1674-4 Louis (Red) Snedigar l.s s THE CLI
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It Seems to Me
By HEYWOOD BROUN
MIAMI BEACH, NQ31,.6—I've often wondered
what anybody did with the keys of the'
city. Right them and still I'm
puzzled. Louis F: Snedigar, the mayor of
Miami Beac 1, most distinctly said, "Here are
the keys of the city," as he handed me a small
envelope. Perhaps he was only fooling, for
when I examined the gift it consisted merely {
of a card extending "the courtesies of the
police department."
But if May(_m_Silecligar must have his little
joke it is justified, perhaps, by the tribulation
which he himself once suffered while Jimmy
Walker indulged in a little whim. Jimmy was
recuperating at Miami Beach after being
elected mayor of New York and he invited
Snedigar to come up North and be his guest
at the inauguration.' i.'" •- "`mow
* * * ,
ii WHEN I got up there,"`-nf5I 11eQ►-the
WHEN
of Miami Beach, who will also
sell you a lot if you need one, "they found
that t I wa_s_just a Florida cracker who'd-never
seen snow in allmy Life. And so Jimmy Walk-
ser made a vow that he wouldn't let me_go
home until I'd seen a snowstorm.
"Well, it was just my luck, if you want to
call it that, to wait for 24 days until the first
si.•-iow fell. And while I was waiting, Jimmy
took-.,me out on parties every night. I'm just a
boy froi. the farm and the real estate office
I and I c_anetand that kind of pace. It like
1 i to have killed tr.,e, and a m ie end of 24 days
I I was pretty sick or•.,Zimmy Walker and he was
pretty sick of me."
Jimmy did not possess t se power over the
eleme ui'iaa
executives. As a timid but t. -tful person I
asked Mayor Snedigar, "Is there ar,r, chance
of any sort of high winds down here this n,...,.,`
in the year?" _
"You mean hurricanes?" said the,mayor.
"Oh, no, not a chance on earth. That season's
been over for a whole month. It's ended."
"Officially ended," he added.
"What do you mean 'officially ended'?" I in-
quired.
"Well, the Indians and the Weather Bureau
both agree," said the mayor, "and it isn't pos-
sible that they could both be wrong. As a
matter of fact, the Indians are never wrong."
* * *
SO it seems that my card entitles me offi-
cially not only to courtesies from the
police but from the winds and waves as well.
Naturally, I should do something in return,
and I would like to pay a brief tribute to the
climate of Miami Beach in November. It is
almost as good as September weather in Con-
, necticut, and this is no faint praise coming
from a man whose lots are all in Stamford.'
And in my own right I would like to deny
that the sun and sea along this strip are en-
ervating. That's nonsense. I find'myself full
of a pioneering vigor. Why, only last night I
went to the Miami aquarium and I have yet
to see the somewhat larger one in New York.
Also, when Man Mountain Dean wrestled in
Madison Square Garden and other convenient
halls in Manhattan I never had sufficient
initiative to walk around him or even go and
see him. But under the stirring stimulus of
the violet rays of this beach I allowed a friend
to drive me a couple of miles to the Cinder-
ella Palace where Man Mountain Dean ,and
Chief Bearfoot engaged in deadly combat for
15 minutes.
I