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GE EIGHT
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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WALDO ABBOT ... dislikes profiles.
By DONNA HANSON
"Go out and get a profile on
Prof. Waldo Abbot."
Just another profile, I thought
to myself after I read the assign-
ment sheet and made an appoint-
ment to see Prof. Abbot. So, duly
equipped with pencil and notebook,
I approached the WUOM Director
in his office in the Administration
Bldg.
"How do you do, sir," I said.
"I would like to write a profile on
you." I sat down in a chair that
my host offered me and took out
my pencil and paper expectantly.
"Very glad to meet you," he said,
graciously. His next words stun-
ned me. "I don't like profiles. I've
had several written about me al-,
ready and they're all alike. Ij
haven't done anything you could
print,-since the last one that was
written about me."
"Let's Talk"
As I sat there with my mouth
gaping, Prof. Abbot sat at his desk
and took out a cigarette. "Let's
Just talk," he said.
Well, I'll fool him, I thought to
myself. I'll get him to talk about
himself and then I'll have my pro-
file. "Why -did you turn from
journalism to radio work?" I ask-
ed, pencil poised.
"Put away that paper and pen-
cil," the man ordered. Then, settl-
ing back in his chair he told me
about the time he was an assist-
ant editor on the Michigan Alum-
IIF
l
nus here at the University. "I
used to dig back, looking for
stories which usually ended up
being about radio work. So, when
they decided to appoint a man to
work with the radio station here,
they picked me. No pay, of course."
Enjoyed Conversation
I tried frantically to memorize
everything that was said and fin-
ally decided it was an impossi-
bility. So, I leaned back in my
chair, threw my pad and pencil
on the floor and enjoyed the con-
versation.
We talked about oil drums,
hotels, wind tunnels and me.
Somewhere in the midst of the
conversation I felt as if I were
the interviewee and Prof. Abbot
was on the quest of a profile. His
conversation was as witty and
humorous as it was informal. After
a while, I insisted that we talk
about him and he divulged a few
of his accomplishments.
Prof. Abbot had attended the
Literary College and the Law
Schools at the University and was
graduated in 1913 with an L.L.B.
degree. Almost upon graduation,
he .served as Assistant Prosecutor
of Washtenaw County, "but I
couldn't charge anyone because I
knew them too well."
Appointed Broadcasting Director
At the University, Prof. Abbot
worked as an instructor in rhetoric
and in 1925 was appointed Director
of the Broadcasting Service. He is
also an assistant professor of Eng-
lish and speech.
Most of this factual data about
Prof. Abbot, I must guiltily admit,
was secured from a biography, not
from him. I was desperate! He
did tell me, however, about the
time he worked on the staff of the
Christian Science Monitor.
"I worked on The Daily, too,"
he went on to say. "In those days,
it was located in a hole in the
University Press Building and
there were no women on the staff."
At this, I blushed selfconsciously.
"Enough of this talk," he contin-
ued. "I'll show you around the
studio."
Studio on Springs
Leaving my pad and pencil be-
hind, I was propelled toward a
glass-enclosed room that was set
above the hall floor level. "This
room is set on springs." he ex-
plained, "so that no outside vibra-
tions can be picked up by the mic-
rophone. It would sound awfully
funny if we were doing a broadcast
about Washington at Valley Forge
and an airplane could be heard
flying overhead."
After the tour of the WUOM
station, I felt as if I knew more
about radio broadcasting than
Prof. Abbot. Upon reentering his
office, the WUOM director showed
me his scrapbooks containing
stories about the studio, his accom-
plishments and various well-known
radio and television personalities
that he had known.
First Book on Broadcasting
Then Prof. Abbot showed the
book that he had written about
broadcasting and said he was edit-
ing it for its fourth edition. The
book, entitled "Handbook of Broad-
casting" was written in 1930.
"Darn book is good," the Professor
said, "because it is .the first book
to come out on broadcasting. One
hundred and some odd universities
are now using the book," he added.
Time had flown, and so had my
profile, I thought. I hated to end
the fascinating conversation, but
classes beckoned. "It's been aw-
fully interesting talking to you
Prof. Abbot," I said. '
"If I can interest you, you can
interest others," he answered.
To Give Recital
University Organist R o b e r t
Noehren will present his fourth
program in the current series of
public Sunday .afternoon organ
recitals today at 4:15 in Hill Aud-
itorium.
The entire series is devoted to
the organ music of Johaan Se-
bastian Bach and will cover two
academic years, 1955-56 and'1956-
57.
