The Washington times., 1934-01-23
Lady Wished to See
Harry the Horse
She Got Her Wish
By BILL CORUM

NEW YORK, Jan. 23.-As many
Of the thousands of readers of his
fiction must know, Lindy's restau-
rant on Broadway is the home
base Of most of Damon Runyon'S
short stories. There is where the
author has his 3 o'clock in the
morning coffee, where he meets
what is loosely known as the
Broadway mob, and where he has
picked up some Of the slang and
some of the incidents that have
delighted his readers.
And it was the Runyon inf1u-
ence, of course, that explains an
amusing incident that happened
there recently. A nicely dressed
but plainly nervous old lady came
in and sat in one of the small
booths along the wall. There was
the usual crowd of song writer's,
orchestra leaders, actors in and
out Of work, newspaper men,
tenors, ETC., ETC., at the tables in
the center of the room.
Orders Sandwich
The old lady ordered a sand
wich and cup Of tea, but it was
evident that she was more inter
ested in what was going on about
her than in her lunch.
Finally she motioned a waiter
to her table and, in highly con-
fidential tone, said:
II don't mean to seem in
quisitive, but will you tell me if
any Of those gentlemen there
happens to be Harry the HOrSe?"
"I'll find out" promised the
waiter, who has a sense Of
hum0r and also reads the maya
zines. He dashed to the back Of
the restaurant to have his laugh,
returned and sOlemnly reported:
eyes, ma am, he's the one wear
ing the green sweater instead OF
. shirt and collar"
The waiter says the old lady
left the place greatly pleased.
The fellow in the green sweater
was Abe Lyman, the large orches-
ira pilot.
They ALI Like Ross
Such a long story may seem a
strange way of starting a piece
about a prize fight, but Broadway
is the hottest fight street in the
world, and if you want to find out
what Broadway is thinking, you
must go to Lindys and Jack
Doyle'S and Moore's and Leone's
and Dawes and all the places
where Broadway congregates.
Moreover, have been genuinely
surprises these past few days to
find that Broadway thinks Barney
Ross will be a breeze-away against
Bill Petrolle in the Bronx coliseum
tomorrow night. The betting odds
were around 8 to and 8 to 5
last night and lengthening. The
indications are that the Chicago
boy will answer the bell a 2-to-1
choice.
It's true that Broadway is a
sheep lane when it comes to fol-
lowing what is called the smart
money. You'd think even Broad
way would learn better in time,
but it never does. A man would
have got wealthy beyond his wild
est dreams playing short-enders
around this town the last five
years.
Short-enders in everything
fights, worlds series, football
games, hockey games, and so on
through the list of sports.
Believes In Santa
But Broadway still believes in
Santa Claus and the smart money.
The reason for that is plain,
very few of the Broadway boys
think. Some of 'em can't and the
rest are too busy. They just
listen and talk, and when you
listen and talk you are hearing
the same thing a great deal Of the
time. Most of the Broadway con-
versation goes along the lines OF
what somebody was overheard to
tell somebody else.
It is Rumor Row and they all
(BM Corun1, famous NeD York
Washington TimeS.)