The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1920-01-06
NEW YORK CITY
By o. o. McNTYRE

New York, Jan. 5.-Theatrical stars
are literally made over night. but
they twinkle only for q brief period
and disappear. II Is possible to NUM-
Der on the fingers of one hand stars
Of the last decade who have had real
careers. / can think Of tvs at the
moment-Maude Adams and Ethel
Barrymore
The rest have talent and genius,
but little capacity for hard work.
A career means to them. continu-
Gus run ON Broadway. They merely
flash for a short while In the theat-
rical heavens. not because OF any
lack of ability. but because they will
not leave the city.
Just recently an actress who 1t Is
believed had the most promising ca
reer of the present crop Of stars
quit the legitimate stage to go into
the movies. The reason? II kept
her In Manhattan and gave her a
/ salary of 5000 a week instead Of
$1,000. But only for year. She
had years of great moments and
rich rewards ahead on the legitimate
stage.
The hinterland to the average star
means horsehide sofas. cracked
china cups. bewhiskered landlords
and town halls. They DO not realize
that some of the smaller cities have
more appreciative audiences, better
thsaters and more genuine hotel COM
forts than theys get in their stuffy
lchicken-coop apartments here.
They may last two seasons on
Broadway and a few weeks more In
the Bronx and Brooklyn and the pub
lie here tires OF them for the time
hail % D,,N IN
gauche and undaunted-not realizing
take up their career in the great
world outside with a New York sue
cess to give it impetus.
1t is indeed whimsical unreal
world. this world OF the stage. and
an actor or actress Of worth Is only
awakened from the dream of unreal
values by the sudden realization that
| he or she is out of a job. Instead
of a plucky fight for favor Of the
so-called tank towns" they stub
bornly stick to the Rialto and soon
they are heard of no more. VOLTA!
There is a black-and- white artist
named Fish whose offerings deal in
the odd and bizarre in current peri
odicals. The artist has been some
| what of a mystery. Some said he
lived in Greenwich Village and
others said he was a product OF
the Middle West.
Wherever he lived. IL was certain
\ that he knew how to satirize society
and could sketch a knickerbockered
butler so naughty that it made You
fume to see it. Fish was a wizard
at drawing bridge-playing bishops.
lean curates, young bloods OF the
| town. petering out peers, MASTERS,
vampires, horsemen. poets and pests.
In art circles here the insistent
demand was to know who Fish was.
| The truth came out recently. Fish
Is an English girl. Despite the fact
that he-beg pardon, she-is the most
cosmopolitan of black-and-white sat
irists. she lives down on the Suffolk
coast in England and has never seen
Fifth avenue or a London drawing
room. Her creative ina gination is
wholly responsible for the people she
draws. people whom the great c1I-
! itals OF the universe recognize and
| laugh over. She has never lived
the life she limns. Rather she is a
country miss of g who noes in the
garden and milks the cows.
The day or night is rare when some
thing does not happen in New York
that would keep the rest of the coun-
try talking for a month. but Is for
gotten in this city OF constant won
ders as soon as the ink on the news
papers that made 1t public is dry.
! The sight OF two men climbing down
| the Broadway side of one of the
large hotels and a policeman lean
ing out OF a window shooting'at them
happened at Broadway and Forty
second early the other morning The
men had beaten up the hotel guests
and robbed them. 1t Is only one
OF many daring crimes lately. The
police say it is result OF crooks
steeling themselves with drugs in
stead OF gin and whisky as they did
| in the old days.