Some People Found Susceptible
To Well Known 'Happy Pills'
Br DELOS SMITH
UPI Science Editor
New York-UPD-The trouble
some medical question con
cerning the habit - forming
r terry frv power m any;
I jT ' o f t h e com-
tf?my monly used
"happy pill"
has popped up
again. The
poppers this
time were
two medical
men with a
patient who
had the habit
in a bad way, and no mistake.
But he was a special per
son as regards habit-forming.
He had been addicted twice
to drink. The first time he
Delos Smith
broke it with the aid of Alco
holics Anonymous and the
second time with the help of
the "happy pill," and once to
the narcotic drug in prescrip
tion sleeping medicine.i
This caused his medical
men to feel a person who had
ever been addicted to any
thing, ran a considerable risk
of becoming addicted to the
"happy pill." They . granted
that for all other persons it
probably was non-addictive.
The commonly used "happy
pill" is made of meproba
mate. Doctors prescribe it in
enormous and growing quan
tity under the trade-names,
"M i 1 1 o w n" and "Equanil."
These prescriptions, are writ
ten for tense, non-relaxing
Try and Stop Me
By BENNETT CERF '
6ET A
GEORGE OPPENHEIMER, writer and drama critic, was
conned into playing the part of Dr. Bradley in the Kaufman-Hart
classic, "The Man Who Came to Dinner," for a week's
run of the play in a rustic
theater in Michigan. The
lead role of "Whiteside, a
lampoon of the late Alex
ander Woollcott, was por
trayed to the hilt by Marc
Connelly, who also fur
nished this illuminating
program note on his col
league Oppenheimer:
"George O. went on the
stage when little more than
a tot. In those days the
stage ran between Carson
City and Phoenix. To young
''Doc as they called him on
the local police blotter, climbing up on the seats, saying 'hello
to the other stage folk, and yelling 'Get a horse' to the chagrin
of strangers in motor cars gave our youthful thespian a firm
determination to continue on the stage until it reached Boston."
Nobel Prize novelist William Faulkner's first weeks amidst the
fleshpots of Hollywood produced numerous legends, many apocry
phal. A stretch of 85-degree heat in mid-January baffled him.
"What kind of country is this?" he marveled. "A leaf falls in one
Of those canyons and they tell you it's winter!"
C 1958. by Bennett Ctrl. Distributed by Kins Features Syndicate
In the Day's News
By FRANK JENKINS
What shall we talk about
today?
Let's turn to England.
Guy Fawkes Day was cele
brated in the tight little isle
last week.
Here are some of the things
that went on:
T N London's, Trafalgar
Square, more! than 90 youths
and girls were arrested in a
violent firecracker riot that
took more than 100 bobbies
two hours to quell ... In
suburban Hampstead police
fought 2,000 people who were
setting off fireworks and
chanting rock 'n' roll ... A
mob of 2,000 youths ram
paged through a street in the
. ing. smashing shop windows
wim DricKs ana mum Domes,
attacking ponce and over
turning cars . . . Boys, many
of them with "Teddy boy"
ducktail haircuts, dragged
barricades across streets to
stop cars and buses . . . Thous
ands thronged the streets in
the university towns of Ox
ford and Cambridge. More
cars were overturned, more
people hurt.
And so on, to the extent of
about a half a column of
newspaper type.
of OUR youngsters are doing
in these modern days - such
as driving cars across beauti
ful front lawns down in
Marin county the other day.
These Guy Fawkes Day inci
dents in supposedly staid
England are startlingly simi
lar. They seem to indicate
that what Is happening here
is happening to a greater or
less extent elsewhere.
And-
England has been long
noted for its reverence for
law and order - which seems
to indicate that this thing
that is happening can't be
handled merely by passing a
law. ,
VOU'LL probably ask:
A What is this Guy fawkes
Day?
It is the anniversary of
what is known in English
history as the Gunpowder
Plot. The Gunpowder Plot
was a plan to blow up both
houses of the English parlia
ment on a day when King
James I was to be present. A
group headed by Robert
Gatesby and Guy Fawkes
originated the plan, which
arose out of resentment
againt the hostile attitude of
the English government to
ward the Catholic church.
One of the conspirators
weakene'd and told a friend,
who warned the authorities.
This led to the arrest and
execution of most of the
members of the group, includ
ing Guy Fawkes. All this
happened back in 1605, three
and a half centuries ago.
persons who often are addict
ed (in one degree or another)
to alcoholic drink and to
knock-out medication at bed
time. An Old Question
This habit-forming question
has been bedevilling doctors
since the drug came into use
about four years ago. Too
many persons have taken too
much of it for it to be ob
viously and clearly addictive.
