North Carolina Newspapers

FORECAST I ♦ ^ Served By Leased Wires ( umuutfmt uinrmun i ~~~~~ a/ State and National Newa VOL. 79.—NO. 171. ------- -- _ _ WILMINGTON, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1946 FSTARTTSHED 1887 i——” . —-:----— _____ ___ I _^ne Vision Of A Greater Port For Wilmington NAVY SHIP BLAST INJURES SCORES OF’eer, Six Men Missing Following Explosion On U. S. S. Solar EARLE N. J., April 30.—(JP)— A series of three explosions fol lowed by fire wrecked a Navy destroyer escort, the U. S. S. So lar, while it was. unloading am munition at the Navy’s Earle de pot pier in lower New York bay Friday, putting one officer and six enlisted men on the missing list and injuring scores of others. The Thirc, Naval District head quarters in New York city said 29 were in hospitals, two seriously injured and three in critical con dition. A Navy spokesman at Earle said at least 60 were treat ed and discharged there at the dispensary and by first aid teams. The naval ammunition depot dis pensary here had 21 of the injur ed. the other;, were at the Fort Hancock hospital. Bow Sheared The bow was sheared from the ship by the force of the blasts and she lay partly submerged, a b'ackened, twisted wreck along side the pier The blasts detonated an ammu nition-loaded railroad car on the pier, destroyed a pier-basedf ware house, set fire to the pier, which stretchy two and a half miles into the bay, and tore a gaping hoie in the concrete structure. Blown Into Air A Navy spokesman at the depot here said several men aboard the ship, which carried a complement of 14 officers and 125 men, were See SHIP BLAST on Page Three And So To Bed The citizens of Wallace real ly put up a united front at strawberry-time. A Wilmington man journey ed to Wallace last week-end to confer with officials about the big strawberry festival. As he drove down Wallace’s main street he saw about 20 smoked hams hanging in a restaurant window. Grown somewhat ham-hungry during the current meat short age, he rushed Into a butcher shop. “I’d like about two or three ha ns to take back with me to Wilmington,” he said to the butcher, “I'm all sold out of hams,” answered the butcher. “Could I interest you in a couple of rj"»tes of strawberries?” The Weather FORECAST North Carolina—Partly cloudy and con tinued warm Wednesday, scattered thun dershowers west portion in afternoon. South Carolina: Partly eloudy and con tinued warm Wednesday, scattered thun dershowers over northwest portion in afternoon. (Eastern Standard Time) (By U. S. Weather Bureau) Meteorological data for the 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m. yesterday. Temperatures 1:30 a.m. 66; 7:30 a.m. 67; 1:30 p.m. 76; 7:30 p.m. 70. Maximum 78; Minimum 62; Mean 70; Normal 66. Humidity 1:30 a.m. 56; 7:30 a.m. 73; 1:30 p.m. 56; 7:30 p.m. 81. Precipitation Total for 24 hours ending 7:30 p.m. — 0.00 inches. Total since the first of the month— 3.52 inches. Tides For Today (From the Tide Tables published by V. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey). High Low Wilmington - 9.41 a.m. 4:30 a.m. 10 :06 p.m. 4:33 p.m. Masonboro Inlet _ 7:22 a.m. 1:22 a.m. _ 7:49 p.m. 1:34 p.m. Sunrise 5:23 a.m.; Sunset 6:55 p.m.; Moonrise 5:38 a.m.; Moonset 7:17 p.m. River Stage at Fayetteville, N. C. at 8 a.m. Tuesday, 15.1 feet SCHOOL MAY QUEENS TO BE BEACH GUESTS FOR SEASON OPENER May Queens selected in state schools and universities are to re ceive a courtesy weekend at Caro lina Beach at the opening of the resort's season on May 31 and June 1 and 2, it was announced yesterday by James L? Longworth, beach publicity director. Longworth said invitations are being extended to selecting com mittees of the various schools of fering a weekend at the beach at the expense of the Chamber of Commerce. Plans for a complete week-end in which the girls will be feted by the management of various beach concessions will be highlighted by a dance which the May Queens will attend en masse. K1PNIS CAPTURES AUDIENCE HERE Metropolitan Opera Singer Draws Crowd To Him Here Alexander Kipnis, bass baritone star of the Metropolitan 0(pera Company, who brought the current season of the Community Concert Association to a close at the High school auditorium JaM night, and who proved that he can qualify as a basso profundo under proper provocation, captured, his auditors from the moment he walked upon the stage, but for this reporter he proved a problem. cbUd. His histrionic and vocal talents are so evenly balanced it was impossible to determine with any certitude whether he is an acting singer or a singing actor. witnuut iviaKeup