Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-23
90

p" ERBERT KELCEY, who is a ia
miliar figure about the streets
these days, looks about 80 years
of age, but 1t would not require very
deep delving into theatrical history to
find that he registers about twenty
years more than the surface indicates.
1t Is due to a lifetime devoted to mild
forms OF athletics and strict dieting.
That is it Is strict some of the time,
but 1t Is not strict when Mr. Kelcey
devotes several summer months to ly-
ing in hammocks and listening to the
sleepy soughing of the breezes in the
trees He usually goes up about
twenty-five pounds in weight at that
season and begins to look so years Of
age. Then comes much exercise, very
light diet and an athletic regime which
pulls him down into the leading man
class again. Though the public does
not realize it, it is probable that the
average actor leads a more strictly
correct life in a hygienic way than a
member of any other calling.
Frederick Gebhards name in connec-
ton with the fact that he is dying
bankrupt In health and fortune brings
up an echo of the past. His was for
two hectic years the most widely
printed name in America. This was
when Mr. Gebhard, a young society
man of distinguished appearance, was
devoting himself to Mrs. Langtry, then
the most sensational parsonage in the
world. After a few years, like many
of Lily's admirers, he retired broken
in fame, health and fortune and now
comes the report OF his fatal illness
He lost his social position. married a
chorus girl and gradually descended
the scale as many another spendthrift
has done. The story is an old one, but
apparently it carried no warning. Mrs.
Langtry is In her usual good health.
A man who had an interview with
Secretary Knox in Washington q week
ago, insists that Knox is the smallest
human being on earth. This Is prob
ably an exaggerated view to take be-
cause both of Mr.. KnoX's sons are eX-
tremely diminutive, but the secretary
of state is unquestionably a remark
ably small man in everything but men
tai equipment. Exactly how he looms
so large In photographs is a mystery
which only the photographer can ex-
plain. The secretary's personal dignity
is enormous. He is the only figure in
public life in Washington whom the
correspondents never treat fiippantly.
He Is also oddly inconspicuous and re-
tiring in his daily life so that very few
people have seen him, despite his great
political prominence. Taft and Knox
in the course Of heated discussion, if
they both happen to be standing,
should afford a spectacle for the gods.
II anybody cares about it. and 1t
is very doubtful that anybody does,
DR.. A. T. Clay of the Uni
versity Of Pennsylvania, who recently
accepted a call to the chair of As
syriology at Yale. has issued cali
to Dr. Herman V. Hilprect. DR.. Hill
prect claims that he has discovered in
the ruins of the Temple library at
Nippur "deluge tablet" which must
mean that it was written about the
time of the flood, presumably love
letter from one of the sons of Noah
to the daughter of a neighbor Dr.
Clay asserts that DIR. Hilprect is de-
lusioned about mis- find or that he has
not found any tablet at all. Prof. Hill
prect presents arguments to show that
the fragment was written before the
reign of Rim-Sin. or between 2l31 and
zoos r. G. DIR. Clay refutes all of the
arguments. The probable outcome OF
the controversy will be that-but who
Is going to sit up at night waiting for
the outcome of the controversy when