangerously high pre.sure elsewhere in the body," Modern Etiquette By Anne Ashley Q, Isn't- It rude and ill-bred of a bride who waits until she re- turns Irons a month's honey- moon before acknowledging her wedding gifts? ' A, I think so, Wedding gifts sre best acknowledged as they are received, while those receiv- ed at the last moment can be acknowledged while the bride is away. GLITTERING GLAMOUR — Wearing diamond necklace and white Dior gown, Sophia Loren arrives•a't Cannes Film Festival Palace for showing of her. picture, "La Ciociara." HRONICLES INGERFAi2M Gd �.,��w.ou� o aaete To mc, one of the most re- warding features of writing this column conies in the fan mail it brings me. Today I received a letter from a reader near Peter- borough with whom,I had cor- responded briefly seven years ago. To get a letter after that lapse of time was indeed a pleasure, especially as the lady inquestion still seems to be reading this column and appar- ently getting some pleasure in doing so, Her letter sent me scan- ning through back files of fan mail and I was amazed to find that letters have come to me from all parts of Ontario and the U.S.A. — and even some from England, most of which I have answered personally. Some of the letters asked for a little advice in solving personal problems which I was only too glad to of- fer. The lady from Peterborough said — "you will never know what your letter meant to me". I suppose that was because I was able to take a long range view of her problems at that time. If we are too close to the problems involved, or intimate- ly associated with all parties con- cerned, we cannot always get the right perspective. And so, dear friends, if I can ever be of as. sistance to you do not hesitate to write. I don't pretend to have the wisdom of Job but in our long experience Partner and I have had to meet, and to solve in some way, the same sort of prob- lems that occur in many families, and which, at times, seem almost insurmountable. Well, 'we have had four con- secutive days without rain — quite a record. And all the peo- ple in this neighbourhood have been as busy as bees round a hive — opening up screen win- dows, taking off storm doors, dig- ging up flower beds and cutting grass. We have been planting cannas, chatting with neighbours and comparing notes as to what died and what survived the win- ter months. We didn't have too much stuff killed out. A golden pussy -willow which I specially prized was chewed off by rabbits. However, it is shooting up from the roots so maybeit won't be a total ]rises after all, We even put the veranda chairs ret to- day -- and managed to end a ten; rnotutea to tit, in there coo. "My darling is such good com- pany when the splrite move him." Isn't the springtime wonder- ful? Doesn't it just snake you. feel good to be alive? It does more than that for me — it makes me feel guilty. Why, well you see, I have a friend about my own age who has been in hospital for the last five months and so far there isn't any definite word of her coming out. Every few days I phone her but what can you say to comfort a person who is on the inside while you are on the outside? Unfortunately her world seems to be shrinking all the time. She is losing interest in so many things. Even reading bores her. In short her world is now more than ever within the four walls of the hospital; her conversation mainly about the treatments she is getting and what the doctor said on his last visit. She has, in my opinion, given up fighting. And when that happens drugs and treatments have less effect, Doctors and medication can help a lot but only with the cooperation of the. patient. And so you see why I feel guilty in talking to this friend of mine. I, too, have my ups and downs, and cannot do the things I used to do. But, general- ly speaking, I am still bubbling over with the joy of living while all my friend knows of this lovely springtime is what she can see from the 4th floor win- dow indow of the hospital — maybe a glimpse of the tops of trees com- ing into leaf with a few birds flit- ting from one tree to another. Well, Partner is doing plenty Trouble Brews In Fashion Circles The deposed boy -king of the House of Dior, Yves St. Laurent, lay disconsolately on a Majorcan beach. While. the heir -designate of the late Christian Dior was recuperating from military ser- vice and a consequent nervous breakdown, Marc Bohan, for- merly chief designer in 77lor's London office, had ,usurped Itis throne, Bohan's designs for Dior's spring collection last Jath uary had triumphed grandly, St. Laurent, nowa ripe 24, looked back over the wreckage of his ambitions' and brooded