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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1930)
Out Our Way By William* - -.""N> WELL, OF ALL NO-THAT-S AN \ | TH — IP THEV INDIVIDUAL At NT <G\TTn PIP AT) n’ plant, MECHANICAL HES GoT All TH* MEN T' POM ELECTRIC LIGHT - Tp\- Th' —well BulBS in The . < • _ ViCiniTv UnOER / Hi'S Clothed. 4 !Ca O S. PAT. OTF. hctt ^>pon& . 01*30 BV NE» SCWVICg. INC. J j In New York The New Year Begins Badly for Broadway—Theaters Are Closing and Actors and Chorus Girls Are Out of Work New York—This is not a happy new year for the lane where the lights burn long and late. Those famous bulbs seem to have taken a sock in the socket. They’re beginning to blink a bit. With the holiday entertainment season at its peak, 20 of the lead ing theaters are as dark as a Har lem cabaret floor show. More than 100 plays lie gathering the dust of the stage storehouse, and “the road ’ —which in days agone could be de pended upon—has been just as bad. Even Otis Skinner, who once could draw entire countrysides into the theater, was dropped in the midst of his tour by Gilbert Miller, his manager. Only Ethel Barrymore and the Theater Guild productions have survived the rigors of the road. Thousands of musicians stand out of work and desperate, thanks to the inroads of the talking pictures which brought about the abandon ment of scores of theater orchestras. And on “music corner,” a spot in the Forties where the jazz banditti gather while looking for work, the crowds grow, and saxophone play ers look about for some new form of Jivelihood. Chorines are casting their eyes on Hollywood and Holly wood is casting its eyes on Broad way. The scarcity of music shows on the big street amounts almost to a famine. And three of the most suc cessful have not depended upon the Broadway girlies. “Bitter Sweet” has a London company. So has “Wake Up and Dream.” While "Fifty Million Frenchmen” turned to the cinema cuties and brought its chorus out from the Golden West Such conditions put chorus lobs at a premium. The gilded girl ies are turning to floor shows of floundering cabarets and to model ing lor the Filth avenue style em poriums. Whenever such dismal moments are at hand, I find myself turning to a department in Bill board, the publication of the show world, and read of the ups and downs of the nation’s pitchmen. A pitchman, I assume you know, Is one of those itinerant gents who appear on street corners and in doorways and windows selling cheap fountain pens, gadgets for threading needles and dinguses that sharpen razor blades. They put on a quick sidewalk spiel and seek to spellbind the passing crowd. They are, in some instances, real artists In crowd psychology. One learns, for instance, that Richmond, Va., charges $2 a day for “pitch corners” and that “this is a good Saturday spot." That “Oklahoma is bad land for pitch men in all lines. Many of the good towns of former* years are closed and biz in open towns is dull.” One can also learn about medi cine shows and Indian herb doctors —In fact- many interesting survivals bf a passing day.^ Speaking of pitch stunts, the ‘words and music” racket has re appeared in the Broadway belt. It's just the same as It used to be in those dear old days when we paid 10, 20 and 30 for seats at the “opry house” and the kids came down the aisles between the acts shouting, ‘words and music to all tire songs—” When you bought the pamphlets you found a lot of words and no tnusic. During the holidays scores of youngsters were to be heard upon metropolitan corners, chanting— Sing ’em all—here y'are. . . . ‘The Face on the Barroom Floor,’ ‘Gun ga Din,’ ’Dangerous Dan McGrew’ and ‘Down in the Lehigh Valley.’ . . . Sing ere and recite ’em.” Can this be New York . . . and Hole-in-Corner Diplomacy. From Baltimore Sun. The United States government has strained its idea of the proprieties far enough to consent to permit the secretary of the interior “unofficial ly” to ask the Soviet government to search for Ben Eielson and Carl Borland, American aviators lost in Siberia. Eiison and Borland disap peared while trying to rescue the crew of an ice-bound vessel, so com mon decency requires that every possible effort be made in their be half. So another rather absurd incident la added to the numerous absurd! in the year . . . let’s see . . . 