A calendar of the triumphs, defeats and contortions of the human spirit during 1954:

JANUARY

Modern Living. In Vienna, after touring Europe for a year inside a big glass bottle, Stunt Man Rudolf Schmied climbed out, told reporters that he had lost 60 Ibs., but "there is little difference between life inside and outside the bottle."

FEBRUARY

Member of the Wedding. In Boston, seeking annulment of her marriage to William Jordan, Mrs. Margaret H. Jordan testified that she dozed off during their wedding banquet, awoke to find that bridegroom and guests had departed, did not see Jordan again until five years later.

MARCH

Just Us Historians. In Akron, police raided a 9-by-12-ft. room, inside found two chairs, a bed, a table, a dresser, three pairs of dice, twelve decks of cards, one bottle of gin and 23 men who explained that they had gathered "to discuss current events."

APRIL

Another Year, Perhaps? In Atlanta, the women's chamber of commerce decided to postpone Noise Abatement Week when it learned that its antilittering committee had already scheduled a parade, with ten brass bands, 125 marching units, a garbage truck and eight National Guard jets for low air cover.

MAY

'Twixt the Cup & the Lip. In Guetersloh, Germany, police arrested Friedelina Kleine-Beek after she followed her husband to a local tavern, watched through the window as he raised a glass of beer to his lips, then carefully aimed a rifle and fired, shattering the glass, but leaving her husband unscathed.

JUNE

Life of the Party. In Chicago, Bank Robber Samuel Hochstetler confided to FBI agents that in six weeks he had spent $5,000 of the $31,000 loot for dancing lessons, had already mastered the fox trot, the waltz, the rumba, the mambo, the tango and the samba.

JULY

Civil Liberties. In Baltimore, after police had arrested 100 people in a raid on a strip joint, Magistrate William Laukaitis threw the case out of court, announced: The fact that a male applauds a female for taking off her clothes does not constitute disorderly conduct."

AUGUST

Upstaged. In New London, Conn., Walter Mamonis explained to doctors that after he had caught a shark in Long Island Sound, beached it, hung it on a hoist and struck a traditional fisherman's pose beside it, the shark bit his hand.

SEPTEMBER

Constitutional. In Lewisburg, Ohio, John F. Lock won a 52-year battle to get his rural mailbox moved 1,056 ft. nearer his home after he proved that he had already walked 6,250 miles to pick up his mail.

OCTOBER

Helping Hand. In Los Angeles, Singer Shiela Buelow, 22, won a divorce from husband Richard after testifying that he claimed his dating of other women was done to help her singing career, told her that "to become great in your profession you must be made to suffer, like all fine artists have to do."

NOVEMBER

Short Change. In Camden, N.J., U.S. Internal Revenue Service Auditor Elmer T. Ponto, 34, devised a simplified income-tax table which has already saved the Government $95,199 and is expected to save $250,000 annually, was rewarded with a $675 cash prize, less $121.50 tax, which added enough to his year's income to throw him into a higher tax bracket.

DECEMBER

Reserve. In Oxford, England, James Adams, lying in bed in a hotel reading, glanced up when the door opened, watched without comment as John Grady, wearing only a shirt, raced across the room and disappeared through the open window to his death, later explained at the inquest: "I just stayed in bed until the police came. It was nothing to do with me."

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