PAGE TEN
Tli OREGON STATESMAN. Salem. Oregon. Tuesday Morning. December 14. 134)
Operas Ate Okeh but Neopqlitans Are Nuts;
They Sing From BathrBalcony, Soldiers Find
By KENNETH I DIXON
NAPLES, Dec. 4-(Delayed)-
(yPi-For years operas about the
people of Naples have been slan
dered bv - crass characters who
contended they were unnatural
Even the most dimwitted dough-
boy today can testify that this was
the basest libel. The operas were
okay. It's the Neapolitans who
are nuts. : -
The opera obviously is mere
ly aa opportunity for a lot of
Neapolitans to jump from the
balconies, - collect on one stae
and carry on In perfectly nor-
- mil manner, which means sinr -tug
and shouting- at the top of
: .their lun-s, waving their arms,
laus-hlnr and cryinr, pralslne
and damning, livinr and lovinr
and hating and dyinr to a lot
of llltinr lyrics.
(Cripes They even got me do
ing it now.)
Let us "take singing, which even
' war's terrors could not complete
ly stilL" Neapolitans would rather
sing than eat. But after genera
tions of malnutrition they dis
covered that such a system soon
saps the strength for singing, so
they compromised. As a result, no
restaurant scene in this comic op
era city is complete without ,a
couple of colorful customers burst
ing into classical ballads between
the soup and the salad.
If the customers won't cooper
ate, the cafe provides its own song,
usually some starved looking soul
who drifted in "off the street and
tinleased a couple of syllables of
'Santa Lucia" in a voice faint
with hunger.
In the Bersagliera cafe, down
on the waterfront, there is such a
singer. His suit is frayed . to a
point near r indecency. His shoes
would frighten housewives away
from a rummage sale, but Pietro,
! if that really is his name, glows
with joy as he tosses his cape in
a grand entrance and bows be
fore the applause. Was he not
singing at the same cafe where
the child Caruso got his start?
Admittedly his voice causes
many a sensitive Neapolitan to
look furtively for 111 Ricovero
the air raid shelter but the
kind-hearted patrons concede
that a cafe which once con
ceived a Caruso can afford to
coast on its rep for at least an
other quarter of a century.
Speaking of air-raid shelters
brings up the song the irrepressi
ble Neapolitans composed while
huddling in the air raid shelters
during allied bombings.
The children of Naples, who
start learning collective and indi
vidual insanity at an early age in
order to quailfy as Neapolitans as
soon as possible, sing it as they
scram to the shelters when the
sirens scream. It starts- out some
thing like 'Here we go to II Rico
vero," but its air makes the whole
Around Oregon
By th Associate Pre5
Collapse of a sewer tunnel they
were building killed Roy Gear
hart, 40, and seriously injured
Edward John, both of Reedsport
. . . The Oregon High School
Speech league named Walter
Eschebeck, Klamath Falls, pres
ident, and planned a series of
speech and drama activities for
the interscholastic program of the
Oregon High School Activities as
sociation ...
Maj. Donald E. Good, oft-dec-
, orated bomber pilot, arrived at
his Eugene home with his Aus
tralian bride, the daughter of a
petty -officer in the royal Austra
lian navy . . . Dr. S. S. Cham
bers, Portland, was elected pres
ident of the 'Oregon Optometric
association ... A shipyard mis
hap cost the life of Arthur Nils-
son, 68-year-old Portlander . .
The war labor board began
study of the demand of employes
in Swift & . Co.s Portland plant
lor a wage boost of 15 cents an
hour . i ; . Delilah Endicott, Eu
; gene woman who was teaching 'in
Manila .when the city was cap
( tured by the Japanese, was re-
v ported safe in a Philippine intern'
ment camp by Mrs. H. D. Kneed
. lers, who returned to this country
on the Gripsholm . . .
Controlled distribution .of; milk
-and cream in the Portland area
has worked so satisfactorily that
point rationing probably will not
be necessary, Paul G. Adams,
; chief of the war food administra
. tion (WFA) milk "order advisory
. committee, declared . . . The es-
tate of ! Anna Locken,. who was
r electrocuted last year., while ga
thering mushrooms on the Baker
I county property of the Cornuco-
pia Mine company, was awarded
$7,500 by federal court in Port
i land . . . - .-- V
Employes at the ML Emily saw-
. milL La Grande, who walked out
Friday in protest against the dis
c barge - of a fellow-worker, re-
turned Monday upon the promise
of Federal Conciliator Guy V.
I Lintner that the west coast lum-
ber commission would ' consider
reinstatement of the ; dismissed
"employe.
"Tr $ of Ch tries remedies.
Amaxtec SUCCESS for . MM
years in CHINA. N asatter wHh
rkat illmtat too a.r AFFLICT
ED disorders, tassltis, heart,
Innr. - liver, kidneys, stesnach.
;as, constipation. . ulcers, ia
betis, fever, skia, female eom-
plalnts ,
Chsrlio Chan
Chinese Herb Co.
Office . Boors Oaljp
project sound as much: fun as Sat
urday night at the county fair.
; The words of . the songjilso
cheered the American aiowr put
you learn to take the wo-,;.,
sons the Neapolitans writa a
pinch of salt. They aiftiitj plea
and they'll parody any Tune that
strikes their ' fancy to . make the
words fitting for your ear.:
Take "Lili Marlene" for In
stance. It is a German song about
a lonely sentry . and the lovely
lass who meets -him in the night.
Its sad, mournful tune is one of
the most popular melodies of the
war, so naturally the Neapolitans
must sing it. - But ' naturally .the
Neapolitans hate the nazis, so they
relined the lyrics somewhat.
