Words & Music

"I greatly regret that my 93 years do not permit me ... to repeat my visit to Moscow, which remains one of the brightest of all my cherished memories," wrote Bernard Shaw, declining an invitation to the 150th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin's birthday. He sent good wishes anyway: "The Soviet Union still interests me more than any other state in the world, including my own country."

On his first trip back to Moscow since the war, Paul Robeson (see U.S. AFFAIRS) was a howling success. "You know how I feel to be back on Soviet soil," he told a cheering audience in Tchaikovsky Hall. He sang in English, French, Spanish and Russian, and tried out his own version of some of the words in Ol' Man River ("We must fight to death for peace and freedom"). He also introduced to the Russians an old favorite called Scandalize My Name, and dedicated it to the "socalled free Western press." The comrades loved every minute of it.

Back in Manhattan, Oscar Hammerstein II, co-author with the late Jerome Kern of Ol' Man River, was less enthusiastic about the liberties Robeson was taking with his classic. "I have no intention of changing [the lyrics] or permitting anyone else to change them," he said. "I further suggest that Paul write his own songs and leave mine alone."

Family Circles

In Miami Beach, the mother of Cinemactress Elizabeth Taylor, 17, announced her pretty daughter's engagement to William D. Pawley Jr., 28, wartime Hump flyer and son of the former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. Lieut. Glenn Davis, 24, fast-stepping "Mr. Outside" of wartime West Point football, who long held the inside track with Elizabeth, was now definitely on the outside. Yes, Elizabeth had worn Glenn's gold football, Mrs. Taylor admitted, but only as "a perfectly normal part of growing up." Elizabeth, looking alluringly grown up last week, flashed a 3 1/2-carat diamond at reporters. "Nice piece of ice," she said happily. "At least, that's what Bill calls it."

In Hollywood, Cinemactress Linda Darnell, 27, and Cameraman Peverell Marley, 47, who have been married for six years, with no children of their own, legally adopted Charlotte Mildred ("Lola") Marley, 17 months, who has been living with them since she was two months old.

In Copenhagen, Rumania's deposed King Michael, 27, and Princess Anne, 25, visiting her family, left the baby, 2 1/2-month-old Margrethe, with her grandparents and spent a carefree evening riding the merry-go-rounds and eating hot dogs at an amusement park.

In Olney, Md., James Gordon Mac-Arthur, II, son of Playwright Charles MacArthur, 53, and Actress Helen Hayes, 48, and brother of Ingenue Mary Mac-Arthur, 19, was catching up with the rest of the family. He was given a bit part in a strawhat production of The Corn Is Green. His father's prediction: "The little rascal is ham enough so that if he had only one line he'd throw in three."

At West Point, Cadet David Lee Arnold, 22, graduated 450th in his class from the Military Academy and married Jean Simmons, 20, of Mountain Lakes, N.J., all with the beaming approval of his General of the Air Force father, Old Grad (1907) Henry. H. ("Hap") Arnold.

In Lexington, Va., Robert E. Lee IV, 24, great-grandson of the General of the Confederacy, graduated from the university named after his ancestor: Washington and Lee.

In New York, T. V. Soong, 55, onetime Premier of China, now listed by the Communists as a "war criminal," arrived with Mme. Soong by plane from France, where he had been taking a rest cure at Aix-les-Bains. No politics connected with his trip, he said. It was just a three-month visit as "a private citizen," chiefly "to see my children [Laurette, 21, Mary Jane, 19, Katherine, 18, all going to school in the U.S.] and old friends," and, "of course,"his sister, Mme. Chiang Kaishek.

Troubled Times

Sonja Henie, robbed of $28,000 worth of furs last January when thieves broke into her Manhattan hotel room, was robbed of $35,000 worth of furs and clothes by thieves who broke into a truck carrying her luggage.

Joe Louis, already tagged with a $500,000 alienation of affections suit by a Chicago clergyman named Matthew Faulkner, was named corespondent in the minister's divorce suit against Carolle Drake ("Mattie") Faulkner, a Manhattan model. Said Joe, whose own marriage broke up four months ago: "My relations with Mrs. Faulkner never went beyond the bounds of friendship."

TV's Funnyman Milton Berle was getting no laughs out of Met Soprano Dorothy Kirsten. Cried the prima donna: "He hired a girl in a hideous blonde wig and passed her off as me. Then he played a screeching record . . . and had the girl mouth along with the words. The result was just awful . . . The image was most unattractive . . ." Dorothy even made threats to sue for "plenty . . . Imagine putting on that horrible-sounding mess and telling everybody I was doing it . . ." Said Milton, through his lawyers: "She is unfamiliar with the actual facts . . ." Then he began trying, still unsuccessfully at week's end, to get Dorothy to appear in person on his next show.

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