Word: smug
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Playwright St. John Ervine (rhymes with "Injun servin' ") ceases to be mild-and well-mannered-only in his irate slashing away at the younger generation (the heroine's smug sons and selfish successor); but the younger generation hits back by refusing to seem convincing. And the older generation, whatever its higher virtues, seems awfully short on verve. So does the production itself, which puts an extra curse on the play...
...Inspector Calls (by J. B. Priestley; produced by Courtney Burr & Lessor H. Grosberg) and, finding the smug, well-to-do Birling family all at home, accuses one startled member after another of being partly to blame for a young working girl's suicide. Mr. Birling had once sacked the girl from his factory. On another occasion, Mr. Birling's daughter got her dismissed from a shop. The daughter's fiance had had an affair with the girl; so had Mr. Birling's son, who got her with child; Mrs. Birling had refused her charitable...
...mustn't be too smug about these revelations," commented Harris yesterday, "and it's important to note that you can't judge military preparedness merely by national income." As the report points out, before the Nazi invasion one third of the total output went to capital goods and armament production...
...steelmakers assembled, with some unpleasant charges still ringing in their ears. The C.I.O.'s United Steel Workers had charged that present U.S. steel capacity (91 million tons a year) was about 20 million tons below future normal demands. The union demanded Government action to overcome the steelmakers' "smug and intransigent" hedging against a possible slump. Walter Reuther, president of the C.I.O.'s United Automobile Workers, had for months been accusing them of promoting "planned scarcity...
...turns out, the sentence is not so light after all. He is hauled about, willy-nilly, among her eager little friends, embarrassed by her embittered swain (Johnny Sands), and teased at every turn by Miss Loy's insufferably smug lover, Rudy Vallee. Worse still, of course, he falls for the judge. Good fun: Grant and Vallee competing grimly before their ladyloves in sack races, three-legged races and such other corruptions of sport as picnics are apt to inspire...