Stinky Pinky All Over

Sir:

I was surprised to read in your May 26 issue about the British game, "Hink Pink." For years we have played a similar game here in Texas. The only difference is the name: we call it "Stinky Pinky." . . .

Congratulations to the British for taking up an old Texas game.

ELLEN ROBBINS

Houston

Sir:

... I always assumed it was of British origin because one of the stock "sets" was "King's Counsel," which is, of course, "regal, legal beagle."

However, it lends itself admirably to the American language, and Yankee aficionados cherish such phrases as "drunken singer" --"lush thrush" . . . "bad friend"--"bum chum.". . ..

All versions of the game probably stem from the cockney rhyming slang in which feet are known as "plates of meat." ... In any case, "Hink Pink" . . . pops up in theatrical journalese in this country very frequently. Thus, when Variety uses a head stating "Stix Nix Pix," you don't have to read the story to know that motion-picture grosses are low in the hinterland. . . .

You take it from there. I forgive you for not heading your "Hink Pink" piece with "Wittish British." It was a pleasant little item, and since it rang the bell with me, I'll tab it a "TIME chime." . . .

CLINTON BOLTON New York City

Sir:

It might interest you to know that we have been playing "Hink Pink" ... in our family for several years. . . .

Incidentally, the game was invented by an aunt of mine who has a number of others up her sleeve. . . .

BEVERLY AHLSWEDE Boston

P:I Perhaps that's where TIME'S parlor game editor was when London's rash flash went to press.--ED.

Provocative Sight Sir:

NOT LEAST PROVOCATIVE OF JANIS ("THE

TITLE") PAIGE'S TITLES (TIME, MAY 26) is

"MISS DAMSITE," WHICH SHE BORE RELUCTANTLY APRIL 15 AS EMPRESS OF HOPEFUL MCNARY DAM EMPIRE EASTERN OREGON AND WASHINGTON. . . . SIGHT OF HER IS 1,000,000-KILOWATT MEMORY TO HER SUBJECTS.

BILL BELT

Hermiston, Ore.

The Arab Case

Sir:

I should like to commend TIME for its long-run handling of the Palestine question. Considering the high emotional tensions involved, you've done a very good job. I was especially pleased with . . . your reminder to readers that the Arabs live there, too [TIME, May 26].

It probably needs saying that the Arabs' overstatement of their case at the U.N. was no doubt due in part to their being flustered in an American atmosphere . . . supercharged with Zionism. . . . The activities of such organizations as the so-called American League for a Free Palestine have forced the average American, Jewish or Gentile, into a position of either accepting the "Hebrew nation" case or being branded as antiSemitic. Their propaganda seldom mentions the Arab case, and like all propaganda, has only two shades, black & white.

Paris el Khoury's excursion into history, even if "dubious," was certainly pointed at the myth of a Jewish "race." Readers up to examining the matter might look at C. S. Coon's The Races of Europe. Essentially, since peoples practicing Judaism appear in each of the three great stocks of mankind, Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid, there is no Jewish race in the proper biological sense of the word.

ROBERT J. BRAIDWOOD Chicago

Great Expectations

Sir:

Your review of Cineguild's production of Great Expectations [TIME, May 26] omitted a very interesting sidelight. The men responsible for the newest English smash hit not only read Dickens; they looked over a print of the American version of this same classic, made some years ago with Henry Hull as star. The gulf between was so wide that they decided in justice to Dickens that it was imperative that the wrong be righted. As your article points out, they have succeeded admirably. . . .

KENNETH A. WILLARD

Brentwood, Mo.

Vocalizer

Sir:

I should like to take exception to the imputation of dishonorable motives to Professors Rosebury and Kabat, made in your May 26 issue, on their report on bacteriological warfare. . . .

This report was made ... to furnish a factual and critical digest of all available literature on the subject. Competent authorities agreed that this objective was well and faithfully met.

I resent your slur on two of my patriotic colleagues and I shall be very vocal about that resentment. . . .

MICHAEL HEIDELBERGER

Columbia University New York City

P:Let Reader Heidelberger mind his unscientific emotions. Far from imputing dishonorable motives to Professors Rosebury and Kabat, TIME credited them with a full understanding of the "portentous moral issues involved," and with the performance of a patriotic service in publishing the facts about bacteriological warfare.--ED.

