The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-03-08


lack. The conversation. which had
zigzagged from the war to zuloaga. and
from Rasputin the Monk to the num-
Der OF miles a barrow would go on
gallon. narrowed down to the thin,
straight line Of business.
Now don't misunderstood. Please:
We're not presuming to dictate. Dear
me, not We have always felt that the
writer should be free to express that
which in his-ah-heart. But in the
last year we've been swamped with
these drab, realistic stories. Strong.
relentless things. you know. about
dish-washers, with lot of fine detail
about the fuzz of grease on the rim of
the pan. Now, I'm not demanding a
happy ending. exactly. But IL you
could-that is-would you-do you see
your way at all clear to giving US
fairly cheerful story? Not necessarily
Glad, but not So darned Russian. If you
get me. Not pink. but not all grey
either. Say-mauve."
That was Josie Filters existence.
Mostly grey. with dash OF pink.
Which makes mauve.
Unless you are connected (Which
you probably are noD with the great
Arm of Hahn & Lehman. theatrical
producers. you never will have heard
Of josie, Fifer.
Josie Fifer was keeper of all the
ghosts Of the firm of Hahn & Lehman.
Not only was she present at the birth
Of a play; she ofiieiated at its funeral
She carried the keys to the closets
that housed the skeletons OF the firm.
When play died of hamilton, old
age, or-as was sometimes the case
hefore it was born. 1t was Josie Fifer
WI 1aid "a rau1o and followed
t to the grave.
Josie's domain was the storage ware
house of Hahn & Lehman. as you may
have guessed. If your business lay
Forty-third street way.'you might have
passed the building a hundred times
without once giving 1t a seeing glance.
1t was not Fortythird street Of the
small shops. the smart crowds, and the
Slittering motors. It was the Forty
third lying east Of the Grand Central
sluice gates; east of fashion; east. in a
word. Of Fifth avenue great square
brick building smoke grimed, cob
webbed, and having the look of a cold
storage plant or. car barn fallen into
disuse; dusty, neglected almost eerie.
A worn flight of wooden steps leads
up from the sidewalk to the dim hall
way; a musty- smelling passage where
in you are met by a genial sign which
reads:
t'No admittance. Keep out This
means you"
To confirm this, the eye. penetrating
the gloom. is confronted by a great
blank metal door that sheathes the
elevator. First fioor-second-third
fourth. Whewl And there you are In
Josie Filters kingdom-a great front
room, Unexpectedly bright and even
cosy with its whir of sewing machines
tables, and tables. and tables. piled
with orderly stacks of every sort OF
clothing; and in the room beyond this
and beyond that, and again beyond
that, row after row of high wooden
cabinets stretching the width of the
room, and forming innumerable aisles
All Of Bluebeard's wives could have
been tucked away in one corner of the
remotest and least of these, and no one
the wiser. All grimly shut and locked
they are, with the key in Josie's peck
ct. But when. at the behest of Nc
Cabe, or sometimes even Sid Hair
himself. she unlocked and opened one
OF these doors. what treasures hung
revealed What simmer and sparkle
and perfume and moth ballsi The long.
tailed electric light bulb held high ir
one hand. Josie would stand at the
door like a priestess before her altar
There they swung. the ghosts and tn,
skeletons, side by side.
Dresses there are that have mad
stage history.
Up one aisle and down the next
velvet. satin, lace and broadcloth-
here the costume the great Canfielt
had worn in RichaHd III; there tn,
little cooked hat and the slashed jer'
kin in which Maude Hammond al
Peterkins, winged her way to fame III
through the hearts of a million chill
dren whose ages ranged from seven t.
seventy. Brocades and ginghams
tailor suits and peignoirs; puffet
sleeves and tight-dramatic history
all, they spelled failure, success. hope
despair, vanity. pride. triumph. decay
Tragic ghosts, over which Josie Fife
held grim sway!
Have I told you that Josie Fife1
moving nimbly about the great store
house, limped as she went3 The lef
leg swung as a normal leg should. Tn
right followed haltingly. sagging a
hip and knee. And that brings u
back to the reason for her being wher
she was. And what.
Josie had been one of those littl
girls who speak pieces at chicken pi
suppers held in the basement of tn
Presbyterian church. Her mother ha
been a silly, idle woman addicted t
mother hubards and paper backed nov
els about the house. Her one passion
was the theatre. a passion that ha
very scant opportunity for feeding i
Wapello, Iowa. Josie's piece-speakin
talent was evidently direct inheri
lance. Some might call it a faint.
Any one who has ever lived in Wa
pello, Iowa. or its equivalent. remem
bers the old opera house on the corne
If Main and Elm with Schroeder's dru
store occupying the first floor. Oper
never came within three hundred mile
OF WapeIlo. unless 1t was the so-calle
comic kind. 1t was before the day {
the ubinquitous moving picture the
atre that has since been the undoin
OF the one-night stand and the ten
twenty thirty stock company. The oil
red-brick opera house furnished IN