The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-03-21
IN NEW YORK

New York, March 21.-Glancing
through morning newspaper, I came
upon a single phrase. which seemed
fairly to leap out Of the page.
And when his stage engagements
became scarce he returned to New
York with his last SIS. When that
was gone he collapsed from UNDER
nourishment in his rooming house. :"
So died that grand old trouper.
John Thompson, at the age of IS >.
SO he died while starvation stood out
side the door crying down the final
curtain.
It is the fear of just such a finale
which haunts the heart of every man,
woman and child who has cast a hat.
into the Broadway ring. It comes to
haunt them more and more as the
years 60 by. and they find them
selves still dragging along in the
small time" ruts. Each player learns
in his time that Age Is his most re-
morseless enemy that one day there
will be no place for him, no public
for him, no patience with him. He
can tramp from office to office, always
with the same reception. :. And then
what?
Perhaps like old John Thompson
there will be one last round Of the
outlying circuits. And then, with SIS
left, q last fling at Broadway.
Old John Thompson j. the fellow
they had called the one-man show"
for couldn't he make eight
changes, playing four instruments
and writing his own songs and gags?
A "one' man show playing all
eight characters! =. +. and just SIS
left! and so into q room way
over by the river. -. All, but q
room on t2nd street, after all. !.
Good old And street, the hub Of the
big belt. Even down by the river,
the big lights came streaming family
by. Just q hop-skip-and- jump
from old friends who would have
helped had they only known.
But old John didn't give them the
"cue." -. Nothing to eat. .
No money for food. Starvation
coming slowly on the stage ready to
ring down the curtain.
And scores Of rich friends /who
rushed up when 1t was too late! After
all, how are they to know!
Old Chelsea which sits primly in
the d-Twenties like q nice old
fashioned lady with her knitting, will
be the next to perish from the Man.
haitian picture.
And then there will be few places
one may wander in the hope Of re-
calling the days Of lavender and old
lace.
Chelsea Village they have come to
call this quaint and quiet slice Of
New York. which juts back from the
street with neat and tiny green lawns
and rows Of hedge. Going westward,
toward the river on Twenty-eighth
street, 1t Is possible to step into q
neighborhood which has undergone
but slight architectural change since
the Civil War times. All about the
spirit Of change has breathed against
the skyline. But here one still can
see oil lamps and "stoops," and bal
comics Swallowed in heavy Spanish
grillwork, and flower pots In windows
and be-laced curtains and strangely
built stairways.
Chelsea has been physically un-
touched by time!
Back In l8l5, It was the "finest sub
urban development" manipulated
by early estaters and made eminently
fashionable. A few years ago It was
. zone Of old boarding houses. Then
some Of the Greenwich Villagers. dis
contented with the steady rise Ia
rentals, began to look about for 9
new quarter. They bounced upon the
reasonable. rates Of Chelsea Village
hammered out walls Of the old room
Ing houses and soon had turned them
into apartments. Fearing that thia
great find" would be noised around,
2 strict silence was maintained. Ever
lew celebrities had come and rome
RAYMOND Hitchcock. the comedian
took one Of the houses. And when
he left, Henry Hadley. the great must
clan, moved In. SO did Boardman
Robinson, the artist. and 4 great as-
sortment Of poets. novelists and stage
folk.
/ with the spring, Chelsea Village
will pass to the wreckers.
GIIBEHT SWAN
Copyright. lo2s. MIA Gervice, Inc)