European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 18 the stars and stripes tuesday september 12, 1978 what memories they evoke a old labels on old bags by Hugh a. Mulligan Dublin a for some years now in lieu of nicking lobby ashtrays which in some emerging and quite a few declining nations is deemed a felony this itinerant Toscanini of the typewriter has been collecting hotel labels As a souvenir of his to ing and fro ing on the face of the Earth. These rapidly vanishing status symbols of the innkeeper s Trade Are the colourful gummed stickers that Bell captains and Hall porters in the posher hostels freely affix to one s impediments to gain some free publicity for the premises and provide another reason for giving them a Pou Boire. The paste on and gimmicks impart to both the House and its departing guest a Glossy Aura of prestige. They also serve to cover up the scuffs and rips in one s Luggage and even keep the old carpet bag in one piece against the onslaughts of morose Airport baggage handlers and violence prone stevedores. Forty or 50 overlapping labels gaily Trum Peting the traveler s peregrinations from the Ritz in Lisbon to the Crillon in Paris to the Savoy in London to the Shah Abbas in Isfahan and Regent in Fiji might not save a Calfskin three Suiter from being Cleft in Twain by a forklift truck at orly Field or from being abandoned on a Dolly in the Monsoon Rains of Panang. They might perchance keep the outer skin attached to the Frame Long enough for Uncle Sam s customs men to have a go at it with their singular skill and leaving everything hanging out at the hinges before a new York taxi Driver applies the coup de Mort by slam Ming Down his trunk lid. A global spread of fading hotel labels on a Well worn Gladstone bag gives fair warning to porters and bellhops everywhere on the spreading Palms circuit that Here is an experienced traveler not prone to giving lavish re wards for surly service. Ice cubes Quick my Good fellow. The desk clerk knows straight away not to Settle this lodger next to the elevator shafts directly below the disco bandstand or across from the Church Steeple that bongs the Quarter hours All through the night unless he wants to hear language that will Wilt his car nation and blow the computer. In addition when there s no place to go and no readies to get there with the grounded Globetrotter can always sit on the cellar stairs dreaming of the faraway places the bygone vacations and Long spent expense accounts spelled out in living color on a Dusty Portman teau or busted carry All. The other night i Sal on the cellar stairs in the silent company of an old bag the constant companion of Many years and Miles. Just below the handle in Bright Green and yellow loomed the Monteux Palace hotel against a backdrop of purple Alps and in the fore ground a Large Swan on Lake Geneva. Memo Ries Rose with the dust of my interview with Giscard Schmidt earn votes of British clothiers London a politicians the world Over from the Kremlin to the White House came in for a sartorial dressing Down in a report issued jointly by two British Trade organizations called the clothing manufacturers federation and the shirt Collar and tie manufacturers federation. Only president Giscard d Estwing of France and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany rated real Praise from the Tai lors who firmly placed prime minister John Vorster of South Africa at the Bottom of their list. Vorster said the report displays a com plete and utter disregard for Giscard on the other hand has a Superb sense of style and knows exactly what suits him. He does t put on the first thing that reaches his hand each and Schmidt is a Good stylist and a Complete con Trast to the Dull and Ordinary Way Many Ger Man men president Carter did t rate too highly in the report which described him As surprisingly Dull he should try to make his clothiers As cheerful As his prime minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada on the other hand regards clothes As a source of cheerfulness but is inclined to be a bit too boys Fly exuberant at times. Vladimir Nabokov his last. He spoke of Winter coming on. Two Belfast labels speak to me again of Ulster s lingering tragedy and dogged courage that permits laughter after tears. The grand Central hotel a press favorite never was re opened after a bomb destroyed the Kitchen and now serves As a British army Barracks. To this Day tested the Breadman they Don t know whether that bomb was placed by the Ira or an irate the tattered Symbol of the British owned Europa hotel bombed More than 30 times Calls to mind the Green tie ornamented with flaming red bombs that the management awarded to guests who survived a bomb blast. There s the Royale in phenom penh who goes there now and the Royal in Saigon now a communist Flag factory. I wonder what became of the sign in French Over the registration desk this is a family hotel All ladies of the evening must be some of the stickers remind me of wars where first we went out of the hotel to cover a Battle but in time the hotel became the Battle Field the Phoenicia intercontinental in Beirut a Christian stronghold in Lebanon s bloody Street fighting Nicosia s Lovely