Milestones, Aug. 27, 1951

Married. Isaac Stern, 31, top-ranking, young U.S. violinist; and Vera Lindenblit, 24, German-born refugee, former U.N. researcher; he for the second time, she for the first; near Tel Aviv.

Married. Preston Sturges, 52, screen director (The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek), writer (Strictly Dishonorable), inventor (a kissproof lipstick); and Ann Margaret (“Sandy” Mellen) Nagle, 21, actress; he for the fourth time, she for the second; at his restaurant in Hollywood.

Married. John Davison Rockefeller, Jr., 77, philanthropist; and Martha Baird Allen, 56, former concert pianist, widow of one of Rockefeller’s Brown University classmates; he for the second time, she for the third; in Providence.

Divorced. George Abbott, 65, Broadway producer, playwright (The Boys from Syracuse) and director (Call Me Madam); by TV Actress Mary (Studio One, Suspense) Sinclair, 28; after five years of marriage; in Reno.

Died. Arthur Margetson, 54, British-born actor (Claudia, The Play’s the Thing) who spent 34 years shuttling back & forth between London and Broadway productions, liked best the role of a humorous, stuffed-shirted Englishman, which he played in his last Manhattan appearance (1950’s Clutterbuck); of cancer; in London.

Died. Major Samuel Woodfill, 58, much-decorated U.S. veteran of World War I* and the regular Army’s answer to drafted Alvin York; of a heart attack; in Vevay, Ind. On Oct. 12, 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he charged a German strong point, singlehandedly killed 19 enemy machine gunners (shot 17, pickaxed two after his pistol jammed), so earned his Medal of Honor and a ringing tribute from General Pershing: “Here is America’s greatest doughboy.”

Died. Louis Jouvet, 63, famed French actor, director, producer and manager of Paris’ Athénée Theatre; of a heart attack; in Paris. A specialist in character roles from Molière to Giraudoux, he was best known to Americans through his films (Lady Paname, Volpone) until he came to Manhattan last March, when, despite the language barrier, he delighted audiences with his deft portrayal of giggling, grimacing Arnolphe, hero of Molière’s L’Ecole des Femmes.

Died. Tu Yueh-sen, 64, onetime fruit vendor who became the underworld boss of Shanghai, controlled the city’s waterfront trade unions, ricksha boys and the Red Gate and Blue Societies (protection racket); after long illness; in Hong Kong. In 1927, when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek split with the Communists, Tu broke up the powerful Communist-bossed General Labor Union, managed to keep Shanghai from falling to the Reds. In return, Chiang appointed him head of the Anti-Opium League, a position which gave him legal control of the country’s thriving drug trade, in which he already held an illegal monopoly. Tu became one of China’s richest, most powerful citizens until he fled the country ahead of the Communist advance in the spring of 1949. In his will, he exhorted his close friends to “carry on my principles of serving my country selflessly.”

Died. Artur Schnabel, 69, composer-pianist, best known for his performances of Beethoven (his favorite), Schubert and Mozart; of a heart ailment; in Axenstein, Switzerland. A boy prodigy in Austria, Schnabel took lessons for seven years, but always hated to practice. In 1921, at his first U.S. concert, he defied his managers, dismayed the audience and pleased the critics by playing two solid hours of Beethoven. In later years, Schnabel (who became a U.S. citizen during World War II) took more pride in his atonal Schoenbergian compositions than in his playing. A pun-making perfectionist, Schnabel refused to play encores, would never coddle an audience. Said he: “My only employer is the art.”

* Medal of Honor, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre with palm, Order of Danilo of Montenegro.