The Washington times., 1934-09-05
Befriended Girl.

DeTTIended OIrl
Another is an obscure young
girl, a stenographer. who slipped
and fell on the sidewalk and
bnoke her leg. Russ picked her
UP, carried her into a drug
store, had her taken to a hos
pital, paid all her bills and sent
her flowers. He never saw her
again after her leg was mended,
but she worshiped him. Vaguely
I recall her last name-Mitchel
or M1chaels-I can't remem-
ber exactly.
The third is a Broadway col
umniSt who met RNSs a day or
two after he arrived in New
York, took q fancy to him, and
cOnspired with Conrad to bring
the attention of the reading
public to this new romantic
chanter.
There mould haze been q
toNrth-dnd hers Uould haze
been the tears OF an Gnguished
Io0er. But she Dent to her
death tirst-dnd it 1DGS Russ
1oho 'tUept, although the gossip.
ers and the newspapers were
linking him then 1Dith another
Hollywood beauty. And she, too,
I EnotO tUilI tUeep the tears of the
heGrtbroken.
Conrad found him in a club
in Hollywood, where he was
earning $75 a week. He had
visions Of another Valeptino-a
singing Valentino-and urged
George Olsen to take him under
contract. George wasn't too i'm
pressed, so Conrad himself ap-
preached the boy, painted ro-
Seate pictures of what Manhat-
tan promised-with the result
that both arrived here one
afternoon in August with some
thing like $50 between them
$50 Of which was Columbo's.
The enterprising Conrad i'm
mediately promoted" a three
room suite in the Carnegie
Plaza-hired a grand piano and
. radio-and two able press
agents. All morning long he
played the piano while Russ
Ssng-teaching him grooming
tricks and little twists to give
him voice character. I used to
drop in and watch and listen.
Terrific, isn't he?" Conrad
would exclaim with hoarse en-
thusiasm. Conrad's voice was
always froggy. Columbo would
Groom a torch ballad, inserting
half a dozen "bub-bub-bub-a-
dubs'' and Conrad would rasp,
Different, amt hep"
Sings For ZiegfeId
Columbo's $50 dwindled to
$40. Conrad's $50 augmented
by a few loans was down to a
few pennies. So he had an
other telephone installed and a
larger radio. He also began dis
cussing the front value Of a
snowy car. Then he went and
saw Ziegfeld.
Colombo was awed by the
Great GlOrifyer. He sang for
him but as he told me later his
knees quivered and his voice
shook. Ziegfeld shook his
head. 'WeTl show him some
day." Conrad said-and indeed
they did but it wouldn't have
mattered much for Ziegfeld died
when COlumbO was at his radio
peak.
Conrad took Columbo to bene-
Nts-made him appear as guest
artist (free) on various small
programs and finally got him
q sustaining program. Then
the press agents got busy. They
hired IL girls to write fan let.
tiers, sent patches of them to
friends in other cities, and
soon Columbo was receiving
$500 to 1000 letters a day.
This impressed a sponsor and
Columbo got his first break.
The letters poured in-but they
were genuine after that.
Columbo met Dorothy DELL
and fell naGdEy in love 1Utth her.
Dorothy began to contide to US
her mad loUe for Colunbo. 1t
1DGS a beautiful and clean IoUe-
bettDeen these ttDo-the crooner
and the Zieoteld principal. They
discussed marriage and careers.
Here, again, Mr.. Conrad and
his GdOtsers stepped in and