by PHILIP PRICHARD

ND they lived happily ever after...” until two weeks later, when the gro-

é * oe bill came and the rent fell due! Hollywood productions drop the story
like a hot brick before it gets this far. Some day they’re going to forget them-

selves and carry us over into
Anybody atound here ever
a square meal, goes to work or pa

life that we buy from Holly-
wood.

Supposedly sane people order
gloriously substantial meals in
fabulously rich surroundings,
immaculately garbed waiters
serve the delectable viands only
to find that the diners are not
interested in eating. Usually our
stars order the meal with great
consideration given to the min-
utest detail. A conversation en-

sues, the-food is placed before ,

them, they toy with it a minute,
then pay the cheque, hurry from
the room, hail a taxi which is
Always im the offing and speed
away on some other fruitless
mission. |

The next scene after the taxi
ride will likely be in some pala-
tial library or drawing room
where our overdressed men and
undressed women are wont to
pursue the futilities of their un-
convincing cultural, social and
love life.

Even the most unassuming
and modest people never seem
to have hallways in their little
cottages of less than 12 feet
in width. With housing cgndi-
tions as they are, the movie peo-
ple are asking a great deal of
our patience and credulity.

Then we go on to the never-
failing sure-fire hit, the bedroom
scene, with its sumptuous rugs,
polished vanities and broad win-
dows looking out ofer a fairy-
land of flowers and shrubs.

The bed, being in the spot-'

light, is mever hard to find.
We see our fair one reclining
languorously in its luxurious
depths, and never a hint of such
mundane matters as the house-
hold chores. There is always
the telephone at the bedside,

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1947

a real life situation.
hear of or see a Holywood movie where some one eats
ys his income tax? This

into which ‘instrument our en-
raptured one pours golden hon-
eyed notes of morning devotion
and agrees on a rendezvous for
the day’s adventure into the
fairy wonderland.

Even with this intimate
glimpse into the private life of
our heroine wé aren’t quite sure
whether she brushes her teeth
in the morning or at night; as
far as that goes, we aren’t quite
sure whether she brushes her
teeth! We love her “because she
uses soap,’. but these bedroom
scenes leave much to be de-
sired. ;

BVIOUSLY our Hollywood

productions overwork the
taxi business and at the same
time, the credulity of the movie
fan.

Some day wé’re going to see
a show where the passenger in
the taxi is so sorery pressed for
funds that, after slipping a bill
in the driver’s hand, he gets
off his dignity so far. as to
pause for twenty seconds to
wait for his change.

This scene will’ naturally de- .

mand some careful study as its
enactment will revolutionize the
behaviour of a long line of
Hollywood taxi fares. who have
thus far never been asked to
demean ‘themselves so far as

‘to hold out their hand for a-

few paltry dollars in change.
It would seem, from the Holly-
wood version of life, that trav-
elling in a taxi is a natural
for people from all walks of
life. True enough, most classes
of people are from all walks
of life—accent on the walks,
they seldom ride in a taxi.
Now, as if it weren't suffi-

is a great picture of human

ciently extravagant that our
film characters see fit to blow
themselves on taxis at the slight-
est provocation, they have now
in their desperation to get
somewhere other than where
‘they are, taken to hailing the
nearest plane. This latest
splurge outshines all past dissi-

pation’ of even the longest and °

most frantic ride In the ever-
present taxi.

Unlimited resources seem al-
ways to be at the disposal of
our amazing people of movie
wonderland. The attainment of
desired ends ever presupposes
the ready availability af ways
and means.

Most of us harassed folks find
little reality in such a picture
of life; primarily we must face
the immediate and tread the
shabby path of expediency. Daily
triviality is the stuff of our
lives and we. have had to con-
tent ourselves with dreams of
ultimate release from servitude.

The old threatbare concept of
life, “And they lived happily
ever after,’ should now be an-

swered, | “After what? We
haven’t even yet seen them
live!’ ;

Come on, Hollywood, there’s: a
responsibility here. Let’s shelve
the old bunko of. hero worship
and the childish version of
what life might sink into if we
all stopped eating and _ living
and took to travelling in taxi-
cabs. Let’s try making the
movie version bear some resem-
blance to our life in these times.
Dramatic art can _ contribute
greatly tothe foundations of
an enlightened people.

Romance, yes—but let’s shelve
the romanticism!

The Marshall Plan’s stock
goes down in Europe

by GEORGE TATE

: —LONDON.

