Second Philly

The joint was not exactly jumping as it had for the G.O.P., but televisually the Democratic National Convention was a good show, too.

One improvement was in makeup. At the first Philadelphia convention, skin-thin cosmetics left distinguished men looking menacingly unshaved, women bloodless and lipless (TIME, July 5). Last week, a fortnight older and wiser, television makeup artists plastered on enough Pancake, eyebrow pencil and purple lipstick to bring the Democrats through in the closeups.*

The roving camera eye caught the convention impromptus: Vice Presidential Nominee Alben Barkley reading a newspaper clip in the middle of Harry Truman's acceptance speech; James Roosevelt, puff-cheeked, tootling a whistle during the early morning demonstration for Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas; outside the Bellevue-Stratford, the man in the street who was asked, "Are you excited about the President's arrival?" and his firm reply, "I most certainly am not"; Speaker India Edwards waving a steak.

Networks optimistically estimated that the total audience for all this (including small fry) had been just as large (ten million) as for the Republicans.

* His cheeks suntanned and unpatted, Presi dent Truman was one of the few to defy tele vision shadow. No one even suggested fixing his face. Some prospective guest stars, realizing that makeup was not enough, refused to be televised. Said 54-year-old, 160-lb. Dorothy Thompson: "No woman over 40 who weighs more than 150 should be on television." (For a contrary view from 54-year-old, 180-lb. Elsa Maxwell, see COl. 2.)

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