Word: rosten
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Reporter Irwin Rosten confronted each repairman with a portable radio "in perfect operating condition" except for a simple short circuit "in plain view." Some shops recommended repairs ("practically no two alike"): "a new condenser," "a short in the transformer," "a realignment job," "the oscillator is out of whack." Range of estimates: from $9 to $15. None mentioned the short circuit. What's more, the "radio servicemen" surreptitiously wrecked the volume control, the tuning control, two tubes and the batteries, putting the set "completely out of commission...
...Rosten...
Nouveau riche, thriving, socially clambering, the movie colony lacks lineage and decorum. But, says Rosten: ". . . there is being formed an amusement-aristocracy . . . and Hollywood is assuming the social function of European royalty-'that of luxuriously diverting itself in public and diverting others...
...There are striking resemblances," says Rosten, "between the founder of the House of Vanderbilt [Cornelius, steamboat owner] and the founder of the House of Mayer [Louis B., theater owner], between the first Warner [Harry M., butcher's son] and the first Astor [John Jacob, butcher's son], ... In 50 years names like Zanuck, Mannix, and Selznick may well be great. . . . 'Honour,' says an ancient proverb, 'is but ancient riches...
...When Dr. Rosten has added it all up, he finds the result "too immense and too subtle for exact appraisal." Says he: "It seems self-evident that Hollywood represents a challenge to the sovereignty of church, school, and family . . . that the movies are 'more than any other art the social and political problem...