Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1956. január-június (5. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1956-03-22 / 12. szám
March 22, 1956 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ 15 ^mr Family Page SMALL SURFACE CRACKS ON FURNITURE EASILY REPAIRED If you’ve ever wondered what to do about small surface cracks near the edge of a piece of furniture you’re restoring, here’s answer for you. You can take care of this in two ways. You can fill the cracks over an old finish or you can fill them after several coats of new finish have been applied and are thoroughly dry. Both ways permit a better blending of colors than when you fill cracks in bare wood, since the finish coats bring out the wood’s natural color. The filler does not cleave to the finished surface around the crack as it does to unfinished wood. Of course you need to apply finish to the entire surface when the crack filler is dry. Here is the procedure: Use a wood-forming plastic colored with colors in oil and thinned with denatured alcohol. Mix the colors in oil with a very small amount of gum turpentine before adding to the wood-forming plastic. Remember the color of the wood- formming plastic is much lighter when dry. Add denatured alcohol to the colored wood-forming plastic till it is soft. Use your finger to place it diaogonally in the crack. Slide a knife blade across the crack to smooth the filler. Repeat if necessary. Unless finish is shellac, use a cloth dampened ui denatured alcohol to remove filler that remains on outer edge of crack. When it dries, smooth it with 3/0 steel wool. This process may have to be repeated if the filler shrinks below the level of the surface. ★ An easy way to sand rounded furniture legs and dowels is to cut your sandpaper into thin long strips and then pull it back and forth over the surface. $26.10 Average Jobless Check Unemployment compensation payments in the United States are still far from meeting the standards ask by President Eisenhower of the states, much less those of organized labor. The Department of Labor reveals that the average weekly benefit check paid pobless workers during December, 1955, was $26.10. The department calls this “an alltime monthly high” and points out that this was $1.76 higher than in December, 1953, and 88 cents higher than in December a year ago. It points out also that 32 states increased their basic maximum benefits during 1955 and that the full impact of these changes will not be felt until later this year. NOT UP TO SNUFF Average manufacturing wages in the United States during December, 1955, were $79.71 a week. On the basis of 50 per cent wage compensation minimum asked for by the Eisenhower administration, average compensation in December should have been $39.85 for the national average rather than $26.10. Based on 67 per cent, as has been asked for by organized labor the average check in manufacturing should have been $53.40. Average should have been about $46.62. Even the most liberal states do not approach this. Even when applied to the lower paid groups, the $26.10 is far from adequate. Labor statistics show only a handful of states that reach even the 50 per cent level for mazimum weekly benefits. W'hat is striking about these figures is that .the 50% percentage is achieved not because benefits are large hut because the states involved are low wage states to begin with. REPORT FROM BUDAPEST The following report appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article deals with Miss Catherine Yon Warton writer’s weekend experiences. I had heard that the eastern countries (behind the Iron Curtain) had been opened to tourists and as 1 had always wanted to see Budapest I went to the U. S. Consulate, got the necessary stamp of approval on my passport and the assurance that it was a safe thing to do. Then 1 inquired at the Hungarian Travel Office “Ibusz” and found there were organized weekend tours to Budapest but that the visa took a month to clear. 1 immediately signed up for a tour. The tour was by bus leaving Vienna Saturday at dawn, returning Sunday before midnight. The cost, all inclusive (bus, visa, hotel, meals, guide, etc.) was just 350 Austrian schillings ($14). I talked an American student friend, Dorothv, into going along too and Saturday morning at 6:30 a. m. we climbed into the modern, heated bus with about 25 others and off we went. Most of the other passengers in the bus were Austrians going for the first time in many years to see friends or relatives. We got to the border at about 8:30 a. m. The Austrian controls were nil. We passed through a stretch of No Man’s Land until we reached the red, white and green barrier of Hungary, which opened—then closed behind us. We all got out of the bus and into the customs office. The officers were friendly and good-looking, decorated with moustaches. The controls were simple. We were only asked how many schillings we had. They did not even look into our bags. All this took about 45 minutes and then we got back in the bus and with us now was a very attractive young Hungarian woman as our guide. She was most pleasant but it seemed strange to realize how well indoctrinated she must be to have such a job. The scenery was just like Austria’s Burgenland, little blank villages, unpaved roads, rolling fields, marshes—nothing but oxen and horse carts on the road. In the villages, everyone was all smiles and waved. When we rolled into Budapest it was the same—everyone friendly and, of course, very curious. We arrived about noon. Luckily it was a nice day, cold but sunny. We