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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1922)
7 The World Outside By Harold MacCrath Tim SUNT) AT BEE: OMAHA", AUGUST 27, 1922. hiied. Hut Oil I' nk in the am ba.sdot't uii. ,, ,' "Where?" The Shadow once niort recount ed the comedy. Hillmau roared with laughter. "(k) ahead," said The Shadow, sarcastically, "get I lie ha-ha oti ytntr chest, hut watch jour step if he comet to interview you. He pasted nic in the lobby little while before you came. He had nil a drest suit and looked at if he had been born to it. Now, when I get into those glad rags, 1 )Hik like a waiter or a chorummn. Hut what't the big game? Why the Oral Adventure company?" "Hanged it 1 know?" answered Bellman . . . "or cart." At the time Bancroft entered tbe theater, Nancy Bowman at in her dressing room, wailing 'or hrr call. She heard the volley of laughter in reply to tome witty or tupposcdly witty lines ut tered by the popular light opera comedian. I. mg Foo dozed in her lap, and Nancy wat absently drawing hrr fingrrt through the double ruff that reached , below hi thouldert. "What'a the matter with me, Ling l oot Why should I hate it. when it meant bread and butter, clothri and rent all winter? I ought to he grateful for my luck. 1 wonder how I do it go out there and dance, and aing, laugh and nuke a fool of myself, when all the time my toul it in rebellion?" How many time had she been tempted to match off the co median's wig and hurl it into the audience I Hut the reaction to thii thought tupprcssed merri ment; for it ii easy to create an image of the icene that would naturally follow inch an act. She wan in luck. The mad adventure of the preceding night had not im paired her voice in the leant. Iiut how she hated it out there I Ling Foo hated it. too; these wailing founds that tortured his ears and his stuffy box he had to remain in for three 'hours every night. He hated leashes and loved park gran, and knew that he had too much of one and not enough of the other; and besides, he was never allowed to bark at home or romp through the halls. It was a hard world for a puppy . to live in. There came a knock on the door. "All ready, Miss Bowman I" She leashed the dog to the drvss rr, gave her hair a pat, and went forth to drudgery. The moment she was on the stage, it seemed to her that her soul returned to the dress ing room and left a rollicking auto maton down center. Perhaps this very lack of self-consciousness made her the success she w.as. No doubt it may appear incred ible that a young woman who had lifted a mediocre part into a New York triumph should not be aware of her success; but nevertheless Nancy was not aware of it in the sense she should have been. The moment she appeared there was hut one notion in her head to do the work she was paid to do, as swiftly and correctly as possible, t 1 1 1 mi nurry nomc. ncr presence was electrical, put a snap into the lines and actions and all because she was in a hurry to be gone I It is doubtful if she comprehended the nightly ripple of applause as she made her first appearance. All her energies were riveted upon the immediate object of thought to get through and go home. All her real ambition was direct ed toward another goal, and the present, one of those inescapable make-shifts which attack all life lines. Her satisfaction began and ended with the knowledge that the manager liked her work. That sTie had become part of the town's talk she missed entirely. But it is true that we miss many sounds by attun ing the ear to one particular sound. Another girl with the cynical wis dom of the theater in her veins would have seized upon this oppor tunity and become the rage of the town, demanded five hundred a week, maids, motors, and got them; written interviews, had a thousand photos taken, got into advertising pages of the illustrated magazine, the electric signs, and whatnots. Nancy saw only a financial bridge across the winter to spring. In the wings stood two men, dis cussing her. They were in evening dress. One was elderly, with an animated Semitic cast of counte nance. Hit companion was in the thirties, with a handsome highbred face, slightly touched with certain marks of dissipation. There was in hit blue eyet an expression which, defined, might have said: I have seen everything and found nothing. "Nineteen thousand last week. For an angel, you're going to do pretty well, Crlg "It hs given me a deal of amuse nsent, Mnnv, to watch the thing grow. Oh, It's a hit) but that pM out there has turned the trick. Didn't you notice last night that hrr understudy wasn't received with any particular warmth?" "Vet. Funny, you never ran tell where the lightning it going, to strike. Nobody dreamed the art would stand nut like this." "Nobody .but this girl would have nude it stand out. How much are you giving her?" "Sevriily-five." " J hat won't do, lit tler make il two-fifty." "Craig. I would if I dared." 