Florida Flush

Sir:

About Legislator P. Guy Crews's bill to prohibit airplanes from flying over Florida if they have flush toilets [TIME, May 26]. Why do you say "None do"? . . .

Many a wartime Atlantic crossing by us frustrated airline bombardiers flying Boeing 314s and 314-As would have been strictly routine except for the ships at sea (preferably enemy) and our beloved flush toilets. Incidentally, these same ships are now being flown (by a new owner) over Crews's beloved state. Saw one anchored in Biscayne Bay yesterday.

JAMES H. MCDOWELL JR. San Juan, Puerto Rico

Freud at Home

Sir:

Lucian Freud's blast at British painting [TIME, May 26] is not the first time one who found refuge in Britain has assailed the British. . . . The strange thing is that the very qualities which annoy such as he, account largely for Britain being a haven for the victims of intolerance in other countries. Mr. Freud's accusation that British art "is all just inspired sketching" caused me to look through a book of etchings by various British artists. Inspired is the right word!

Donald Moffat . . . explains their art: "The Englishman's heart is in the land, in the fields and waters and ancient forests of the countryside itself. There his spirit comes truly alive; there, if anywhere, he feels at home, his existence justified. His sense of kinship with nature is no mere poetic fancy. It is real, a part of his bone and blood and fibre."

It would be impertinent of me, however, to suggest that . . . Lucian Freud is ungrateful. He probably feels at home in England by now and is indulging in the old British privilege of free speech.

CARTER STEVENS New Orleans

P:He should feel at home in England by now; he has lived there since 1933.--ED.

Designer of the Purple Heart

Sir:

I wish to call your attention to an error published in TIME, May 26, in connection with the death of John R. Sinnock, chief engraver of the United States Mint, Philadelphia. He was given the "credit of being the designer of the Purple Heart. This is a mistake, as I was the designer and Mr. Sinnock the sculptor. This is substantiated by records of the War Department. . . .

ELIZABETH WILL Washington, D.C.

Chinese Puzzle

Sir:

Your admirable piece on Chen Li-fu [TIME, May 26] should quiet the notion that support for Chiang Kai-shek will prevent collectivism. Chen's goal, "key industries owned by the state," suggests what's ahead.

Has any state ever found a logical or politically feasible dividing line between key and non-key industries? With this threat, how can adequate private investment be stimulated?

History shows that political freedom and economic progress depend upon diffusion of power and multiplication of foci of energy and drive--neither attainable under collectivism. . . .

EMERSON P. SCHMIDT Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America Washington, D.C.

Implications

Sir:

YOUR FINE ARTICLE [TIME, MAY 19] MADE ONE STATEMENT WHICH HAS GRIEVED MY BROTHER JAMES AND MYSELF AS WELL AS OUR FAMILIES. . . . MY BROTHER ROWLAND DIED AS THE RESULT OF HAVING BEEN GASSED IN THE 1914 WAR, AND CERTAINLY ANY IMPLICATION THAT HE DIED FROM DRINK IS WRONGFUL TO THE MEMORY OF THIS FINE MAN. THE PHRASE, "WHO DRANK," MIGHT LEAD YOUR READERS TO BELIEVE THAT HE DRANK TO EXCESS. . . . ROWLAND WAS NOT A TEETOTALER BUT DRANK IN MODERATION AS DO MILLIONS OF OTHERS. . . .

FURTHERMORE, ONE MIGHT INFER FROM THE ARTICLE THAT MY FATHER HAD DISINHERITED MY BROTHER ROWLAND. ANY SUCH IMPLICATION IS ALSO WITHOUT BASIS OF FACT. ACTUALLY . . . MY FATHER . . . GAVE MY BROTHER ROWLAND A FINE BIG FLOUR MILL WHICH BUILT ITSELF INTO A POWERFUL BUSINESS. KNOWING YOUR DESIRE FOR ACCURACY, WHICH I CAN WELL JUDGE FROM THE EXTENTS TO WHICH RESEARCH WAS DONE BY YOUR REPORTERS BOTH IN ENGLAND AND HERE, I KNOW THAT YOU WILL CORRECT THESE UNFORTUNATE . . STATEMENTS ABOUT MY LATE BROTHER. MY FAMILY AND I WILL BE VERY GRATEFUL, INDEED.

J. ARTHUR RANK Universal City, Calif.

P:TIME trusts that none of its readers read any such implications into the story.--ED.

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