Radio mirror (Nov 1937-Apr 1938)

RADIO MIRROR The Bull in Radio's China Shop (Continued from page 11) Stocky, harsh-voiced, with a face that looks as if it had been modeled and colored by a hand that had never had much practice in that sort of work, General Johnson bumbles out what he thinks about life, politics, government and people — and the devil take anybody that tries to stop him. Radio, with its overwhelming desire to please everybody that's listening in, hasn't been very fond of this kind of a commentator in the past. "Don't say anything that will make anybody mad," has been its motto. But now, having warmed up to the task of offering such an outspoken lady as Dorothy Thompson to its listeners, it has thrown discretion to the winds and tucked a hot microphone into General Johnson's powerful hand, with no more than a muttered prayer that he won't break it. What will the result be? Well, if I'm allowed to hazard an opinion, I'd say that before the winter is out an awful lot of people are going to make up their minds that not only does General Johnson provide one of the most entertaining quarterhours on the air, but also the most thought-provoking. yOU probably won't agree with every* thing he says. In fact, I don't see how you could. I didn't myself, when I talked to him a week before his broadcast series began. But if you can listen to him and either ignore what he says or forget it — if you can do that, you're living behind a mighty thick wall of indifference to everything that's going on in this world. He's the kind of man who, when he has finished telling you what he thinks, leans back and glares at you, as if daring you to dispute him. He's just given you the answer, and as far as he is concerned it's the only answer possible. At first you think all this means that the General is opinionated. It does, but it also means that whatever he believes, he believes so sincerely, so passionately, that he can't credit the sincerity of any opposing point of view. We hadn't been talking more than a couple of minutes when I brought on that glare, daring me to talk back. Outside the windows of his Fifth Avenue hotel, the streets were packed with American Legionnaires, blue-uniformed, gold-braided. They were having their convention, and New York had declared a holiday to do them honor. _ Everybody was noisily happy. So, with the Legionnaires very much in the front of my mind, I asked the General if he thought any further soldiers' bonuses should be granted. "I do not!" he snapped, and bit down on the words so hard j could see it wouldn't be safe to ask him why. We didn't mention the man in whose "brain trust" Johnson used to be one of the leading figures, but his policies and ideals had their place in much of our conversation. Listen, for instance, to what the General had to say about government: "The democracy that was framed in the Constitution of the United States isn't perfect — but it's the nearest thing to perfection in the government line that man has ever been able to contrive. It was framed so as to let the majority rule, and at the same time protect the minorities. And it didn't make it possible for us to put one man into power, no matter how much we trust him, and say, 'Now go ahead and do whatever you think is best • "Now wait a minute, Mrs. Zebra. What's your hurry? Stop and catch your breath. Look at your poor little colt— he's winded and all of a lather! You really shouldn't let a baby get so hot." • "I'll fix him up, though. Just leave it to your Uncle Dudley. A good rub-down with gentle, cooling Johnson's Baby Powder and he'll be fit as a fiddle and rarin' to go again." • "Imagine, Mother— Mrs. Zebra has been trying to raise a baby without Johnson's Baby Powder!. ..She'd no idea how to stop chafes, rashes and prickly heat. Seems odd in this day and age, doesn't it?" • "/ love the feel of Johnson's Baby Powder— it's so much softer and finer than lots of powders. Keeps my skin just perfect." . . . And perfect condition, Mothers, is the skin's best protection against infection. Johnson's Baby Powder contains no coarse, scratchy particles— it's made entirely of finest Italian talc — no orris-root. Your baby needs Johnson's Baby Soap and Baby Cream, too— and if he's very young, the new Johnson's Baby . * q Oil, which is stainless, pleasantly fragrant (loJWW^'^lrOiwM'OVl and cannot turn rancid. 0 —■ — 0 ""»*""* JOHNSON'S BABY POWDER 63