Personal Glimpses

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE LIVES OF THE FAMOUS

Pope John XXIII once took a dismayed glance at his own full frame and bulging ears, to conclude gaily: “O Lord, this man is going to be a disaster on television.” NEWSWEEK, RD JUNE 1964 When paying a visit to George Bernard Shaw, a caller expressed surprise that the author had no flowers in his home.

“I thought,” he said, “you were fond of flowers.”

“I am,” Shaw retorted. “I’m very fond of children, too, but I don’t cut off their heads and stick them in pots around the house.” BLANCHE PATCH, THIRTY YEARS WITH G. B. S., RD AUGUST 1953 The late Queen Mary visited a hospital ward one day and paused at the bed of a little girl. She asked the child where she lived and the child said in Battersea, a poor district in London.

“Where do you live?” the girl asked, unaware of the rank of her visitor.

“Oh, just behind Gorringes Department Store,” Queen Mary replied. NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, RD JULY 1953 US composer George Gershwin, who was never happier that when he was playing his songs on the piano, reserved one unpublished little waltz tune for affairs of the heart.

“You’re the kind of girl who makes me feel like composing a song,” he would tell the enraptured lady of the moment, and lead her off to his suite.

We would then follow on tiptoe to hear him ‘compose’ the familiar tune for her. “It will be dedicated to you,” he would conclude soulfully. BENNETT CERF IN THE SATURDAY REVIEW TREASURY, RD AUGUST 1958