The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-05-21
Radio Wins Roxy From MOUieS;
Genius of Air Weary of Mob
Applause of Crowds, Once
Thrilling to RothafeI, Has
PaIIed; Likes to Please
Children OF Nation.
BY PAUL HARRISON
NEA Service Writer

NEW YORK, May 23.-The radio
~ is winning Foxy away from the
movies. Samuel Lionel Rothafel,
spectacular genius of the theater
and the air, gets more kick out Of
being a mere man behind a micro
phone than he does in presiding
over the worlds greatest cathedral
of the motion picture"
There are plenty Of reasons for
this attitude of Roxy'S. Tne least Of
them is money; the greatest is the
astonishing fact that Roxy now
hates crowds.
For twenty-eigilt years he sought
the spotlight, and found pot of
gold at the end of it. Roxy was a
Snowman. He was the only show
man who projected his own person.
atty on such scale of grandeur.
Long before he built his $4,000
900 theater people we're jamming 9TH
er houses to watch Roxy's show,
hear Roxys music and see Roxy's
pictures. He loved the crowds and
their acclaim.
Avoids the Mob
"But now," he declared, "the
metamorphosis is complete. 1 find
myself, every chance I get, avoid
ing the mob. I want more and
more to be with just few intimate
| friends.
"You wonder how I can feel this
way and still be more enthusiastic
than ever about the radio, which
represents millions of people instead
of thousands?
Well, I don't talk to the mass;
1 talk to individuals. I love people,
separately, especially those of the
great middle group. And I get al
most my biggest kick cut of pleasing
children.
when Roxy and His Gang go on
the air over the National Broadcast
ing Conpany's network, and every
body in the studio is popped up,
and rehearsals have been OK, I'm
really happy.
when I sign off with Goodnight,
pleasant dreams, Good bless you
and they Swamped me with re-
proachful letters on the only two
occasions when failed to use that
phrase-I'm talking to the unseen
friends who have liked us.
"Made Me Old Man"
"But not to the crowds. I'm not
yet 48 years old, but the crowds al
ready have made an old man of me. -
Roxy doesn't look like an old man,
nor act like one. You question, as
he becomes enthusiastic about radio,
that he even feels like one. En-
forced seclusion, he admits, has
brought him better health.
He has more time now for golf and
handball, both of which he plays
we'll, and vociferously Roxy likes
argumentative banter among the in
mates. Strangers have a hard time
believing that his sarcasm and bit
ter invectives are all in good fun.
He is short, not too heavy, and
has slightly f1orid face. Friendly,
smiling eyes make you forget the
cold firmnesS of his mouth.
Sam Rothafel was born in Still
water, Mimi, went to New York
with his parents in 1894 and was
obliged to start working as cash boy
in department store at the age of
IL. He was a house-to- house book
agent by the time he was II and a
year later joined the marine corps.
Did His Hitch With Marines
There, despite the fact that he
refused to drink liquor and had TO
bear the nickname of "Sodywater"
through his seven years of service,
Rothafel acquired the reputation
of being plenty hard-boiled."
There, too, he observed the eff
ficiency of strict discipline and, as
marine corporal, learned how to
establish it. He now is a major in
the marine corps reserve.
After leaving the service he went
to the coal fields of Pennsylvania
and in 1907 at Forest City, made his
first venture into the moving picture
business.
Even with a Tapping screen, a
crude protector and poor lights,
Rothafel made money-enough
money to get married, buy better
equipment and transfer his activi-
ties to Minneapolis. Later he went
to Milwaukee.
| Wins Way to Top
So successful was he in the west
that New York soon heard all about
him. In 1918 he went to Broadway
as manager of the Regent theater,
where he originated the idea Of the
atmospheric prologue for feature
films.
When the Strand theater was
opened-it then was the largest mo-
ton picture house in the world -
Rothafel became its managing di-
rector. He occupied similar posi-
tons at the Rialto, Rivoli and Capt.
toll theaterS.
He was the first theatrical di-
rector to interest himself in radio,
and the first to sponsor broadcasts
from a stage. At the Capitol he or
gained a group of entertainers
known as "Roxy's Gang" and the
broadcasting sessions became a per-
manent institution.
1t was radio that gave him the
name which now is dearer to him
than the one he was born with.
E-ring a program one night" he