Marriage Revealed. Althea Gibson, 38, former top-ranked U.S. women’s tennis star (TIME cover, Aug. 26, 1957), now trying it as a pro golfer (33rd on the ladies’ money list this year); and William Darben, 40, production coordinator for Bendix Corp.; both for the first time; in Las Vegas, on Oct. 17.
Died. Flora Mae Jackson, 35, known as “Baby Flo” to U.S. carnival goers, billing herself as “The World’s Largest Woman” and tipping the scales at a fantastic 840 Ibs.; of heart disease; in Jacksonville, Fla.
Died. John Henry Hambro, 61, chairman of London’s Hambros Bank Ltd., largest merchant bank in Europe, who helped triple his 126-year-old family firm’s assets (now more than $500 million) by pushing beyond traditional sterling markets into such U.S. ventures as a $5,000,000 partnership in Wall Street’s Laidlaw & Co., a $20 million share in Manhattan’s Pan Am Building, and a brisk, $70 million annual trade in British car imports; of a heart attack; in Knebworth, England.
Died. John J. O’Rourke, 65, Teamster’s union vice president and boss of New York City’s powerful Joint Council 16, who boldly turned against Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa in 1962, subsequently blocked him from dipping further into union funds for personal legal expenses (currently, appeals of jury tampering, mail fraud and conspiracy convictions), and last year gave the screw a final turn by supporting Arch Hoffa Foe Robert Kennedy for Senator; of a heart attack; in The Bronx, N.Y.
Died. Henry Dixon Cowell, 68, U.S. composer and musical pioneer who remained blithely unconcerned about the many storms that raged around his slambang, fist-and-forearm “tone cluster” piano technique in the ’20s and ’30s and, declaring that modern composers “can’t beat Beethoven at his own game,” went on to pursue his vigorous ideas in more than 1,000 pieces, which he scored for everything from Pyrex bowls to lyre-like Japanese kotos; of uremia; in Shady, N.Y.
Died. Joseph Ignatius Breen, 75, longtime (1934-54) arbiter of Hollywood’s movie morals, who was hired by the Hays (later Johnston) Office to boss the industry’s keep-it-clean Production Code, started out by telling producers, “I’m going to throw a helluva lot of your celluloid in the ashcan,” which he did while offering such “suggestions” as “Eliminate the action of Spit actually expectorating,” only once faced open revolt—when Howard Hughes in 1954 released The French Line without a Seal of Approval, thus earning a $25,000 fine; of a stroke; in West Los Angeles.
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