Word: rater
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Even with its too-glib identification of mental maturity with success and conformity, the movie is as good as the novel. Gene Kelly sings and dances too well to be a convincing second-rater, but he gives an agile performance as the camp entertainment director. As schmalzy Uncle Samson, Ed Wynn gets a few laughs, and Claire Trevor is sharp and clear as the irritating but well-meaning mother. Natalie Wood, a great beauty, is something less than a great actress. Her most believable moment comes when Marjorie, despairing of Broadway acting fame, says mechanically: "Sometimes I think...
...seductive pleas for a Popular Front (see box); his truculent assertion of Russian nuclear capacity spoiled his peace-loving professions, and stole the play from his skillful offer of profitable East-West trade. The British consensus is that Georgy Malenkov is an able fellow and Bulganin an amiable second-rater, but that Khrushchev is a crude, crafty and headlong ruler who must be watched and cannot be trusted...
...months ago a customer walked into Horace Mendelsohn's auto-accessories shop in Stockport, near Manchester, England and bought two motorcycle tires, paying seven shillings, sixpence ($1.05) below the list price. Three days later, Cut-rater Mendelsohn learned that his "customer" was a private investigator for the British Motor Trade Association. He got a summons to appear before the association's Price Protection Committee on a charge of price cutting. The committee, a private court staffed with lawyers paid by the association, weighed Mendelsohn's case carefully, penalized him by putting his shop on the "Stop List...
...which might take over Iran if he should fall. London regards Mossadegh distastefully as a man who humiliated Britain, broke a contract, and cannot be trusted. Also, says Whitehall, he is a second-rate politician whose only stock in trade was nationalization of oil. To continue such a second-rater in office when Iran's economy is faltering is to court sure disaster...
...eleven. At 29, Ezzard Charles had a polished boxing style that was not Joe Louis', but was still mighty effective in its own way. It might be a long time before the fans saw another Louis; meanwhile, it looked as though it would take more than a second-rater to beat the champion...