Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-07-31
SINGS TO BOYS OVER THERE
Many q Company Has Marched to
First Night In Trenches With
More Gallant Swing Because
Elsie cheered Them on Way.
BY ALEXANDER wooELcoTT.

BY ALEXANDER WooLLcoTT.
Paris.-The theater was no theater
at all. 1t WINS just the great train
shed which serves as the workshop and
headquarters for q small army of
American engineers who are lending
the p. r.. r.. touch to the astonished
landscape Of France. Though retreat
had sounded an hour or so before, it
was packed to %suffOcation with Yanks,
for all that day rakish posters, turned
out in the company painters best
style. had intrigued the eye with the
modest announcement:
ELSIE JANIs-AMERIcA's GREAT
EST AcTRESS-FoR ONE
NIGHT ONLY.
And at last, with warning toots from
q distant whistle and a great wave OF
laughter us the order was passed along
TO clear the track, a locomotive trun-
died In out of the night, In its cab a
pair of proud and grinning engineers,
on its cowcatcher Elsie Janis. A mo-
ment later and the engine wns near
enough to the stage for her to clear the
space at a single jump and there she
was, with her black velvet tam pushed
back on her tossing hair, with her
eyes alight and her hands uplifted, her
whole voice thrown into the question
WIN III Is the beginning and the end OF
morale, which is the most important
question in the army:
"Are we downheartedT
The Thunderous Response.
You can only family imagine the
thunderous "No" with which the train
shed echoed. And 1t is the whole point
Of Elsie Janis-as well MS the whole
point Of all the mummers now being
booked to play for the A. e. F.-that
whatever the spirit OF the boys before
her coming. they really meant that
"No" with all there was in them. that
any who might have been just a little
downhearted before. felt better about
It after seeing and hearing her. For,
like the rare officer who can inspire his
men to very prodigies of valor. SO the
flashing Elsie is compact of that price,
less thing which, for lack of a less
pedantic phrase, we must call positive
magnetism. More than n company
has marched OFF to its first night in the
trenches with brighter eyes, squarer
shoulders and a more gallant swing be-
u at the very threshold Of safety,
this lanky and lovely lady from Co
lumbus, Ohio. waved and sang and
cheered them on their way.
That is why, when the history OF
this great expedition comes TO be writ
ten, there should be a chapter devot-
ed to the ~play-girl Of the western front,
the star of the A. Il. f., the f%orerunner
Of those players who are now being
booked I'm the greatest circuit Of them
all, the Y. NJ. @. A. nuts Of France.
For her. and for her like. there is
always room. And work aplenty to
do. There are troops to be hred-nS
by martial music-0n the edge of the
advance.
Elsie Janis land mofher) are having
the time OF their lives. and she meant
every word Of II when she cabled
back to all her brothers and sisters OF
the stage to come or they would
know what they had missed.
Barn-s tormIno With Venoeance.
For Elsie It hns been transforming
with a vengeance. a tour Of tank towns
In more senses than one. II has meant
travelling without a maid for once In
a way. playing a whole season with a
one-dress wardrobe, bivouacking In
strange and uninvitfng hotels.
II has meant warbling as a cabaret
singer among tables OF some officers
mess or mounting q bench to sing
through the windows OF come conta-
glon barracks where the isolated
doughbOys had been tearing their tn
fected hair with disappointment be-
cause they had heard she was In the
post and knew they could not set out
to e her.
II has meant lingering for an extra
performance at some hut because a.
whole new audience was coming
through the starlit heavens from che
aviation camp down the lines.
In all her years on the stage she
has known no such t~umultuous. heart
warming welcomes n are her nightly
portions In the biggest time a booking
once can offer 10 a player In the year
1913
The boys swarm mp on the stage
and slap her on the back and vow there
never was such a girl since the world
began. They cheer her until they ara