The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-01-10
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

New York.-"He was sweet guy" said Broadway. looking al the big bright sign on the Winter Garden that spelled out "Ziegfeld Follics." How he'd liked to have seen all this, How he loved the ballyhoo and the bright@! Well, no more Zigsy. but there art the Follies. And the old stree, looks natural again.
 There were many who re;nem- bered on this memorable first night.
 Thca.cr, folk and theatcr
 patrons passed undo" t.ic Siit-
 ter.Eg mar u"c With t3' f"N'
 crcnt micn of people at a me- moral service instead of en-
 tertainment seekers at gay
 and lavish revue.
 In little groups gathered some of the oldsters whose memories reached back to Flo Ziegfeld's first first night" in 1907--
 "It was on the roof of the old New York Theater building "The Jardin de Paris, they called it" T remember that corru' gated iron roof over the whole thing, with the sides open and tar. paulin covered in bad weather" "And the audience sat in folding chairs, and one of the corners was sort of penned in like box for Ziegfeld and Klaw and Erlanger who produced the first FollieS Mora Bayes was in it, remember? And Grace La Rue, and
 "Yes, and the Gibson Bathing Girls. But the big mement of that show was when the Amazonian Drum Corps came right down of the stage and marched up one aisle and down the other' . There was never anything like that in New York before. I'll never forget the look on my wife's face when" And do you re- member what thta show cost Well. I do-$13.0O0. You couldn't put a Punch and Judy show on Broadway for that money in these times
 FOliicss Alumni
 So went the "reminiscences about the beginnings of great Broadway institution. And so wandered across the stage of memory long procession of people who were projected into prominence by the Great Glorffier
 In 1909 there was Anna Held of milk bath fame. In 1910 Bert Williams, best of all negro come dians, made his debut. In the same year. and six subsequent ones Fannie Brice starred in the Follies; and she heads the present cast |. Leon. Errol came along ir 1912. Anne Pennington, Nat Wills Frank Tinney and Ed Wynne fol lowed .N.
 Teh Follies of 1915 brought Ina Claire, William c. Fields, Mae Murray, and hoofer named George White who later challeng- ed Ziegfeld with his Scandals" Will Rogers made his Follies bow in 1917. and Eddie Cantor and Peggy Hopkins, before she be- came Peggy Hopkins Joyce
 Marilyn Miller took the spot. light in 1918; Eddie Bowling, now producer, popped up in 1919 and 1922 brought Gilda Gray and Gallagher and shea
 A distinguished company .. About Mir Green
 A spark of inaccuracy in this column the other day has beer famed into a blaze of indignation by the hot breaths of some friends of MT William Green. president o1 the American Federation of Labor It seems that this column fell prey to an untrue bit of Information stating that MT Green smoked 60. cent cigars.
 The transformation was used if good faith as one of the incidenta items in a little discourse about the smoking habits of various celebrities. You'd be surprised tt know, however, the number o, readers who interpreted the whol, thing as deliberately malicious capitalistic charge of extravaganc' against MT Green.
 | What makes this column brett, uncomfortable, though, is the fac --attested by a great many peopl, who know Mir Green intimately. that he doesn't smoke at all Hasn't smoked for 30 years, ant only cheap stogies before that. IT, does buy cigars to pass out to hi friends, but they don't cost 0l cents Regretting its error this column also is sorry that M Green doesn't smoke. It feels TX, going out and buying him Q nic, box Of union-made perfoctos.