'What do yoy mean by that, Mannheim?" "She wouldn't understand that it wat due to merit. She'd instantly jump to the conclusion that I had ulterior designs. I've been in tint business all my life, but I can't make out this one. Never any questions about how her under study pulled through last niuht. Another girl would have been worried stilf. Jenny Malloy brings her to 111 out of nowhere; and she slept rise lit out of the chorus into this. Jenny says there never wat any affair; to it isn't from being scotrhed that she is shy. No; I'm afraid to offer it. She might boll." Craig made an affirmative ges ture. "You've hit it. She doesn't understand me, either; and if I pressed forward, like as not she'd do as you say, bolt." "Wouldn't that jar you? She1 can't be made to see that she is the hit of the show, Ever hear of anything like that before in this old town? Hut she's a good girl, Craig," the manager added soberly. "Don't I know it? Hut she no more belongs in this environment than I do. The stage isn't in her, and I always watch her with the greatest bewilderment. What 1 mean is. the is without ambition in this line. She sings -as if she resented the music, as an educated musician would resent it. And yet, observe her I She js as joyous as . thistledown in the wind. Better give her a hundred. Just slip it into her envelope and say nothing." "I can do that. Has she got you, old-timer?" . "''n, fol. I suppose; but she has. set I've never been able to get her out to tea or dinner or sup per. She won't even take my car home, myself out of it." ."Well, it't a safe bet that she ridet in nobody else's." "I wish I knew on which side to take her.' "She may have whiffed vour breath, and is afraid of you Why don't you cut it out?" 'Why should 1? It's the only amusement I have left." "That's bunk. You with all the money in the world and name at old as the island I Maybe I can help you." "Don't you meddle, or you'll lose her." 'How bad have you got it?" "Bad enough to marry her after the performance if she'd have me. But there you are! I can't tell her that without letting her get ac quainted with me; and she's as far off as the Pole." The manager whistled softly. The woman-hater, eh? Arthur Craig, who went evervwhere and with everybody, and all the while just as aloof as this girl was I Funny old burg; it had written down this man as one of its wild est blades; and Craig hadn't kissed a woman since the death of his wife. Excitements; the night life, because it deadened thought; lights and music and forbidden drink be cause, for a few hours, these served as a barrier to introspective thought. And that girl yonder had put life into his heart again. "Why don't you enlist Jenny? She's square and a good sport. They live in the same house, and are the best of friends." "Jenny is on my side, but she hasn't been able to make any headway. That's the devil of it. The girl has built a Chinese wall around herself." "Supposing I drop a hint that you're the silent partner?" "No. She would begin to dis trust you, then. Jenny't going to give a party soon, some night after the show. Coffee and lemonade; and then I'll have a chance to con vince Miss Bowman that I'm not as bad as I'm painted. She won't be afraid of me in a room full. If I only knew what her ambition is, I micht strike from that direction." "While there's life there't hope. You gave her that Teke, didn't you?" "Yet" "Well, she't keeping it, isn't she?" "Yes; but I wonder why." The orchestra crashed the open ing bars of the finale; and the two men retired to the stage office. It wat 11:45 when Nancy wiped the last vestige of grease-paint front her face. An unusual num ber of encores had carried the op