Evening star., 1936-11-22
Travelling Around in Europe
Ike Meltzer Who Sells The Star Paris Can Identify Amer-
cans at SO PAGES.
mo. 1s OF a Scries.j
BY I. WILLIAM HILL,
,tan Correspondent Of The star.

star Correspondent Of The Star.
HARIs.-we were sitting at
- sidewalk table Of the Cafe de
Ia Paix the other night, drink
4 ing our "cafe noir" and read
ing our Paris Soir," and feeling.
withal. unbelievably French.
Then suddenly. from down the
street came bedlam. The protracted
blast Of an automobile horn-shouts-
then singing. Out Of the trafic on
the Boulevard des Capucines careened
a venerable but determined machine,
loaded to the tenders with men sing
ing the "Internationale" and waving
aloft the red nag with the hammer
and sickle. On it sped. into the Place
de rOpera, and out Of sight.
Other Persons Unconcerned.
We relaxed, momentarily conscious
we were the only ones who had ap-
peared particularly interested. Our
table neighbors were as unconcerned
as the residents Of a college town when
the foot ball cheering team speeds by.
Seizing our Paris Soir" we picked up
the business Of looking unbelievably
French.
New York paper, Mister?"
That would certainly be an Amer
lean voice-a kind OF Broadway and
Forty-second street voice.
"I've got 'em with the funniest"
Wa Inkod y,n into tha rr,.v,H aud
smiling face of man appearing to be
in his 30s. He was chewing gum.
mo, thanks" said we, wondering
just what it was about US that marked
US so definitely as American. They're
q week old. Besides. why don's you
handle a good paper?"
which one Is that, Buddy?"
"A Washington. D. c.. paper-The
Evening Star"
"I've got it."
Like Letter From Home.
And he did. We couldn't buy 1t fast
enough, even though it was francs
q copy (about 20 cents). There was
a story by James z. Chinn and one by
Blair Bolles. 1t was like letter from
home.
Its a funny thing about that pa
per-" said the news man. as he made
our change, but sell all can get"
And that was the way we met Ike
Meltzer, East Side New York boy, who
has sold American papers at the Cafe
de la Paix for IL years, who knows
more celebrities than the author Of
Who's Who" and who is apparently
But there were less palmy days. It
seems that back in 1924 Ike, who says
he came from AL Smiths own ward
in New York. found he had 5000 and
q desire to see Paris. Over he came.
1T was fun all right" he told us,
until one day I suddenly found I
didn't have q cent, no return ticket,
and I couldn't speak . word Of
French"
Begins Selling Papers.
There was only one thing to do, and
he arranged to do it-sell American
papers to Americans.
Il had noticed how Americans like
the Cafe de la Paix, so I decided
this corner would be my regular beat.
1t was tough going for while. When
I moved in on the corner some Of the
Frenchmen didn't like it. even had
q fight with one of 'em. Then all
that changed. We got to be pals.
You can't beat Frenchmen when you
get to know them"
Then, when Ike found he had
earned enough money to go home, he
decided he would rather stay. BY
then he was speaking French, of
course: and, speaking French, you
can't find a better city in the world
than Paris"
One day in 1925 he happened to
sell a paper to beautiful young girl
who was sitting at sidewalk table.
She was Miss Maisie Simpson of Lon
don, and it turned out to be momen-
tous transaction, for on July Of that
year they were married.
Had Knack Of Helping People.
All the time, meanwhile. Ike was
becoming more and more of a promi-
nent figure at the Place de rOpera.
A naturally happy soul, he had a
knack of taking American minds off
petty travelling troubles and putting
them on the good times they could
have. He had established the hours
Of 8 pm. to / am. to sell his papers
at the Cafe de Ia Paix, and now he
began acting as guide to Americans
who wanted to be shown the night
life Of Paris after am.
Business doomed. He began meet
ing celebrities. Two of his favorites
were George O'Brien, the movie actor,
and his father, the late Dan O'Brien.
Ike helped them out so much during
a trip they made to France that they
made him stop selling papers during
their visit and become sort of guide
for the family.
Nothing ever hurt me worse" Ike
told us, than the morning I was
reading paper and saw that Dan
O'Brien had died. I thought of the
stories he had told me about chasing
gangsters out there in California.
He was police chief, you know. And
then I thought about how George
must feel Those two were like
Damon and Pythias. you know"
Has Many Celebrity Pictures.
So Ike sat down and wrote George
O'Brien a letter of coincidence. Soon
q reply came back. It's in big scrap
book Ike has-along with pictures
autographed for him by many of
Americas great, after he had sold
them papers.
We thumbed through 1t and here are
some Of the pictures Observation-Disclosures
Chevalier, Col. Charles Lindbergh,
Richard Byrd, Rex Ingram, Richard
Dix, Lawrence Tibbett, Burton Holmes,
Charles Chaplin, Eddie Peabody,
] ss ADDAD ~