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

affairs that had made clear to her just
where her future lay. The Wapeiio
Daily Courier helped her IN her de-
cision. She had taken the part Of
gypsy queen. appropriately costumed
in Slightly soiled white satin slippers
with four-inch heels, and white satin
dress enhanced by a red sash. a black
velvet bolero. and large hoop earrings.
She had danced and sung with pert
confidence, and the Courier had pro-
nounced her talents not amateur, but
professional, and had advised the man
! ayers (who, no doubt, read the Wa
pello Courier daily. along with their
Morning Telegraph to seek her out,
and speedily.
Josie didn't wait for them to take
| the hint. She sought them out instead.
There followed seven tawdry. hard
working, heart-breaking years. Supe.
walk-on, stock. musical conedy-Josie
went through them all. If any illus
ions about the stage had survived her
Wapello days. they would have vanish
ed in the first six months of her dra-
matte career. BY the time she was
| twenty four she had acquired the wis
| dom Of fifty, a near-seal coat. tur-
/ Quoise ring with number OF smoky
4 looking crushed diamonds surrounding
it, and a reputation for wit and for
decency. The last had cost the most
During all these years Of cheap the
| atrical boarding houses (thet most soul
soaring cheapness in the world), Of
II one might stands, Of insult. disappo.nt-
ment. rebuff, and something that often
came perilously near to want. Josie
Fifer managed to retain a certain
humorous outlook on life. There was
something whimsical about it. She
| 4nlr
And then came a Sunday afternoon
in late August when her laugh broke
off short in the middle, and was for
, ever after a stunted thing.
|, She was playing Atlantic City in
seeond-rate musical show. She had
} never seen the ocean before. and she
, viewed 1t with an appreciation that
still had in It something of a Wapello
freshness.
They all planned to go in bathing
, that hot August afternoon after re-
hearsal Josie had seen pictures OF
the beauteous bathing girl dashins in
, to the foaming breakers. She ran
across the stretch Of glistening beach,
3 paused and struck a pose. one toe
pointed waterward, her arms extended
affectedly.
, sol" she said mincingly. $50 this
Is Paris!"
$ It was a new line In those days, and
they all laughed. as she had meant
3 they should. So she leaped into the
I water with bounds ana shouts and
3 much waving of white arms. great
= floating derelict OF a log struck her
1 leg with its full weight. and with all
t the tremendous force of the breaker
4 behind 1t. She doubled up ridiculously.
; ana went down like a shot. Those on
4 he 1o,r0 In ~Ia
( came UP, and they saw her distorted
face they stopped laughing. and fished
i her out Her leg was broken in two
4 places, and mashed in a dozen.
Josieis Filters dramatic career was
: over. (This Is not the CHEEKY portion
of the story).
When she came out Of the hospital,
three months later. she did very well
b indeed with her crutches. But the
merry-eyed woman had vanished-she
: Of the Wapello coloring that had per-
a sisted during all these years. In her
e place limped a wan. shrunken, tragic
3 little figure whose humor had soured
to caustic wit. The near-seaI coat
and the turquoise and-crushed- dia-
mond ring had vanished too.
During those agonized months she
. had received from the others in the
company such kindness and generosity
as only stage folk can show-howers
candy, dainties. magazines. sent by
every one from the prima donna to the
call boy.s Then the show left town
\ There came a few letters of kind in
= quiry, then an occasional post card
signed by half a dozen members OF
the company. Then these ceased
Josie Fifer. in her cast and splints and
bandages and pain, dragged out long
hospital days and interminable hos
= pital nights.
d When she was able to crawl out a.
>. faF-as the long corridor she spoke te
: every one she met. As she grew
!. stronger she visited here and there, an6
II on the slightest provocation she would
give a scene ranging all the way iron
r. Romeo and Juliet" to THE Blacl
= Crook" 1t was thus she first met Sic
It Hahn, and felt the warming. healing
70 glow OF his friendship.
It Some said that Sid Hahn's brillian
IS success IS a manager at thirty five wa.
e due to his ability to pick winners
Others thought it was his refusal to b.
lie discouraged when he found he hat
lie picked a failure. Sid Hahn, erstwhil,
lie usher, call boy. press agent, advanci
d man, had a genius for things theatri
20 cal. 1t was Unborn. Dramatic sensi
= tive, artistic. intuitive. he was Otter
n rendered inarticulate by the very fore.
d and variety of his feelings. A little
IN rotund, ugly man. Sid Hahn. with tn
" eyes of a dreamer. the wide. mobile
i mouth of a humorist, the ears Of ,
comic o'-clo'es man.
l. In September he had come to Allan
l. tic City to try out "Splendour" 1t wa
er a doubtful play. by a new author
liz starring Sarah Haddon for the frs
"a time. No one dreamed the play woul'
IS run for years. make a fortune TO
ID Hahn, lift Haddon from obscurity +
Of the dizziest heights of stardom. an
= become classic of the stage.
lg Ten minutes before the curtain wen
l. up On the opening performance, Hahl
Id was stricken with appendicitis. Their