SPECIAL FEATURE 2 Ivan Tors—Kingdom of Beasts by Pat Fortunato

STORIES AND POEMS 16 A Case for Sherlock Holmes 33 Sarinda’s Star 45 September Daze, Poem 52 The Mystery of the Black Lanterns, Part IV by Dick Wood by Clara Baldwin by Tara McPherson by Arnold Madison

ARTICLES 10 Super Scrapers 22 The Baseball Hall of Fame 42 Professional Childern’s School by D. J. Arneson by Ned Abernathy by Peter Ramsey

REGULAR FEATURES 8 SmallTalk 25 Junior Artistsand Writers 29 What’s Crackin’ on New Fall TV Programs 38 Animal Corner, The Bat 49 Little Lulu 58 September Calendar by George A. Woods by Mary Mintzer by Marge

PUZZLES, GAMES AND JOKES

37 Falling Leaves, Picture Puzzle

48 Jokes by Cracky

ACTIVITIES

14 Cooking Fun, Glori-fried Chicken

26 Orchestra Dolls and Instrument Cutouts by James W. Perrin, Jr.

41 Color by Number, Gorilla

EXTRA! EXTRA!

46 “Star on TV” Sweepstakes

What is more than twice as high as

the Empire State Building and sits in a

hole? Give up? Two World Trade Center

Towers, that’s what!

But that isn’t a fair riddle. After all,

the World Trade Center hasn’t been built

yet. But it will be. You can be certain

of that. We talked to the two girls whose

father is building it, and if anybody knows

about the world’s tallest buildings, he does.

And so do his daughters.

Carol and Janet Monti, ages 12 and 7,

don’t look like construction engineers. They

look more like pretty young girls and that

is, of course, just what they are. It’s their

father, Ray Monti, Construction Manager

of the new World Trade Center now being

built in New York City, who is the engi-

neer. But if two girls ever could talk about

big buildings, Carol and Janet can.

We all sat in Mr. Monti’s office recently

by a huge glass window which overlooks

the massive construction site below. The

girls were eager to describe what was hap-

pening. Carol, the older sister, pointed

to a giant column of rising steelwork which

was anchored in the solid bedrock that

forms the foundation of all of Manhattan

Island. “The steel,” she said, “is put into

place by Indians. Real Mohawk Indians

who have made it their specialty to rig

what they call high steel.” She went on to

say that when her father completes the

towers, they will each be a hundred feet

taller than the Empire State Building. Then

she smiled. “And that’s not including the

hole!”

The hole we stared at was the founda-

tion for this remarkable complex of build-

ings. It is scooped seventy feet into the

earth, and one million cubic yards of dirt

and stone were removed when the immense

machinery went to work. Janet was quick

to point out that dirt wasn’t the only thing

they found in that huge hole. Because it’s

in a spot that was once a part of the shore-

SEPTEMBER, 1969

Are Janet Monti (above) and her sister, Carol

(below), construction engineers?

Progress viewed in blueprints and on the ground.

line and river bottom of the Hudson River,

many very old items from New York s ear y

history have been discovered. Old bottles

and plates and even cannonballs were un-

covered as well as two real prizes. Janet

showed us two huge ships’ anchors, ten

feet tall and over three hundred years old,

which the giant shovels had scooped from

the ground. “These things,” she said, will

be placed in a museum in the completed

center for everyone to see.” So history as

well as dirt was moved to make way for

these new buildings.

Mr. Monti interrupted for a moment

to direct our attention to a great open

field which extended into the river. “That

area,” he said, “was completely man-

made using the dirt taken from the foun-

dation hole.” The area he indicated was

twenty-four acres in size. It will be turned

over to the City of New York and will

probably become a park.

How do girls become interested in a

SX’fpSUrpaSSeS the construct:ior>

a fathe 6 °f E^t? Having

father supervising the entire job helps

B

However, school friends of both

also interested and so would g'rls\

they believe. After all, there

been an undertaking quite hu %

••vv LRa

Center before and, for sheer siZe S

never be another again. But, th0

girls do talk about the work theirT*

doing, they, like other gir]Sj ta|^e,s

other things, too. School for one the^

ties, Carol’s favorite group, or thekfoN

which is Janet’s.

A few years ago when Mr. Monti w

building some of the remarkable builds-

at the New York World’s Fair his daugfe

though younger, were more excited tha

he because of all the color and fun that

with a fair.

But now, as each new floor is added t

the Twin Towers, which will reach 1$

feet into the sky when completed, the?:

confess more and more interest and excit?

ment. You see, in a sense, when the Cent:

is completed it will be something lile.

world’s fair itself. Nations from the ent-

world will be represented in its office

and companies from everywhere will b

Photograph courtesy of The Port of New York Authority

Ray Monti shows his daughters relics scooped from the

foundation — compare the sizes of anchor and worker.

tADf arnta

showrooms and offices where they can dis-

play their products. Over fifty thousand

people will work in the Center and an

anticipated eighty thousand will visit each

day. Carol said she would love to be a guide

there when it is finished. She will be nearly

old enough in 1972. Janet, too, would like

to be a guide and she said she is willing

to wait.

In the meantime, they attend St. Claire’s

School near their home in the Bronx. Carol,

who is in the seventh grade, loves history,

while Janet, in the second, likes spelling

and is very good at it. Janet hasn’t given

much thought to what she would like to be

when she grows up, but Carol thinks she

would like to be a lawyer. How exciting

it would be if this were to come true and

she were to have an office in the very

building her father built.

The girls have a pet canary named Pete

who sings for them sometimes, and they

both enjoy spending their summers on Long

Island near the ocean. Last summer they

went with their parents on a trip to Italy.

It was their first visit to Europe and both

of the girls had fun seeing children there

who were the same age.

SEPTEMBER, 1969

13

Progress was being made before our eyes

while we continued to watch the building.

Some of the techniques used in its con-

struction had never been used before; they

had to be invented especially for this very

unique job. On the other hand, the men

working on the vast project below us were

old-timers at extraordinary construction.

Many of these same men had built the won-

derful buildings at the recent World’s Fair

in New York along with Mr. Monti. They

are employees of the Port of New York

Authority which states that the World

Trade Center is “A building project like no

other.” Others, fewer and older, had worked

on giant projects such as the huge bridges

and gaping tunnels. But now, towering

above them at a height of only nine floors

of the planned 101 is the skeleton shape of

the buildings they will never forget. The

largest, tallest, most spectacular buildings

in the world.

The completed buildings will have a

special meaning for Ray Monti and even a

more special one for his delightful family.

Both the girls and their mother think that

their father is as Super special as the Super-

scrapers he’s helping to build.