SECRET SERVICE WORRIED:
Public Denies Ilse Privacy at Farm
:
-Daily-Dick Gaskill -Daily-Dick Gaskill
DERBY-CLAD men from Gomberg House (left) pull in unison, forcing their Taylor House opponents off the muddy bank and into the Huron River. In less than one
minute after it had begun, the first annual Gomberg-Taylor Tug-of-War was over, leaving Gomberg the high-and-dry victor. Early morning rain dampened the
ground, but failed to dampep team spirits. Taylor men got the first edge over their opponenfs, but when they started losing ground they never stopped until each man
was in the cold river and the rope was off the bank. Upon regaining dry land, the Taylor team promptly gave a Gomberg cheer.
GETTYSBURG, Pa., Oct. 29 (P)
--Country living generally means
relaxed living, plenty of privacy
and freedom of movement.
And living on a 400-acre farm
should give one plenty of all three
-unless you're the President of
the United States.
Even though the President will
be recuperating here from his
heart attack last month, the prob-
lems of privacy and freedom of
movement will be big ones at his
sprawling, rolling farm on the
edge of Gettysburg's famous Civil
War battlefield.
Authorities Try To Help
Trying to help, however, are
Gettysburg Battlefield Park au-
thorities and the Civil Aeronautics
Administration-with an under-
standing assist from residents of
this historic town. and surrounding
farm countryside.
First step toward assuring the
President's privacy came when
park authorities offered to close,
to all battlefield. tourists, one of
the half dozen observation towers
which dot the battlefield.
This particular tower is along
Confederate Ave., about a half
mile from President Eisenhower's
front door. A tourist, even with the
naked eye, can see what's going on
at the farm. And, with the aid of
even medium powered glasses or
- --
binoculars, he can tell what color
dress Mrs. Eisenhower is wearing.
Secret Service Concerned
The Secret Service reportedly
was concerned when it.took a good
look at the situation and realized a
crackpop with a high-powered rifle,
equipped with a telescope lens,
could endanger the President os
members of his family. So it was
decided to close, the tower when
the President stays at the farm.
Later this was modified and, dur-
ing President Eisenhower's visits
here, the tower will be open-but
under survellience.
Meanwhile, the CAA has not
posted the area as a section over
which aircraft may not fly, it has
issued a memorandum in which
it notes "that air traffic in the
immediate vicinity of the Eisen-
hower farm has steadily increas-
ed and at unnecessarily low alti-
tudes." Much of this traffic, it
pointed out, was from local planes
apparently hired by tourists who
want an aerial look at the farm.
As a result, the CAA has asked
the cooperation of airport opper-
ators and pilots in the vicinity to
avoid sightseeing trips. They have
been cooperating to the extent it
is virtually impossible to get a pilot
to fly you over or near the ,Eis-
enhower farm.
Public Roads Kept Open
Traffic on regular public roads
around the farm continues as us-
ual-and that's the way President
Eisenhower reportedly wants it.
His home is reached by a long
lane off Waterworks Road but the
entrance now is blocked by a heavy
gate and a sentry box, occupied
by Secret Service personnel when
he's at the farm.
Meanwhile, work on putting- the
farm in top operating shape ,on-
tinues. When President Eisenhow-
er purchased the farm it com-
prised 189 acres, in not-too-good
shape. Today his holdings total
nearly 400 acres and with the en-
larged house, remodeled bard, im-
proved lands, addition of a farm
pond, it is an A-1 farm according-
to strict Pennsylvania D u t c h
standards.
GENEVA (P) -. Soviet Foreign
Minister V. M. Molotov-the grim
nyet-man of many international
meetings-is behaving at Geneva
like a Jolly Volga boatman on a
Saturday night off. He smiles. He
laughs. He even makes jokes.
"I've never seen him so relaxed,"
said an American delegate who
has known Molotov for at least
nine years, "and while he still
says 'nyet' no, he says it with a
smile."
British Foreign Secretary Har-
old Macmillan is reported to have
commented to his ministerial col-
leagues about Molotov's easy man-
ners around the conference table-
and his mellowness in the con-
ference bar. After Macmillan fol-
lowed French Moreign Minister
Antoine Pinay in the conference
chairman's chair, Molotov is re-
ported to have quipped:
"Mr. Macmillan is a better chair-
man-he let's me talk. Mr. Pinay
shuts me up."
Asked if anyone at the confer-
ence table has questioned Molotov
about his reported intention to re-
veal at Geneva his plans about re-
tiring, the spokesman for the
American delegation said:
"No, that question hasn't come
up ."
Early Decision
By Margaret?
Princess Margaret and Peter
townsend kept a well-guarded
weekend rendezvous Saturday with
millions of Britons believing their
hour of decision is near.
