Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-20
=. Their Married Life =.
Warren Derides the "Fake Amateurs in the Amateur
Night Cabaret.
By MABEL HERBERT URNER.

is all cut and dried. III wager that
fellow who calls EN- off is a sort of
agent who furnishes these people for
The night. That right?" turning to
the waiter who was now serving
| their planked steak.
Yes sir; that's right. He brings
down a whole bunch of EN- every
Thursday night
But he pays them. doesn't hep"
asked Helen. They get something
| besides what's thrown at them"
Il don't know, ma'am. Some of 'em
gets a lot of money on the platform
A girl here last week got a five dollar
bill It's just owing to the crowd
we've got and the way she strikes
EN-. Would you like some chilli sauce
With your steak, sir2"
Then came a girl who played on a
| harmonica, and who, like the singers,
plainly faxed the amateur" After
This the manager announced a recess
of ten minutes The bored looking
musicians left their instruments and
retired to a table back Of the plat
form, where one Of the walters
| brought them some beer
Not Shy.
The place was filling up now. Two
tables had just been put together for
party of eight. The hum of voices,
laughter and cigarette smoke-it was
typical New York restaurant scene.
The intermission over. the must
clans left their empty beer glasses
and came back to their Instruments
Again the manager mounted the
| stage.
He announced a Miss Tessie VIII
| liams' as SOME songbrd"
The diners were now in a more gem
eroLs mood, for as Miss Tessie"
sang her black skirt was pelted with
small coins. Suddenly a dollar bill
| fell at her feet, and she sang more
Justify than ever. She was younger
| than any of the others, and would
have been pretty had il not been for
the hideous black dress, which evil
| IDENTIFY all amateurs must wear.
But there was no shyness nor tim
| idity in her manner to suggest that
| this was her first appearance, for
| when the second dollar bill fell before
her she left the platform and came
down singing among the tables. star
Ing boldly at the men and shrilling
loudly.
She'll want to come here again
uext week, all right" laughed the
manager when he emptied the plate
with the two dollar bills and the
many small coins into her hands. The
girl took it greedily and ran off.
Then a board was placed over the
red -carpeted platform, and "Mr. Will
liam Murphy" a clog dancer" was
announced
oh, that poor old mani" exclaimed
Helen. Surely he's not going to
dance!"
For the man who now came up to
shuttle about on the board was white
| haired and shabby, and his clog dane
| ing was most pathetic. The diners
We're In no mood for SO aged an en-
tertainer, and Helen saw only three
dimes fall on the platform,
oh, dear! DO throw him some
/ thing, I'm sure he doesn't belong to
the others. It's too pathetic. Throw
| him a quarter.
Warren felt in his pocket. Here
| the duarter-do your own throwing
I'm not going to encourage such I'M
becility.V
Helen threw the coin with such bad
aim that it fell on the piano, and at
| first no one seemed to notice ii. Her
| heart sank. He would not get it after
all. But a waiter pointed it out to the
pianist, and it was finally lodged In
| the plate at the old mans feet.
The party of eight, who were drink
| ing freely of champagne and who had
been tossing coins at all the other
singers, had not thrown this poor old
man a cent.
why should they? They came here
to be entertained" declared Warren,
not to have their feelings narrowed
| This is no place for that old piker
And Pm not so sure that he's not
! fake with the rest of them
Very Hard.
At times Warren could be very
hard. He was not uncharitable, but
he resented any unexpected demand
on his sympathies, while Helen was
always emotionally sympathetic Al
ready her imagination was tracing
signs of refinement in this old mans
face. What had brought him to this?
Then she thought of how difficult it
was for an old man to get work. She
knew that the bread lines We're made
up of Just such men. 1t was certain
| ~ better to do a shutting clog dance
| for few cents than to stand in line
| for half loaf Of bread and a cup Of
coffee ....
His dance finished, the old man now
| took the few coins and shuffled off the
platform in a sort of shame-facei
way that made Helen feel that at
| least his act was genuine.
| The next number was pert, up
| pish Unlocking youth of about IT,
with a striped shirt a red necktie and
a sham diamond pin. With his hands
| in his pockets he sang in a horrible
imitation of Harry Lauder. ....-
"Oh, he's AWFUL!" shuddered Hell
en-. as he strutted about with self
! satisfied leer while the diners show
| cred him with coins.
When this youth had depared with
| his money. the manager stepped to
| the front of the platform with final
| announcement:
Ladies and gentlemen, this ends
the amateur performance for this
evening. I thank you for your atten-
ton. We hope to see YOU all back
next Thursday night We shall have
an entirely new set of amateurs 20
entertain you"
AMATEURS" scoffed Warren
! ''Wen. he needn't to have announced
| the new bunch for next week,
! Shouldn't think anybody here woul3
want to come again. One dose Of this
ought to be enough
His Name Was George.
The next-door neighbor scornfully
surveyed the bride of two weeks chop