The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-12-03
In New York
Rx. PAUL HARRISON X,

By FAOA 11tA1tR1SON New York.-On Forty-second street, which used to be the worlds
 most celebrated theatrical thor- oughfare, marquees still blaze with lights. But the lights new spell "Burlesque."
 Famous restaurants, which used to draw the top p-hat-and-e-m:na carriage trade, all have gone. To- day there are. hamburger stani;S. one-arm cafeterias and roaring either; to attract the glittering
 upper stratum of Gotham ss night life. Instead, saxophones squawk in dimly lighted taxi dance halls,
 and trained feas and side-show freaks entertain carnival crowds in
 the amusement arcadcs.
 Battle The glory has gone from the l crossroads of the world. but over the street still hangs the glamor of memories. It has been an evt t.
 full spot ever since 1776, when George Washington stood on w;rit is now Times Square and watchSd his tatterdemalion army rctre:t before the British. A plaque in the Paramount building marks he vicinity where General Putn m checked the enemy advance while ! most of the American army got away.
 Not until 1925 was road built l there, and it wasn't called Forty second street in those days. The property was sold to the city for $10 by one John Norton, whose farm included most of the proper | ty that now is Manhattan's gay rialto. The first building, pro- phetically enough. was a saloon. On the site of the Times building a general store. Where the FL | tinge theater now stands, were erected private school and
 stronghold of burly burlyque, the | boys used to whoop it up in Molly 1 Reardon's place. Molly was the first queen of the midtown hot spots.
 Came the Boom
 By 1901 the brothers Considine had opened their famous Hotel Metropole, where was served the biggest free lunch north of the Bowery. It was the favorite hang out of Big Tim Sullivan, Diamond Jim Brady and other f1ashy gen. try of the era. A couple of blocks up the street, William Waldorf As- tor built the Astor hotel in 1904.
 And his cousin. John Jasob Astor, soon put up the rival Knickerbock-
 CT. About that time the subway
 burrowed its way to Times Square,
 and the boom was under way.
 The New Amsterdam theater
 opened 31 years ago, starring Nat
 Goodwin and dazzling the town
 with it's splendor. Seats in that
 famous old showhouse have sold
 for as much as $200 each. Where
 the Home for Aged and Infirnl
 Respectable Methodist EpiscopaIs
 had stood was built the Selwyn
 theater. Oscar Hammerstein
 bought coal yard and there built
 the Victoria and Republic thea
 ters. Later came the Apollo ana
 Liberty, the Eltinge, Lyric, Sam
 H. Harris, Wallachs, and the
 Times Square-all in one block.
 There was Shanley's, to which
 hansoms and victorias brought the
 city's gourmets. And Murray's
 farther down the block, a mir |
 volying dance floor. Booth Tar
 kington and George Ade were fa-
 miliar figures at the Knickerbock-
 CT bar. A few steps off Times
 Square, Canfield ran his gambling
 house. Girl-in-the-pie parties were considered pretty hot goings-on. Barrel organs ground out Gee. l Wish I Had Girl Like the Other
 Fellows Have" A few blocks away
 on the west side, the Gophers ruled
 Hell's Kitchen.
 Ono Landmark Left
 Flo Ziegfeld. in his career of
 glorification. also glorified Forty
 second street. Glamorous names Mae Murray, Fannie Brice, Peg
 gy Joyce, Lillian Lorraine, Will
 Rogers. Ann Pennington and the
 rest-twinkled on the fronts of his
 showshops. And the smartest stay-up-l -laters attended his Mid--
 night Frolic on the New Amster-' dam roof.
 Ziegfeld is dead. Charles DiI-.
 lingham is dead. A. H. Woods Sam Harris, George White and the rest have strayed from the scene of former triumphs. Burlesque
 has taken over the Republic, the Apollo and the Eltinge. Other theaters are havens for second- run films. Shippers soon may be working on the stage of Wallach's Only the New Amsterdam remains faithful to tradition. It has Libby Holman in her new musical suc-