Shortly after Tom Mooney was jailed 22 years ago his wife, Rena, then 38, was removed from the committees for his defense, was not active in organized attempts to free him. Tom swore he would have little more to do with her than was necessary for appearance sake. When he was released last month, Rena, somewhat tarnished in appearance, did not ride with him to receive his pardon. Since then they have seen little of each other. Newspapers hinted at a divorce; Tom called the rumors "lying statements by my enemies." But last week Rena let the cat out of the bag. Said she: "Tom has talked to me about a divorce. He can't divorce me now. ... I can't understand. . . . What is there left for me? . . . We're old. I want to spend the remaining years with Tom Mooney ... the old Tom Mooney."

The British tailors' magazine, Tailor and Cutter, called Winston Churchill, famed for his many hats, his correct but rumpled clothes, a "sartorial chameleon," declared:

"A statesman should be known by one or two features, not for a variety. Monocle and orchid were priceless assets to Joseph Chamberlain. Everyone thought of Gladstone in terms of collars. . . . Anthony Eden's adoption of the Foreign Office hat secured him. . . . But Churchill! What protean changes his hats represent, embracing official and naval cocked hats, army pillbox, hussars' busby, service cap, steel helmet, sombrero, Oxford degree hat, artists' berets and paper party hats."

Thomas Gardiner ("Tommy the Cork") Corcoran of the White House Janizariat went to Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore), had his appendix removed. A friend who keeps up with doings in New Zealand (see p. 72) sent him one dozen fertile hens' eggs to take into bed with him and hatch out*-during his forced absence from plots & plans in Washington.

Emma Eames (pronounced Ames), great soprano of the "golden age of opera," still handsome at 73, emerged from 30 years' retirement to speak over the radio in Manhattan and broadcast records of her once-golden voice. Said Veteran Eames: "I used to work terribly hard, now work bores me to death. I live entirely for pleasure."

Off to Nassau with her daughter, Brenda Diana Duff Frazier, Cafe Society's No. 1 glamor girl, Mrs. Frederic Watriss declared: "Certainly Brenda, likes being popular. So do I. We all love it. There is no problem to being the mother of a popular deb. It is the mothers of the others I'm sorry for. It must be awful to be the mother of a flop!"

For participating in civil-disobedience campaigns, leathery old Mrs. Kasturbai Gandhi (69), wife and disciple of the Mahatma. has served six prison terms. Last week, as other disciples deserted him (see p. 20), she arrived in Rajkot State to be disobedient again, was arrested for the seventh time.

Promoter Albert Nathaniel Chapereau (Shapiro) kibitzed Paris, Broadway and Hollywood because: 1) he craved fine-feathered friends, and 2) the right people could help him promote his interests. He wanted Cafe Society recognition for himself and his wife, Paula. On Paula's wrist Radio and Cinema Comedian George Burns saw a nifty bracelet. Soon No. 1 Zany Gracie Allen (Mrs. Burns) had $4,885 worth of duty-free baubles like Paula's. Soon Supreme Court Justice Edgar J. Lauer's wife, Elma, had a duty-free Paris wardrobe just as pretty as Paula's.

For a useful pal, Ocean-Traveler Al was happy to do services like these. But because Elma Lauer's German maid, Rosa Weber, didn't like what Elma and friends said about Herr Hitler, she reportedly mentioned the duty-free frocks to customs officials. Indicted as smugglers. Burns, Mrs. Lauer and Chapereau pleaded guilty, Jack Benny, another friend, did not. Last week in Manhattan, when a Federal judge said, "a year and a day in prison," George ("Nat") Burns turned paler than a radio gag. But the judge proceeded: "I shall suspend execution of sentence during good behavior." Upshot was that on Gracie's $4.885 worth of jewels (for which her husband paid $2,000, and which she kept), George paid $8,000 fine, duty and penalties of $9,770--nearly two weeks' pay.

Burns's good behavior may entail testifying against Rival Comedian Jack Benny this month. Likeliest winner in any of the actions is Rosa, the Lauer maid, since standard U. S. pay to tattletales who snitch on smugglers is a quarter of the fines collected up to $50,000.

At a party in Paris on his 57th birthday, James Joyce announced the completion of the book that for 16 years has been known to the literary world as Work in Progress. Its title: Finnegan's Wake.

Because St. Patrick is patron saint of the Cathedral and Archdiocese of New York, Bishop-Administrator Stephen J. Donahue gave all Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese permission to eat meat on Friday. March 17, St. Patrick's Day.-

*Hens take 21 days to hatch an egg; ducks, 28; hardy humans, probably longer.

*Dispensations of this type are commonly granted, are canonically legal.

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