"An Unfriendly Gesture"

In front of the United States Information Service library in Prague last week, sizable crowds stood staring into a large display window. The display consisted of some 200 portraits of assorted world notables, all taken from the covers of TIME. In the center, in large letters, was writ ten: "Who Are They?" Britain's Princess Margaret was there, side by side with Russia's Police Boss Lavrenty Beria, Hollywood's Gregory Peck, Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito, and the theater's redoubtable Tallulah Bankhead. At week's end, one of the 200 faces had been changed. The features of Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary had been replaced by those of Radio Comic Fred Allen.

U.S. Press Attache Joseph Kolarek explained the change. A Czech Foreign Office official had called him up and said: "Mindszenty is a criminal. Having his picture in the window is an unfriendly gesture to Czechoslovakia."

Gargoylian Allen said: "Seems to me they're playing right into the Communists' hands. They'll have people thinking that the average American looks like me."

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