As they sing it, the tune is the
same sweet and powerful song,
but if you understand even a little
Italian the parodied words make
it plain that the sentry is the sort
of a skunk who would slit his
sweetheart's throat for 10 lira and
that the neighbors certainly-had
been talking about the carryings
on of that young Marlene trollop.
Even their political opinions
are presented in sonr. They par
odied the fascist party sonr and
the , martial tone dedicated to
the mighty Mussolini. Both are
done with gestures and a grand
Neapolitan manner which leave
no doubt as to how blackheart
ed the blackshirts are, and how
Seabees Make
Jap Daggers
SEATTLE, Dec. lZ.-(JP)-As
makers of "Japanese daggers,"
complete with inscriptions , the
Seabees are good.
"Oddly e n o u g h," explained
Cmdr. S. E. Mittler today, "The
marines on Guadalcanal will buy
the imitation in preference to the
genuine article, even though they
know the difference. They say the
Seabees' daggers look more Jap
anese." Cmdr. Mittler, just returned
from visits to the special navy
construction battalion units which
were organized under his direc
tion for South Pacific duty, ex
plained in an interview that the
Seabees started making the dag
gers for barter with the natives.
"At first,", he s a i d, "They
thought they'd make exact repli
cas, but they decided they would
n't look realistic enough as the
Jap ordnance mark is just three
plain circles. So they picked up
some Japanese characters at ran
dom and inscribed them on the
daggers. The only trouble is they
didn't exercise any discretion in
picking them."
Consequently the daggers in
scriptions may say "This side up"
or "canned pineapple" in Japan
ese. Mrs. McCrae's Death
Found 'Natural'
OREGON CITY, Dec. 13 -iJP)-
A coroner's jury determined that
Mrs. Marian McCrae, 74-year-old
ex-newspaper woman who died
November 10 in the Restwell san
itarium near Oswego, had suc
cumbed from natural causes.
An inquest was ordered after
two persons charged that Mrs".
McCrae had been mistreated. Mrs.
Mable Coleman Burge, sanitarium
proprietor, testified that bruises
on the woman's body had been
caused by a fall from her bed.
DE PATRIOTIC ...
f intest in WAR STAMPS 2nd BONDS
Then save money by carrying out needed
painting only with KEM-TONE . . . and buy
yourself more War Stamps and .Bonds with
the "difference"!
Here's how you save time . . trouble and
money with KEM-TONE:
,1. Uss txpoashro e fatten tfees
2. KEM-TONE cover most woflpoBors,
polatod wails mud ceOiiifs, weil
fcoard, kattsxtat walls with
at ctat.
3. KEM-TONE applies l&e Mailt
4. KEM-TONE dries la aa fceor.
D. L ELFSTR0E1 CO.
375 CHEIEKETJV
" PHONE 9221 .''
1 vnntterably silly was the erst
while balcony boy , with the big
chin. Bnt they probably sang the
original sonr with the
light hearted gusto.; .
. Everything they do is sung from
balcony . and , bath, taxicab tand
carriage, from . bicycle and don
keyback. The Neapolitans sing all
day and into the. night, and their
constant choruses are accompan
ied by, the, wild impassioned ges
tures which characterize : every
thing they do. t - '
For the first time since. he came
overseas, irrepressible . Johnny
doughboy has fnud a people who
do' not consider, him crazy.. They
top his most cockeyed antic and
eventually force1, from him the
grudging . admission I that "these
Neapolitans are r-e-a-l-l-y nuts."
Marion Gets
$93,136
School Funds
Marion county school fund and
elementary school , fund, totaling
$93,136.08, apportioned to; school
districts December, 6, were dis
tributed Monday, from the office
of County ; School Supt. Agnes C.
Booth.
Mrs. Cora E. Reid, county
school superintendent officer, who
figures the apportionments, said
late reports from one or two dis
tricts had caused the minor delay
in mailing checks.
The elementary school fund, in
come-tax - derived," which am
ounted to $54,449.53 for the fall
apportionment this 'year, com
pared with $53,165.67 last year
and $47,042.41 In December, 1941.
Of this fund, Salem district re
ceived $18,061.72; Silverton $2,
791.36; Woodburn,' $1641.97, and
Mt Angel, $985.18. All appor
tionments of this fund are made
on the basis of the number of
teachers employed.
Largest apportionments of the
$38,686.55 county school fund
went to Salem district, which re
ceived $12,075.41; Silverton, $1,-
868.10; Woodburn, $1131.65, and
Mt Angel, $965,581 Division of
this fund, derived from the coun
ty general tax, is on the basis of
the number of pupils in the vari
ous districts.
Service Men
Would Rather
Play Santa Glaus
PORTLAND, Dec. lHh The
400 service men who are pincti
hitting at Portland's short-hand-;
ed postof f ice agreed today that 1
playing Santa Claus is easier than !
army drill. Besides they get every ;
evening off.
W. W. Schuldt, foreman of par- I
eel post delivery, commended the ,
soldiers, who are loaned from I
nearby bases and paid only their
regular army checks.
"If it wasn't for them," he said i
looking at the mountains of mail.
we wouldn't get it out."
Scarlet Fever Reported
PORTLAND, Dec. lS.-i-Fdr-
ty-one cases of scarlet fever last
week brought the year's total in
Portland to 239 cases with one
death, the city health bureau re
ported today.
The same period last year had
only 94 cases with one death.
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484 STATE STREET
1 , 122 N. CosjX' SW Eilers.tOre.
'A