For example, his pantomime m the waltz scene from Der Rosen kavalier, from a strictly artistic viewpoint, was as fine as his mu sic, and in the serenade which Maphistopheles sings at Margue rite’s window biddin gher to keep Faust off it was all but possible to smell the brimstone. The drama tics in these two arias, as well as the Catalogue song from Don Gio vanni, were so supurb the specta tor was unconscious that Kipnis was entirely without, makeup. Only a profound interpreter and great musician could do a thing like that. . Let these remarks seem to im ply that Mr. Kipnis is notable only for sheer virtuosity, we hasten to add that in the plentitude of his powers he obviously has sub jected himself to rigid self-criti See KIPNIS on Page Three Merchants Planning Poll On Daylight Saving Time A movement for the possible enactment of summer daylight saving time into a state law at the January meeting of the state legislature is being planned by the North Carolina Merchants asso ciation, Willard Dowell, associa tion secretary, disclosed to The Star yesterday. “We plan to take a poll of the 50 local merchants associations throughout the state this sum mer” Dowell said. “If a majority favors, daylight saving time for the summer months, we shall en deavor to have the state legisla ture enact the measure into a state-wide law at next January’s session.” After Convention The poll, Dowell said, would be taken this summer after the as sociation’s annual convention at Wrightsville Beach on June 10 and 11. The Wilmigton Merchants asso ciation, one of the 50 local or ganizations referred to by Dow ell, is already strongly in favor of the state-wide adoption of sum mer daylight saving time, E W. See MERCHANTS on Page Three On the trip up and down the Cape Fear river yesterday in specting future possibilities were, in the top picture, stand ing, E. C. Snead, assistant Col lector of Customs for the North Carolina district; Louis Han son, J, Douglas Taylor, and Hamilton Hicks. Seated, J. E. L. Wade, J. T. Hiers, and Al fred E. Jones. In the bottom picture, Oscar B r e e c e, Fayetteville; Col. George Gillette, and W. W. Storm.—STAR STAFF PHOTO BY PETE KNIGHT. WILMINGTON WILL LOSE U. S. OFFICE District Attorney Manning To Move To Capital By June 1 The home office of the United States attorney. Eastern district of North Carolina, will be moved from Wilmington to Raleigh by June 1, Col. John Hall Manning, district attorney, disclosed yester day. “The offices of the clerk of the Eastern district, the U. S. marshal, and the probation officer are lo cated in Raleigh,” Colonel'^Man ning explained, “and it is believed that the business of the government can be more efficiently and ex peditiously handled if the attorney’s office is also stationed there.” The Wilmington offices, estab lished here in 1926, will be retained for use of routine work and for the regular terms of Federal court, Colonel Manning said. Whether any of the Wilmington personnel will be transferred to Raleigh has not yet .been decided. BUTCHERS TO POST CEILING PRICES IN THE SHOPS TODAY WASHINGTON, April 30—(^P)— OPA Chief Paul Porter announced Tuesday night that beginning Wed nesday butcher shops would post new retail meat price lists to help stores and housewives “in fight ing off the black market.” Porter said these lists would show recently increased retail prices for every grade and cut of meat. “If the consumer will help to get compliance with ceiling prices at the retail level,” he said, “he will help keep prices stable at all leyels of distributions—all the way back to the livestock producer himself.” AUSTRALIAN WOOL WILL VIE WITH GAS AS PORT LEADER; WALLACE SET FOR FESTIVAL 25,000 Crowd Expected For Parade Today Decorated Floats, Army Troops, Bands Will Take Part In March QUEEN WILL LEAD On Eve Of Festivities, Mayor Predicts Best Festival In History WALLACE, April 30. — This Southeastern North Carolina mar ket town of 2,500 population finish ed preparation Tuesday night for the greatest of its six annual Strawberry Festivals with over 25, 000 persons expected for the kick off of the 10-day celebration at 11 a. m. Wednesday. A two-mile parade, ccvmpo&ed of 25 floats from this section of the state, high school bands from Wilmington, Oxford and New Bern and troops from Fort Bragg will officially open the Festival which is reigned over by Miss Charlotte Russ, Wilmington, who was selec ted' by Kay Kyser, famous band leader, as Strawberry Queen. Troops To Parade Troops in the parade will be members of the 82nd Airborne division, 30th Field Artillery and the band of the 53rd division. A spectaclar