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when she was in New York City
recently, for on November 27th she
was a guest on "Information Please,"
and on November 28th did some recording
for short wave broadcasting
for the Office of War Information.
The first and only graduate of the
University ever to be invited to
participate on the program, she reports
that "Information Please" is
really completely unrehearsed. The
guest star arrives at the Radio City
broadcasting studios a short time
before the program goes on the air.
About 1,500 people are sitting in the
audience and standing on the fringes.
All of the people concerned with the
program, from the program sponsor
to the tobacco auctioneer, bustle
about the platform. A few minutes
before broadcasting the experts run
through about six questions to
familiarize the guests with the procedure,
and then they are on the air.
On the program with Wilma were
Franklin P. Adams, John Kiernan,
and the other guest, Leon Henderson.
It was tremendously interesting to
meet Mr. Adams and Mr. Kiernan
after hearing them on the air, she
reports, and fascinating to see Clifton
Fadiman in action. Two microphones
are shared by the four experts
so each has to be on his or her toes
to respond to a question, taking
command of the mike before anyone
else slips the answer through.
In spite of a bad head cold at the
time, Wilma claims that it was not
nerve wracking. It was a great relief
to all alumnae and alumni listening
to find that not one encyclopedia or
war bond had been paid out during
the program, which proves that even
in realms other than food and vitamins,
Wilma was right in there with
the experts.
The next day she made a record in
Carnegie Hall that will be" broadcast
by short wave to Austraila, translated
for broadcasting to French West
Africa, and used for rebroadcasting
all around the world.
The Office of War Information is
sponsoring a tremendous educational
DECEMBER 1942-JANUARY 1943
program through the world.
Questions come in from people in all
parts of the globe that the OWl has
their experts tackle. Wilma's question
was "Do Americans really live
entirely on food from tin cans?' ,
Some people may think questions of
that type are simple and silly, but
they are the ones that peoples of the
world wonder about. The OWl is
attempting to break down prejudices
against the American people and
teach others what Americans are
really like.
Her answer dispelled the idea that
all the food we eat is from tin cans,
and showed how important such
foods are at this time. She told how
most of the food we were sending to
starved countries and to the very
peoples listening to the broadcast
could be sent only in tin cans. She
further pointed out that the nutritious
elements of the food could be
much better preserved by using the
tin cans.
The recording for these short wave
broadcasts is all done at Carnegie
Hall. To get into the building you
have to show your badge to the
guards. The offices are regular bee
hives and the desks are so close together
that one literally squeezes
about the office. Cots have been set
up in the building for the staff to
catch cat-naps, for some of them
work amazing hours since the broadcasting
goes on twenty-four hours a
day. It was a thrilling thing to have
experienced, according to Wilma.
On top of all of that excitement,
the "Fanny Farmer Junior Cook
Book" came off the presses the week
before. For the benefit of younger
alumnae, Wilma Lord Perkins is the
wife of the nephew of the Fanny
Merrit Farmer who established the
Boston CookingI School and who
published the famous cook book.
Wilma is now the editor of the
booK:. and revises it constantly to
keep it current.
The "junior" she has written
specifically for children over ten, but
not for adults. It assumes that the
child knows nothing about cooking.
Basic rules of good cooking, terms,
a few tricks of the trade, some labor
saving devices, and a table of equivalents
and oven heats are included in
addition to about 120 basic recipes.
The book has been cleverly illustrated
by Martha Powell Setchell
and will fill a long needed gap for
youngsters who are not quite ready
for the "pinch of salt" theory.
Japanese beetles make life miserable
for gardeners in the New York­
Long Island area, devouring vegetables
and choice flowers with true
Nipponese ferocity. Elmer (Bud)
Walzer, '23, financial editor for the
United Press, has developed a successful
counter-attack against the
voracious Jap menace; he plants
Nicotiana freely in his Westchester
County garden. Nicotiana, a relative
of the commercial tobacco plant, is
an attractive annual with pink or
white flowers, and an odor pleasant
to human nostrils; the Japanese
beetles don't like it, however, and
not only leave it alone, but make
only half-hearted assaults upon
neighboring foliage.
College professors won resounding
praise from Henry Seidel Canby,
associate editor of THE SATURDAY
REVIEW OF LITERATURE, when he
spoke before the Alumni Association
of Greater New York on December
7th. Because they know the past, he
said, they can forecast the future
more accurately than members of
other professions.
A study made of the writings and
addresses of various groups in the
1918-1942 era, he told the graduates,
shows that the professors scored
highest in the accuracy of their predictions
in the field of international
affairs. Second best as forecasters
were foreign correspondents. Business
men and bankers were a poor
third, while professional military
and naval leaders were at the bottom
of the list.
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