Hushabaloo

"Second for Santa Claus, first for me, thirteen for wreath, seven for tree. Bring me an auto, a book and a ball, and I'll say 'Merry Christmas' in spring, not in fall."

Six weeks ago "Miss Hush," an unnamed but "famous American unmarried lady," murmured into a microphone these Orphic clues to her identity. Millions of Americans, feverishly jotting them on cuffs, newspapers and old paper bags, remembered that the winners of Truth or Consequences' contests on Mr. Hush (Jack Dempsey) and Mrs. Hush (Clara Bow) had won $13,500 and $17,590 respectively. Soon the Hush money had fact-finding listeners in block-long queues at the Los Angeles Public Library; in Manhattan's Times Square, tipsters hawked greensheets (the not-so-hot tip: Evangeline Booth) at $1. But nobody guessed. Miss Hush dropped more hints:

"What does the wreath have to do with the tree? . . . It's second for Santa Claus . . . first for me . . . Santa Claus comes by sleigh, but I prefer an auto."

The value of the prizes* mounted to over $20,000. The listening audience swelled to more than 20 million. The mailbag bulged to 10,000 letters a day. The March of Dimes (a donation with a letter is suggested as the price of admission to the contest) collected something like $125,000. Listeners brightly guessed Elsa Maxwell, Maude Adams, Sister Kenny, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford, Mary Garden. But still nobody guessed right. Last week Miss Hush tried to spill the beans:

"Second for Santa Claus--second what? Remember? He had eight reindeer. Personally I prefer an auto. There! You have my profession and my name. Now I'm going to have a cracker while you count up 13 and 7 in the alphabet."

Master of Ceremonies Ralph Edwards was desperately sick of the whole stunt.

It had all started out as just a burlesque of giveaway programs, but, "Well, to my chagrin, people took it seriously. It's got out of hand. I wish we could start all over again from scratch."

* Items: a 1947 convertible, a home laundry, two round trips to Hawaii, a trailer, a $1,000 diamond and ruby wrist watch, a television receiver, radio-phonograph, $2,000 in cash, an airplane, a $1,500 beaver coat, a home workshop, a gas refrigerator, a gas range, a home freezer, a vacuum cleaner, suits and topcoats for a family, a $1,000 diamond ring, a heating boiler, a complete housepainting, a houseful of furniture.

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