The Washington herald., 1920-04-20
New York City. ].
By o. o. McIntyre

New York. April 1s.-Seats to the
opening night Of the revival OF
"F'lorodora" sold for as high as $500
each-a record in the wild life of
Broadway. Even at this date the
speculators are getting $40 and $40
without struggle. The play Is ex-
travagantly produced but the crowds
aye going mostly out OF curiosity.
No revival ever got SO much pub
licity. Page after page of it ap-
peared on Sunday and first-page
articles during the week. But the
original "Florodora" appeared in
the days when there werc groups of
rare spenders on the Rialto. 1t was
the day when the FIRST nights were
attended by Stanford White, Fred
die Gebhard. James r. Keen, Tneo-
dore Shonts and Diamond Jim
Brady.
There were wine suppers in those
| days at Martins and later the Cafe
de Opera that made even New
York sit up and take notice. The
"Florodora" girls were always con-
spicuous at these gatherings, al
though the six pretty maidens'' of
the original sextet were between
the ages of is ana 10.
Every divorce of prominence con-
tained the name of "F1orodora'
girl. And, incidentally. the original
| name was "Floro-Dora." but u print
er for the first bills left out the
hyphen and IL remained "Florodora'
ever after. They comprised a rare
lot of beauties-these girls of the
original cast. Nothing will perhaps
| ever be seen like il again.
IL Il
cred at the stage door. Florists re-
tired on the spoils of this one show
Big jewelry shops thought nothing
, of seeing a millionaire come In with
a "Florodora" girl and purchase for
her a rope OF Jewels. 1t was just
an incident in her afternoon shop
ping.
Ushers got enormous tips for
carrying flowers back stage. 1t ap-
peared as though the town had
gone mad. Wives left for Newport
or. Palm Beach until the mad in
fatuations passed over. But in
many cases their ultimate destina-
tions proved to be Reno, for the
infatuations lasted. The whole
thing was 1diotic. hypnotic and un-
real. But it happened and every
body knows about 1t, consequently
the revival is reaping the rewards
There is a man in New York who
makes his living shopping for men
Francis f. De Paolo is his name
He is happy in his work but there
might be something significant in
the fact that he was also happy
in his former job of running a bee
| farm. From bees to crusty old
| bachelors was a strange jump but
de Paola says it has paid.
Jewelry shops are springing uI
in the most unusual places. Never
before was there such a craze foi
/ Jewels. The newspapers report sis
new stores on the Bowery anC
Hester street, a street of squalor
now has a big jewelry store. The
big stores on Fifth avenue seen
packed also-so the craze is ar.
fecting both rich and so-callec
poor. There is something fasci'
mating about a broadway jewelry
window at night with the street
aflame with light. Moon-whit'
pearls speak of the romance o.
swarthy divers in the Sulu sea.
and the phosphorescent glow of tn,
] heNlCdn OpdlS tell OF crime ant
intrigue. Diamonds and vanished
kings. Burma rubies which caus'
men to dare death all over tn,
! world! Emeralds like serpent eyes
significant of something or other
I don't know what. But I know
a jewelers. window intriGues me.
! Health Commissioner Copeland
has sounded warning about tn,
increase in the Illicit traffic II
drugs. He says that the importa
tion of drugs into America is fifteer
times as great as that of any othel
country. Since prohibition the mar
cotic squad has gone out OF exist
ence and the members are chasing
bOotleggers. AS a result. the com
| missioner says. the spread of drug
addiction is reaching frightful pro
portions among all classes.