Word: backslap
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Calm, blue-eyed James McDonnell likes to backslap "my teammates" whenever he is particularly pleased with some success, and lately he has had frequent occasions to do so. Largely because McDonnell farsightedly started designing space capsules long before Washington asked for them, his company won the coveted Mercury contract, a $130 million program. It has turned out 20 capsules so far, last week was busily mocking up a new two-man "Gemini" capsule that is slated for test flying by 1964. More important for the McDonnell balance sheet, President Kennedy recently requested $1 billion to equip the Air Force with...
Steam heat is, in fact, the ideal climate for Mauldin's style of searing creativity. In an art that often uses a shovel instead of a rapier, a backslap instead of a boot, Mauldin, 39, wields the hottest editorial brush in the U.S. Full of caustic and rebellious passions, he boils over onto his drawing board with the scalding effect of a well-aimed spit of lava. "You've got to be a misanthrope in this business," says Mauldin. "A real son of a bitch. I'm touchy. I've got raw nerve ends...