1930, isn’t it? At any rate, a Happy New Year I Gilbert Swan. New York—What’s new in New York—George M. Cohap, the "grand old man" of the theater, has sold himself "down the river” to the talkies. . . . When he hits westward for Hollywood, it will be one of the few occasions when “the Yankee Doodle boy” found himself more than 45 minutes from Broadway. . . He’ll be connected with United Artists. . . . Incidentally, it has been a dream of Cohan's life to make a trip back to dear old Ireland. And Louis Bromfeld, the Pulitzer prize winning author, will not go to southern France, as usual, this win ter, but will appear on Samuel Goldwyn’s lot as a chatter scrib bler. . . . Irving Berlin is heading for a director's job in the babbling celluloids. . . . And speaking of such matters, Will Hays has frowned at such front page goings on ns recent ly involved the names of Clara Bow and Harry Richman. . . . It’s also said that he’s urged the dialogue writers not to repeat the sort of pat ter which found its way into "The Cock-Eyed World.” * • • Gladys Glad, one of the most glorified of the Zietrfeld girlies, who married Mark Hellinger. the col umnist, last summer, will become beauty expert for a New York tab loid. The "all-American” dance lead ers, as selected by the Dance Maga zine, are Harriet Hoctor, premier ballerina; Clifton Webb, best eccen tric; Ruby Keeler, best of the girl tap dancers; Bill Robinson, male tap; Jack Whiting, best juvenile; Evelyn Laye, best ingenue dancer. Eddie Cantor, best comic; Inez Courtney, best comedienne and Vio let Carlson, best female eccentric. Billie Burke, who used to line the ticket seekers up for blocks, hit an other unhappy show and closed witlan a week. . . . The theatrical batting average for the season thus far is now about 80 per cent flop. .... Even Otis Skinner, Will Far num, William Faversham and sim ilar old favorites have failed to draw. . . . Skinner, they say, will be among the Eollywood-bound, ere lone. Someone has discovered that the late M. Clemenceau once made his residence when in New York at a snot now occupied by Loew’s Sheri <mfi Square theater and a memorial plaque will be placed upon the the I ater building. . . . Clemenceau was | a political exile when he took up I his habitat there years and years ago. . . . Carmen Lee Barnes, the i youngster whose novel. “Schoolgirl,” i caused her to be ousted from a very I private girl’s school, is hoping to crash the Broadway stage, the while she works on magazine pieces and a second novel . . .Ethel Waters, who was the ’ wow’’ of Harlem ring ers hasn’t been able to crack dear old London’s “reserve,” so they say. Jimy Hussey, the well known comic, finally had to go to the hills for his health. . . . Like most ac tors, he fought the prospect and even defied friends who tried to get him to a doctor’s office. Those Hollywood beach barbecues have made their appearance in the swanky Long Island sector as cold night bonfire feeds. . . . Estelle Taylor drops a note that she’s given up her struggle with the now fa mous Hollywood diet. . . . And the Christmas card of Irene Franklin, that grand vaudeville trouper who is now anchored here in "Sweet Adeline,” gave me more laughs than did “The Specialist.”. . . . It’s a tiny booklet, recounting the adventures of herself and husband during a pre-season vacation in Canada. . . . Among other things, she describes those vegetable side dishes served in country hotels as ‘“bird seed bowls containing certain samples.” ties that have marked our relations with Russia recently. When the Kellogg treaty was pre sented to Russia the French had to lend us an ambassador, which was a bit ridiculous. When the Soviet fliers landed In Seattle they were given a tremen dous welcome by the plain people, and there was a dreadful moment when officials feared they might come to Washington—a danger which required some frantic and funny wirepulling ere it was staved off. When we undertook to act as ar biter of the oriant in the matter of the Russo-Chinese war ta Man Actresses Given Fine Dresses to Serve as Decoys New York—Even one of the most widely known American costume de signers has arisen to protest the long-skirted, corseted styles for wo men now being introduced as a merice to “the health, comfort and charm of half of our population.” The designer is Ethel Traphagen, who has won distinction as artist, author and lecturer as well. “Women are being enslaved by organized commercial propaganda— against their wills,” she declares in an article appearing in the Decem ber issue of the North American Review. “One society women I know haa been given two dozen dresses by a French modiste on condition thal she wear them. Actresses and mo vie stars and needy aristocrats ar« being used in this same way to turn the mass of women into sheep But they can yet save themselves if they will show ordinary courage and independence. The issue is be tween American women—with mast men as their allies—and the French fashion factory.” “Make Women Look Older” This, according to Miss Trapha g**\ is howT the current Tadica) change in styles came about: “A gang of cold-blooded business men met to decide what the women of Christendom should wear during the coming season. They are the compelling forces, the voices that harken to the silk mill owners who howl