Family Party

At a meeting of Scripps-Howard editors in Washington last April, Editor Roy Howard dropped an offhand remark. "In July," said he, "I'll be with the outfit 50 years." After he left the room, somebody spoke up: "We ought to do something about this." They talked to young (35) Board Chairman Charles Scripps, who decided to give Roy a big surprise party. To Roy Howard, when he stepped into the Pavilion Caprice of Cincinnati's Netherland Plaza hotel one night last week, it was indeed a surprise.

He had been told that six or eight people would be there for a small, informal dinner. But when he walked through the big paneled door, he stared at a roomful of 125 Scripps-Howard editors, business managers, bureau managers, other brass from the Scripps papers, the United Press, NEA Service. Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance--brought in from all over the country. Most of them had stayed out of the hotel lobby, to keep Roy from spotting them and guessing the secret.

The Best from Gano. The anniversary dinner (sirloin steak, champagne) was no stuffy testimonial, but a newspaperman's blend of horseplay and affection. Toastmaster Dick Thornburg, editor of the Cincinnati Post, struck the keynote by calling Howard "the greatest newspaperman ever to come out of Gano, Ohio, population 37."

Scripps-Howard staffers had gathered tape-recorded tributes from all over the world. Said Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay: "I think it is a tribute to the durability and staying power of the American press that it has been able to survive 50 years of Roy Howard." Chirped Madame Chiang Kaishek: "I am delighted to have this opportunity to make you listen to me for once."

Howard's career as a crusading journalist was reviewed on tape by ex-President Herbert Hoover. "You have a unique position among crusaders," said Hoover.

'Sometimes you have been a great trial to us other crusaders, but among crusaders there's a reverence for the honest ones no matter how wrong they are."

Greetings from Japan. Taking note of Howard's globe-trotting habit, Model Judy Coate draped a lei around his neck (see cut) and the tape was turned on for "Japanese opinion" of Editor Howard.

What came out was a chorus of geisha girls singing and begging: "Roy, you butterfly, come back." Then, a deadpan announcement was made that the guests would next hear a tape-recorded report from Mr. Howard on the world situation.

To give the "report," the tape-recording of the speech was reversed and speeded up until it sounded like a drunken canary singing backwards.

Howard's final surprise was a personal telephone call from President Eisenhower, weekending at his Gettysburg farm. Said Ike: "I gathered you were married to a newspaper 50 years ago and have been married to it ever since. There have been a lot of products from it." Said Roy Howard: "I wish to the Lord you were where I am. I've been lied to by everyone in this room." "Roy," the President reminisced, "do you realize it has been 20 years since we were on that boat?" (i.e., the President Coolidge, when Ike, a major, was en route to the Philippines to become MacArthur's chief of staff and Howard to cover the inauguration of President Quezon). Said Howard: "A lot of things have happened since then." Retorted Ike: "Boy, are you telling me!"

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