The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-10-08
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Listen to my tale of woe!
 Sue took a bite. and Bill took chew,
 Listen to my tale of woe!
 This Is the way started my story in this column two years back, after q visit to the famous Johnny J. Jones exposition under the chaperonage of Ed salter. one of the greatest publicity agents in the show business.
 Now publicity agents come and go. but Ed just goes on forever. The time he embarked in the gentle art of ere atins a consuming desire in the pub lice to come out and see the greatest moral aggregation on wheels, accord- ing to the old law phrase "runneth be- yond the memory of man"
 But do not get the idea from this that Ed Is aged or dead one, for he is as<young as the youngest, and is able to put over as good copy as any of the colts in the game six times week and then slip in something over them on the Sabbath when they are resting. He knows every angle of the newspaper craft and always stands in with the boys.
 For years have been up against pu- licity men of all times. for the, crop was tribbled and trebbled VI do not know just what these last two terms mean. but in my mind they represent a whole lot) during the great war when it was a mighty poor activity which failed to send out bunch to get space in papers and magazines. Birmingham was Headquarters for the tribe of foreign ones. that is out-of- town men. and the city was cluttered with local ones.
 You can't do anything these days without publicity man. Even the fair association has one in addition to the cnes the various attractions carry around with them. It is one of the joys get out of it. when after a strenuous day seeing the outdoor and indoor thrillers. and then quieting my nerves by wandering among the farm displays or idly watching the fancy work to get back to The Age-Herald and wait for Henry Vance to come puf- fling in after two-flight climb to see how much dope he can get the city editor to run.
 And then during the war, daresay it would have been lonesome in the news rooms of the three papers here if John Sparrow had failed to show up during the night or the day. For good old John. the dependable bird with the Aclear eye and courage of the eagle. but the diminutrve name, is a great favorite among newspaper men. bit and we gave him space and pat.eA him on the back for putting life, not only into his own copy. but into the fgatherings of the allied army.
 Time was when publicity or advance agents were confined to theatres and circuses. remember the old times. My! what a race of prevaricators. They had imaginations. and talk about dream dreams. they not only dreanlt them but they put others to sleep with | things. When it came to knowing | the psychology of the American thea tre and circus patrons, they were wiz- ards. and the manner in which they got great crowds to throng the per- | forrna noes they represented was just short of the miraculous
 1 It took a combination of qualities l to be a successful advance agent. A man to fill the bill successfully mad to be first snowman at heart. He required the >pursuasive power of a preacher. the reasoning ability of a lawyer. and the salesmanship of an automobile agent to get by the cen sorstip of editors and satisfy his em- ployer. But most of all. he needed per-
 sonality plus. It took brains, and
 heart. and soul and body It called i for the type of man who. when you met him. it meant that the next time you saw him he wouldn't have to in- troduce himself again
 I am pretty long time getting to
 what I started out to say and that was that Monday one of the first men
 met out at the fair was my friend
 Ed Salter, a press agent. who combine
 all that is good in the old school ana is yet abreast of the new. I forgot to state that one need of a publicity man for show was to have the heart of boy. I had this impressed on me when strolling through the var,ocs shows on the midway with Ed. He isaid, Doc" have you seen the monkey
 loop the loop?" I replied that I hal
 not. Come on." he answered, "for you have got something coming to you" and before knew it. we were
 witnessing the act and turning to me
 ne said. T could stand here all day
 and watch the monkeys race"
 I found out that this was typical of
 his attitude towards the various acts
 He was interested in every one of them
 and although he had seen them week
 in and week out for years, he could
 saunter up and watch out any perform ance with the zest of child. I suppose
 this is why he is never happier than
 when he is showing a lot of orphans through the shows. This reminds me
 that the only time he ever saw Jonnny
 Jones mad through and through was
 when he invited four or five hundred boys and girls from an orphanage to
 be his guests they demanded that the .l war tax be paid on them. He tcon