Evening star., 1924-06-15

and stared admiringly at the
L strangely moving figure OF
Mademoiselle Sylvia. Enveloped by
voumnous folds of gauzy stuff, Made
moiselle Sylvia was doing complicated
daily dozen in more or less time to the
music made by the Elite Theater Or
chestra.
shes class. ain't she:" said Pat
admiringly.
The stage manager stared at him
what are you trying to do, kid
me-" he asked in an unfriendly tone.
mo, I'm not trying to kid you"
said Mahoney, nettled. I'm telling
you something. l said the young
lady out there has class. and that
goes"
That's your story" said the stage
manager. Now listen to mine. I've
seen many a gauze f1uffer in my time.
and I've never seen one yet that
was any good. Some are bad and
some are worse. That dame out
there now, picking up her feet and
putting them down. is the worst. You
call her a young lady, but she amt
young, and she's maybe lady
though I doubt il, and there amt any
class to her"
You're a liar" said Mahoney hot
ly"
Say" said the manager. that's
fighting word around here"
els it?' said Mahoney. Then let's
fight"
He smacked the stage manager on
the nose, and the stage manager re-
taIiated by pasting him in the eye
They clinched then and fell to the
floor and rolled over and over. BY
this time other performers and stage
hands were rushing toward them
Before any one could reach the strug-
Cling pair they had stumbled erect.
swayed, tumbled and banged hard
against the cage containing Profess
sor Tomasellis trained bear. The
door of the cage was closed and bolt
ed, but not locked. The jar of the
lighting pair falling against the
framework loosened the bolt, and
when they rolled away from the cage
the door came open.
"Woof!" said the big brown occu-
pant in pleased tone and walked
out
The performers and stage hands
who had been approaching with the
idea of stopping the fight turned and
went rapidly away from there. not
caring a whoop in heavy thunder
storm whether the fighting was ever
stopped or not.
"Woof!' the big brown bear re-
peated and ambled leisurely over TO
sniff at the two squrming forms that
were performing strangely The
stage manager fighting one hand
loose, made wild grab TO get Ma
honey by the hair. and grabbed the
bear by the nose instead.
Vow cried the stage manager
He shook himself free and in a sec
ond he was well up a ladder leading
to the flies and wondering what de-
tanned Mahoney.
At about the same moment Maho-
ney. looking furiously about to see
what had become of the stage man
ager peeked into the eyes and mouth
of the bear that had spoiled the fight
The bears eyes were less than foot
from Mahoney's face: the bears
mouth was open, and Mahoney noted
that the revealed teeth were long and
yellow and capable looking.
''Woof!" said the bear once more.
was his answer to the bears remark.
and in no time at all Mr.. Mahoney
stood on the ladder just below his
late opponents feet
* 4
lust at this moment the orchestra
stopped playing, and two or three
people in the audience applauded un-
enthusiastically. Mile. Sylvia's act
was at an end She came off bowling
her way backward until she reached
the wings. and then turned around
and almost bumped face on into the
big brown bear.
'-Woof." said the bear pleasantly.
'Eeeeeee." said Mile. Sylvia and
crumpled up in faint.
''Oh. Lord" said Pat Mahoney and
1oosening his hold on the ladded,
leaped to the floor
''Woof." said the bear. facing him.
Scat you" said Mahoney advanc-
ing on him with his fists up. Get
out. Beat it"
"Woof" said the bear
Mahoney said a little prayer in his
mind and smacked the bear on the
nose with a left jab.
'Woof," said the bear aggrievedly,
backing up. "Woof. Woof, Woof."
He shook his head pathetically.
ambled dejectedly to his cage crawled
in and to make absolutely sure that
no ill-natured humans would bother
him further. caught the door with one
paw and slammed it shut after him.
'Woof" he said spiritlessly as
parting tribute to the conversation.
swoof"
Hey, you" the stage manager
called to Mahoney. Get a move on.
They're playing your stuff"
Mahoney saw that some other per-
formers were caring for Mile. Sylvia.
and he cooked his hat on one side of
his head, shook himself into his stage
personality, and went humming and
clogging out in front of the footlights
to do his stuff.
Now. Pat Mahoney's stuff was
rough but funny. vulgar but effec-
tive. 1t forced even the majority
of the judicious to reluctant grins,
and 1t certainly went big with the
groundlings. Pat had the feet of
genius and the appearance Of New
York gangster. He danced divinely
and did it with his hat cooked over
one eye, his hands in his pockets, and
the general manner and expression of
a tough stick-up guy on a vacation
and looking for trouble just to make
things feel homelike.
He was queer card, was Pat. His
act was always billed as the Mahoney
Brothers. Pat was the original and
only Mahoney, but he always hired
v@nar 1uba uyarkad with him and