Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-07-14
Our New Building-Eish. Stories and All Full

ally from stage to topmost gallery. Start
| ing from the stage and extending to the
balcony are two tiers of seats which break
into five tiers, as the circle stretches 165
| feet In the distance
The stage, 46xS3 feet, is known as one of
the most perfectly equipped in the United
| States
One of the wonders of the Auditorium is
| the $50, 900 organ of 5000 pipes and seventy
| eight speeding stops concealed behind the
! proscenium arch The swell blinds are
worked by electric engines and the uni
: versal air chest system give a five, ten
and fifteen-inch pressure. The smallest
pipe is smaller than lead pencil and has
a diameter of three-sixteenths of an inch,
and the largest pipe is thirty-two feet
long, with diameter of twenty inches.
| Well modelled life size figures, 1.-THE and
graceful. ornament the proscenium boxes;
conventional designs are employed in bal
| cony and galleries
| In the dome around the skylight cream
tints deepening into sunlit yellows are laid
behind spider web of gliding.
Style of His Mind
Bob Burdettes life reads like romance
of kings. Fifteen years ago he was
| space writer" on the Brooklyn Eagle. he
tells me; and on my own responsibility I
add that today he is uncrowned king
among his people.
was one of 5000 who last Sunday heard
Bob's sermon called 1.-THE Lilies of Life"
| a graceful thing, filled with poetry
Bob Burdette's way of building sermons
reminds me of the story that never ends,
just a string of pretty, pleasant thoughts
strung seemingly without arrangement
He just told lot of stories; OH about
almost anything; and the lilies of life'
were good deeds done by stealth, in hos
pitfalls, prisons and other dark places. Ac-
cording to Bob, spirituality is service, not
sentiment. He ended by reciting a few
stanzas about the man who lived In the
} house by the side of lifes long, dusty
highway, and offered the cup of cold wa
ter to the passing pilgrims.
l thought his wit little too refined for
human natures daily food in newspapers.
His people, after the sermon, crowded the
aisles and shook his hand cordially.
In his study with its pale shades of old
cerulean blue. Bob, in his fine black coat.
looked the picture of an English gentle
man of leisure; his correct frock was de-
signed for the parade on Fifth avenue;
his fine manners would grace a French
salon; his pleasant ways would win a
stranger. Everything around him was
fresh, new and costly. What contrast
between his present luxurious surround
) ings and the days when he was writing
funny" stuff In Illinois, in that earlier
day! I mentioned 1t to him and he
smiled.
4 quite different DR.. Burdette"
Yes; not quite the same
Excuse me for not calling you doctor.
I'd rather call you Bob today. 1t seems
more natural. Have you a hankering to
go back to the grind?"
You know, q man who once gets ink
on his thumb is never able to get 1t of,
he said slowly. I always like to see the
newspaper boys, and 1 often think I'll
go back to the turn In the road; but it's
fifteen years since I was of the fra
ternity."
\ Calls Roll Of Old Guard
!, "Can you call the roll of the old guard,
DR., Burdette?'
There was D. r. Locke, Nasty of the
Toledo Blade and r. H. Newell, the
original Carnegie who satirized generals
! of the war, and oh, many other keen
writer's who in their generation used to
set the country in a roar.
"It may be, though" said Bob, inter-
rupting himself, that men laughed
easier in those days. They had time to
} laugh They took time"
Burdette, with touch of his ever
ready philosophy, went on: perhaps we
immersed in business. Yes. many of us
today have almost forgotten how to
smile. Is it not true?"
He tapped his pen on the mahogany
table and heaved a slight sigh.
'T knew them ALL" he continued.
! There was j. M. Bailey known as the
'Danbury News man., who, I think, may
+ be called the creator of our acrobatic
style of humor. He originated the jokes
about the omnivorous appetite of the
goat, the lovers and the fathers boot,
and all that sort of thing; and G. Il.
, Lewis of the Detroit Free Press broad
ened the style to include the world or
everyday life; and the harder M. Quad
made the stovepipe fall, as the man bal
anced on a ladder tried to fit the rusty
ends, the louder the public would laugh.
! Mr.. Lewis is writing yet 1 see. What
tons of paper stuff he has turned Quit
. On the whole, I think he is genuine
philosopher the creator OF more news
. paper characters than any other dozen
funny men, 1 believe. To my mind ne
has not achieved all the reputation that
belongs to him. 'Bijah. Brother Gard
g ner.' Carl Dunder' MIR. Bowser' and the
editor of the Arizona Kicker are genu-
T inc creations and should live in American
u literature.
"Then there was Ten Eyck White of the
Chicago Tribune, who wrote mock tragic
. stuff about Gwendolin M. Honey, the
I rich pork packers daughter. There was
: Charley Hoyt, who did his weekly runny
s column on the Boston Post, and Eugene
s Field-grinding away as Denver re-
. porter-and Bill Nye. turning out classic
8 sidesplittinR stuff, from Laramie. OF
e course. we all remember Bret Harte, who
: has passed into history, and Mark Twain,
g who has become an International charac-
: ter And Of the earlier days many will
e recall Henry, Clapp. known as Pfaff king
t of bohemians who, with William Winter
d and other gay spirits, held court in a
= broadway beer cellar and provided satir-