A Letter From The Publisher, Jul. 16, 1951

Sometimes a TIME story serves an immediate and personal purpose for the reader, beyond that of keeping him informed on the news. Recently we ran across two very different examples of stories which started a chain of important events for people who read them:

In the spring of 1950 Jack K. Daiton, who had served four years with the Army Engineer Corps in Europe and the Pacific, was digging up research for his Master of Arts thesis at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He picked art education as his subject and looked hard for ways to get contemporary material. He hit on one way when he read the TIME cover story on Pablo Picasso and other School of Paris artists (June 26, 1950). Why not, he wondered, ask the leading painters of that group to suggest ideas and sources? He wrote to TIME to explain his plan and to get their addresses. Then he queried eleven of them.

Several answered with enthusiastic, informative letters. Maurice de Vlaminck, Georges Rouault and Marc Chagall sent along some of their own writings. Andre Derain’s reply was a collector’s item, a beautiful letter apparently done with brush or drawing pen. The best came last, from Raoul Dufy, who wrote that he wanted to help and would like a favor in return. He asked Dalton to find a house for him to rent in Tucson, where he could go to treat his arthritis. Dalton got busy and, as requested, kept the news of the trip to himself. All was ready last Jan. 22 when he met the train bearing Dufy, accompanied by his French housekeeper and nurse.

From then on Dalton spent much of his time at the artist’s house, usually ate there at least once a day (“the cooking was wonderful”). He took the aging (74) Dufy out to see the West’s color-splashed scenes—square dances, desert sunsets, a rodeo (where Dufy did two watercolors), a rodeo parade (where, sitting in a balcony, he did two more).

Before long Dalton decided that he had found a better subject for his thesis. He would write a biography of Dufy, use it to show the training of a painter. The artist agreed and spent many hours talking over his theories on art and education. He liked the finished thesis so much that he wrote a preface for it. Then, though he seldom paints a portrait, Dufy bade the student sit for him. The portrait, which he gave to Dalton, is considered to be one of his best.

For his part, Dufy returned to New York last week, much improved by the Arizona sunshine.

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Albert K. Hannum, an engineer of Willoughby, Ohio, recently wrote to me about Josefina (“Joey”) Guerrero. He said that it’s about time for a progress report on Joey.

If you are one of some 4,000 people who wrote to Joey after TIME told her story (July 19, 1948), you remember her heroic work as an underground agent in the Japanese-run Philippines. She smuggled food, medicine and messages to U.S. prisoners of war, mapped enemy fortifications for the Air Force, once walked 56 miles through lines of trigger-happy sentries to report a mine field where the 37th Division was scheduled to attack Manila. Though she took many long chances, the Japanese never caught up with her because they were always afraid to search her; through her ragged blouse they could see the dreaded lesions of leprosy.

TIME reported on Joey when she came to the U.S. for treatment at the leprosarium in Carville, La. Her story so impressed Reader Hannum that he resolved not to be one of those who forgot her “once the hoop-de-doo had shut down.” He started writing her, later invited her to make a visit to his home. From Joey’s letters he and his wife Pauline were able to keep track of her slow return to health.

Last fortnight, at Hann urn’s request, a TIME correspondent had a talk with Joey. He found her grateful for the letters and for the prayers which four-year-old Ken Hannum says for her. She leads a busy life at Carville — contributes to the hospital newspaper, plays tennis and golf, attends classes in art, sculpture and carpentry. She is also trying to work out ways to improve leprosy treatment in the Philippines. Her most immediate hope: that a bill pending in Congress (H.R. 3386) will give her American citizenship.

Cordially yours,