The Washington herald., 1919-08-16
NEW YORK CITY
Day-By-Day
By o. O. MCINTYRE

New York, Aug. 15-Lrhe great war
ceased Immediately to be of theatri-
cal value when the arnistice was
signed. Belasco, the Shuberts and X
& E. would not even look at manu-
script OF plays dealing with a Broad
way ruin who was suddenly regen-
Grated by a cabaret flag dance and
enlisted. thereby saving the allied
armies from extinction.
What now will be the fate OF alco-
hol? On the theater programs where
any drink is served there is a line
now reading, The action OF this play
took place prior to July /. 1919" The
musical show. 1t is feared, will suffer
from being confronted by coldly sober
carpers.
The average New York musical COM
edy will be hard to endure on nut
sundaes. 1t will buckle up and ex-
pire with gurgle. The authors de-
pended that one-half of the audience
would come in dazed from a flock OF
cocktails and would attribute the
lack of plot to their condition rather
Nholl " lic duInOrS.
Thus it was that the musical COM
edy was plotless. A man full OF
marshmallows will want to know
about the plot. People who eat
marshmallows are that way, it seems.
But it is quite certain that the thea
ter will survive. 1t always has.
Everything new always hands the
theater a wallop.
II theTa iG "a nann1o cyntpp
to the theaters They also stop going
if it is too hot. too cold. a panic. an
epidemic or a what not-but the thea
ter jogs merrily on furnishing brown
stone fronts for mana gers and pints
OF pearls for chorus queens.
An unfeeling copper pinched a group
OF very respectable young ladies in
Central park the other morning for
dancing in their bare tootsies In the
morning dew. An early morning drive
down on Long Island reveals innu-
merable potential Duncans and Maud
Aliens. Every amateur performance
has its barefoot dancer. Schools for
barefoot dancing are springing up all
over the city. Two are within a
stones throw OF the Public Library
VII L VI - -ottOilI Sllttl
Every teacher has a special dance to
teach. The Buds Awakening. the
Lily at Dawn, the Unkissed Violet
and so on are the titles. A young
lady may gallop across the stage in
a nickel's worth OF cheesecloth and
suddenly fall to the floor with head
bowed low. Looking at the program
one finds it is the Passing OF Spring,
but the average man figures It the
Changing of the Tire.
Too, there are the barefoot dance
dramas-short. but punChy. Thus on
the salmon pink program one finds a
scenario, The Revel OF Aa- Aa. the
Princess of Talcum. according to the
Greek legend. is beloved by Kish, the
god Of Cologne. But she loves a NOR
tai, Uuu, the lowly goatherd"-and so
forth.
Thomas r. Shipp. the Washington
publicity man, who was for a long
time secretary of the Conservation
Commission, is in New York. Although
he has reached the dignity of being
mentioned for the Republican nomi-
nation for governor of Indiana since
Will Hays. chairman OF the Repub-
lican National Committee, has declined
to run, yet he is known everywhere
as Tom" Everyone at the Waldorf,
from Oscar, the proprietor. to the
humblest bellhOp. calls him Tom"
Tom has never spoken of It. but
his intimate friends know that he once
wrote a speech for the late Andrew
Carnegie. The steel magnate wanted
a speech on conservation that he could
deliver at Liverpool He asked Tom
to write it, Tom did-snd Andy
thanked him.
Now Tom gets fees as large as those
OF corporation lawyers for writing
pieces for rich men on big tnnLrs