HE Marshall Plan’s
stock has never been
very strong in Britain any-
where more than a quarter
of a mile north, east, south
and west of the Foreign
Office, and it is now
slumping heavily through-
out the country.
A Gallup Poll properly con-
ducted among serious British
today would probably show one-
third of the population has
never heard of the Marshall
Plan, one-third thinks it’s a
swindle with no dollars ever to
be really laid on the barrelhead,
and one-third believes the dol-
lars are there but are only ob-
tainable at a grotesquely high

price in terms of British social
and international security.

That state of puplic opinion
explains why Bevin recently
found himself forced to employ
demagogic language about
‘“money-lenders” and “the dollar
grip,” in order to keep his audi-
ences quiet and satisfied while
he sold the pass to Wall Street.

Meanwhile British expert
‘opinion is being forced to ex-
amine with increasing care not
only the effects of a reconsti-
tuted Ruhr .empire on Britain,

but also the potential realities
-of dollar aid to Britain:

e

RITISH experts. some of

whom have been in closest
touch with the United States
embassy, claim that the Unit-
ed States is actually incapable
of delivering — in terms of
goods as distinct from dollars—
what Britain really needs.

They see the United States
mining industry, for example,
faced with the frantic need to
conduct a classic capitalist “ra-
tionalization” in order to evade
possible increasing labor costs
in the mines.

Therefore all new mining ma-
chinery—so essential for Bri-
tain — will .go .to .American
mines. Therefore, however,
‘many paper dollars Britain may
be offered—and present esti-
mates are. pretty low—Britain
won’t get a guarantee that the
dollars are worth anything in
terms of what Britain wants to
buy.

There is the central point
which is. gradually being more
and more fully appreciated by
the widest circles in Britain—
including even that modest sec-
tion of the population which
might riskily be described as
“independent - conservative in-
dustrialist.” .

by WALTER STORM

: —PRAGUE.

ERE in Czechoslova-

_ kia where two-year
plans are introducing a
period of solid prosperity
for. the entire people,
where smooth trade rela-
tions exist with neighbors,
there isn’t the same jittery
desire to run, cap in hand,
to Paris for dollar aid.

At first, the Czechs were
prepared to. consider the Paris
scheme but didn’t want it
badly enough to fall out with
the Soviet Union and other
Slav countries. More attention
is given in the press here to

the recently concluded trade .

pacts with Poland and Russia
which provide stated economic
benefits along specific lines—
in striking contrast to the
vague mysteries of the Mar-
shall Plan.

Not only Communists sup-
port the boycott decision, but
all parties in the national
front. The Czech Nationalist, a
party with an avowed Western
outlook, stated in conference
recently that the decision was
sensible and in line with
Czechoslovakia’s traditional
policy of cooperation with
Slav nations.

Broadly, the grounds of
opposition being expressed in
newspapers, by leaders and in
conversation can be _ boiled
down to four. First, the plan
is simply a device to set up
the Ruhr in business .again

-with American backing behind

the back of the Soviet Union.

_ @
HE second argument is that
“the. American Congress

would never permit the Mar-'

shall Plan to be administered
fairly, whatever pious prayers
attend its launching. It is in-
conceivable that Yugoslavia

would get aid, for example. —

Much attention has been
given to the lesson of France
and Italy where the demoraliz-
ing effect of dollar aid is
clearly observed.

HE third argument is that
the Marshall Plan is aimed
to torpedo countries with
planned economies. It needs n9O
effort of imagination to see
how being tied to an economic
unit with the American-fi-
nanced Ruhr as the center and
run along capitalist lines would
mean the end of the two year
plan, in which full national re-
sources have been poured.

It would also interfere with
the whole network of trading
agreements among Hastern Eu-’
ropean countries. In the last
year without trunipets and the
trappings of a _ crusade, real
economic planning and self-
help have come about.

The pact> with the Soviet
Union which has been all the
news this week wtil take on@
quarter of Czech output for
five years at stable prices:
It will provide vast quanti-
ties of foodstuffs, thus solv-
ing the agricultural prod.
lem. It will provide for enol
mous expansion of Czechoslo-—
vak trade. There is no desire
to sacrifice these conc
benefits for a Marshall ute
pia.

URTH, that this is setting
up the Western bloc tout
by Churchill. and others.
Dangers of a Western ploc
are everywhere stressed, !
no general spirit of pessim
exists. People say it has iM
been tried often before and **
ways failed. Economic ties ee
tween Eastern and Wester”
Europe have. been built uP On
_eenturies and’ won't be severe™
by this hair-brained schem® -
One man said, “In 4 sho
time we will be out of es
woods without the need °
foreign ‘assistance, with sae
perity won by our hard wort
But the Western powers
still be running around
circles with Truman 3
trines and Marshall Plans 9” i
half a dozen other sch
they will have thought of

the meantime.” a

sm

40. =
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE

‘ , PS