demonstration oi paratroop operations by members of the famed airborne division Will also be a feature of the opening day. Biggest, Best Commenting on the Festival, the first to be held since the outbreak of the war, Mayor Aubrey J. Har well, Wallace, predicted that "This Will be the biggest annual evenl we have ever had." Senator Clyde Hoey and Rep esentative Graham Barden wil ie in attendance and -more thar 00 mayors of North Carolina cities nvited by Mayor Harrell to attend he festivities. Barbecue To Top Following the parade an open-air See 25000 cn Page Three ENGINEERS LIKELY TO SUPERVISE JOB Ship-Basin Dredging Pro ject May Be Turned Over To Them Supervision of the Brunswick river surplus-ship storage-basin project will “in all probability” be turned over to the U. S. Brigi Ineers, a spokesman of that office j disclosed yesterday afternoon. The disclosure followed a private morning conference between Col. George W. Gillette, district chief of engineers, and J. W. Armbrust, U. S. Maritime commission of ficial. “A few details of the proposal are still to be ironed out,” the spokesman said, "but it is almost definite that the engineers will assume the task of inspecting and supervising the remainder of the project.” The project, said to be 35 per cent complete, has been under the supervision of the North Caro lina Shipbuilding company. Along The Cape Fear SACRED CITADEL—The motion picture since its scrawny, neurotic childhood has matured into the mass-mover of millions. Its two-dimensional illusion of life has projected tc the four cor ners of the earth. In popularity it outranks (un justly, we believe' the printed pages’ of the world's masterworks. People who would never crack the cover of “The Brothers Kar amazov” would flock to the movie house to see it shine through cel luloid and reflect on a beaded glass screen. We do not want to take time or space here to applaud or condemn i this synthetic miracle of the tech-! nological era of Art. 'Like all other victims and zealots who make pilgrimage to the sacred citadel of the cinema, we only salaam and say, “Be it so.” ALONG THE CHICAGO—We can remember our mother telling us of the first motion picture she ever saw. It was shown in the early days of her youth wnen she dwelt along the Chicago river, days now lost and almost forgotten in the fast shuffle of the years. Like many a young lady who dwelt along the Hudson, the Po tomac, the Mississippi, and the Cape Fear, she went to see the "pictures that move.” The film was projected at night on the side of a downtown build ing. Some people came to scoff, some to cheer. Some scoffed, some cheered, but none could disguise their wonderment. And those who are still alive, and their descendants, now pay admission to sit in a plush seat See CAPE FEAR on Page Three Old Friends Meet Here j i - ■ . ■ — -. ■ 1 Believe it or not, Robert Ripley, the “Believe or Not” man came through Wilmington yesterday and he was caught—his picture—as he renewed friendship with Boyden Sparkes, the writer who is getting to be quite a native of here. Sparkes is shown at the left above. And, of course, the other gentleman is Mr. Ripley. STAR STAFF PHOTO BY BOB HODGKIN. HE SLEPT HERE! Bob Ripley Praises Wrightsville Beach Famous Cartoonist-Traveler Arrives Here Aboard Chinese Junk; Cabins Have Carving-, Smiling Gods By MEARES HARRISS Yes, “Believe it or Not”, Robert Ripley slept here last night. And even more unusual, he was traveling, quite in keeping with his business of collecting oddities, in a Chinese junk, which he bought about a year ago. Moreover, Ripley says he believes it is the only one cruising waters nearer than China. To top the whole matter off, Ripley ran into an old friend, Author Boyden Sparkes, whom he didn’t know lived PALESTINE REPORT URGES OPEN DOOR Anglo - American Would Allow Entry Of 100,000 Jews In ’46 WASHINGTON, April 30.—(£*)_ An official British-United States committee of inquiry on Palestine recommended Tuesday that the gates of the Holy Land be thrown open immediately to 100,000 Eu ropean Jews—homeless victims of Axis’ persecution. In a 30,000 word report on its four-month investigation, the com mittee went firmly on record against making Palestine either a Jewish or an Arab state, and said that the government ulti mately established there “under international guarantees’’ must protect Christian, Jew and Mos lem. Continue Mandate It called for continuance of Palestine under a mandate—held by Britan, since 1922—“pending the execution of a trusteeship agreement under the United Na tions.” This, if accepted, would nullify Britain’s plan to