Walter Winchell Claims Deficiency In Education Explains Ability as Stylist

Button-holed recently in the Stork Club in new York City, Walter Winchell admitted that he had received education despite all publicity to the contrary.

The noted columnist added, "But I parted company with Harlem's P.S. 184 after 6b. One of my classmates just informed me that a club has been organized to protest my lack of education with a document which is supposed to show I was an honor student.

Meagre Education

"As a matter of fact I think my success as a writer is due almost entirely to my lack of education. You see, some people have called me a literary stylist, but that's not al all true. My education was so meagre that when I started to write my column, I didn't have the faintest idea of how to spell the words I ran up against. Consequently, I just spell them the way they sound--herz d'ecuvres are just plain "aw-devres" to me.

"I really don't give a darn about my readers in the writing of my column. All that matters is that it be interesting to me. This life is a great deal of fun, and I enjoy every minute of it--I'd quit right away if I didn't. So, in my column, I try to keep up the fun; nothing is ever included that would prove boring to me."

Winchell defended his column, "My attitude may seem a bit pompous to you but when you consider the stuff most of the columnist do include in their work, my approach can be excused. The ties, splits, and expectancies are of minor interest to me, and a close glance at my column will show that they are put in the background by my editorializing.

College Students Awaken

"What makes me particularly happy about my editorials is the fact that a great many college people have written in to commend my stand. It's really very heartening to see that a college now prepares its students to face world problems with good judgment. Publicity won't be able to put another World War over on them the way it did in 1917."