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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1962)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1962 MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MKDFCHD. OREGON Howar d Huglies M Editoi'i not - Eccentric and elusive Howard Hughes wai ordered to appear in a federal courtroom in Naw York racanlly to ieiiily In the $115 million (M) dam age tuit brought againit him by Tran World Air linei. Hii wheraabouti tor iha pait montha haa bean a complete myitery. The "will h appear or won't he" iiiipense ii typi cal ol thil man about whom avaryone knowi-and who ii really not known by any one. The tol'owing dispatch goes into hii background and troubles. By ROBERT J. SERLING UP1 Aviation Editor His full name is Howard Hobard HuRhcs Jr. He was born in, Houston, Elect AL DUMAS (Rapublican) Stale Representative Background Ability Understanding "Do With Uumai" Pd. Pol. Adv. Wilson Smith 3135 Connell Ave., Mcdford Texas,' 56 years atjo-the son of a man who became reason ably wealthy by founding a company that made oil drill ing tools. He was educated in prepar atory schools in Boston and California. He attended the California Institute of Tech nology and Rice Institute. His first wife was Ella Rice. They were divorced four years later, in 1028. Not until 1957 did he marry again-a former Ohio State beauty queen and promising actress named Jean Peters who still is Mrs. Hughes. Those are the bare, basic facts about this man of mys tery, a colossus of contradic tion and controversy. Pick up any two well-researched arti cles about Howard Hughes and you will find them ditlcr- ing in vital poinls-which is nautrai because only Hughes himself could supply all the facts. Much Ii Legend Much that has been written about him is legend, fiction or at best apocryphal. Such as a supposed letish for wearing tennis shoes, or sneakers, on virtually all occasions. If one is to take Hughes' own word for it, he doesn't wear tennis shoes. "I've never worn them," he told a United Press Interna tional reporter in his most re cent interview - which hap pened to be 10 years ago. "There is nothing myster ious about me," he insisted. "1 have no interest in expen sive clothes. Clothes arc some thing to wear and autos are transportation (his explana tion of why a man whose per sonal fortune is estimated high in the millions was driv ing, at the time, a rather bat tered 1050 Chevrolet). If they issing on Eve of TWA Suit Ag ainst Him .--, aV '? Flit, ' I bi ;Si& AT CONTROLS Howard Hughes isahown taxing at con trols of TWA Constellation after big ship landed at La Guardia airport in New York Feb. 15, 1946 to inauguarate non stop flight service between Los Angeles and New York Now, no longer a pilot, Hughes is involved in a legal battle to get back at TWA controls on ground. (UPI photo) cover me up and get me there, that s sufficient. Perhaps the most inaccu rate picture of this complicat ed man is the idea that he's a daredevil, speed-loving play boy who adores fast airplanes like the late Aly Khan adored fast automobiles. Hughes may be a ruthless, cold-blooded, unemotional tyrant in his bus iness dcals-as a legion of non admirers claim. But he also happens to be a legitimate ex pert on aviation and in many n 7v i Replace Your Worn Door Hardware With Genuine RUSSWIN! Standard Grade, Coronet Modoli: L A LOCK SETS Reg. 7.20 Specie 5 04 PASSAGE SETS Reg. 2.75 t93 Special BATHROOM SETS Regular 3.30 Special Premium Grade, Ruiswin Tempo! LOCK SETS Regular 11.70 Special PASSAGE SETS Regular 7.20 . Spocial BATHROOM SETS Regular 8 25 Snecial COMMERCIAL GRADE LOCKS $"H7 Regular 15 95 . Special Now I I $231 po! $319 $504 $578 FRIDAY & SATURDAY AT BIG PINES! WOOD BASKETS Brass Finish or Bran and Black Reg. 4.95 SPECIAL.... CLEAN-UP! Discontinued Colon in $415 IpnS KEM-GLO jV33 GALLON $78 w""""" Rc9 r9S $060 !gigp QUART Jm J, SUPER KEM TONE $5.55 Gal. $1.85 qi. RECESSED MEDICINE CHESTS $725 Gatlom, Req. $679 Quarti, Reg $2.20 16x22 Mirror Reg. $9.25 16x26 Mirror, Reg. $9.95 Special Special $795 Prefinishod Mahogany Paneling 4x8' SPECIAL Sg95 I A ii ' 1 5333 1 Corner 6th and Fir Streets lewlielialliaaaAaa facets of aeronautics an actu al pioneer. Item: Hughes holds two of the most coveted awards in avia tion - the Harmon trophy in 1 038 and the Collycr trophy in 1939, both given him or flights that set speed and dis tance records. (Congress also voted him a special medal in 1941 for a record-breaking world flight he made three years earlier. It was typical of Hughes that he never bothered to come to Washington to pick it up. President Harry S. Truman mailed it to him years later). Item: It was Hushes who fur nished Lockheed with the ba sic concept of two of the na tion's most famous planes -the j World War II fighter known , as the Lightning, and (he trip ! le-tailed airliner called the I Constellation. Was Copilot II is not widely known that Hughes was a copilot for American Airlines in 10IS2, even when he was well on his way to becoming one of the country's wealthiest men. Only a man whose heart and soul were in the air could have taken a comparatively menial flight job at a time when he probably could have ! bought the whole airline. Hughes' frequently unshav en appearance was as much due to aviation as to his ad mitted lack of interest in sar torial neatness. His beard hides the scars from an air crash, residue of injuries re ceived when he was testing a new type of plane in 1946. Hughes, the movie maker, is I a atory of its own. "Hell's An gels," produced in 1928, still ranks as the best air