The 25-year-old princess and
her 40-year-old divorced war hero
friend pondered their problems
in a secluded mansion on the rol-
ling Sussex Downs.
The impression spread that this
is the climactic weekend in the
romance of the lovely princess and
the handsome pilot. London news-
papers stressed belief they were
now fully briefed on all the mo-
mentous issues of state that would
face any decision to marry.
f
Molotov Taking On Happy Air
During Geneva Proceedings
4
SPANISH FESTIVAL:
Bull Run Starts at Dawn
2nd Big
Week Of
Our 80th Anniversary Sale
30,000 volumes of fiction, non-fiction
and reference books of all kind on sale
Priced at 9 and up
"A TREASURE HOUSE OF BOOKS"
Many out of print titles selected from the largest
privately owned stock in the United States.
NEW TITLES STILL BEING ADDED DAILY
BULLS START THEIR RUN THROUGH THE STREETS
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is
an interpretive story written by for-
mer Daily staff member Shirley Klein
during her stay in Spain for her jun-
ior year of college.)
No one needs an alarm clock in
Pamplona, Spain during the vio-
lent, emotional festival of San Fer-
min.
Beginning with Vespers on the
eve of July 6, and ending two
weeks later; the fiesta combines
wild merrymaking with the sol-
emnity of, a religious processional
and High Mass on the seventh of
July, "The Day of San Fermin."
Saint Honored
The celebration honors Saint'
Fermin, first bishop of the city
of Pamplona and patron saint of
the province of Navarra.
Included in the sacred proces-
sion are sculpted images, relics,
church and civic officials, and bib-
lical caricatures with huge papier-
mache heads.
But the especially renown part
of the festival is the "encierro"
or running of the bulls through
the enclosed streets to the bull-
ring.. Ernest Hemingway, in his
novel, "The Sun Also Rises," made
famous to Americans the "encier-
ros," and, as one Spanish writer
said, "convinced them that to be
integrally valient, one must run
before the bulls of San Fermin."
Called "barbarous" and "sav-
age" by many humanitarians, the
"running" is rumored each year
to have had its last fling.
Festival Starts Early
Festivities begin at 5:45 a.m.
with the pound of drums, tweak
of flutes, and shrill laughter of
other instruments. Bands of ex-
huberant youngsters (everyone is
young in spirit during San Fer-
min), dancing, hopping, as they
go, pour toward the solitary
barred-off streets.
Quickly, nervously, the crowd
squashes into streets, onto balco-
nies, stepladders, shoulders, and
utility poles. Another mob over-
flows the balconies of the bull-
ring, the terminating point in the
"encierro."
Pulsing tension beats and swirls
within the onlookers. A pistol is,
fired, and the race is on, The
courageous, or "stupid," as one
spectator remarked, participants
run for their lives in front of the
maddening, thundering hoofs of
these savage beasts. Sometimes
the ring is reached without mis-
hap. Sometimes it isn't.-
Nowdays, fatalities are rare for
"toros mansos" or bulls that do
not charge, run, as a somewhat
calming influence, with the brave
bulls. Nevertheless, a silent, unit-
ed sigh is felt by the public as
the bulls are rushed through the
ring to their stalls behind.
Comedy Follows
The day's drama is over. Now
for the comedy. Young, sleek
cows lacking the fierce horns of
their elder brothers, are let into
the ring. Half the young people
of Pamplona -and elsewhere -
try their luck at "toreando" with
his jacket or maybe a special home-
made cape just for the occasion.
After minor skirmishes, the
young men join their friends to
drink wine, dance the "jota" (a
regional favorite), and sing in the
streets. Many refuse even a
couple of hour's sleep each night.
The whole town is one incessant,.
booming, rhythmic noise.
Sidewalk cafes are far fuller than
bottles of wine. Much of the popu-
lace is dressed in the traditional
white suit, red neck-scarf, and red
and white rope-soled shoes,
In the afternoon are the bull
fights when the morning's "ty-
rants" snort to their final esca-
pade. Street venders cry to the
tourists to buy their "life-sized"
dolls which, dressed as gypsies,
move their heads from side to side
as they walk.
Revels Continue
Nightfall brings the addition of
fireworks, public dancing with an
orchestra in the main square, and
continued reveling in the streets,
cafes and bars.
"San Fermin" visitors would
never recognize Pamplona as the
capital of the ancient reign of
Navarra nestles, serene and soft,
in the winter snows of the Py-
rennes Mountains.
t
WOODEN FENCES IN THE STREET PROVIDE EASY ESCAPE
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