The Washington times., 1928-10-19

paper which is sometimes there,
expecting every day to read q
big story of an additional in
mate having been admitted to
Mattewan, that great college
of lost memories up the Hudson
River.
We do not refer to John Nc
Graw, whose brain must be IN
shreds as result of the
Giants predicament with refer
ence to the approaching world
series; neither do we fear for
the mental poise of Miller Hug
gins whose days anc nights have
been anything but listless during
the last couple of fortnights;
nor yet is Tex Richard, the
man who knows there will never
be another million-dollar gate
during his lifetime, at least, the
subject of our concern.
The guy for whose sanity we
fear is young chap by the
name of Ralph Smith, probably
a descendant of that great
Romeo, Capt. John Smith, who
history says had a crush on a
lady whose first name was
Pocahontas, and whose last
name makes no difference any
way.
Smith, the Ralph, is the reck-
less individual who gets knocked
out once every twenty-four hours
by Jack Dempsey in the latter's
vehicle, 1.-THE Big Fight" and
twice on Thursdays and Satur-
days, and how any man can take
even the present Dempsey's
punishments that often without
spending the interiIns cutting
out paper mannikins, is more
than this poor imagination can
conceive.
OF course Jack Dempsey
hasn't got the influence behind
his punches he had when he
fought Louis Firpo, neither Is
the authority there that obtained
during the Battle of Boyle's
Thirty Acres, when Georges
Carpenter met his Waterloo;
howsomever, even the Dempsey
of today is no senile old man
and it is difficult to believe that
there isn't really half a dozen
Ralph Smiths who take turns
taking Dempsey-if you can get
what we mean.
1t seems to our feeble view
point that Jack Dempsey must
be very rough playfellow and
that Ralph Smiths role on the
stage must be something like
Daniels was in the lions den.
Those lions might have snapped
at Old Daniel, or they might
not have. Demr sey is no house
cat. and neithe-' Is he what the
boys call musclebound. We
doubt if he can ever thoroughly
master the questionable art of
pulling all his punches.
So far. we understand, "The
Big Fight" has been financial
success, although that does not
speak for its histrionic value.
Folks would go to see Jack
Dempsey merely walk to the
front of the footlights, whether
he opened his trap or closed his
fist or not.
That is the one reason The
Washington Times is soon to
begin the publication of q series
of memoirs from the pen of the
erstwhile Manassas Mauler. When
the din of the world series is
over, his stories will appear
three times a week in these
columns.
Dempsey is what you call
a natural. His personal mag
nestism will be just as great
when he is a thousand year-old
mummy, probably down here in
the National Museum, as it was
a year ago this month in Chi
cago.
Apparently nothing is going
to close up the Dempsey-Taylor-
Smith show unless the latter
partner collapses completely
and gets carted off to Matte
wan. Neither of the Dempseys
having what Judge Andrew
Kelley calls a stage voice, the
future of the show depends less
on them than it does the crop
OF sparrlng partners. But
Dempsey must have someone ~
hit in his show, and if this
Ralph Smith fans to bounce
back after taking his custom
airy dive off the end of Demp-
sey's glove--it will simply be
too bad for "The Bic Finh4 .