epic ever filmed, although most people remember it more as the ve hicle which made a star out of a blonde Jean Harlow (who later died). In a way, it is too bad that Hughes ever entered the Hol lywood movie jungle. Much of the derogatory items of the Hughes legend have a Holly wood locale. It is significant for example, that the famous brassiere he designed for Jane Russell (one wit said only an aeronautical engineer could have conceived it) is remem bered more by the public than his contributions to aviation. Also buried in the enigma of Hughes is the fact that he was one of the few men in his tory who not only survived a congress i o n a 1 investigation, but almost wrecked the com mittee Investigating him. Displayed Talent The probe involved an eight- engine plywood Hying boat which Hughes completed in 1947 at a cost to the govern ment of $40 million. A senate committee got Hughes to Washington for testimony. At the hearings, Hughes dis played a talent for rapier-like repartee that made many sen ators uneasy. Ihey finally re treated bleeding from his vcr bal sallies, and nothing more was said about the flying boat which did gel off the water a few limes. The current Hughes -TWA dispute is a tale of tangled fi nances, involving mostly Hughes' control over the air line's plane purchases. By the end of World War II Hughes, through the Hughes Tool Co. (Toolco), had quired nearly 80 per cent of IWAs stock. The financier became the airline's virtual boss, dictating equipment pol icy to such an extent that on one occasion-in 1957-Toolco ordered 25 long-range Constel lalions for $50 million (M) without TWA's own publicity department even knowing about it until it appeared in the press. It was Toolco, not TWA which ordered the carriers jets from Boeing. It was Toolco, not TWA, which signed a contract with Con vair for 30 jetliners known as the 880. TWA, in its suit against Hughes, charges that his interference put TWA at a competitive disadvantage. The airline claims Hughes' delays in ordering the Boeing 707, plus subsequent changes in the number of planes wanted, resulted in arch-rivals Pan American and American beat ing TWA into jet service by many months. Introduced Early Even the 880, which Con- vair built largely because of Hughes interest in the design. was introduced by Delta near ly 10 months earlier than TWA. The airline says Hughes deliberately delayed 880 de- 1 liveries by taking Toolco in spectors off the Convair as sembly line-just to make the financial institutions which had loaned TWA money for the new planes look bad. It is these institutions - a bank and two insurance com-panies-with whom Hughes is locked in mortal combat as much as he is with TWA man agement. In 1960, TWO badly needed new financing to mod ernize its fleet. Hughes was unable to swing the loan. A group of Wall Street interests persuaded him to put his TWA stock into a 10-year vot ing trust. In return, Wall Street promised to finance TWA's equipment purchases. Hughes literally was forced to agrce-and in doing so lost control over TWA for the next 10 years. The $115 million damage suit also involves- a Hughes' contract with Con- vair for 13 jets known as the 990, a larger version of the 880. Hughes insisted the 990 contract was made before the voting trust agreement, leav ing TWA with a moral, or even legal, obligation to hon-' or it. More at Stake More is at stake than the j millions of dollars in damage; suits. If Hughes loses, TWA may merge with Pan Am. If1 he wins, TWA probably will Join with Jiorthcast-a carrier over which Toolco recently won control with the bless ings of the Civil Aeronautics board. It has been said that Hughes loves TWA more than the rest of his enterprises combined. It figures, because he has loved aviation more than any thing else-even though he no longer flics himself. Hard of hearing, aging and sometimes ill, Hughes has not taken a federal aviation physical for at least three years. He would be flying illegally the min ute he touched the controls. Figuratively, however, Hughes obviously wants back in the TWA cockpit. And no body is making book that he doesn't achieve it. HUNTERS! St LOOK AT THESE Shotgun Shell SPECIALS! CRONIN INSURANCE Now Located At 232 W. 6th Across From Post Office Phone 773-3171 Remington 12 GO. Reg. $3.55 SPECIAL 272 76 GCf. Reg $3.25 SPECIAL 28 20 GCf. Res $3.10 SPECIAL 237 410 R8- $2.40 SPECIAL J82 BB's 2-4-5-6-7'2-9 Bedford Marine Co. 2060 W. Main Phone 773-1188 IBS' w H r J IN LEGAL BATTLE Howard llughr.1 h.-iens Willi ear phones In testimony before the Senate War Investigating subi'oiimiuti'o in this 1!I47 photo. Hughes was asked to testily before the subcommittee over an eight-engine pluod th ing boat that he completed at cost to I'. S government of $10 million. Now, aging, hard of hearing and sometimes ill, Hughe is involved in legal battle to regain control over Trans World airlines. I U" 11 photo) ELECT THAD HATTEN COUNTY ASSESSOR RESPONSIBLE QUALIFIED EXPERIENCED Td P.! A,-i Haurn o- .s.v-r lr Wa-d iettz Ch" !03fi Rfddv Av . MfdV'H f " iniialii itrat .if ii What's in Store for the WESTERN Family! Western Wear for Men, Boys and Ladies Complete Line of Boyswear Western Wear for All the Family Men's Work Clothes Department Complete Western and Work Boot Depts. Featuring Nationally Branded Lines At Sensible Prices! HYER BOOTS We've a complete line of both work and dress boots by Hyer featuring such fine leathers as ostrich, rough out, calf skins and kangaroo. Sizes 7D-12D, C-EE widths. Priced from $34.50 to $44.95. Shown . . . 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