termi nate the mandate by establishment of an independent Palestine state. See PALESTINE on Page Three at wrightsviile. Praises Beach Shortly after tying up at Wrights ville Marine terminal n the drawbridge, on the way norm from a Florida trip, the oddities artist paid a visit to Wrightsviile Beach, .and upon being asked how he liked this section, waxed eloquent on the weather, the beach, the termi nal and practically everything in sight. "Why, its like a miniature At lantic City. Yes, it reminds me very much of Atlantic City,” was the way he described Wrightsviile Beach. “Is it always this mild, here?” he asked Sparkes. Short Stay When asked how long he planned to stop over here he said “I have to be in Norfolk Saturday but this is the best place I’ve hit on the way so far and I want to stay as long as possible.” About his strange craft; she was built in Hong Kong in 1939 and sailed across the Pacific to this country. Named the Mon Lei, with her homeport in Mamaroneck, Long Island, she is a Foo Chow type river junk and is at present powered with a large marine en gine which gives her a good 12 knot or better speed. Chinese Gods The interior is somewhat over whelming with two cabins beauti fully and intricately decorated with hand carving and painted panel ing. Little niches are occupied See RIPLEY on Page Three Wilmington Doctors Plan To Attend^ State Meeting Twenty-two local doctors will at tend a three-day meeting of the North Carolina Medical Society in Pinehurst today, tomorrow and Thursday. Dr. Charles Graham, secretary o< the New Hanover Med ical association said last night. The doctors will not attend the meeting enmasse, it was explained by Dr. Watts Farthing, former president of the local society, as J the meetings will be scheduled so I that the medical section can attend i todays meeting; the surgical sec tion can attend tomorrows meet ing, and the specialties section will be held on Wednesday. Acording to an Associated Press release from Pinehurst, the conven-1 tion is the first annual meeting j since 1944, and a record attendance 1 is expected. Local doctors planning to attend the meeting are: J. Buren Sidbury, W. Houston Moore, James F. ; Robertson, Graham Barefoot, George Johnson, William S. Dos her, E. S. King, D. B. Koonce, j David Sloan, Charles Graham, Robert Pales, David Murchinson. Other doctors planning to attend are; Samuel Warshouer, Herbert See DOCTORS on Page Three 1 i Possibilities Of State Port Are Enormous Leaders In Development Guests Of Col. Gillette On River Trip CUSTOMS MAY RISE Chatham Mills At Elkin Would Have Raw Ma terial Shipped By Boat A port of Wilmington In the future into which will come millions of pounds of wool from Australia, sugar from Cuba and the Philip pines, tobacco from the Mid dle East, as well as the gaso line from Gulf ports was envision ed yesterday as leaders in the development of State ports made an inspection trip up and down the Cape Fear river. The leaders interested In the de velopment of the State ports were the guests of Col. George Gillette, district engineer of the U. S. Army, aboard the Kitty Hawk. The group inspected the Cape Fear end the Northeast branch. Wool From Australia A prediction that $1,500,000 in customs would accrue to the fed eral government in the State from wool shipped here from Australia was made. Major part of this shipment would be consigned to the Chatham mills in Elkin, it was learned. Prior to the war, Chat ham had purchased wool through See POSSIBILITIES on Page Three MANY INDUSTRIES MAY LOCATE HERE Farrell Cite* Total Of 21 Possibilities To Rotary Club Monday At least 21 northern manufac turing firms of good, standing are | interested in taking up a Wil mington location, John Farrell, city industrial agent, and secretary of the Chamber of Commeraa dis- . closed when speaking at yester day’s meeting of the Rotary ehib. Farrell said that he had been in communication with many firms that are casting an eye on ex panding, transportation rich Wil mington. One Committed One good sized industry fe al ready committed to a Wilmington 'location, said Farrell, He added that recent talks with New York business men showed several to be inclined toward this city as a pos sible site for industrial eoloniz ing. The Maffitt Village community building has lately been inspected by a New York firm interacted in southward extension. See INDUSTRIES On Page Therr HAMBOSE’S MEDITATIONS By Alley ToLKS up AlAWth claims US IS BAckArv , BuT Hits A tunny thing PAT IN PEY fpg'ARP PROGRESS, PETS CPM/AJ' PPWAJ HBAH > ^ -- ’__ - (Released by The Bel! “S' ***- U. & Pit. Offlce)