Painless Vivisection

In his new role as Hearst's "Cholly Knickerbocker," pompadoured Society Gossip Igor Loiewski-Cassini (TIME, Nov. 5) last week started a series of profiles on New York social registerites. To prepare himself, he boned up on the Astor clan by reading Dixon Wecter's scholarly Saga of American Society. When it came time to share his new-found knowledge with his readers, Gossip Cassini found himself full of his reading. Samples:

Wecter: "[William Waldorf Astor] on June 3, 1917 . . . became Viscount Astor, amid jeers from a large section of the British press which accused him of buying the title outright."

Cassini: ". . . William Waldorf removed himself to England, became a British subject and amid jeers from a large section of the British press, which accused him of buying the title outright, became . . . Viscount Astor."

Wecter: "Vincent Astor, present head of the family and childless, was a phlegmatic youth . . . has become the most progressive of all the Astors--founding model farms and building model tenements for the poor, as well as running de luxe apartments and the St. Regis for the rich."

Cassini: "The present head of the American Astor clan is Vincent, childless, twice-married, phlegmatic and serious-minded. He founded model farms and builds model tenements for the poor, and runs de luxe apartments and the St. Regis for the rich."

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