The Washington herald., 1920-05-18
New York City
B, o. @. Mcintyre

New York, May 17.--There Is not
much fun for the man who loves
his friends in being q dramatic
critic in New York. Justice knows
no brother. and there Is the case OF
Bide Dudley, a dramatic writer.
who had his first play appearing at
tho Fulton last week. All the crit
ios love Bide. He is the life OF the
Friars' Club. a brilliant paragraph
err, and he has contributed to the
success of several Broadway sue
cesses.
And yet his initial effort fizzled.
His fellow critics had to leave the
theater and return to their type
writers to say few unkind things
about Dudley's theatrical BRAIN
child. Their emotions were some-
what akin to the man who kicks
his faithful dog. There are very
few playwrights who have a sue
cessful first play, however.
know of only one-a young man
! of 24-who wrote Three Faces
East" and made enough money to
retire. But he wanted to produce
himself, and so he lost the greater
part of the bankroll on a gruesome
| Spiritualistic play. Dudley is not
| LlS WIN
successes yet.
happened to run into him the
next morning on his way down
town. 1 wanted to say something
but knew 1t would be the wrong
! thing. SO / didn't mention the play.
Did you read the panning my play
got in the morning papers? ne
| asked. ! confessed / had. He only
| laughed-but back of It all l know
there were some little heartaches'
and Dudley knew they came from
men who only did their duty.
/ The dramatic critic is a kindly
| souI-except when 1t comes to fa-
voring anyone in his review. The
! favor means his ruin. In New YORK
those things get bruited about and
SO he must be cold and merclless.
! One of the dramatic critics of yes
J teryear-william Raymond Sill
! was given a benefit few days ago.
! Sill was merciless when he wrote
hts reviews.
Yet where an Illness resulted in
the amputation of his right leg
ali the theatrical managers Joined
! forces to show their appreciation
and a big sum was realized. enough
to pay all the hospital bills and in
! cidcntalS.
There have been so many ex-
pIosions in New York, due to home
brewing. that many are beginning
to believe that all of this talk. OF
Red plots is really red wine plots
4 man. kho knows his Broadway
declares that in one section of the
Itcnderloin, where there are many
private homes. there arc fifty stills
to a block Nearly every man you
meet has a new recipe from whisky
| to beer. And it is not necessary
now to send Johnny around to the
Dutchman's with a pail. One just
goes to ones kitchen.
Frisco. the jazz dancer. has at
last revealed where the word Jazz
came from. Frisco now makes S40C
a week. which isn't bad when one
considers that a few years ago he
was picking up nickels and dimes
in the rear of Chicago saloons. He
is product of Chicago. and de-
spite his name has never been
West of Omaha.
1t seems there was a New Or
leans band in Chicago a few years
ago and the members could not
read a note. They played by ear
One of the girls who used to drop
around at the cafe where they
played was very fond of the music
especially when she was a little
! worse for liquor.
Her remarks Just what l want
was soon corrupted into Jazz what
| want" which was not surprising
as she was always stewed when she
called for music. The ragtime ef-
! forts of this band soon became
known as jazz and the word travel
ed to New Orleans. where other
bands. the members of which
couldn't rea a note, became known
as jazz bands.