drove in from Buda over a bridge and along the Margareten Insel and into Pest to our hotel, the Palace, on one of the main streets. The hotel had a strange, musty smell but othervise proved quite comfortable. The two of us had a large twin bedroom with running water and a telephone. FOOD APLENTY The first thing, of course, was lunch and in what quantities! First soup, then meat and a cabbage dish, then two pieces of cake each. They always seem to give double portions. Then there was good wine. All our tables had little Austrian flags on them and the hotel people all spoke German. After lunch Dorothy and I wandered around the center of town looking at the shops or primarily the people. They all seemed well dressed, much better off than in Belgrade. Most men had sort of “loden” coats and wore Tyrolian type hats. But the majority of the hats on men. women and children were round, peaked fur caps. You saw them in every store window too, in beaver, Persian lamb and many other kinds of fill'. I would have loved to buy such a Magyar hat but they were too expensive as we were only allowed to bring into the country the equivalent of $6— or 200 f lor ints. There were many people in jodpur-like trousers and boots and some peasants in full skirts of the brightest blues and reds with scarves on their heads. There were many soldiers in long coats with broad, padded shoulders. RECORD HUNTING The stores were well stocked and there seemed to be many people buying. I bought a gay knitted wool cap and then went record shopping. We came to a big book and record store and went in. When I asked for some czardas records, they said, “Sorry, we have only Russian things.” We had wandered into a completely Russian store—Russian boofis, thusic, records, magazines. The saleswomen spoke perfect English, addressing me as “Comrade!” In another store. I did get some records and also a bottle of the excellent apricot brandy called “Barack.” Across the street, open 24 hours a day, selling everything from meats, breads, liquors, to frozen foods. Wonderful salamis hung by the dozens and breads were enormous mounds of rye. There were gigantic “kipferin” and what we call Vienna sweet breads. As you can imagine, we were always stared at wherever we went but people were friendly and helpful. One saleslady who waited on us wore a signet ring which was definitely a coat of arms ring. We went back to our hotel about dusk and rested before dinner. In the evening the dining room was quite crowded and lively, with a good band playing dinner music. We had wiener schnitzle, of all things, two enormous ones each, and than a maron cream with “schlagobers” for dessert. We had wanted to have some fun in the evening and make the most of our one night in Budapest, so we were delighted when our guide asked us if we should like to join her husband and two vacationing Austrians for an evening of gypsy music. They had a car, so the six of us squeezed in and went to the Matyas Keller. It was packed. Through our Hungarian guide we obtained the best table near the musicians, ordered coffee and Barack. The band is supposed to be the best gypsy music in Budapest today and I can well believe it. At about midnight we left there to go dancing at the Hotel Duna located on the river. In the morning, we had a good breakfast of rolls, coffee and whipped cream. Then we went up the street to a little church called St. Rochus for the 9 o’clock Mass. We could hardly get in it was so packed. I had expected only old people and maybe an old priest, but there were people of all ages and there were children. In the afternoon, our guide took us on a-tour— of the city—first to the stadium, which is the pride and joy of new Budapest. A gigantic structure that seats 100,000 people, it has complete accomodations built in underneath for the athletes, for television, etc. Then we drove to see various monuments, including a huge statue of Stalin. no seats * mmm We tried to get tickets to the Opera or the Sunday ballet but both were sold out. Then we drove to the fairy-tale-like fortress Halász Bátya. The whole Burg (that is the surrounding palaces, church, everything) had been razed during the last savage house to house fighting up there in 1945. About half of it already been rebuilt and every thing will be done exactly as it was. The fortress part is finished, with pointed towers, and balustrades. The church is also in the process of being rebuilt. The view from up there is enchanting—the river below with all its bridges and, beyond, all the various spires and domes. It was already quite foggy and dark so we went back to the hotel by 4 o’clock in order to pack our bags and get ready for departure. Our bus was due to leave at 5 p. m. and, of course, attracted a huge crowd on the sidewalk, half just on-lookers, the others seeing people off. They gave us a cheery goodbye and in a few minutes we were across No Man’s Land and back in Austria. Here there was also no customs fuss and we were back in Vienna by 10:30 o’clock. He Watches Train Nibble at His Auto VAN NUYS, Cal.—Sitting behind the wheel, August March, an elementary school teacher, watched a passing freight train nibble away the front of his auto. March, 34, told police he skidded to a stop a few inches too close to a passing train at a crossing. As each boxcar whizzed by it nicked off the bumper; then the hood ornament, a headlight, some of the grill. After the train had passed, the car was l ipped1 back to the radiator in places but was still in driving condition. March was not. He walked the rést of the way to school.
