1953–54 Volume 78 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

376 THE SCROLL of Phi Delta Theta for May, 1954
what changes I tried to make in myself
when he was teaing with Banked Fires
Bergman—but I think it would give any
wife pause for personal checkup if she had
to play outfield in that league. In those
days the budget couldn't include me on all
his trips—I did meet Miss Garson—bought
a $35 hat for the occasion, and that was the
night it rained in California!"
IN UNDERGRADUATE DAYS
Pete Martin (right) and Frank Bailey, Penn Zeta
chapter and classmate, pose in their Phi Kappa
Beta Junior Honorary Society hats in front of the
* A 9 house in Spring of 192}.
to us Bing says, "We had many laughs over Pete's
wife, Virginia, and her amateur photography. She
must have shot reams of films, and Pete compiled
an album of her work. In most of the shots the
heads of the people are missing, or the feet, or the
camera is otherwise inexpertly focused. Wish you
could see the album with Pete's captions underneath
the picture. Very, very amusing."]
Since the children have married and live
away Virginia travels with Pete on all his
assignments, and she describes it as a "great
life."
After her graduation from Western high
school in Washington Virginia worked in
a patent attorney's office. Her secretarial
experience enables her to perform well as
Pete's secretary on their travels. "I answer
the phone, keep dates straight, participate
in long morning sessions of dictation when
Pete reads me his notes from interviews of
the day before—before his handwriting becomes
illegible even to himself. I enjoy
doing this because it makes me feel as
though I'm helping to earn my way."
There has been less ribbing from their
friends on what a "snap of a job" Pete has,
especially after an article on Greer Carson,
or the late Maria Montez, or Ava Gardner,
now that Virginia is travelling with Pete.
"I'll be the first to admit," Virginia says,
"that I went on a new diet and got some
fancier lipsticks when Pete was working
with the lovely Greer, and I can't remember
[Author's note, again. Pete read an advance draft
of this yarn and wrote back as follows: "I got a
very large charge out of the footage you gave my
wife's comments. That gal really writes with verve,
zest and humor, doesn't she It always makes me sad
that she doesn't do more of it. She didn't tell you
(and I guess I didn't myself) that in one year she
hauled off and wrote five short stories which were
published in such topflight magazines as McCall's,
Good Housekeeping, and the Saturday Evening
Post. She also wrote a novel concerning the manners,
morals, and way of life of young married
couples during the era of bathtub gin, and a game
called 'Sardines.'"]
When he isn't commuting to Hollywood
or some other location spot, Pete Martin's
day follows the normal pattern of that of
any man in business.
He commutes daily from Wynnewood,
and reaches the office between nine and
nine-fifteen. He is sure he doubles his
production by going to the office to work
just like anybody else. For one thing, he
says, his secretary is there, and he has
trained her to be his eyes arid arms and
hands until he claims he would be practically
helpless without her. Also, he feels
that, in his case, an office is conducive to
work.
"What with everybody else working all
around me," he says, "the atmosphere of
team effort seeps through the walls; I guess
I just don't have enough moral stamina to
work at home, what with easy chairs,
couches, television, books to read and naps
to take. If I were a free-lance writer, I would
hire an office and go to it every day.
"But I am not a free-lance writer," Pete
hastens to add. "I belong to the Post as a
ball player belongs to a ball club."
The editor of the Saturday Evening Post
is Kansas-born, 53-year old Ben Hibbs,
graduate of the University of Kansas in
1923. Hibbs, who moved from the editor-
(Continued on page 394)