Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-07

Joe W eOoF 96S EItT OF SbCeT nO1O ana
q grandfGtherly look, but he can still
hOOf, as these. girls from the old come
diGnS nesU movie venture can testify.
!. @CENE: Hallway Of the wOR broad
casting station. The time is mid
~ afternoon. The background of the
A corridor has the impersonality Of gray
. cement and plaster. Doors lead every
where into sound prcofed rooms. and as they
open they offer quick glimpse Of intricate
radio apparatus. Performers rush in and out
brushing each other without SO much as a
casual greetinC-an Of them with eyes glued
upon wrist watches.
Inside one such room five musicians from
studio orchestra struggle at initiating the broken
and crude brasses of little German band.
And just outside the door two elderly men
lean against the wall reading from typewriter
manuscript. One is tall. wiry and wen pre-
saeFved. His skin is leather-brown from q Sum-
mer Of golf links and seashOre. The other Is
short and dapper in trinity tailored suit of
gray mixture.
The tall man begins to read:
vel, Mike, ids unuseless-h you had less
brains you'd still hef nudding"
"Yah-vot's der answer-Meyer?"
Tim tryink to drive into dot dumb head
sometink aloud poidigs Nov, vot are you,
Mike, vet or dry?"
Tim dry"
"HOW do you know you're dry?"
well II you dond belien it, feel me-
GOOD old sIapstick stuff in new words. Good
old low comedy.
For here you have Weber and Fields-or Joe
and Lew, II you prefer-or Mike and Meyer II
your memory is good enough.
+, Grandfatheriy figures now. yet the report has
been going about Broadway that they win re-
turn to the stage before Spring, Already they
had joined to go out to Hollywood for the
making Of . picture, THE Parade Of Time"
Back to the old routine they found themselves
deluged with offers. Now they are doing their
old STUNT Of murdeting the English language
for the micruphone. ,..
And 81 500. for p few moments. The most
famous Of Americas comic teams nudged each
other and smiled at the very idea-3I, 500 for
. few minutes q week. And the amusing part
Of It was neither needs the money now. Either
o. both could retire-except they can't.
~ Because we have stayed young making people
laugh" they admit. Were not boys any more.
But u We stay away Wen really get old
I'VE knew it when we went 70 Hollywood.
~ Funny-we'd been sitting back for quite
while. Mr.. Fields has been producing shows,
and like to sit back in the orchestra pit and
put show on. Mr.. Fields viii have q show
I'm New York within couple Of weeks But
when we took the train for Hollywood the old
trcuper spirit came back. We could see our
q
thousand times. And there was band down
at the station. And when we got there they
had half dozen Of our old-tine troupers there
to appear with us-ttere they all were as
though time had stood still. There was Fay
Templeton and De Wolf Hopper and Louis
Mann and Marie Dressler and Willie Collier
and Trixie Friganza and lot more-au Of us
graduates from the old days"
The imitation German band began to warm
up inside the studio rooms. The song with
Pnsie"-of Bowery days vintage. The little
seemed suddenly to drop q dozen years. Both
were like kids-kids with new toy.
And yet both of them are certain Of histcrys
immortality-for they have achieved the dis
tinction of biographical space In the Encyclo-
pedta Britannica Funny feeling-t0 be stand
ing chatting with those who have gained
Olympus only to find them human and child
like and eager and completely unspoiled by
fame, fortune and time.
YES" went on the little man, with his
amusing accent. "Yes. it seems that every SO
often we have to get back. Do you know that
we still remember our old routine? Just today
we were working on gags that would be UP to
date-things we could send over the air. And.
going through material. we found ourselves
swinging back into stuff we had used 30 years
ago We both knew the patter-picked up each
a others cues and could have done any of our
y acts on a minutes notice.
do we naiss an audience? We'll, yes. When
II think back # seems amaNng ihew simple It is
10 bring Entertainment into the hQme 1ft to-day.
You struggled and fought for your entertain