The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-05-13
-In- NezC YO,-k

New York.-Broadway likes to claim walter c. Kelly as its own nrobabIy because the mellow, pink faced, genial old trouper typines iust about everything the thor ourhfare loves. But the big town has given him little except the alpha and omega of a distinguisn- ed career-a start at Tony Pas- tors theater in 1899, and now the principal character role in the Pulitzer Prize play. Both xour Houses"
 Tn al the years between. Waiter Kelly has been The Virgin,a Judge" (riow you remember himl, playing every big-time vaudeviiie world from Bangor, Maine, to Oregon. to Pieternanitzberg Af- rica. Now and then he came back to New York for a vacation, to loaf around the Friars club and tell his stories.
 He lived as boy in Mineville, N. r., a town so small, he Is fond of recalling, that a couple or woodpeckers ate the railroad de- pot. And as a boy he had to go forth and make his own way, so he became a mechanic and worked in the Newport News, Va, ship yards, During an enforced vaca- lion he wandered into the court room of Judge John D. Brown, a wise jurist, philosopher and wit. And there, as a procession Of err rant negroes filed past the bench, Kelly got the idea for the vaude- vile act which was to make him famous.
 Stories Spread Fame
 He told negro stories to ship yard workers, to buddies in the Spanish American War, and later to customers of his poolroom and cafe in Newport News. He was a candidate for congress, but lost the nomination. By this time. how ever, he had acquired such a judge to New York Big Tim Sullivan asked him to speak at a political rally. Kelly told stories instead. and receivedf two theatrical offers as he left the platform.
 Under the direction of A. l.. Err langer, he rehearsed in an oper- atic version of "Huckleberry finn" Mark Twain himself as- sisted, but the show was a flop in its try-outs. Next Kelly teamed with Marie Dressler in a vaude- vile act. But Miss Dressler fell suddenly i'll, and the manager went to Kelly's dressing room with tears in his eyes. Could Mir Kelly go on alone and do something anything? Mir Kelly could. He told negro stories, and the audi ence wouldn't let him go. Ever after that, except for a few yen- lures into musical comedy and the movies, he was solitary vaude- vile headliner.
 | Knew 'Em When
 | He is rich in experience. It was | he who cheered a nervous cowboy named Will Rogers as the latter made his vaudeville debut with roping act It was he who. when | Lily Langtry swept from the stage in fury after the gallery had | thrown pennies at her, went on im- mediately and began his act with ''PIease do not throw anything smaller than half-dollars at me" It was Kelly who fixed things with politicians when the Chill dren's society protested the appear ance of a promising tot named Elsie Janis.
 One day in London member of an act called the Eight Lanca- shire Lads knocked at his dress ing room door. 'I'd like to go to | America, MT Kelly" said the youngster. "Do you think could make a living there?"
 ''Sure you could" said Kelly. 'T think you've got lot of prom ise. What's your name, son?"
 "Charles Spencer Chaplin" re- | piled the Lancashire lad.
 Not until the Theater Guild de- cided 1t had to have him in the ! role of a loveable old mountebank 1 of a congressman did Kelly ever appear in a legitimate drama. He likes it. though. especially since the play has won the Pulitzer Prize and will go on tour through many of the cities that remember ''The Virginia Judge"