Word: curmudgeon
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...they soothed or ruffled Harold Ickes. Nevertheless, The Lowering Clouds (Simon & Schuster; $6), third published volume of Ickes' sometimes fascinating diary, does make a contribution to historical accuracy: it should go far to correct the deep public impression that Harold Ickes was a lovable and forth right "old curmudgeon." He reveals himself as a devious old egotist...
Again, as in the early British comedies, the assortment of supporting actor with outlandish faces, and acting styles to match, is another point of magnificence. Not that the principals are less than they should be. Charles Laughton as naturally a blustering curmudgeon, is almost more than he should be, his normal portrayal of Charles Laughton not being entirely faithful to the spirit of the picture. But even Laughton is comparatively restrained, and his co-stars, Bernda deBanzie and John Mills, are positively sparse in their underplaying. For Hobson's choice, whose comedy is of the delicate, throw-away nature, this...
...Under Secretary of State, General Walter Bedell Smith, 57, who first joined the Indiana National Guard in 1910, became a downy-cheeked first sergeant at the age of 18, and grew up into something of a top brass curmudgeon, tried to explain his temperament to a Washington reporter. Said he: "It is possible that some of the less attractive characteristics of my personality were acquired at a very early age as an infantry sergeant...
...professor of political science at the University of Chicago; of a cerebral-hemorrhage; in Rockville, Md. As an educator looking for practical experience, he twice served as a Chicago alderman and ran a losing campaign in 1911 for mayor of Chicago on the Republican ticket (his campaign manager: Old Curmudgeon Harold Ickes...
...four days before Christmas, Playwright George S. Kaufman said: "Let's make this one program on which nobody sings Silent Night." Most of the estimated 18 million viewers of This Is Show Business (Sun. 7:30 p.m., CBS-TV) were used to Panelist Kaufman's curmudgeon voice and comments. Many even agreed with him. But some disagreed violently. The CBS switchboard lit up with more than 200 phone calls protesting Kaufman's "irreligious remark." Next morning several hundred more complaints hit CBS and Sponsor American Tobacco Co. Even though Show Business had but three weeks...