Some authorities have denied
flatly that it is. Just as doc
tors began feeling positive
about its harmlessness, up
popped the question again.
Now the medical staff of
the Veterans Hospital at Salt
Lake City, which is affiliated
with the University of Utah
Medical School has confessed
to "growing uneasiness and
dissatisfaction" with mepro-
bamate in drinking patients.
It delegated Drs. Beverley T.
Mead and Robert C. Mohr to
detail this in a report to the
New England Journal of
Medicine. Their addicted pa
tient had all the classical
symptoms of any drug addict.
In order to get the same ef
fect, he had to constantly
increase the dosages. When he
tried to give up the- drug, he
had extremely unpleasant
physical reactions, including
the "grand nal ' convulsive
seizure which is among the
most unpleasant. He had to
be hospitalized and doctors
broke his habit by cutting his
daily doses gradually.
Addiction Rarely Reported
"Addiction to meprobamate,
though infrequently reported,
is a very real possibility and
deserves increased concern,"
Mead and" Mohr reported
"Meprobamate should be pre
scribed with extra caution to
any patient with a history of
alcoholism or other addition."
They thought it a good
drug, as a muscle relaxant
and mild sedative. Toxic ef
fects such as skin eruptions
have been remarkably few.
But it is a potent drug and
the idea that is is harmless,
which is held by many doc
tos and most laymen, is not
justified.
This idea has led to a sug
gestion that it could be sold
without prescription, like as
pirin. "Indeed, it is quite evi
dent that many supplies of
the medication are being ob
tained without prescriptions,"
they added. And this permits
some people to trade one ad
diction (to alcohol) for anoth
er addiction (to meprobamate).
WHAT is happening?
" Frankly, I don't know.
What do you think?
Why not write us a letter
about it? Things like these
need discussion - serious,
thoughtful discussion. That is
what the letters columns in
our newspapers are for.
SINCE then, an annual festi
val has been held in Eng
land on November 5, the day
when the plot to blow up the
whole government was to
have been carried out.
Traditionally, it has been
the custom to burn Guy
Fawkes in effigy. Over the
centuries, English schoolboys
have built large fires, have
shot off firecrackers and have
MADE TOFFEE - which they
ate.
In memory of the Gun
powder Plot, a formal search
of the vaults beneath the
houses of parliament is still
made before each new session
begins.
THE moral of all this tale is
. that WE are worried about
some of the things that some
Public Speaking
Contest Told
The 14th annual high school
public speaking contest spon
sored by the Knights of Pyth
ias started in this area last
week, Don Lacy, chancellor
commander of Talisman lodge
here, announced.
Lacy, speech instructor at
Crater High school, Central
Point, is contest chairman.
All high schools in Jackson
county . have been invited to
participate. Last year, each
school was limited to one en
try, but there is no limitation
this year, Lacy said.
Subject of the contest this
year is "My Favorite Char
acter in History." Prizes for
first, second and third places
have been donated by the
local lodge, and $3,500 in
international scholarships are
available to winners of the
six national finals.
Winners from each of the
six sections will have an ex
pense paid trip to the finals
at the national convention in
Denver, Colo., in August,
1959. State finals are held in
Portland, and section 5 finals
in- Spokane, Wash.
Entry blanks are available
from high school speech departments.
Winner of the Jackson coun
ty contest last year was Miss
Carolyn Mencke, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Mencke,
2141 East Jackson St., a stu
dent of Devere Taylor, speech
instructor at Medford High
school.
London -4UPD- Kenneth Ev
ans, 18, a piggery worker,
looked around to see why the
pigs were being so quiet as
he cleaned their pen. Evans
found they were eating his
pay. He salvaged just $1 of
the $15 that had fallen, from
his pocket.
CHOICE MORSELS
Bristol, England (UPD An
outdoor bulletin board offer
ed two pounds reward today
for: "Lost: Large bulldog,
black spots on back. Eat any
thing. Particularly fond of
children."
Formosa Strait
Aerial Truce
Effected 'Quietly'
Taipei, Formosa - (CPU -Informed
sources said Saturday
the United States and Nation
alist China have quietly put
into effect a ceasefire in the
skies over the Formosa strait.
The sources said National
ist pilots have been ordered
to employ all possible evasive
tactics to avoid combat with
Communist planes within 30
miles of the Red-held main
land. Red planes seldom pene
trate deeper than that distance
over the strait.
Flaming Air War
According to the inform
ants, the United States does
not want Nationalist Sabre
jets and the Red Soviet-built
Migs to revive the flaming air
war that raged over the strait
from mid-August to mid-October.
