The Washington herald., 1920-11-10
LEAVES JOB HE
HELD IS YEARS
Bob" Davis. Friend Of
America 5 Authors. Starts
On His Own. /"
~ o. o. MsrNTYRn

NEW YORK. Nov s.-Bob Davis
is leaving Munsey's msgssine or
Eanisation, Tho loyabls ''Is. H" has
been on the one sob IL years. like .
great football coach. training writ
ers cheering them and pointing out
their mistakeG He win continue the
work he loves-that OF finding new
writers and bringing them into re-
lationship with. publishers-inde-
pendentiy.
When o. Henry was grinding out
his first fiction that no ono would
buy on the top floor Of the Hotel
Marty In Twenty-fourth street.
Davis found him and put him under
q five-year contract. He published
all of the early stories OF Mary Rob-
erts Rinehart.
Fannie Hurst came out of st.
Louis to New York bursting with
big, dreams. Editors were sympa-
thetic but they would not buy her
her to turn her attention to the
themes that since have given her
distinction. He lifted Charles Van
Loan out OF Park Row and Ben
Ames Williams out of the journal
istic field in Boston.
II it had not been for Davis.
Montague Glass would today per-
haps be a lawyers clerk. He came
to Davis discouraged one day and
said he was going to return to the
law office from which he resigned to
write. Davis spent several hours
begging him to write three more
stories before striking his colofs.
Among the three was the firstA "Pot[
ash and Perlmutter" tale.
In 1914 Davis was in England
hunting material. He read the man :
uscript of a story entitled Black
Diamonds" by Joseph Conrad. IL
was brilliapt bit OF writing but
lacked plot. 1t was like a handful
of glittering jewels. unstrung. Da-
Wis sent for Conrad to come to the
Savoy and there he urged a plot.
Conrad finally agreed. The novel
appeared under the title Victory"
and is Conrad's best seller.
He was always going out Of his
way to say a kind word OF encour-
agement to the beginner. One of
the first men to write me when !
began my little series of daily
vignettes of Manhattan was Bob
Davis. He receives a thousand let
ters month from writers. many of
whom he has never seen. Twenty
six books have been dedicated to
him. He is a big heavily jowled
man. with eyes that twinkle inces-
sanity with good humor. He Is said
to be wealthy.
He had the necessary brown-or
is II mauve?-eyes, and shining
black hair of the movie hero. His
nails glittered. his clothes fit tight
and his collar choked. Across from
him as a dinner companion sat a
young girl who has appeared every
where films are shown. They were
plainly not Interested in each other.
Their interest was in watching the
crowds watch them. He spoke OF
his revolver scene" She sent out
for saffron evening paper to look
at the comic pictures. He spoke
harshly to the waiter about the salad
dressing. A long hiatus in conver-
sation. Then there came into the
room John Drew and his niece Ethel
Barrymore. In a few moments the
PAIR cNluthlly dHHOySu.
In their parlance I guess it would
be called Grabbing their act"
For all eyes were on Mr.. Drew and
Miss Barrymore.
Shades of Diana. Madison Square
Garden is now being dubbed Cauli-
flower Alley by the sport writers.
1t is the haven for the pork and
bean prize fighters. All of the big
matches are made there and the
great army of camp followers hang
about the doors. waiting for a
chance to appear in prelim. Tex
Rickard has a lease on the Garden
and his Offices are there. His pres
ence brings many more who are al
ways looking for a few stray
crumbs from the fight promoters
table.