Pajje 2 Smoke Signals. Wednesday. March 26. 1969
From Holi/wood
Peter the Hermit dies in Hollywood
By BOB THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
HOLLYWOOD (AP) — Years
ago, he was the resident eccen
tric, a curiosity for tourists to
stare at and natives to shake
their heads over, ■,
But when Peter the Hermit
died last week at the age of 90,
the event was scarcely noticed.
Peculiar characters had become
so profuse on Hollywood Boule
vard that few paid attention to
the spindley legged codger with
the flowing beard.
For almost 50 years, Peter
Howard—that was hi» real
name—plodded up and down the
Boulevard ignoring the taunts of
Philistines, Unlike the younger
bearded types who now frequent
the area. Peter was immacu
late, He wore freshly laundered
while duck pants and a white
T-shirt, sometimes a white robe.
As a lad I had often seen Pe
ter the Hermit on his daily
prowls, I had only one encoun
ter with him: five years ago
when I sought him out for an in
terview. It was not easy to do.
for Peter resisted the nonsense
of the so-called civilized world,
and that included publicity.
Finally a meeting was ar
ranged in his one-room home on
Ivar Avenue, a short distance
from the roaring Hollywood
Freeway,
' I'm ageless." he snapped
when I inquired of his age. And
indeed, with pink face and pa
triarchal white hair and beard,
he might have been 65 or 105,
He admitted to having been
born in Limerick, sailing the
seven seas as a young man and
studying the religions of the
world—“They’re all stepping
stones."
He claimed to have come to
Hollywood because of its prom
ise. But he was soon disillu
sioned by what he found.
“I never call it Hollywood."
he railed. “I call it Folly wood!
The movies could have created
the coming church, the univer
sal language, but that promise
was never realized.
"Follywood! It has ruined
more homes than siege guns.
The movies show nothing but
war. crime and sex. Follywood
never gave anything to any
body. All the moviemakers do is
fool the people. Well, movie peo
ple mean nothing to me.
They're shysters, all of them!”
Peter’s bitterness may have
stemmed from the fact that the
movies had passed him by. In
his early years in Hollywood he
had earnrf a fair living as an
atmosphere actor in films, espe
cially Biblical epics like “The
King of Kings." He lived as a
squatter on land in the nearby
hills, where he tended goats and
chickens.
The hills filled with houses,
and Peter the Hermit was
Wiretap authority
to prevent crime
WASHINGTON (AP) — Atty,
Gen. John N. Mitchell revealed
Friday in sketching plans for a
stepped-up attack on organized
crime that new wiretap authori
ty has been used in less than a
dozen instances so far.
He also testified that the
growth of organized crime
“probably has not been arrest
ed" in the last decade but that
he hopes this situation will be
turned around with the program
the Justice Department is devel
oping.
Mitchell told a Senate judi
ciary subcommittee on criminal
laws and procedure that in gen
eral existing laws appear ade
quate. that the need is for more
funds and more manpower.
He said he now is nearing
completion of a top priority
study of the federal program to
combat organized crime and ex
pects to submit recommenda
tions to President Nixon within
three weeks.
Sen, John L, McClellan. D-
Ark., the subcommittee chair
man, asked if he could count on
the department’s study being
completed within 30 days.
“If we don’t, ” Mitchell re
plied, “we’re likely to incur the
wrath of the gentleman in the
White House”
Mitchell's predecessor, for
mer Atty. Gen, Ramsey Clark,
refused to make use of the au
thority to wiretap under court
orders. He and former Presi
dent Lyndon B, Johnson op
posed this part of last year's
crime control legislation.
Police would have
more authority
RALEIGH (AP) — A police
officer would have the right to
halt and question persons they
encounter under suspicious cir
cumstances under a bill intro
duced in the North Carolina
House Tuesday,
Rep, Thomas Strickland, D-
Wayne. sponsored the measure
which he said is similar to the
“stop and frisk " laws in effect
in New York and Illinois.
