Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11
MOTHER KNOWS BEST

! idea in her head? Give her chance,
why don't you?"
IF my Sally ever marries, it'll be
prince
prince, Not il she picks him."
yelled old Kiper just before she slam
med the door behind her.
| You would have thought that blunt
talk like this might have opened her
| eyes. but such scenes only served to
| increase Ma Quail's watchfulness, her
tireless planning.
| Mother and daughter went to the
theater together Ma Quail stood in
| the wings while Sally was on stage;
dressed her. undressed her; made her
up; criticized her; took her home. Ptt
her to bed. She brought her her
| breakfast. They ate their early din
ner together; their bite Of late sup
per. Sally was an amiable girl, and
| devoted to her mother. But there
were times when she was unaccount
ably irritable, impatient. Ma Quail
| put this down to temperament and
was rather pleased.
x X
GALLY'S big chance in musical COM
~ edy c'Miss Me" ran two solid
she was "a. Before she was starred
in that success, she had won solid
recognition in vaudeville and in
musical comedy roles that were not
stellar. And always. just ahead Of
her, her mother, inserting a wedge
here. getting a toe in there, widening
! the opening to stardom.
1t was when Sally was playing the
old Olympic Theater in Chicago that
Ma Quail fell i'll and was forced TO
take to her bed. 1t was influenza, of
which there was a violent epidemic at
the time. 1t was elegantly termed
ia grippe" or, as Mrs. Quail eX-
planned, "a touch of the la grippe
She had never been i'll and thought
that by treating this Illness with con-
tempt she could vanquish it. For
one afternoon and one evening per
Torrance she stuck it out, appear
ing sunken' eyed and putty-faced at
the theater, alternately shivering
and burning, until they forced her
to go back to her hotel and to bed
where she just escaped pneumonia.
They got a nurse. though Ma Quail
fought this
Sick as she was. and even bit
delirious the first "a hours, she ruled
Sally from her bed. Sally was play
ing down on the bill, which meant {
good spot toward the end Of the pro.
gram in the second half. Ma Quail
TUNED until Sally was off to the the
alter: tossed during her absence; began
to listen for her return a full hour
before the girl could possibly have fin
ished her act. She thrashed about on
her pillows, sat up, threatened to get
ont of bed was as impatient and diff
cult as a sick man.
Now she's putting. on her makeup.
She never gets it on right unless I'm
there. Chunks her grease paint.
Now she's dressing. Now it's almost
time to go on. That Nixon is just
head of her. / told them not to run
those two acts next to each other.
Not that that cheap hooters act is
anything like my Sally's But she
ought to follow a sketch. If l was up,
I'd make them Shift the bill. T.
hum little tune, her eyes bright and
heavy with fever dull glow in her
sallow cheeks. her hair twisted into
careless knot on top of her aching
head. That's right. That's
right. Go on. Now she's, Off
There's her bow music. She's taking
her curtains. One two f..
three four-she could have had
another, if they'd taken the curtain
up again. . She'll be home now
in half an hour twenty minutes
fifteen ten. . What
time is it, Miss Burke?
The long-suffering Miss Burke would
tell her the truth, having tried a pro-
fessionally soothing lie on her first
day with Ma Quail, and having been
caught in it. with effects not calcu-
lated to allay fever in a case of la
grippe.
On the first day of her mothers
illness. Sally flew back to the hotel
and sat by her mothers bedside
against the nurses warnings and the
half-hearted protests of her mother.
After the second matinee. she re-
turned to the hotel directly after her
performance, but her haste was, per-
haps, a shade less feverish.
On the third night, after she had
finished dressing. she came out to the
first entrance and stood there to
watch Nixon doing his act. Nixon
was the hoofer of whom her mother
had spoken with contempt. His act
preceded hers. Ma Quail never per-
mitted Sally to watch the other acts.
Sally loved to do it, particularly when
the act was a dancing act. She loved
dancing, especially clog and soft shoe.
At both of these Nixon seemed to be
an expert.
He did a black-face single. His act
was that of a dancing monologist, so
that Ma Quail was justified in think
ing that he should not have preceded
Sally The monologue was dullish