that short skirts are decreas ing their yardage ruinously: the de signers shrieking that unless a rad ical change is effected they will starve: merchants short-sightedly demanding different and more ex pensive styles to sell. No man, among them asked w?hat women want—what art wants. Obviously, since the demand of thie mills is for quantity, the thing to do was to pile goods on woman’s back.” But Miss Traphagen is dubious about the success of the style rev olution in many respects and for many reasons. To merchants and textile makers she points out that while the stvlhs mean more goods to a gown they are likely to mean fewer gowns to a customer, since the average woman’s budget remains th« nme while dresses become more costly. Ann inc.se long dresses ao mane women look older; they themselves will be the first to perceive it. and when they do they may revolt," her North American Review article con tinues. "Thirdlv, the things proposed by France clash utterly with modern customs—tot-wit the bedraggled rags that so readily catch in street cars, automobiles, doors or on fur niture. Why should we permit our selves to be dragged back to the stu pidity of the past?’’ O. What is meant by a phantom circuit? T. B. A. It is the name given to the scheme which permits a telephonic ta'klng current to be sunerimposed . on two na'rs of wires, each of which i simultaneously transmits a telep 1 bonic conversation. Tire third, or j phantom circuit, is obtained by con necting the two pairs of wirps in a particular way. After It Is properly arranged, three separate, n*,n- lter foring conversations may be carried at the same time. - ■ — —♦ ♦ ---— Q. Are cannibals to be found anywhere in South America? W. W. L. A. Cannibal tribes r*"'r till in ex istence in the jungles of the central parts of South America, particularly in the Amazon br in in Brazil. churia the French had to ' l us an ambassador again, and the am bassador received a harp rebuff, which, since it was intended for tne I United States, probab, a lused h- l | greatly. Now, In order to save the ves of two heroic Americans, our gov ernment must once more appre eh a government whose existence it will not recognize This tune it acts through a news agency. This hole-in- • method of dealing may be . effective hut hardly anyone will maintain that it j adds 4-0 the dignity of the gnvem seat of tbe Vailed _state* On the Threshold of Death The plane which Pilot Robert Black, of Westbury, Long Island, and Student Flier Ray Rothman, of Hempstead, brought to a safe landing after gliding a thousand feet. They were flying over tlM Long Island Aviation Country Club when flames enveloped the plane. From that height they brought the ship to a landing at Roosevelt Field, six miles away, escaping serious injuries. Both men leaped from cockpit in time to escape explosion of gat tank. (International Newaraat Babe's Daughter's Fortune Vanishes Little Dorothy Ruth, daughter of the famous Babe Ruth and his late wife, the first Mrs. Babe Ruth, who will get much less than the $50,000 supposedly left in the safety deposit box. When agents of the executors opened the vault they found only $3,000 in valu ables there. Officials are at a loss to determine how the estate shrank to such meagre proportions. The entire estate was willed by Mrs. Ruth to ths child. t (Internationa) Newereel) Snow Holds no Terrors for Her Miss Helen Pending, of Baltimore, proves that she is not afraid of the snow, even though she does live below the Ma son-Dixon line, by sitting in it while lacing on her skates. Miss Pending is enjoying the Winter sports at Lake Placid, N. Y., while on her Christmas vacation. ' ' W r!R v U<«%• r Casting an “Eagle Eye” Over the Controls 1—Bwrrgiriwm urn* "nm i1 -TVfc■«*««««> «■>» J* < tm Mrtmiwnw * ... ' CoL Charles Lindbergh gives the controls of his i plane a last-minute once over before he and his wife take off at Curtiss Field for their inspection tour 'over the air-mail route of the Transcontinental Air Transport on which they inaugurated passenger service last July. International NowsroetJ | Too Young for Alimony, Judge Rules _ Judge Joseph 1 Sabath, of Chi- | cago, decided | that Ethel Car- 1 roll, IS, shown f in picture, who presented a pe tition asking ? in ainte nance f and a little f money to live ? 1 on, is too % young to be re- | ceiving ali mony. (In1, rnattnna) so I Heads International Marriage Agency —i |.w^’iwwi'.aniw'!n!iwpt Mts. Elsie Weisart, Los Angele*. has been indicted by the Federal grand jury as the alleged head of an "international” fraudulent marriage agency. The technical charge lodged against her is that of using the mails in a swindling scheme. Scores of middle-aged Germans, for the most part ranchers and cattlemen, are said to have been victimized in tlur "mail order” marriage plot. (Intarnfcllf'MU MivMt