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PEOPLE
Ford Frick, who made his reputation as Commissioner of Baseball by offending almost nobody, is back in the conciliation game again. The City of New York's Manpower and Career Development Agency has hired him as a $75-a-day consultant to open the doors of industry and business to the underprivileged, disadvantaged and poor.
For the first time in 33 years Red Barber showed up at spring training without a job, but he was not out of the catbird seat for long. The Miami Herald has hired the former Yankee broadcaster as a weekly columnist. Barber will write on various subjects but will devote most of his time to baseball. "I'm happy as a lark about the job," he says. "I am a weak man, and I probably never would have quit the Yankees on my own. This is like a new life opening up for me."
"Vooming vividly into view" with the spring fashions, says this month's Harper's Bazaar, is the "wild, witty, high gear race-car shoe." The wildest and wittiest shoe of the new collection (below) is one supposedly inspired by a Ferrari car, though racing's grand old man, Enzio Ferrari, knew nothing about the new creation. The shoe comes in black patent and has patches of green, pink, orange and yellow. Fully equipped, with head-lights, windshield, steering wheel, a race number stitched to the side and a metal bumper, it sells for $80. One optional extra, a rear-view mirror, was considered by the manufacturer but then dropped from the line.
In the first demonstration of the two-satellite, two-way transmission of photographs now possible between Europe and the Pacific, a picture of Sweden's Crown Prince Carl Gustaf, surfboard in hand and girl at his side, was sent in 2½ seconds from Hawaii to London. Back from Britain via Early Bird and Lani Bird came a photograph of Jockey N. J. Lawrence and his horse, Brumby Hill, falling over the sixth fence in the Wisborough Green Handicap Steeplechase at Fontwell Park. The picture of the prince was posed, but the Associated Press bureau chief in Honolulu, who arranged for it, was so pleased with the results that he hired a Waikiki beach boy to give the prince a day of free surfing lessons. Carl Gustaf, who is on a six-month world cruise with 99 other Swedish Naval Academy cadets, was soon riding a wave.
In Newman's department store in Joplin, Mo. an exhibition of celebrities' paintings was held recently. Among the works on display was a canvas by Kyle Rote entitled Green Vase—Single Rose, an abstract by Rocky Graziano called I Was High, which was done while he was drinking, and Steel Mills—Gary, Indiana by Yankee Pitcher Jim Bouton. Rote, who usually does floral studies, and Graziano both say they paint whatever comes to mind. "I work solely from my imagination," Rocky declares. "Something comes out. Just like that. You know what I mean—original." Graziano has done as many as 10 paintings in 10 weeks. Bouton, who is a fairly accomplished artist, says, "I haven't done much painting since I came to the Yankees. With me it isn't something that can be done in a few minutes. Maybe I'm a better titler than I am a painter. I have one painting I like called Fire-scarred Water Hole."
Intriguingly matched on a golf course last week were Singapore's Premier Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysia's Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman (right) and their respective cabinets. On a nine-hole course in the highlands of Malaysia, which is said to have one of the most difficult 7th holes in the world, the two governments teed off against each other. Since Lee pulled Singapore out of the Malaysian Federation a year and a half ago the two countries have quarreled continuously. But when the Malaysian government discovered that there were not enough golfing diplomats in Kuala Lumpur to provide a field for its annual golf tournament, the Malaysian high commissioner suggested inviting Singapore's statesmen. Lee, who is reputed to be the world's hottest golfing head of state (his handicap has dropped from 18 to 12 in the past year), accepted the challenge. Said the Tunku of Malaysia, "Now there is nothing more to quarrel about." Lee was noncommittal. "The press will get nothing but scores," he said. Malaysia won the match 8½ to 3½, but Lee Kuan Yew and his partner shot a 68 to take individual honors. A diplomat trying to assess the political results of the tournament said, "The best we can hope for at present is that the two countries go on playing golf. Something might come of it...eventually."
The Dallas Cowboys, led by Halfback Dan Reeves and Linebacker Lee Roy Jordan, have been beaten by a girls' volleyball team—at the girls' game. Hoping to raise $2,000 to pay its way to the national volleyball championships in "Detroit, the Dallas Independent girls' team, which includes several All-America players, challenged the Cowboys to a match. Reeves said, "We thought we were just going to go out and play some volleyball with some girls. There were a few things the publicity man left out." After losing three games, the Cowboys quit. "They were just catching on," the girls' captain said.
When Colgate-Palmolive hired the White Knight five years ago to put thrust into its Ajax advertising campaign, the company came up with a winner, but apparently Colgate still does not know what a good thing it has. At a recent Texas livestock show the White Knight himself, Tom Sweet, told horsemen that his white stallion, named Ajax, of course, was a racer. "He's the most graceful horse I ever saw," said Sweet. "I weigh 195 pounds and the armor I wear in that TV commercial is 78 pounds, but, man, can that horse go! We did one commercial with Ajax running down the middle of Wilshire Boulevard, and a cameraman clocked him at 42 miles an hour on the asphalt." Either Sweet is a knight errorant or Wilshire is a fast track. Man o' War once went 37 miles an hour, Citation 38 miles an hour and Swaps 39 miles an hour.
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