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544 MOTION PICTURES I 922-1945
standards generally current. He agreed that, if it offends those, it justly brings down on itself the disapproval of at least the thoughtful people in the community, and eventually financial disadvantage as well.
N. Peter Rathvon, speaking as president of RKO, emphasized two points that were related to nearly all our discussions. The first was the potency of a medium "that can for three hours keep people more or less spellbound." The second was that people, including children, judge all films by the criteria of the motion picture theatre, and hence that professionally produced pictures are necessary in almost any case.
Other interests only partly connected with motion pictures crowded into these busy years. In 1941 I was invited to attend a summer meeting at the late George Ade's farm near Brook, Indiana, which brought back in memory the unique ceremony at the same spot when Taft was officially notified of his nomination as President.
Later that same summer, in Los Angeles, we had a most delightful dinner for Lord Halifax, the British Ambassador to the United States from 1 94 1 to 1946, at which I was asked to introduce the guest of honor. Because of our continuous efforts to keep England supplied with films at the urgent request of the Ambassador, our associations had been frequent. No one who knew Lord Halifax could fail to admire his ability, dignity, and vision. And he was a truly spiritual man. I could recall nothing that better illustrated this quality than the impression he had made on India. I told how he was Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, but that to Mahatma Gandhi he was "my friend Irwin," that "noblest of Englishmen," whose word could alwavs be trusted and who once, after driving all night, walked alone through an Indian village to pray with the Indian leader at dawn.
In January of 1942 Eugene Pulliam, the chairman of the War Bond Campaign in Indiana, and Governor Henry F. Schricker invited me to come out to Indianapolis for a great War Bond rally and to speak at some of the ceremonies. Never did I accept an invitation more gladly. And I have rarely seen a great civic function carried through with such finish and such enthusiasm.
One of the vividly memorable features of the occasion was the presence of Indiana's charming Carole Lombard, in private life Mrs. Clark Gable. The committee had been eager to have her there, because she had been a Fort Wayne girl and was very popular throughout the state; and she had been as happy to come, though it meant a special trip from Hollywood. With her mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Peters, she threw herself joyously into every event of the crowded day. During those twelve hours of January 1 5— almost her last twelve on earth, though none could have know it— she fulfilled, in the midst of wildly cheering crowds, the greatest moments of her fine life.