Milestones, Jan. 8, 1951

Born. To Dick Powell, 46, crooner turned cinema-radio tough guy (Johnny O’Clock), and June Allyson, 27, cinemactress (Little Women), U.S. moviegoers’ favorite star in 1950, according to Box-office magazine’s year-end survey: their first child (his third), a son; in Santa Monica, Calif. Name: Richard Keith Weight: 5 lbs.

Married. Henry (Mr. Roberts) Fonda, 45, actor; and Susan Blanchard, 22,cinema starlet, stepdaughter of Producer-Songwriter Oscar (South Pacific) Hammerstein 2nd; he for the third time, she for the first; in Manhattan.

Married. Ethel du Pont Roosevelt, 34, heiress to a Du Pont chemicals fortune, divorced wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.; and Benjamin S. Warren Jr., 38, Detroit lawyer; both for the second time; near Wilmington, Del.

Married. John (The Grapes of Wrath) Steinbeck, 49, novelist; and Elaine Scott, thirtyish, divorced wife of Cinemactor Zachary Scott; he for the third time, she for the second; in Manhattan.

Died. Max Beckmann, 66, whose expressionistic canvases brought him recognition as one of Germany’s best painters; of a heart attack; in Manhattan.

Died. James Stephens, 68, gnomelike Irish poet, storyteller and authority on leprechauns (The Crock of Gold); of a heart attack; in London (see FOREIGN NEWS).

Died. Frederick Ridgely Torrence, 75, poet (Hesperides) and playwright (Plays for a Negro Theatre), whose rare, carefully polished verses made him a reputation as one of the best craftsmen among 20th Century U.S. poets; in Manhattan. Fellow Poet Robert Frost wrote in A Passing Glimpse: To Ridgely Torrence, On Last Looking into His “Hesperides”:

. . . Was something brushed across my mind

That no one on earth will ever find?

Heaven gives its glimpses only to those Not in position to look too close.

Died. Warren Wright, 75, baking-powder heir (Calumet) and racing’s all-time top moneywinner ($1,402,436 in 1947); in Miami Beach. His Calumet Farm stars included Whirlaway, Pensive, Armed, Citation, Coaltown, Ponder.

Died. Karl Renner, 80, President of Austria; in Vienna. A lifelong Socialist, peasant-born Karl Renner became the first Chancellor of the newborn Republic of Austria after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918. After the Nazi regime caved in, he became the first Chancellor of the Austrian provisional government, was elected President in December 1945.