Fraternity-Testvériség, 1959 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1959-11-01 / 11. szám
FRATERNITY 3 C. ARTO: EN ROUTE Are you one of the majority of Americans who have not read a book during the past twelve months? According to a recent survey, six out of ten adults said more than a year has past since they read a book. Parenthetically it is interesting to note that the most popular book read month after month is the Bible. This survey further reflected that fewer books are read in the United States than in any other major English speaking country. The British read about three times as many books as Americans. Another survey showed the following percentages of book readers: Great Britan 55%, Australia 24%, Canada 31% and the United States a mere 17%. What have you read lately? How 'lately”? ★ ★ ★ FERENC MOLNÁR, the late great Hungarian playwright, it is said, did his finest work when the noise around him reached its greatest intensity “The Swan” was written in an over-populated Budapest cafe filled with gleeful gypsies, coffee sipping compatriots and talkative newsmen. MOLNÁR must have enjoyed a lot of music in his 74 years, during which he wrote more than 40 plays, among them “Lilliom”, which Rogers and Hammerstein used for their unforgettable “Carousel”; “The Guardsmen”, an outstanding Lunt and Fontanne success, and “The Play’s the Thing”, impeccably produced by Gilbert Miller. A total of 19 plays by MOLNÁR were performed on New York’s Broadway. And without a typewriter (he never learned to use one) he also wrote more than 60 books! ★ ★ ★ Forest fires always bring to mind the fact that fire is the most treacherous slave man has ever known. The legendary Prometheus, thief and hero, stole fire from the Olympian gods and gave it to mankind for his protection, and thus enabled man to descend from the trees. Centuries later fire enabled man to move North, build communities, invent blast furnaces and engines. The slave that assisted in building also did its spiteful best to destroy that which it had helped to build, as attested by the great fires of history: Rome in 64, London in 1666, Chicago in 1871, San Francisco in 1907, Coventry in 1941 . . . and Hiroshima in 1945! Fire is a good slave, but an extremely poor master! ★ ★ ★ “Guidelines” was the title of that series of advice carried not so very long ago in the Sunday newspaper supplements all over the country. Among the best, and especially deserving the attention of young people, were the “Guidelines” suggested by screen and TV star Pat Boone: (1) School experiences will make you what you become. (2) The Bible and learning public speaking can be the biggest influences in your life. (3) Competitive spirit and training for endurance, learned in sport, can help you in as diverse a field as singing. (4) Do your level best. Don’t
