The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-05
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea- There is
 An Alterndtve-The Fascinating Mr. Hitchcock

By DOLLY DALRYMP.LE


 Between the devil and the deep blue
 sea there is an alternative-it is mad, sad.
 glad, bad, fascinating, charming Ray
 mond Hitchcock (more familiarly known
 to his intimates as "Hitch-y). with a
 hundred shattered regulations, but be- loved and admired for his inimitable cev-
 erness and amazing personality by multi tudes of people-all those, in fact, who nave ever sat under the spell of hls
 melifuuous voice
 Just at what point the social pole, be- gins and ends, I know not but wherever
 it may be, either leagues within the reg ion of the past where ancestors lie tran quilly sleeping, beneath the solid weight
 of the Ten Commandments unbroken, or
 leagues in the future waiting for ances- tors to submit or rebel, l say, wherever 1t Is I know 1t, but sitting with his elon-
 gated limbs crossed, his arms upon a vest of pattern wonderful, that marvellous
 smile Illuminating his countenance. and
 the well-known lock of straight, blonde hair hanging down over his brow, sits Raymond Hitchcock.
 Just behind the pale he sits and gath
 CTS in the sunlight of day that finds no problem, and has found none since the
 world began in lighting up the lives of the dark of deed or reputation. r You can't take Raymond Hitchcock in
 homeopathic doses
 Even over the phone his presence talks l in bulk, plus.
 When you make appointment with
 him. the whole world seems to know it. | Those whom he appoints to sit tight 1 with him on the Hast ride" are going
 advertised
 Such is the reward of being conspicuous
 being born conspicuous, and with an en-
 velopins. compelling personality. 1 His life is series of pictures. 1 His poses are pictures | His language is as much a picture as
 any painting hanging today in the fam
 ous art galleries of Florence or Rome.
 His life has been very vivid picture
 luridly vivid-and how few people know | the man for what he really is so gen ;, timely kind, so generous, so charitable, and with what the hero of the "The City l of Beautiful Nonsense calls Gods gift l of understanding. human he is. The average matinee girl would never imagine MT. Hitchcock sweet or tender or gentle, but he is, every blessed bone in his body is; he's simon pure, 100 per cent finel
 One picture stands out in my memory of MT. Hitchcock. It is tine one I glimpsed yesterday at the Tutwiler a few minutes after he had arrived.
 l was making by way through the cafe, halted in my progress here and there by an occasional casual acquaint- ance. until l reached the table at which he sat.
 A steaming percolator of coffee stood at the right, portion of some sort of un- pronounceable dish. Zen casserole" or Zen dishabille." was in front of him: a tray of rolls and crullers and biscuit and things on the other side. and innumerable little satellite entrees that looked if they were paying tribute to the biggest con l stellaton of them all. 1 Mir. Hitchcock was gloomy l His broad white and pink-striped shirt and stunning tie, his diamond link cuff 1 buttons and his magnificent diamong fin ger ring Qittle finger). his startlingly l brilliant Fleur de Lys pin, which he wore
 in his Ascot, and his wrist watch" set in l myrfads of diamonds couldn't dispel the
 gloom
 | I may him. MT. Hitchcock, in a | thousand different poses, as Dr. Arbutus | Budd, the anatomical upholsterer and facial decorator: ''rhe Man Who Owns I Broadway or a dozen others. but I shall
 always remember him in the pose of yesterday,
 Solemnly he bade me be seated. l l felt almost like an intruder. Presently he raised his brilliant, almost | inhuman, wide eyes to mine. and seemed upon the verge of rhetoric. and I men, | tally observed that it was the first time | that l had ever seen the eminent comed- l ian when he did not appear to be reveling | in hold-over jag you see. I've inter- viewed him before we are old friends). and his unwonted melancholy worried | me-
 Brooding thought wrinkled his brow, | and his mood was most alarming. l I fidgeted and fumbled the silver on the table, as if l were going to purloin some l of it as a souvenir, and I stammered and | looked at him and was about to cry when he said in that strange, weird. pe cular inimitable voice of his, that sounds I like somebody singing through a comb, | and which he himself calls his drunken voice."
 q am so sorry you can't meet Erma- trude."
 l gasped l sat up straight and tight | in my chair. l looked at Mr Hitchcock | and stammered:
 l "Er-er-what dye mean? Who is Er- | matrude?'
 My snake. he said with sepulchre so- | lemnity.
 Your snake? When? Where? How? You mean you've got 'em again?" No, mo- my dear lady," he said gently. l This is a snake a man out in Texas
 gavespe. Ermatrude is her name. She's | a daNing. She's great deal of com | pany for me in my lonely moments" l Where is she? Why can't meet herr"
 I asked quietly.
 | Because I had to check her at the | station,' said MT Hitchcock sadly. You | know-er-er-well, they draw the line at | some things at hotels. Ermatrude and a wonderful alligator were given to me on this southern tour of mine. I declined the | alligator with thanks, but kept Erma- | trude. She would be delighted to see you, but hist! hist! Let me impart deep dark secret. Ermatrude is pealing, and like lady who is in negligee, she
 of course does not like to receive strang
 CTS. The alligator is having fine time
 in New Orleans cafe. My word! but | he's peevish and fretful and mean His ] name is--the Kaiser 1 He stopped as if he expected me to say 1 something, and as l had nothing to say, | woman like, I said it. l Don't like the name any better than l the alligator, eh?'