SIDE BY SIDE

Next week bachelor Joe McCarthy, 43, will make a place in his life for tail, auburn-haired Jean Kerr, 29, "the most beautiful girl" at George Washington University in 1945 and for four years a research assistant in McCarthy's office. Said the prospective bridegroom: "She's the prettiest and brainiest girl I've ever known. She got beside me when things were darkest." From Time Magazine, Sept. 28, 1953.