The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1935-08-05

ders answer that last question. He
knows bit about booking for the
masses.
Diamond Jim Movie
Down at the Steel Pier in At
lantic City they have started to
ballyhoo the world premiere Of
Diamond Jim Brady" due to
open the Friday before Labor
Day.
An appropriate spot, for it was
at this ocean-swept resort that
the famous Broadway playboy
with the prodigious appetite passed
from the scene on April 10, 1917.
Diamond Jim" paid $1,000 q
week for an enormous front suite
at the Hotel Shelburne, on which
he had previously expended $780,
900 to make it entirely glass en-
closed, so that he might gaze con.
tinuously at the murmuring surf
and the vast expanse of waters
as they blended into the horizon.
The imminence of this Septem-
Der celluloid inspired me to read
Parker Morell's biography, "Dia-
mond JIM" which is crammed
with legend and lore about the
most famous of New York's first
nighters. There I learned that it
was Brady's financial sponsorship
which made it possible for Florenz
Ziegfeld to import the seductive
graces of Anna Held to the Amer
lean stage. Ziegfeld soon married
this first Of his great line of stage
stars. The volume describes this
interesting union thusly:
Their wedding, one Of the
Strangest New York had ever
seen, took place on the night Of
March 20, 1896, in Anna Held's
suite at the Hotel Netherland.
They were married by agree
ment. In the presence of 10
witnesses, including Diamond
Jim and Lillian Russell, the
couple agreed to be known as
husband and wife hencefOrth,
and signed q paper to this
effect. Sixteen years later,
when they wished to be d.
vorced, the agreement had to
be 'vOided' through the usual
legal channels"
He Could Eat
It seems to me that Universal
has plucked an absorbing tale for
screening from the best seller list,
and plump Ed Arnold looms as a
splendid choice for the role Of the
epicure whom Johns Hopkins Spe-
cialists discovered had stomach
six times larger than the normal
inner recess for food.
This abnormality probably ex.
plains why Diamond Jim could at
one sitting absorb two dozen
Lvnnhaven oysters. two broiled
Holsters and a quart of orange
Juice as preliminary to recourse
two-pound steak dinner to be top
ped off with a box of chocolates.
Although he bought oceans of
wine for his friends Diamond Jim
never drank drop Of liquor and
there is no evidence he ever had
recourse to bicarbonate Of soda
after his mammoth meals.
Yes, Diamond Jim was a char.
acter of color. He seemed to pos
sesS the peculiar faculty Of max.
ing millions and making whoopee
at one and the same time. If Uni.
verSal has made half as interest
ing a picture out Of the Brady
career as Author Morell made Of
his printed biography, RKO
Keith's here should have a crack.
erjack box office entry for Sep
TENDER.
Ready for War
My faith in the magnitude and
discernment Of WaShington's cul-
tural audience is restored. Noel
Coward's picture. THE Scoun-
drel," with more than $4,000
bagged in a week at Loew'S Pal
ace Theater, goes into Para
mounts ledgers as the most sue
cessful booking in the history of
that picture. In most first-run
engagements THE Scoundrel"
died from box office blight.
Arthur Cox Movietone) De
Titta tells me that Laurence
Stallings, with a news reel camera
man, has sailed for Ethiopia and
the impending war zone where
Mussolini's plans to make whoopee
in Africa are finding dark oppo-
sition.