The Washington herald., 1920-05-27
New York City
B., o. o. Mcintyre

New York. May zo.-EVery ues
scores OF girls seep through the
Rateways OF Manhattan afire with
the Burning Ambition to have
their names ultimately flashed In
electric lights on broadway. The-
atrical once waiting rooms are
filled with them and SO are the
booking agencies. Not only In me-
tion are the homes mortgaged
while the family stakes all on the
budding genius. j
Only a year ago a mother and
two daughters came from a Mio-
west city and came under my op-
seryation. The mother was widow
ed. One of the daughters was very
pretty but had no stage experience
yet the family believed In her ana
had spent half OF $500. all they
had, for clothes to give her a good
appearance in visiting managers,
She had no pull. To me 1t look
ed hopeless and l used to worry
about them. After few weeks
they moved away up In the Bronx
TO cut down expenses. Now and
then 1 ran across the girl making
the rounds of the theatrical places.
Hnally Inc oiOPpSe
completely out of sight 1t was
the old story. l thought Failure
and a return to their home.
Then 1t happened that I went to
see one of the reigning musical
hits of the year. Not the leading
part. but one of the most promi-
nent parts was played by the
young girl from the Midwest She
had grace. poise. and all OF those
touches that are so noticeable in
the finished player. And the meta
morphosis took place in "A year. /
hastened to the manager to learn
the details. The girl had impressed
him by her beauty and he gave her
a small chorus part in the back
row. But at the rehearsals she did
her work SO well that she was put
in the front row and before the
show was ready for out OF town
tryouts she had next to the lead
ing part
OF course. such cases are rare
but they do happen. There is an
other case perhaps more notable
in the success of Edith Day. She
Is the daughter of a Minneapolis
newspaperman and rose to star
| dom in a few weeks. Lately she
left a New York production at the
peak Of her popularity to appear
in the same play in London and
has achieved the greatest success
of any American girl since Edna
May.
No one has the right to discour-
age the ambitious. yet despite these
two inSfanHnS nf hlo
the large number OF those who
fail makes the undertaking a par
ticularly hazardous one.
The closing of the Hotel Knick-
erbocker. the most famous hotel
in town, was a shock. No one
dreamed of such a thing. James
Regan. the proprietor, had a Is
year lease but Vincent Astor. who
owns the building. bought the
lease. 1t will become an office
building. Regan has the largest
stock of liquor in town in his
cellars. What will become of this
stock no one knows. Maxfield Par
rish's ''Old King Cole" which hung
on the wall of the bar since the
opening, will be sold at a private
sale. Caruso's home is at the
Knickerbocker. The hotel has been
doing a marvellous business but
the loss of revenue due to prohi-
bition meant millions in profits
were lost yearly. The cafes were
patronized by the big spenders.
Regan was a self!made man. He
came from the EaAt Side and at
tracted the attention OF the Astors
who built the hotel for him. He
stood in the lobby nightly in his
gray Tuxedo watching things. He
knew every department from the
kitchen up to the private office.
He retires a multi-millionaire. His
son, who has also been active in
the management, is a Yale gradu-
ate and the husband of Alice Joyce,
the moving picture actress.
One of the highest paid work.
men in New York is a little with
cred, foreign-born. foreign-speak-
ing man. who works from daylight
until nearly midnight in a cheer
less dirty dwelling. both home and
workshop. He makes S1.SO0 a week
making high-priced thermometers.
He is Prussian- born and when the
war came along and cut off the
supply of thermometers he was
the only skilled workmen in this
line.