The Washington herald., 1919-05-24

New York. May 2a-The first warm
sunshine OF summer has brought the
early contingent of chorus men back
to Broadway. Others touring In musi-
cal shows will soon be drifting In to
occupy the hall bedrooms in the side
street boarding houses.
The Automats will have many new
patrons for the chorus man always
comes back to town. as Will Cressy
says. as free of money as q gnat is
Of crutches. The chorus man Is q New
York type absolutely impossible to un-
derstand.
He is both pathetic and ridiculous
but at all times lovable- He is the
butt OF all the bitter scorn of con-
temptuous quips OF blase theatergoers,
and yet the man-a1d one man does IT
all-who furnishes them for musical
comedies says he has never heard a
chorus man who knocked anybody or
Anything.
Most OF them have had their Big
Dreams and are willing now to drift
with the tide. An engagement here
and one there keeps the room rent
paid and buys provender. Peculiarly
the men who are so ambitioaless are
the snappy dressers of the Rialto.
| There is a little store on Eighth
avenue which they patronize. The
proprietor knows how to take second
hand clothes and jazz them UP into
the latest Fifth avenue dictums OF
Beaunash. These bright afternoons
they swarm around the curbs of
Times Square.
Give them a three days supply of
cigarettes and a weeks board paid
and life to them is real coatentment
The chorus man has shown that he
is not a coward when the big moment
comes. A reporter on a Sunday paper
failed In ten days search to find a
chorus man Stacker. All tried to get in
the service and only those who failed
to pass the physical test remained be-
hind.
There was one noted for his striped
shirts Of silk, his wild hued spats and
tfght-fltting surtouts. He was in a
broadway show and they used to say
he was the only chorus man with an
ambition He wanted to play Hamlet
When the bugles OF the Great War
blew. he sailed away for France with
the wonted gaiety of an actor who
climbs aboard the gang-plank OF a
papier mache ship in a musical come
dy.
The word came back a few weeks
ago. The leaves on the tombs of Booth
and Irving are sere. but the poppies
that toss over the grave of a valorous
youth who went forth singing into
battle, shall blossom in our hearts with
Shakespeare's dream He was a cho-
rus man.
! Politeness Drive Is on at Girls
High School in Brooklyn The drive
was made necessary. the principal
says. by the failure of students to
observe the Anglo-Saxon traditions.
The war is to blame. Girls got into
war work, 1t was said. and became
careless of the little niceties. Now
manners. public and private. are in
cluded in the course.
The bus carrying tourists to China
town stood by the Broadway curb.
waiting for the load the ballyhoo was
collecting with his megaphone. I'm
der the flaring lanterns sat a young
woman, quite alone. with a wide
awake wee baby not more than six
months old. in her arms. Quite un-
disturbed by the amusement and inter-
est her presence excited. she gazed at
the passing throng. That it was near
midnight. a time when children are
asleep in quiet nurseries dismayed her
not. Nor did the open comment of
Mortified mothers seem to reach her
ears. She meant to see the slums and
horrors OF Chinatown at midnight. and
the baby was a side issue The child
will no doubt grow up strong and
sturdy and a more carefully reared
baby. safeguarded by every modern
device. succunbs to the first passing
ailment. Babies are that way.
The motor tire thieves are raiding
the town. A silk hated man n a fur
coat watches limousines left in front
Of hotels. drives them away several
blocks where with aids he strips the
cars of the tires and decamps. Six
cars were stolen last week from in
front of the St Regis aid Plaza.