eretta beyond tl o'clock. She set tbe dressing table in order and hung up her motley. At leait tM wat thankful to have thit loom alone to herself: and there wire In terval! when the tould romp with Ling Foo, At the wore the same costume throughout the perform ance, a maid fioni the chorus dressing room gave 10 minutes of her time each night during the overture; and that was all the as sistance Nancy required. The innkeeper'l daughter when all her soul cried for the blonde wig of Marguerite! Mediocre mu sic and lyrics so fillrd with conso nants thai half (he time the had to hist! Well, it wt seventy-five a week, and that meant the could continue her lemons in music and French and Italian and devote Imurt each day to ttudy. And they wondered why the refused to tpend half the night in smoke la den restaurants; unearthly hours and unhealthy food! She had a goal, and nothing should stand in her way; the would htve hrr good timet when that goal wat reached., She wat but twenty. At the dressed, her thoughts re verted to the happenings of yes terday. Daddy Bowman wat gone; the wtt alt alone. Already the wat beginning to drrtd Thankt givinsr and Christmas, thoitKh she would be busy enough with two performances; but in the morn ing and when she returned at night I She was sorry now that she had not been a little more amiable to that kindly young countryman. No courtier out of book could have Ik en more courteous. Well, that wat ife to come and go and for get. Within a - fortnight Daddy Bowman would become a memory and the young man absolutely for gotten. Always Daddy Bowman had plucked at one tiring, "Steer clear of men who touch strong drink. They are never td be trusted. Steer clear of men on general principles, but particularly those that drink. Alwayt remember the goal you have set out to reach, and let noth ing Interfere." She had obeyed those instruction!.; but in so doing she had been mostly lonely, "Come, Ling Foo; it't past our bedtime." She wrapped the puppy to enug ly in his little plaid blanket that only hit bright eyet and yet little -nose were visible, and started for the door; upon which came knock, brisk and authoritative. Nancy recognized it. and-frowned. "Come in, Jenny, the called. The door was flung open, and a handsome, shapely young woman in the middle twrntiet paused on the threshold. If an artist, In search of a model to pose at Mis chief, had come upon Jenny Mal ley at this moment, he would have gone no further. There was mis chief in the poise of her blonde head; mischief lit her blue eyet and put a quirk to her lips; but it was the mischief of the gamin, without evil. Jenny Malloy was a product of the great city, of the most prodigal and wasteful and careless city on earth; an overgrown child of a city morally and intellectually weak, yet wonderful to behold. In her youth Jenny's playground had been the gutters; now her play-, ground was the night life, the end less circle of restaurants and cabarets. Nancy was of that un happy breed who are forever quest ing Holy Grails, and bruising and losing themselves in metaphysical swamps. - Jenny's horizon was bounded by crabmeat and lobsters. She was shrewd, cynical,' slangy and honest. She was irj constant demand because she was good fun; but she was a rough fencer, if a man took up the wrong foil with her. She was as wary and as chaste as Diana, and her pathway was strewn with a certain caliber of Actaeons. She mothered the green chorus girl into self-reliance; and loved Nancy Bowman with all her heart, and understood her not at all. "Kid, how about some grand eats?" she said. "Wild duck an' apple sauce, an' all that? Good scouts, no rah-rah boys;- friends o' mine. With a little fox-trottin' on th' side. How about it?" "I'm sorry, Jenny, hut I'm in no mood for it tonight." "That's why I ask you. You'll go home an' mope; an it won't do you a bit o' good." "Besides, 1 don't know your friends." "For th' love o' Mike I I know 'em, don't 1? Ain't that enough? If you was a prude I wouldn't bother you; but you're reg'lar when you warm up. What you need, inorc'n anythin' else, is a night out. I been watchin' you. You're goin' t' mope yourself out of a fine Job, believe me, Aloysiutt He alive for once I forget th' future lor a coupla hourt, I never nick 'em dead; but ' I never pick cm fresh, either. Come