The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-01-24
BRAzEN FRONT
OF BOOTLECCERS
AMAZES MINTYRE
Young BlOods Flattered
When Rum Runner
Notices Them.
By o. o. MINTYRE.

NEW YORK. Jan. 23.-T,um-run-
ners In New York are not composed
entirely Of those drawn from the
underworld. New York has its
fashionable bootlegging set-men
who left tapestried elegance and
mahogany desks to pit their wits
AGAINST highly trained government
sleuths.
There Ia an amazing nonchalance
about their new vocation. They
speak of ii brazenly and with no
sense of shame. The other day a
man who has been a guest in my
nome called me on the telephone.
lie did not spar for words, nor at
tempt to excuse himself
have become a bootlegger." he
said. 81 am sending you a price
list. Should you know of any one
wanting first-class goods let me
know" And the next day in the
mail came a printed list of his
wares with the price quotations.
The name and address. of course,
being deleted.
One Of the most successful insur-
ance agents in Manhattan recently
closed his office. The gossip Of
broadway has It that he has be-
come a professional bootlegger. ca
tering to the extremely rich.
The leader of one of the most
famous orchestras in town is known
as the Kidding bootlegger." He
drives about in a car especially
made for him. 1t is a salmon pink,
with stripes of vermillion. He has
bought home once occupied by
one OF our gaudy cigarette million
aires on Riverside Drive.
Another bootlegger who calls the
young bloods of the Four Hundred
! by their first names is an Austria
Ian. Five years ago he had a chain
of bootblack parlors on the East
Side. He was the padrone.
Now he lives in the bachelor
apartments over one of the smart
est restaurants on Fifth avenue. He
has three Jap servants, and he has
morning, afternoon and evening
clothes. The odd psychology of it
Is that his clients seem to feel fiat
tered when he waves to them in
public at the night haunts. He has
become a commanding personality
"a gentleman of extreme distinc-
ton.
shuttle Along" Is nearing its Sec
ond year at an obscure theater in
the Sixties. 1t is a musical melange
with an entire colorcd cast. The
music was written by Sissle and
Lyle. two negroes who were ION
call" for private parties where they
sang shivering shimmy songs. They
have made a snug fortune. Sissle
Is big burly fellow with a pene-
tratinS tenor voice. Lyle is a mu-
latto. bald-headed and wears studI-
Gus, horn-rimmed glasses. He
plays the piano entirely by car.
shuttle Along" gives two midnight
performances weekly. and II has
become "a rendezvous for smart.
after-the- theater crowds. When tho
local run ends the entire company
is to be taken to London, where a
theater has been engaged for them.
For years she has played in the
bedroom dramas, but she wanted
to do better things" The other
day she went into a producers Of
flee and told him OF her ambitions.
You know" she said. Il am anx-
ious to appear in Shakespeare's
plays. For the last ten years I've
read everything he's written as
soon as II was published" The pro-
Queer was thoughtful-oh, very. 81
| know how you feel" he said. Your
| plays have not been brought up to
date. The next bedroom farce you
play in I'm going to see to it that
you have a mattress with bobbed
hair And she went away salts
fed.