New-York tribune., 1922-08-28
Silent, Empty Spaces and
Sorrowful Faces Greet
Visitor to Famous Cafes
ON What Now Is Broad
ways Gray Tight Way
BY Frederick B. Edwards

7
BY Frederick B. Edwards
One Of these fine Saturday nights
some one should Arrange to take Con-
gressman Andrew volstead gently by
the hand and lead him down broad
way from Columbus Circle to Times
Square.
The guide should introduce Mr.. Vol
steadsto the cabaret belt; permit him
to converse in low tones with head
waite - two; point out to him the
silent empty spaces around the dance
floors, where carnival once reigneds
place him IN q position to hear the sor-
rowful stories of Minnie, the Hat
Check Lady, and Thelma, the Cigarette
svender; Introduce to him few
orchestra leaders and an aged waiter or
so,sand direct his attention to the sad,
furtiye manner in which the 1922
Broadway revclnr goes about his rev.
cling. Then, when the accumulated
sorrows Of the Cray Tight Way had
been revealed Ito the Minnesota Con-
gressman who made Broadway what it
is to-day, there might be chance for
beer and vine.
ri And then, Of course, there mightn't.
Volstead Avenue Now
There il no more Broadway. They
ought to change the name to Volstead
Avenue and set up a fine big head
mt %fs k1,a A.A. II
"Here Lies All That Is Left Of what
Was Once the Gay White Way" carved
deep upon It. The Broadway of the
bailadfsts, Of George Cohan and Billy
Sunday, of "Diamond jim" Brady and
millionaire -for-a-D Day McDervitt Just
doesn't exist any more
Neither, for that matter, does the
broadway Of the modern motion picture
drama, in which honest though by cir
cumstances lightly clad girls are
chased over the cabaret tables by en-
thusiastic inebriates, amid the plaudits
OK the onlookers. The Broadway where
chorus ladys slipper served in
moments OF greatness for champagne
glass is goneSoat with the champagne.
~ may come back. Sometimes they do
cor come =. back; but never, never while the
Lrightee nth Amendment is being en-
forced with authority to pinch" an
ekuberant diner who incautiously ex-
poses "a flask above the level of a table.
That lis the Anal blow; the culmi-
mating Knockout on the point Of the
chin: There has been a hollow ring
20 sthe gayety of the Gray Tight Way
eyer since Prohibition entered. frowr,.
issg 5pt the edicsswhich says that
i DsA As nv totes rs avn liquor on his
own hip and infhis own flask is an Of
tender against the law and a candidate
d9r g, ma les and the Oregon boot has
snate 81, eered sits melody completely.
Drunks Prefer Subway
a necessarily, rapid but not the less
complete cross section closeup of half
9 dozen of Broadway's remaining
bright spots taken on Saturday night
served sto reveal the purple depths Of
somber gloom into which the once
primrose path has wandered. The tour
took in the Golden GIades, the palais
Royal ssthey Paradise Roof. which once
was. ReisenWeber's; the Strand Roof
and the Piccadilly Rendezvous, with a
pause at the Little Club. The evening
produced half dozen zsurreptitious hin
pocket fiat TASKS which probably did
not hold water, an appalling number
OF vacant tables even in the most pop-
ular resorts, no scenes of reyeiry by
night, mo- sounds of boisterous laugh
Ter, and no particular enthusiasm any
where for anything Two drunks were
observed. One of them was in a SUBJ
way train coming down town. The
otherawas In another subway train go-
ing UP town.
The main bjective of the survey was
the discovery sof exactly what, if any
thing, prohibition is doing to Broad
way. The answer is that it is doing
a alaplenty.
Now" remarked head waiter 4on
the Strand Roof plaintively, "they won't
evenS1et them tote theirtown LIQUOR. If
we see a guy get fresh with a flask,
We've got to atop it, guess that's the
limit They can't go much furthex
than that; or can they 2"
II Hesitancy liz Pathetic
\ The tone Of his inquiry displayed d
nuzzled hesitancy that was pathetic. Ii
Is the tone of Mr.. Volstead's 1929
broadway. The boys may not respect
the Eighteenth Amendment, but they
have seen enough of its: workings to
besquite lot afraid of it. Most Of the
things that can happen to a supposedly
tree citizen OF, the United States
belt; but If you told Broadway res
/ taurateur that the prohibition enforce
nient people were going to establish an
sfhcial searching squad which would
frisk his customers for concealed
hootch holders before thoy would be
permitted to enter his establishment
you couldn't make him raise a single
eyebrow in surprise. These long-suf-
fering bonifaces are past the surprise
period. All they have left is the abil-
ity to take punishment.
Two main charges are brought
against prohibition BY the restaurant
/ folk. They say it has driven their
/ best customers away from their estab-
| lcontinued on nsxt page,
EP0Iice v11ard (.hinatnxUr,