The Washington herald., 1919-12-25
NEW YORK CITY.
By o. o. McNTYRE

New York.. Dec. 24.-There IL q
drab block in the Fifties where
stables. garages and repair shops
spread out in q. disorderly array. In
one building Is the studio of Willy
Pogany, the playboy of the scenic
world. He is the. little scenic wig
ard who designs the daring scenery
Tor the Metropolitan and for the big
spectacular plays OF Manhattan.
somehow his name suggests lust
what he Is pbysically-aN short.
thickly built, broad OF shoulder man,
with a face full of youth. He does
not look like the dreamer. What
ever he touches glows with a bold
amazement OF colors. He has
brought Bagdad to Fifty.something
street. The whole of the Arabian
Nights seems to go trooping around
the dial OF an old black iron stove
which heats the room.
The peg on which this story Is
written is the scenery he made for
L'ltaliana In Algeri." the old opera
bouffe of Rossini which the Metro
politan has just revived. The woes
and wastrels of the italian girl have
not been sung here since the days
OF President jackson.
What Is most remarkable about
Pogany Is that he has had only
three weeks study in art schools.
And yet the famous Horse Shoe
Bend. aglitter with the jewels of
art connoisseurs. fairly gasped when
the curtain went up revealing the
interior of a small harem room, the
walls of which were worked with
scrolls of silver upon gold.
little fountain played In a CEN
trail niche and to the side the wall
gives way to slender eastern pillars
and archos-and behind these the
intense blue of the Algerian night,
and the black furled sails of a ship
in ghostly looming.
And then there is a scene in
greeps. browns. golds-a golden
staircase rising to an arabesQue
above the stage itself. Yet such
browns. such Colds. as heat the
blood and throw all the fires and
perfume OF Araby into the eyes and
nostrils of aim who sees It.
Sax Rohmer. the London novelist.
Is paying his first visit to New York
to see the INSCRIPTIONS carer of his
famous Chinese villain, DR.. Flu Man
chu, unfolded in a Broadway play.
His real name Is Arthur Sarsfield
Ward and he is of Irish extraction.
He adopted his pseudonym long be-
fore the war. but long after August,
1914. a lot OF fervent patriots as
stunned that Sax Rohmer must be
German. He is said to be one Of
the best paid authors writing today
and has a following on both sides
of the Atlantic.
There Is a movement to change
the name of Sixth avenue to Roose-
welt avenue. Perhaps the Roose-
welt boys will Nbject for Roosevelt
once observed that about the worst
street in New York bore his family
name. Sixth avenue long ago lost
its ptestige-it is a street of sham
bles. Cheap shops. fruit stands,
shoe shining parlors. museums,
pawnshops and the like have spoiled
its beauty. Those who studied the
shopping district known why Sixth
avenue lost 1t prestige. The land
lords above Fourteenth street built
lofts. Factory workers. crowdJng
Fifth avenue and Twenty-third
street and Sixth avenue put the
shoppers of the old fashion belt to
flight. Fifth avenue logically be-
came the shopping center. And
Fifth avenue has had to fight to
keep the street one of the worlds
best. New York has discovered that
a street Is a mental conception-re-
hecting the spirit of its merchants.