on. We'll lake turns holdiii' th' pup. Fh, Ling, old tpoit? An you II got borne at dry at thit Sahara dump they cl Ntw York, Com on; we're dead long time, to they tell w. "1'lease, Jenny, dear! I'd only be a kill joy. Fte a lesscm, too, at V in I he morning." "Listen, kid, we've roosted neat door f each other for two teart now. Have you ever found that I pulled anythin' that wa.n't straight, or introduced you I' any one who wasn't reg'lar?' "No, Jenny, But we've gone over this to often I It't the way l irt made. I don't enjoy these false good timet, and I'm never hungry enough to accept airange man's attrnuont in exchange for lobster. ,1 canV enjoy myself with atrangrrt." "Gee if that ain't the limit I How do you come t' know folkt if you don't meet 'em for th' first time?" lenny closed the door resolutely. "Nancy, I'm gum' t slip you some, thin' for your own good. You've gone big; you're on th' way t' th' light!, if oii'y I can wise you up. Here I am, six yrart at il, an' still with th' merry villagers; an' here you are, th' hit o' th' show. You sing like a bird, an dance like Pavlova. An' yet, th' way you're goin', Nancy George W. Bowman i. "i ..' ,i. , NllUfl. Til, III Wy J WW - k.'3lr. r.,.rr W li.min will never get ml th signs. VMiyl Because you ain't never in anythin1 you do; you're a thousand unlet in th' air all th.' time. You ain't in your partt. But you're to darned clever you ve nunriamnied every body but me.' "Jenny I" alarmed lest tome one might overhear, "Let me get if off my chest. You've got that flooey grand 0era bug in your bonnet. Fat chancel Have you got a cattiron body, a heart as tender as tripe, an' a firima-donna for a friend? You lave not, You've got as much chance of tingiu' in Is Metropoli tan at I have o' pullin' F.thrl Bar rymnre'a job away from her." "Why. Jenny I" "You keep still! I'm goin' through with this, you ve made this show, You don't realize that here it your game. How you do if, Lord knows, with your mind elsewhere. So if you really got in you'd be haulin', down seven or eight hundred a week next season, your name on th' tigns, an' all that. You don't give th' press agent a hairpin t' go by; you leave him flat. You take seventy-five, when you ought t' be pullin' down three timet at much. An' tomorrow mornin' you'll he spoilin' my beauty sleep with th' jewel tong from 'Faust.' Gee, if I could on'y wake you up t' th' fact that this is your game! An' it't apple pic for you. .If you can do at you do without wantin' to, think of what you could do if you'd wake up. . . . Don't interrupt me I I'm never goin' to' say anythin' again; I'm goin' T finish th' tolo now," Nancy's expression was one of bewildered indignation. Jenny went on. "You never go out anywhere; you never have any fun. I've asked you t' go wth me 1,000 timet. Work, work, work . all for somethin you ain't sure ofl I knew you'd turn me down t' night as usual; but I had t' get this oft my chest. How about that pup? You keep it, but you won't pay for it. Much as th' girls like vou, they're talkin' about that Pckc, You ain't playin' the game, buddy. All Mr. Craig wants is th' privileKe o' visitin' with you once in awhile nothin' worse 'n tea. He wants t' be your friend. Why do you hate him?" "I don't hate him, Jenny," said Nancy, wearily. "Are you afraid o' him?" "I don't know." "It it' because he gets a mild souse once in a while? Then for get it. He's alwayt a gentleman. He's no rounder, though those who don't know him think so. You know th' story. His wife ran away with another man, an' they was both killed that same night in an auto smash. An' now he goes around tryin' t' forget. He wants your friendship because you're dif ferent. He doesn't want my friendship; an' if he was a rounder. I'd he his style." Naney's arm tightened around Ling lJoo. A trap; she had fallen into a trap. If she had sent back the dog the first day, she would not now be in this cul de tac. The clemess of the man. and the patience of him! He had not said a word or written. He had sent the dog to her when, by some in fernal instinct, he had known that her spirit would be at its nadir. Jenny was right. She hadn't played the game. Either she must return Ling Foo or meet the man's advanert half way, "What I'm trym' t' get int" your dome it, that you're titin on top o' th' world: but you've got t dig in t' hang there. You're no fool; you can take care of yourself. You don't have t' wabble t' get your name in th" lights. Wake up out o' the grand opera trance; here's your meal ticket. Mamihcim't a white man, an' he'll give you fair play.1 "I'm terry you're angry, Jenny." "Angry? W hy you poor kid! It't hecausa I hive you better than any body in th' world; an' il biiiis me all up t' see you try fr what ) i can't get an' let slide th' thmg "i cant 1 lul't my grouch." "It Mr. Craig in your paity to night?" . "No," "It he In the llualei?" "He was." 