Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-10

to Heaven in Patsy Gains ware
house on Forty-first street over by
the North River, opposite the old red brick
brewery.
When 1t is all too obvious that not even
the pulmotive assistance of Joe LEBLANC and
his cut-rate emporium in Gray's drug store
can any longer keep q production among the
living, somebody goes to the phone and calls
MEDALLION 1884 in q hushed voice. This is
supposing, of course, that Mr.. Cain hmself-in
person and not evil premonition-is not
already standing ghouliShly about by the stage
door counting the minutes until he viii be able
to pack another ghost into his already bullying
warehouse. The truth is that his appearance
in lobby or back stage Is about as welcome
as that Of a black cat on Friday, the thirteenth
Whenever they see him, managers get out their
lucky rabbits feet, horseshoes whatever it Is
they use to attract prosperity. If, however, Mr..
Cain does not happen to have been lurking
behind q hreplug or Whalen wrecking car,
somebody viii cali him ON the phone. And
usually he win answer the call himself.
Gains is to the theatrical business q sort
of Charon, Nemesis, Valkyrie, Grim Reaper,
Campbells, or what have you. When a show
folds up," Patsy Cain wheels up a squadron
Of his trucks and whisks it away TO his ware
house-scenery costumes and properties-be-
fore anybody realizes the piece has even closed.
He may on occasion, drive OF to q railroad
station-provided some manager has his COM
pany under sufficiently strong hypnotic control
marily In the transfer business. He hauls
scenery in those long, lean trucks you have seen
about Broadway. But the point Is that even-
tually all scenery must come to rest somewhere.
Even the props in the "Abie's Irish Rose" COM
panies eventually found q happy hunting
ground somewhere. The story is that in many
cases the scenery and effects were 20 worn
out at the end Of the run that they just let
them fan apart where they stood in Dubuque
or Waco or wherever it was that people finally
decided they had seen That Thing for the last
time. And for every show that runs five years
there are 500 that run i've days.
HERE In where Cain sometimes runs into
difficulties particularly following such dis
asters as the recent stock market collapse. ANY
number Of producers" who had never pro-
duced plays before. but who had made q small
roll On the market, thought it would be terribly,
terribly interesting to go into the theatrical
business :. and perhaps meet an actress
whoopsl So they set about producing this and
that Then" the market blew itself into par
ticulaT1y small pieces and now there Just
isn't any more money to keep life in the little
play that has Just come into the world, unless
it can manage to earn its owl living And as
amazingly few persons normally outside the
theatrical world know how to pick, cast and
produce play with much success, MIR. Cain
and his eonferees of the heaving and hauling
profession have been doing quite brisk bust
ness these last few weeks.
But a. to this difficulty we mentioned. When
Ziegfeld or George White or Aarons and Freed
lev leave q few truck loads of drops, hats"
and costumes Cain knows that he will be paid
for the storage. But when some of the lesser
brethren-and the outsiders-get broke on
Broadway, they do it rather well, and stay
broke for a good, long while. As you can
imagine this leaves Mr.. Cain with great
many useless odds and ends on his handsCand
storage space is expensive about Manhattan.
The result Is that amateur companies, pro-
vineial stock companies, burlesque outfits and
shoestring producers who insist on getting out
plays against the very best advice, come to
Gains to furnish their stages. Much Of the
average set can be used again unless 1t Is par
ticularly unusual. A smart Long Island draw
ing room is cut, Tearranged and reprinted
bit until it has all the chill Of a Norwegian
interior suitable for the distilling OF few
IbsenesQue facts Of life, so that some little
theater movement can have fun in its private
attic.
Occasionally New York producing organiza-
ton will call on Cain for help. When the
Provincetown staged TN Abraham's Bosom"
(the Pulitzer prize play in 1920, that organiza-
ton is said to have ordered $3.50 worth Of
scenery" from Cain. So rapidly does scenery
lose its cash value once it becomes second hand
that the 800 worth" proved to be more than
the tiny Provincetown Theater could hold.
Curiously enough, the settings Tor In
AOra0aInS 6OSOU, y ScIAO0o PAoy WAeA ~AA ~AA
Negro cast, were built from bits OF Twinkle
toes" THE Bridge Of Distances" and another
musical show of that year.
THE present Patrick Cain, this symbol Of the
vanity and perishability Of all things the
atrical and the owner Of a bulging scenic VAL
haIla-for his is now only one Of many the
atrical storehouses-is the SON OF the original
John j. Cain, who 43 years ago left on pound
ing a beat for the Police Department to go into
the hauling and trucking business. For years
4ho 1.o,.sa ~ fso;y workad for pvervbody They