Evening star., 1934-10-07
FrOzen-Faced Man Learned
Trade From Dead Sentry
Got Idea While on Guard
in Spaz,ish.Ameri-
can War.
Hill Billy Once Came
Near Making Him
Break Pose.

EET Thomas La Rose, who
n N makes a living by standing
N still and refusing to smile.
hI He saws he learned his odd
profession from an American
sentry in the Spanish War. The
sentry, it appears. was found standing
at attention on post minus his head.
which had beer neatly Topped OF by
q guerrilla warrior.
The motionless figure of the sentry
gave such a start to the squad which
found him that Pvt. La Rose, one OF
the doughboys in the relief detail, de-
cided that he too might get some re-
suits out of statueSque immobility.
st tried it out myself on a relief
detail" he Saio When the detail
arrived to relieve me from sentry duty
I just stood there at parade rest. I
didn't move, I didn't smile, ! didn't
even blink. That gave the relief some
thing to think about. I didn't move
for 10 minutes"
Became Frozen Faced.
From that moment La Roses career
was cut out for him. He became a
frozen-faced man, a Gloomy Gus"
a Dead Pan Willie, a Wax Works Won
der-a score of other titles have been
bestowed upon him. He makes his
living by standing motionless in dis
play windows beside sign which offers
a cash reward to any one who can
make him move or smile.
Il never have paid of yet" La Rose
says, "and I have been doing this
long while"
La Rose interrupted his career only
to serve in the World War, in the
Canadian army. He was wounded
eight times while in France and bears
a ninth wound which he received in
Cuba in 1898.
Since the war he has crossed the
country 16 times in pursuit of his
strange profession. Some of the
greatest comedians have tried in vain
to make him smile during working
hours. When he is of duty, however,
La Rose says, he has just as good a
time as anybody and laughs as heart
lily as any one at the comedians who
can't get glimmer of a smile out
of him when he is working.
Had Narrow Escape.
The narrowest escape he has had
from breaking into a laugh while on
duty came in Chattanooga, Tenn, La
Rose said. He had struck pose in
a store window there when a hill
billy from the high mountains, strid-
ing by, spotted him and stopped dead
in his tracks as If struck by lightning.
THE hill-billy's jaw dropped and he
froze just as dead outside the window
as was inside" La Rose said. "I
could feel the muscles in my cheek
starting to twitch and I would have
been goner if the boy outside hadn't
moved. He'll never know how near
he came to getting sl00 and new
suit of Clothes
Another time, La Rose said, the son
of the towns leading banker in a
Southern city decided to win by stag
ing a fake accident which would make
La Rose break his pose.
When I am working see every
thing that goes on outside" La Rose
said. "On this occasion saw an au-
tomobile, apparently out of control,
bounce across the curb and head
straight across the sidewalk toward
me. I guessed at once that it was
a fake and that the man would stop
before he hit the window. He tried
to stop but hit the window frame
hard enough to break the glass. I
saw that the glass was sliding straight
down and wouldn't hit me and so I
just held on. That crowd was sure