The Washington times., 1934-05-29
Guest Of Honor

England, Germany, Austria and
France, and when it's all said and
done, the public and the work was
the same everywhere, the greater
the wealth or power o. those you
meet up with, the more they pos
sess the milk of human kindness.
There is very little difference be-
tween the so-called great and the
ordinary human you meet daily.
The most arrogant Is the one
vested with a little authority and
anxious to exercise it and make
himself felt, usually a petty
nuisance.
Very recently sat as the
guest CT honor at a dinner in the
Astor ball room. l. was never
more uncomfortable In all my
life. I was struS with the fact,
that such men as Postmaster
General Farley, Herbert Bayard
Swope, Gen. j. j. Phelan, Cor
nelius ". whitney, Grover
whalen, Ed Flynn, Gene Buck
and others should leave their
comfortable homes to make.
speeches about my career. That
so many men and women should
crowd the ball room to do me
honor. What for? Twas ashamed
for having permitted it. Feel
great! Say, don't ever feel great!
Don't ever feel that you amount
to a11ything-don't ever feel you
have pull or influence. ANY $100
a month motorcycle cop in the
smallest hamlet can make you
feel that you're just a deuce spot
in a dirty deck of cards. Don't
be Silly-be as nice to everybody
as possible, get along with them
all, but never, never get the COM
plex you're somebody because an
other nobody will take it all out
of you-without saying a word.
Above all, get along with your
daily associates and business con-
facts.
In my opinion every wrestler
is a champion. Every promoter
and matchmaker a genius, unless
he Is on the other side of the
fence, and even then, he is Okay,
trying to do the best for himself.
To be jealous Of a rival shows
weakness and, I may add, cow
ardice.
One of my biggest ventures was
the Jess Willard-Jack johnson
fight, which finally we pulled off
in Havana, Cuba. Had I not been
nice to Harry Frazee, years before,
I probably would never have had
the opportunity to promote that
fight. It was Harry FraZee who
sent me into Lawrence l.. Weber,
and it was Mr.. Weber who fur
nished the necessary finances, and
who has been my friend ever since.
The Valentino tour which grew
into a tremendous proposition
came to me by accident. I was do
ing a good turn for the Actors
Fund, at the Old Century Theater,
at the request Of Mr.. Daniel Froh-
man. I heard the reception
handed to the Valentines, from a
hard boiled Broadway crowd, most
ly professionals. When 1 asked Mr..
Frohman what it was all about
he frankly replied: II guess it's
the sympathy for Rudy Valentino
from an admiring public, mainly
because of his fight with the pic
ture company of which I am one
Of the directors" Curtain call
after curtain call, 10, is, 20 times,
and yet the crowd remained
frantic with enthusiasm. Well, I
concluded, If that's the feeling in
this hard boiled crowd, the coun-
try must be interested. The guess
was good one. We crossed plenty
Of money and, Of course, made
considerable profit.
Speaking Of crossing at box Of
ficeS. I have never made an at
tempt to count it up-but the total
receipts Of all my ventures would
run up into the millions. But, as I
said before, and here goes my last
warning: Never permit yourself TO
feel great!