darkly, Bohan, who is pushing 36, had no time for ,brooding. The sliril, dark-haired designer was in New York last month, making cere- monial calls on the 'governor - generals of his far-flung realm and checking, on the. Dior -New York collection prior to its tun - veiling. At Lord & Taylor, he smiled with exquisite politeness when its president, Melvin Daw- ley, ventured to inform him that "Fashion is worldwide." He ac- knowledged graciously the wel- comes prepared by Saks Fifth Avenue's Adam Gimble, Bonwit Teller's Edgar Wherry, and Berg- dorf Goodman's Andrew Good- man—all of whom took time out to show him their stores, Arlene Francis, Betty. Furness, John Crosby, and Dave Garro way in- terviewed him on radio and TV. All this was recompense indeed for a man who once toiled in a coat shop in the jungle of New York's Seventh Avenue, and whose attempt to set up his own couturier house had faileddis- mally in 1955. Now, a married man and the father of a 7 -year- old daughter, Bohan may be something of an oddity in the fashion business, but there is no- thing strange about the popular- ity of his designs—youthful, of chuckling these days . and at me! For the first time in my life I have had the courage to come out in slacks! I. really bought them last year to wear at the cottage — and then I never got to the cottage. So this morn- ing to work in the garden I donned my slacks and found them a great protection against the wind which still has a bite in it. Partner says the next thing I'll be wearing is shorts. I told him not to worry — I still have a certain amount of vanity, and to my way of thinking shorts and varicose veins don't go to- gether. At least they don't make an attractive combination. Slacks at least have the saving grace of concealment. Partner's next jibe was that I might take a few beauty treat- ments like some of the other women I know. A beauty coun- sellor comes to the homes and gives skin treatments, supposedly to remove pimples and other skin blemishes. The cost is $25 for a two-hour session. Maybe she does some good, I don't know. But I think if I were younger, before taking a.ehance like that I would try eating less rich food and quit smoking. Beauty treatments, in my opinion, start from within. Before paying $25 I would also make a few inquiries from the Better Business Bureau. How- ever, none of that is my personal worry. My hair is white and it stays that way. I won't even let my hairdresser give me a blue rinse. As for wrinkles -- well, what would Eleanor Roosevelt look like without the charm and serenity that age has given her? Youth has its beauty. Age also has a charm all its own. simple, and very much in cone formlty with the natural' female figure. The Bohan three unveiled this week at the Dior -New York fall. and-,vinlen' eollecliort were hp groat departure from those oP, last season, Trow' necks, short home, low waistlines, floppy bocllces, acrd plrrtited and flared skirts predominated, In bright colors but with fewer pinks than, last year, "I do not believe in radical changes, but In avoid - 116th" sold itolain, "and I believe lit Ottatitri Cit, l'littrtane elegance or fortuallty lit dress," he added thouhhlful'ly, ''Is not for our ac- tive life," Almost at the moment he was speaking, life suddenly became very active Indeed for Bohan. Yves St, Laurent, back In Paris from exile but rtu'ely seen ih probitc, announeed through his lawyer, dean Pierre Bredin, that he was suing Dior for $120,000 for their breach of his contract which hat three years still to run. St. Laurent was also re- portedly planning to open his own fashion house in Paris, ' He was, said Bredin, "more hurt then angry." It's Spring in the suburbs where the birds are now work- ing on 'their third replacement of grass seed. Comfort For Baby Babies can be cool this sum- mer — dress them in these suits. Be thrifty — use remnants. Seersucker, nylon, light cotton are good fabrics, Pattern 842: transfer; pattern 6 month, 1 year, 18 month babies; directions. State size. • Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, Box 1, 123 Eighteenth St., New Toronto, Ont. Print plainly PATTERN NUMBER, your NAME and AD- DRESS. JUST OFF THE PRESS!. Send now for our exciting, new 1961 Needlecraft Catalog. Over 125 designs to crochet, knit, sew, em- broider, cjuilt, weave — fashions, homefurnishings, toys, gifts, ba- zaar hits. Plus FREE — instruc- tions for six smart veil caps. Hur- ry, send 250 stow! U.S. FIRST LADY VISITS THE HORSY SET — During a visit to the Royal Canadian Mo;t-steel Police barracks at Rockcli'ffe, Mrs. John F. Kennedy has a worm smile and a friendly pat for one of the horses.