The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-07-20
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON
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NeW 1OTk, July lVs-AI lHAS writing, Miss Joan Meller is fret ting in a hospital under the ob- servation of some doctors who sus- pect that she may be another vic- tim of radium poisoning.
 If so, it will be very grim news for the little French dancer who came to this country four years ago to cavort unclad behind feather fans, diaphanous wells, oversize bal. looms and other trifles. As they say in theatrical circles, her final notice will be up. The unfair but inexor- able critic, death, will cancel her Broadway bookings.
 And only Death will cancel them. eff I am seeck,' said Joan to me, "I will dance until I drop." And I don't believe she was melo- dramatic, at that.
 Rays of Hope
 To understand her, you should know her kind. The ambition of every performer is to originate a speciality, anything that is impreg- nable against the legions of imita- tors, or something at least, that will be acknowledged as having been done for the first time. I'll wager you there's not acrobat, juggler, dancer or even dramatic actor who isn't sure that he excels in one or more phases of his rou- tine.
 We'll. it was that way with Jo- a% Chn hae danOoH nude, more or less, since she was z. Posed, too, and without shame. That was in Paris. She appeared at the Bal Tabarin, Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergere in Paris, and had specialties then--a slow-mo- tion dance, a veil dance, and in 1880 a fan dance. The Chicago Fair offered her and her fans an engage ment at $35 a week, and she re- fused. A girl named Sally Rand took the job.
 But Joanne, under the name of Joan Meller. did come to this coun- try later, and danced in wells and fans, and also in more than her share of mediocrity. What she needed was a speciality. Then she thought of covering her body with radium paint. That was it--she'd be the original Radium Girl!
 Radiantly Happy
 And so she is. A good many doc- tors have warned her sternly that she's capering with certain death. A score of times has she heard the story Of the young women who were poisoned by radioactive sub stances while painting luminous watch dials in a New Jersey fac tory. The stuff got into their blood, and then into their bones, and stay ed there and destroyed them. Five young women, facing death, sued for $1,250,000 and were awarded $10,000 each, with a $500 yearly pension. But they died, one by one. and there is no record to show that any of them considered that she was well paid for dying.
 Joan Meller heard these warn- ings, and scoffed at the leetle bleesters that sometimes came on her skin, and at the end of each dance told her maid to hurry with her bath because she felt as though she were on fire. But she has kept right on dancing. It was not so much the salary she receiv. ed down at Jimmy Keliy's, No. 1 hot-spot of Greenwich Village. It was the knowledge that she had achieved the goal of every true performer--a speciality. And one that nobody was likely to initiate. Meller- Drama
 Miss Meller didn't know that she was going to hospital when ] talked with her a couple of even- ings ago. She didn't want to talk about danger at all, but insisted on showing me a set of luminous wings, in three colors of luminous paint. which she had made with her own hands for e moth dance in the dark.
 "Death dance," I muttered, res calling certain collective obituariea wrote years ago for Ss victims of radium poisoning.
 "Razzberre-e e-eesi" sniffed Miss Meiier. T am not poison yet. only theeng do not like about theest dancing ees I have not any boy. friend. All of them has heard theese silly story about my paint, and they think might poison them also too"
 I hope Joan Meller sets to us. those butterfly wings, which look 50 drab and harmless in the cold light of \ dressing room. ! hops she can 60 right on covering heF' self with ominoueIy lowing pig ments and dancing for eawkine Village visitors whose inneI thought have little concern VIII aesihetleism. hope ee beeauhe that ls what she wants a0 aos more Ines anythlns slse ln lhe weFIe'