The Washington times., 1930-02-19
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Kirk Miller

anu WHO was mace 1mmOrCal
by Damon Runyon's Handy
Sande," is taking singing les
sons from Miss Estelle Went
worth, Of Washington, and
~acEer says Earl is an apt
pupil. Sande has a splendid
tenor voice and has radio and
concert ambitions, despite the
fact the agencies have not been
rushing to sign him UP.
It comes to few men 20
excel, say naught Of reach the
heights, in more than one call
ing. Comparatively few Of our
greatest generals have turned
out to be great statesmen. How
many distinguished actors are
also great soldiers, legislators,
ministers or sculptors? Few, we
ween! Twist the trades and
professions around any way you
wish and the net results will
be approximately the same
each can climb the pinnacle by
but one route.
That gets us back to Sande.
1t isn't likely he will ever be-
come q McColBnack or yet q
CaruSo or Olcott, If we may go
back bit. Neither Of the latter
were ever worth a darn on a
horse The Prince Of Wales
could outstride the three Of 'em
bareback and with both hands
locked. behind his ears.
So we shall not expect too
much of Sande as vocalist,
but who Of us Is there who will
not watch, and, better yet. listen
to, his progress as a singer. 1t
seems to me some enterpriSlng
radio program manager would
have had Earl on the radio
long ere this, even if he can
only sing two bars, which Miss
Wentworth assures us is far
from being the case with Sande.
The Movietones, too. should
go after this great former
jockey and let his siivery notes
be waited out to the great
world audience who have heard
their own hearts beat at the
sight of Sande booting the hoof
beats home. Sande's knowledge
of cadence, or perhaps they
call it rhythm in music. should
be very acute, as he has won
many a race by gauging the
nearneSS and the regularity Of
hoof beats all around him.
And as to an ear for music,
why those same pounding, throb-
bing hoofS were music to his
ears over a period which saw
no other American jockey his
peer. say naught Of his equal.
Selah!
Joe Humphreys, ring an
nouncer, who has done a
Jimmy Lake for every impor-
tant prize-fight of recent years
held under the direction of the
Madison Square Garden Cor
poration, will have his work cut
out for him in Miami a week
from tomorrow night when he
starts juggling those interna-
tional proper nouns ranging all
the way from the Paul Bianchi
of Argentina to the French
Noise Bouguillon.
But Joe has ever been equal
to any occasion, be it light or
frivolous or solemn or sedate.
One can imagine the 'Vittorio
Campolo" rippling and rolling
off Joe's Irish tongue with as
much reckless abandon as the
name of Tommy Loughran
himself. For Joe Humphreys
has never been stumped in the
ring, either for q difficult pro
nunciation or for the want Of
glowing and flowery introduc-
tory comments about the gen.
tlemen of the ring about to be
introduced.
One Of the most masterful
pieces Of mastering OF ceremo-
nies we ever saw done was
Humphreys intoning Of one
minute Of silent prayer for the
late Miller Higgins in the Yam
kee Stadium just previous to
the Loughran-Sharkey fight.
With all the solemn dignity
of a minister Of the gospel pro-
nouncing the last rites, Joe
Humphreys raised one pallid
hand above his head and bade
10000 souls remain breathleSs.
And as Joe lowered his hand
and spoke impresSively-"May
he rest in peace!"-there wasn't
an eye or an ear in the
house which hadn't seen and
listened with reverence bef1t-
ting the scene of some clois-
tered chapel or exalted shrine.