Evening star., 1927-03-13
Tales of Well Known Folk
in Social and Official Life
Sxnator and Mrs Waterman Planning Washing
con Home-Straus Philanthropy Extends to
Jerusalem-Persona Notes of Interest.

Vassar and LII E. later. Mr.. Street
graduated at Princeton in 1925 and
was a member of the Triangle and
Colonial clubs and was the editor of
| the Daily Princetonian. He now is
on a New York City daily and has
| tried his hand at several plays, some
produced in the Little Theater, The
wedding will take place in June.
Mr.. William Harrison. who has
| leaped into fame through his owner
ship or the largest pulp and paper
mills in Europe and his consequent
control Of those well known London
| illustrated weeklies. The Sphere. The
| Sketch. The Tatler and about six
| others comparatively familiar to
| American readers. His Importance
was so suddenly developed that the
! British who's Who" was caught
mapping. as queries about this new
magnate brought no reply from the
usual alert biographical sources
| News Scribes had to descend on the
small village of the midlands, Griggle-
wick. where he was born and received
| his primary education There they
| found that Will Harrison had been a
celebrity, had been deemed the
smartest lad of the place and had
won "A scholarship to Leeds Univer-
sity nearby, where he literally car
ried away all honors With the small
patrimony left. by his parents Mr..
Harrison secured a controlling inter
est in the Inveresk Scotland. paper
mills. noted for the high reputation
Of esparto paper OF this he made
sensational success and then he ac-
quired the Carrongrove, the show
paper mills of Scotland. and then
within the past wear nine other hne,
well equipped mills have come under
his control and he was then in posi-
ton to dictate to dalies and weeklies
and to take over the Beaverhrooke
publications. Recently this young
genius, for he is still in his thirties,
bought the Hugo Innes mills in East
Prussia, and he is fast acquiring
similar properties in other parts Of
Europe.
Mr. Otto n. Kahn has recently an
nounced the erection of new Metro
politan Opera House. but not in the
rush which had been predicted. Ac-
cording to Mr.. Kahn. it may be close
to 1880 before the proposed home of
song is ready for occupancy, and
that when it is completed it will be
planned on lines which will insure
it's durability for a century or more.
The present structure was opened
October %, 1888, and with only three
tiers of boxes. Forty-three years seems
a short life for such an expensive
building, and already Mr.. Kahn's an
nouncement has called forth comment
from the older world, where cen
tury is no existence of moment for
an opera house. Some radical
changes in the arrangement of the
new opera house are discussed, and
with the usual result of favor and
disfavor. 1t has already been deter.
mined that the grand tier shall pass.
and the only boxes will be in the
parterre, and their number reduced
from 35 to -. Mr.. Kahn and his
colleagues have made another inno-
walton in that purchasers of boxes
shall control their use only three
times week, and the board of man.
ayers shall dispose of the seats for
other occasions. 1t appears that pros
pective box owners have welcomed
this change as providing a regular
income to ease their expenses instead
of an occasional one when renting
was problematic. Owners of boxes.
as in the present case, will be stock.
holders and form the board of man.
ayers, but another managing board
VIII be created from which Mr.. Kahn
hopes for greater satisfaction than has
been experienced in the past.
Mrs. Henry White and Mrs. III. Mex.
TWombly are among the first of the
original stockholders of the Metropoli-
tan Opera House to prefer the ease of
renting box on occasion rather than
the turmoil of the new building ven
ture. They have owned box II since
the opera house opened, and are
among the few survivals of their gen
Grafton. Mrs. White passes but a
minimum of time in New York City
during the opera season, and the same
reason impelled Mrs. Twombly to sell
also. The purchaser is Mr.. Ed ward
Manville, who is associated with AR.
Kahn and entirely sympathetic with
his ideas. Mrs. White AZ Miss Emily
Vanderbilt and Mrs. Twombly, her sis.
ter, have been familiar in the golden
horseshoe since their father, William
II. Vanderbilt, was one of the direc-
tors of the opera house. Mr. Wander.
biIt left the family box jointly to these
two daughters, who We're more de
voted to music than any of his six
children. But neither the first Or
second generation of the Twcmbiy 0r
Sloane families-Mrs. White fiji st mar
ried William Sloane-has manif astad
a strong interest in opera, and weeks
at a time the box has stood empty, |