Black on White

It was in a hotel suite in Moscow. I was interviewing a visiting American business man, and the talk swung to Jewish figures in the Soviet hierarchy. The old gentleman, a solid, ultraconservative type, was evidently affording some amusement to his two grown children, boy and girl, busy in another part of the room but listening in.

Having touched the subject of Jews, the old gentleman grew a little warm. It was clearly his favorite prejudice.

“The trouble with Jews,” he informed me, from the height of his age and experience, “is that at the crucial point they always flinch and collapse. They give in. I mean that a Jew may be ever so rich, ever so gifted—he’s all right as long as things go his way. But when he reaches a critical moment, his nerve fails him.”

ACCEPTS CHALLENGE

Because I smiled dubiously and a little sadly, and because his children showed by their fidgeting that they disapproved of daddy’s ideas, he grew more emphatic.

“I know what I’m talking about,” the old gentleman insisted. “I have had many dealings with the race. When it comes to a show-down in life, the Jew gives up….”

“I do think you’re exaggerating,” I put in.

It was then that he threw out his challenge. His children drew closer to see it through.

“Can you mention any Jew who hasn’t flinched in a crisis? Can you!”

“Yes, I think I can,” I said, gently. “Let me see … Well, I can begin with Jesus Christ … and end with myself.”

At that point, son and daughter crowed their triumph over the old gentleman so openly that I was sorry for him.

MELTING POT:

At the dinner of Jewish Federation, radio section, Lanny Ross singing “When Irish Eyes Are Laughing.”

NONSENSE A LA CARTE:

It’s a new game the punsters are playing: scrambled proverbs with celebrities for dressing. Just to prove how easy it is, let’s try a few: Make Heywood Broun while the sun shines … Tall oaks from little F. P. A-corns grow … Harry Hansen is as Hansen does … All is not Michael Gold that glitters … Better Jack Lait than never … All is H. G. Wells that ends well … Charity begins at John Haynes Holmes …Give an inch, he’ll take an Elmer Rice … Poverty is no Sinclair Lewis …

Now I know moreover, why the columnists are taking up this game. It uses up a lot of space.

CHILDRENS’ HOUR:

F. R. Daloff contributes this up-to-the-minute “Nursery Rhyme”:

Tails you lose,

Heads win;

Insull is out,

Mooney is in.

Sir David Salomans, first English Jew to become member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London, was a prime mover in the fight for the removal of Jewish disabilities.