The Nationalists claimed
their pilots destroyed 31 Mig
fighters with the loss of only
one Sabrejet in the aerial dog
fights. Particularly Concerned
It was reported that the
United States became partic
ularly concerned when Sabre
jets equipped with U.S. air-to-air
sidewinder missiles shot
down 11 Migs in one day.
The sources speculated that
the United States feared the
Reds might force down a
Sabre-jet on the mainland
where vital parts of the se
cret sidewinder might fall
into Red hands. The Nation
alists said that Red planes ap
peared to be trying to herd a
sidewinder-equipped Sabrejet
toward the mainland in the
last big dogfight.
Reds Appear To Accept
The sources noted that the
Reds themselves have appear
ed to accept the ceasefire.
They said that several hun
dred Migs were sighted al
most daily along the China
coast until a few weeks ago
when they virtually vanished
from the sky.
Official U.S. and National
ist military sources, declined
to comment on the reports of
the aerial ceasefire.
KINGFISH ILL
Los Angeles (UPD Tim
Moore, the wheeling-and-dealing
"Kingfish" of the
"Amos 'n Andy" television
series, was reported today
still on the critical list but
improving at General hospital.
The 70-year-old actor has
been suffering, with a respir
atory ailment since Oct. 10
and has been in and out of
the hospital. He was last ad
mitted Thursday. .
CONCERT VIOLINIST DIES
Valhalla, N.Y.-UPD-Julia R.
Guenzel, 72, a concert violin
ist of German birth, died Sun
day of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Service When You Need It . .
that's the kind of service that counts the most,
and it's the kind of insurance service you can
get only from a home town agent who is always
nearby, eager and able to serve you.
We're independent businessmen not em
ployees of an insurance company. We advise
you according to your best interests and
when you have a loss, we represent you and
you -alone.
For the protection and service you need, see
your local independent agent . . . who serves
you first.
Only an
Independent Agent
Can Display This Seal
I M M M
YOUR I Independent
Insurance JJ AGENT
Stiivn you nut-
SEE
DON STATINS, INSUROR
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220 South Central - Medford
"'" PHONE SP 2-2677
Tribute To Ed Sullivan
By Friars Club Judged
Mixture of Plus, Minus
By WILLIAM EWALD
UPI Correspondent
New York-fUPB-Ed Sullivan
took the evening off Sundav
night and let a group of other
performers do
the pointing.
In place of
his regular
M CBS-TV show;
Sullivan pre
sented a one
hour tribute to
himself by the
Friars Club, a
erease t a i n t
William Ewald fraternity. The
show was video-taped last
September as a test run for
a proposed TV series which
failed to make it.
Sunday night's hour was a
mixture of plus and minus.
bfilLJ
The plus goes for the brisk
pace of the show and for some
of the individual gags, notably
the presentation of a portrait
of Steve Allen to Sullivan.
Also in the show's favor was
the general atmosphere of dis
respect for the guest of honor.
Raillery, unfortunately, is in
too short a supply nowadays.
Substitute for Wit
But curiously enough, the
minus side of the show
stemmed from the credit side.
It seems to be an assumption
among what has come to be
called the Lindy's comic that
boorishness is a substitute for
wit. Jack E. Leonard, Jack
Carter and Morey Amsterdam
were three of the offenders
in this respect Sunday night,
particularly Leonard.
Insult can be very funny, i
but too often the Lindy's
comic is merely rude. He leans
on formula insult. He is like
Pavlov's dog responding to
certain stimuli with pattern
replies.
Feeble Insults
Thus Sunday night there
were interminable rounds of
feeble insults about Sullivan's
somber mien and his lack of
performing ability. "You're
looking fit, Ed-what do you
hear from the autopsy?" is a
typical example of this sort
of thing, the sort of obvious
ness that passes for humor
among schoolboys.
Another fault of the show
- and this is my principal
minus-was its static quality.
It all seemed a little primitive,
flat and without movement.
Too, the performers played to
the Friars' audience instead of
the audience at home. As a
result, the TV viewer had a
feeling of being outside the
proceedings, a looker-inner,
an uninvited guest.
MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Oregon, Monday, November 10, 1958 S
Roman locksmiths designed
padlock keys to be worn as
fancy bronze finger ring ornaments.
Bach, composer of "Passa
caglia" and other musical
classics, began as a Lutheran
Church organist.
OUR OFFICE WILL BE
USED
Veterans' Day
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1 1
' SEE YOU WEDNESDAY 1
OREGON FINANCE CO.
Medford's Only Independent Down Town Finance Co.
Gene Thomas, Mgr. 45 South Central
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