Smyrna times., 1932-09-21
SOME SIDE LIGHTS
OF NEW YORK CITY
Told By Walter TrumbuIl in
His Own Immical Way
of DOings in City
INTERESTING SKETCHES

"One reason the theater business
is bad" said Mike Jacobs. the bic
shot among ticket brokers, is that
in these days persons pick their
spots"
what do you mean BY that:" /
asked him.
Why" said Mr. Jacobs. in the
old days, if you didn't have seats for
the show they demanded, you could
sell them seats for some other
show. That frequently was very
useful, as you might have tickets
for show you were trying to boost.
But you can't do that any more.
The customers accept no substi-
tutes. They make up their minds
how many shows they can afford to
see, and then they budget their
money among the shows they par
ticularly wish to see. If you don't
happen to have the reservations
they want, they walk out on you
and go to a movie. AS a result,
few hits are doing all the real
business. In the good old days"
said Mike sadly, "it was not like
that at all. Everybody had money
and would spend it for almost any
sort of entertainment. Now they
have become hard-boied.
broadway" continued Mr. "a
cobs, has changed until the old-
timers wouldn't recognize it. The
old Broadway doesn't exist any
more. Once you could stroll along
under the bright lights and meet a
dozen persons you knew in every
block. Broadway was a street filled
with color, life and laughter IT
held the flash Of jewels and the
rustic Of silks. The popping Of
corks was like machine gun IRE.
There was music and gay converse
ton. Now the Bowery has come 10
Broadway. The old rainbow tint has
vanished. But for the movie thea
tiers, the street would be as dead as
a burned-out bulb"
1t certainly is true that the new
generation never will know the old
White Way. Martins and Rector's
are only memories. The old Shan
ley's is gone 10 longer does Cap
tain Churchill welcome friends and
patrons in the early hours Of the
morning and chat with them con
cerning the news Of the day and
stories of the night. There is no
Diamond Jim" Brady and none to
take his place. The young men
of Manhattan, the politicians, the
theatrical crowd are scattered
around in various speakeastes on
side streets, but there is no one
place where you may be sure Of
finding many of them. The best
collections are to be observed at
private parties given by hosts who
still have enough left to entertain
l am speaking of the after the the
ater" crowd. There are still one or
two restaurants where you are rea-
sOnably sure of seeing some one yon
know at luncheon or dinner. But
in the main the best place to be
alone with your thoughts is in a ho-
tel dining room.
l have been learning a few things
banks. They tell me.
for example, that every check drawn
costs a New York bank about six
cents. That includes printing and
handling. The time locks on most
of the ordinary vaults are con
trolled by three clocks. so that if
one gets out of order, the others
will do the job. These clocks gen
orally are set for S a. m. and re
set every morning. If anyone should
get locked in a vault on Saturday,
he would be out of luck, because the
clocks will not do their stuff until
Monday.
The really big banks have a most
intricate system of alarms. As
it. if a holdup man so
startled an employee that his knees
knocked or his teeth chattered, he
set off gongs all over the
place. In that case, guards would
pour from all sorts of spots like
water over Niagara falls. They
tell me that new employee in
one of the larger banks did set of
an alarm by accident and was al
most scared to death by the inst9n-
.aneous and mystifying appearance
IF a platoon of guards armed with
Tommy guns. For all l know, they
also held bowie knives In their
.eeth.
- - GPrVice. I