'Do you know where he lists" "Vet." Nancy thrust out Ling Foo, in?" "You mean it?" cried the avion ithed Jenny, "Yes. It will tear me all to iiircrs for a few days; but my fiiriidship isn't something anybody can purchase." Nancy wat while, but icsolule. "Yen poor kid!" Jenny caught her friend in her arms, puppy and all, "You won't have t give, him up. lie stopped me t'night an' said th' pup wat yours without any con ditions; that if he couldn't have your friendship in th' char, he wouldn't offer t' buy it. That's th' kind ol a guy he il. He wont bother you no more." I ..I.I J .1 'He hasn t bothered me, actual ly; only the thought of him;" Nancy began to weep without - M,,on ,he ,,ou,drr b' her r'nf Well, well; th' Lord didnt make no two of ut alike, ture cnouuh. You're a queer piece o' furniture, but I'm for you. But you're tit tin on top o' th' world, if you'll on'y get wise. Your voice it like honey, kid, but there ain't no drama in il. You're fire when you dance; but your voice never gives any one th' thivers, like it ought to, if you're goin' to warble 'Kigolctlo' an' all that. Tliat't the solemn truth, Nancy. 1 don't know, but t hiit's what th' conduc tor tayt, an' he knows. I'm hurt in' you, but I got t' do it. When a tooth achct. vou don't tar 'Naughty, naughty I' you go an have it out biff 1" "I'm a mob, too," said Nancy, finding her voice. ."Forget it. Your poor old Daddy Bowman meant well, but he put a lot o' bunk int' your head about mankind being rotten, when it ain't so worse. There't alwav a coupla wormy chestnuts t' th' pint. Come on out int' th' world. Who knows? Y' might run int' somebody who'd be interested enough t' help you. You can't fight that kind of a game alone, like you're doin'. Get int' thit game, get int' th' lightl, show 'cm you're alive. Next year you go t' th' Metropolitan conductor. Who are you? he tayt coldly. I'm Nancy Bowman, sayt you haught ily. An' he puts a crick in hit back kowtowin', But, oh, lady, this is th' world for you it you'll only tee it. So long. See you in th mornin'." (Continued Nest HuoiUr.) New Orleans will install the au tomatic phone system replacing the present manual system, Kenmore, the home of George Washington's sister, is to be pre served as a national shrine. The recent attempt to scale Mt. Everest, required 50 coolies and 350 yaks to carry climbing mate rials. More than 17,000 school children in Harlem, a borough of New York, populated chiefly by aliens, are addicted to the use of drugs, according to police statistics. The greatest food exhibit ever held in the west began recently at the Field museum in Chicago. Members of the vegetable kingdom present numbered more than 250, 000 items. Sea lions, marauders of salmon, are to be fought by the Canadian government. A patrol steamer left recently from Vancouver, equipped with machine guns to be used against the lions. Radio accessory factories of Can ada are running under pressure, with three shifts for each 24 hours. Conditions prevail similar to that in the days of the war when fa torics were on munition work. A dance hall is being erected in Charing Cross road, London, to accommodate 1,600 dancers and 1.000 spectators. Three bands will furnish mmic and 80 women and 25 men will be engaged to teach (lancing, The Hudson! bay company re cently declared a dividend of S per cent. In itt 25.M year tha company pays dividend amount ing to nearly half its capital stock. Ibis company it one of the oldest 'trading corporations in the world, Argentina beef can lie placed Oit the American market lor 12 cenit a pound with a good hauler. They are killing cattle there for the ul of the hide and the hrt brtf is Silling for 7 Cfnls a pound, Ctiw bring $J in Amriican r"- c ev and ln p "11 for $1 a dot. ,