“Who’s Not Who In England.”

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17985, 2 April 1930, Page 14

“Who’s Not Who In England.”

"Lindbergh, Col. Charles Augustus, A.F.C., D.S.C.; b. Detroit, 4 Feb. 1902; s. of late Charles Augustus Lindbergh and Evangeline Lodge Land; m. 1929, Elizabeth, d. of Dwight Davis, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico.”

“Lindy” must have had a shock when and if he picked up tho 1930 English “Who’s Who,” and read this sketch of himself. His admirers, at any rate, had the surprise of their lives when they discovered these “facts” about their hero in the British publication, which admits some American names to its pages. Except for the fact that Lindbergh has no such wife, Dwight Davis has no daughter Elizabeth, and Mexico never had any such Ambassador, the information is correct, Alva Johnston points out in the New York “Herald Tribune.” Colonel Lindbergh, ho reminds us, married Miss Anne ! Spencer Morrow, daughter of Dwight W. ! Morrow. Dwight Davis was formerly ! Secretary of "War and is now Governorof the Philippines. i Mr Johnston has been going through the I British reference book and has turned up in it a number of curious and amusing bits of misinformation about such other

eminent Americans as John D. Rockefeller, Snr., former Gov. Alfred E. Smith, Irving Berlin, and Irving Caesar. Thus: I It lists former Governor Smith’s address as “The Capital, Albany.” It states, further, that John D. Rockefeller, Snr., is the author of “Random Reminiscences,’’ a volume which must have been written in invisible ink and secretly circulated, . because it is unknown in this country.

The British “Who’s Who” is somewhat whimsical in its apportionment of notableness among Americans. Owen D. Young, for instance, has not yet been discovered. He does not get a single line. Almost an entire column goes to Dr "William James Mayo, while his equally famous brother. Dr Charles Horace Mayo, does not receive a line.

As is usual with books of fame, the new British “Who’s Who” slights the business man and glorifies the professor and the scientist. Millikan, Osborn, Breasted, and other famous American scholars and experimenters are featured as strongly by t!v' British pub”:-lion -a the American, while presidents of 2,OCO,GOQ,OOOcIqI. corporations, like Alfred P. Sloan, Jnr., of

Under this slightly comprehensive heading “The Literary Digest” passes on a half humorous, half bitter, criticism from the “New York Herald Tribune.” Both of these impressive organs forget, however, that in the Home Country and indeed throughout the Empire generally different standards are used from those which hold sway in the United States of America. In any case here is the article:

General Motors, and Walter S. Gifford, ci the A. T. and T., do not make the grade. Athletes have almost no standing in the British fame-distributing publication. Tunney, Bobby Jones, Tilden, and other internationally famous performers are omitted. The British book of greatness is stricter than the American in this respect. In the case of Irving Berlin, the British “Who’s Who” again takes too much for granted. It makes the mistake of assuming that surnames are inherited, and says that Irving Berlin was the son of Moses Berlin, when he was in reality the son of Moses Baline. The Rockefellers together get only a trifle more space than is devoted to Ivy L. Lee, their publicity expert, and we read further. The American stage gets practically no recognition, and Hollywood very little. The British “Who’s Who” turns film critic in the case of Douglas Fairbanks, and says that he is “rated by many as the greatest of all cinema producers and stars. ”It adds that he was formerly a “Broadway star.” John Barrymore does not get a ‘line. In fact, all three Barrymores are omitted. American statesmen are treated oddly. Franklin D. Roosevelt is out, though his cousins, Theodore and Kermit, are in. There is a Sir James Walker, who turns out to be an Indian administrator, and a plain James Walker, a blanket manufacturer and cricketer, but one looks in vain for James J. .Walker. Ovlivion is conferred on Al. Jolson, Will Rogers, Fred Stone, Maude Adams, Mrs Fiske, George Arliss, and Otis Skinner, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, all the Talmadges, Tom Mix, Gloria Swanson, and John Gilbert are nobodies, as far as the British “Who’s Who” is concerned.

Eugene O’Neill has a respectable showing, but is stigmatised as “formerly engaged in commerce-” Harold Bell Wright and Dr Henry van Dyke receive fat writeups. Many blameless forms of enjoyment are set forth under “Recreations,” which form the most important part of some of the biographies. A few of these are here transcribed : The Rev. Dr S. Parkes Cadman—“Recreations, travel; collection English china and-English antique furniture.” The Rev. Edmund Horace Fellowes: “Recreation, chamber music (violin), heraldry and genealogy, lawn tennis, watercolour drawing.” Dr William J. Mayo: “Recreation, yacht on Mississippi and its tributaries.”