The bill also provides that if
an officer has stopped a person
to question him and the officer
has reason to believe that he is
in danger of life or limb he may
forced to live in the city, occu
pying one rented room after an
other. Movie jobs dried up, and
he subsisted on government
pensions.
In his last years. Peter the
Hermit spent less time strolling
the Boulevard. He seemed ap
palled by the scruffy young he
donists who crowded the side
walks, Peter spent more and
more of his time high in his be
loved hills, where he contem
plated the follies of Hollywood
and of mankind.
Last Friday he was once
again slodding down Hollywood
Boulevard as he had done thou
sands of days before. He col
lapsed on the sidewalk and died
of a cerebral hemorrhage at a
county hospital.
“This is my prophecy,” Peter
the Hermit had told me when I
visited his room. He pointed to a
framed, typewritten passage
from Zeph. 1:14. “The great day
of the Lord is near ...”
Sam Snead
to play in
Azalea open
WILMINGTON (AP) — The
21st annual Azalea Open Golf
Tournament field at Wilming
ton next month will include
Sam Snead, sponsors announced
Wednesday.
Snead has not competed at
Wilmington since he withdrew
on the eve of the tournament
several years ago, complaining
of a back injury.
The veteran has played only
a limited number of tourna
ments annually since reaching
senior pro status.
The Wilmington tournament
is scheduled April 17-20 at the
Cape Fear Country Club, with a
purse of $35,000.
Engaged to GM executive
Kelly Harmon I above i. 21. daughter of former Michigan
AlL-.American halfback Tom Harmon, is engaged to John
Z De Lorean. 44. a General Motors vice president, his
office has revealed. No date has been set for the wedding,
Harmon i« now a sportscaster for ABC, (AP Wirephotoi
Negro Gl found innocent
of charges by court-martial
By AL LANIER
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA (AP) — An Army
major, acting as judge and jury,
found a teen-age Negro soldier
innocent Tuesday of distributing
propaganda against the Viet
nam War among fellow recruits
at Ft, Jackson.
Pvt, Tommy Woodfin, 19, of
Brooklyn, N.'Y,, was acquitted
by Maj, Edgar M, Peters fol
lowing a summary court mar
tial,
Woodfin, a native of Peters
burg. Va,, was charged with vi
olating an order by circulating
without permission a petition
requesting that soldiers be al
lowed to hold an open discussion
on legal and moral aspects of
the Vietnam conflict.
Maj. Peters returned the inno
cent verdict after denying mo
tions by defense attorney How
ard Moore of Atlanta to dismiss
the charges against Woodfin on
constitutional grounds.
Woodfin could have received
a maximum of 30 days at hard
labor and forfeiture of two-
thirds of one months pay, or
$41. if he had been convicted,
A summary court martial is the
lowest ranked of three military
tribunals, corresponding to
magistrate’s court in civilian
life.
A group known as “GI's Unit
ed Against The War in Viet
nam” has spearheaded an anti
war movement at Ft. Jackson,
the sprawling recruit training
depot where about 20,000 mili
tary personnel are assigned. An
unsuccessful effort was made to
present a petition calling for an
open discussion on the war to
Brig. Gen. James F. Hollings
worth, the post commander.
Two soldiers were ordered to
return to their barracks when
they showed up at post head
quarters with a petition con
taining about 300 names. An
Army spokesman read a state
ment saying the Army did not
recognize “collective bargain
ing” procedures.
Testifying as prosecution wit
nesses against Woodfin were
Capt. John Walter Blackwood of
Columbia, commander of Wood-
fin’s training company, and
Pfcs. Wayne Hampton McDow
ell of Charlotte, N.C., and John
E. Ridgeway of Atlanta.
/
Singer's daughter and husband
Melissa Ann Montgomery, daughter of singer Dinah SHore
poses with her husband, actor-producer David Lee Burk,
following their wedding in Beverly Hills, Calif. The cere
mony was performed at the home of Miss Shore with
Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk reading the VOWS.