The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-06-20
In New York
ny PAUL HARRISON

Now York--some of Us got to talking, c little annlyticaiiy, about IIroad way celebrities; about their luck and talents and varied anteco. dents. But the only cenclusion that came out Of it was the mega. tive one that there's no rule for
 rake Q few of Manhattan's men, Of music, for example. Theres Jerome Kern, who has written tho gcords of more shows than any. body living. "ROberta," c hit, h his forty.slxth. Another thing that makes Kern almost unique ig that no didn't start out aB a poor boy. Ills parents had money and faith enough to send him to domo good schools here and in uernIGny. In 1910 when he YVES 90, no had done tunes for his first show and had married an English girl. Dy 1915 he was q prolific composer and was boosting sax0phones n orchestrag. Ho still is held moro to blanc for the popularity Of tho Instrument than any other lndi- vidual.
 HObbylst Kern
 Writing such popular classics as "Show Boat" Sweet Ade,:: jlno" and Music in tho Ali" Kern makes q lot Of money. Ho likes to spend it too, for such Yini' Dio pleasures as poker, first ed!' tons and loans to acquaintaneeB' He has what probably ig the larg' est collection Of ]. Q. us outside the foreign.debt division of the U. E. Trsasufy Department once no had an especially fine assort:. mont os rare books, collected because he happens to Do ono wealthy hobbyist who can read. Jut no got to worrying go much about the safety Of his library that no finally sold it, five years ago, for something iik0 Si,S000,000.
 of course he soon started to o0i- iect again. To-day Kern lives n q com fOrtab ble house in tho suburbs, works hard, takes no cxoreig0 0ther than q little draw or pi' noehie and ig vicc.prqsident Of . music publishing firm.
 Gymnastic Gcrshwin
 George 0ershwin, born Brushkin ln 1898, found his first rhythms m tho eleyated trains rumb!lng through Brooklyn. lie tried plug. ging songs for Tin Pan Alley, later
 became q plano player n q movie thentcr. got his cues mixed during q vaudeville act, was ribbed unTnor:: out without collecting his pay. A that owned tho theater offrred him | AAA ass sagQltA A QAt AZ eIlnAH. 1srshwin Ger win added /" ss,iS to tho amcunt--the sum duo him for his brief engagement as c pianist. te was delighted at being en-. gnged to play for rehenreals Of Miss i0i7," which had Jeromc Kern score. But he was crushed when Ziegfeid told him 1t was good thing no had~pienty of endurance, because he certainly had nothing else. 0ershwin still Is almost inc defatigable; he has q lot Of gym. nasium equipment in his apart ment and exercises faithfully. Ills first rcai triumph came when he was chosen instead Of Victor Herbert to write the music for "La La, Luciiie," in 1919. Of course t was "Ishapsody in Blue" in 1928, that really made him fa- nous. There arc two other re. mnrkabie things about uershwir: 1: Ile never has hired q press agent. And he ls c bachelor who never
 has been involved in any of BroGd-
 ways sossipy scandals
 Broadwayite Chase
 | Jason Newell Chase Isn't espo- cialIy celebrated as q composer yet, but he belongs in any cF0ps-secti0n of Tin. Pan alley because he lends IaddItionaI novelty to It's already un. conventional design. And youll certainly be hearing more of tho yOungstcr who has written such
 tunes as "One In Love-" My
 Ideai," and "symphOnette." He
 roughed out the latter competition
 on rush order in exactly 30 min
 ''l His father was the Rev !. Frank
 lin Chase, Methodist minister, member of tho International Pur- Ity Federation, and the secretary of IJoston's Watch and Ward so-
 ciety who barred the American
 Mefcury from that city. So you can
 imagine few of the handicaps
 under which Newell Chase became a songwritcr.
 The reformer wanted his son to study the pipe organ. So he et.
 tended Harvard, Boston University and the New England Conservn- tory of Music. He also played football and baseball. later turned professional and bucked the line
 for the Providence steam Rollers. He orRanixed couple of dance
 0rchestras. worked for Roxy in
 New York, crashed Ho!Iywcod and