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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