Ledra Palace right on the Green line Between battling turks and greeks the Jordan intercontinental a Hilltop objective for israeli paratroopers storming the old City of Jerusa Lem in the six Day War. Then there s the Tel Aviv Hilton with its wonderfully arrogant jewish waiters you ordered prune juice take the Orange juice it s better for and Moscow s proletariat Tely uncomfortable i tourist hotel brought to you by the same people who brought you the gulag archipelago and the pardonable tedi Ous Saga hotel in Reykjavik where reporters Hung around for weeks that seemed like years waiting for Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky to glower headlines across a chess Board. In an age when most hotels around the Ball Are becoming As alike As army Barracks and As inhospitable As a state prison farm it s soothing to gaze at the labels of peking s hotel of the nationalities the Negrescu in Nice or the Oriental in Bangkok and know that at any hour of the night a Roo boy lurks in the Corri Dor ready to fetch a cold Beer or a freshly shined pair of shoes. The Gresham in Dublin Speaks of elegance without obsequious Ness which is Why the Dawn comes up rather with a Brogue on the Telephone lilting this is your 8 30 Wake up Call sir. Actually it s gone Quarter past nine will that be All right sir across1 russian ruler 5 piece out8 hindu Melody pattern 12 single occasion 13 assets 14 egyptian deity 15 Chalcedony 16 Brake 18 accelerate 26 French River 21 Fastener part 22 self23 a thick liqueur 26 kind of Grade 30 French River 31 Swiss River 32 Spanish aunt 33 Road sign 36 stains 38 by Way of 39 affirmative vote 40 perfect Model 43 gives a sign 47 Road area 49 sketch 50 grafted her 51 Benga quince 52 sicilian resort 53 soap Frame bar 54 Flower plot 55 suppose Down 1 to Buffet 2 easy Job 3 israeli seaport 4 Ransom 5 follow 6 seaweed 7 Wii area 8 receiving sets 9 minor prophet10 word with Bailor dressing 11 English Queen 17 jokers average solution time 24 min. 9-12 answer to yesterday s Puzzle. 19 stain 22 sense Organ 23 preserve 24 " Rita 25 noun form ing suffix 26 dance step 27 japanese statesman 28 insect egg 29 Energy source31 miscellany 34 grape conserves 35 Rivulet 36 supplicate37a1h 39 Road sign 40 islands for 41 English Sand hill42 newts 43 Dirk 44 British composer 45 country Road 46 was flooded 48 Warp am 12 s 30 47 50 24 41 21 34 19 13 16 31 54 26 22 n 20 14 49 52 55 27 32 10 29 9-12 cafe Cifoni Landers dear Ann Landers i nearly dropped my eyeglasses in the Coffee when i read your advice to that 40-year-old woman who just Learned she was pregnant. You said she should be thrilled. You gotta be kidding lady. That woman has a married daughter and a son in College. Now after All the years of free Dom she s going to Start in again with bottles diapers Colic whooping cough shots and Pat. I was 38 when my last child was born. After the 20th woman told me How Happy i should be i told her to put that show on the Road. It was interesting that not a single Dame with a kid under 12 opened her Mouth Only the ones who had had hysterectomies. I was not Happy then and i m not Happy now. Our late dividend is three years old and he is driving me bananas. No liar dear . Your letter sounds As if it was written at the end of a bad Day. Write to me after you be had a Good night s sleep dear in about three years from now. Dear Ann Landers my Mother was a Strong domineering Wom an. She was also the most efficient and Best organized person i Ever knew. But she never allowed me to make a decision. It seemed whenever i attempted to do something on my own it turned out badly. She would then say. See next time ask me although i am now married and have three children of my own i still torture myself Over trifles. Why did t i buy the Blue dress instead of the Green one or Why did t i serve shrimp salad to the Bridge club instead of Chicken salad the Quality i Admire most about your column is the one i Lack. It s the ability to Cut through to the heart of the prob Lem make an instant decision and never look Back. How do you Doit Waffler in Wyoming dear Wyoming thanks for the compliment but those instant decisions often represent hours of work. The answer that sounds As if it rolled off my typewriter is probably the one i struggled with for half a Day made three phone Calls about and then reworked four times. But you re right about never looking Back. I do my Best with every reply and then i go on to the next one. Post snort Ems Are for coroners not columnists. Dear Ann Landers i m a 21 year old female considered at Tractive but i m Only five feet tall and would love to be taller. I have heard of operations to make people Shorter. I believe they take some Bones out of the legs or saw them Down. Can any thing be done about the shorties Sulphur Springs dear sulpher anyone who looked Down on you because of your height in t Worth a second look. I know of no surgical proce Dure to make people taller but Young children sometimes can be helped to grow taller with drugs that stimulate the pituitary gland. This procedure is consid ered experimental and the re sults Are Uncertain. Careful regu lation and observation by a competent physical is essential i am not recommending it
