The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-11

w Yvonne Printemps were go
ing together" they used to have a
lot Of good laughs at the street min
strels. Not the blind ones who move
along the street very slowly and
playing the most beautiful tunes in
the worst possible way.
Nor the one-man band, blind, too
who crawled UP Broadway, knock
Ing hell out of a guitar, a mouth
organ and drum, the latter which
was pumped into noise by an auto
horn-like arrangement under his
arm; nor the old, old man with the
flowing white hair and the piccolo
who flies his way daily through the
midtown section.
They didn't Taught at any of these,
because they were all cripples, the
first two by reason of the loss of
their sight, and the old man be-
cause Of age. Instead of laughing,
they would dig down into their
pocket or their handbag and find a
coin and toss it in the cup.
Harold and Yvonne were in show
business. Harold was chorus boy
In Nov Or Never" a hit musical
comedy, and Yvonne was one of the
dancers in the chorus of Henry Aces
"FrivolitieS," which is a hit every
year Henry puts it on.
or COURSE, if this were fic-
~ ton story, Harold and Yvonne
would not have fallen in love with
each other. Nevertheless. they did
fall in love. They fell in love while
the "Frivolities" were playing the
Alcazar on Broadway and Nov
or Never" was playing the Henry
Withers Playhouse on 48th-st.
The location of their shows is
mentioned here because the fact
that the two theaters were near
each other had a great deal to do
with keeping the romance at white
heat.
OF course, the main reason they
fell in love with each other was
natural selection. Yvonne was a
shapely blonde with head of hair
which was like corn flowers. She
had a husky voice and as beautiful
a pair of legs as you could see for
81 of night on Broadway.
Harold was dark and thin and
high-strung. His hair was curly,
his face was white and his: black
eyes were intense.
Yvonne had a wonderful sense
of humor. She could initiate any,
one in the world and at after
theater parties she would h1,A
everybody in the hollow of her hand
with her idea of how Beatrice Lille
or Fanny Brlce or Helen Morgan
or Ethel Barrymore acted, either
for an audience OF in private life.
Next to her gorgeous beauty, this
was the thing which drew Harold
to her. He watched her doing an
imitation of AL JolSon singing
Nanny" and knew he couldn't
do without her. She had what he
never would have, a sense of the
ridiculous.
And, strangely, this lack in him is
what made Yvonne first notice hin..
She first noticed that when she was
doing her limitations, he never
laughed. Just sat there and stared
at her as though his eyes would bore
through.
XXTELL, one thing borrowed an
w other. Romances flame to
fulfillment pretty swiftly in show
business because, mostly, they are
light-blooming. Harold and Yvonne
got to spending every minute of
their spare time together.
Harold's show ended about 20
minutes before Yvonne's, and when
Yvonne had dressed she generally
found him waiting for her just
outside the dressing room.
Yvonne had known Harold more
than month before she learned
that he played violin wonderfully
well. Not as good as Rubinoff or
Heifitz, but darn near. He played
to her one night and all that he
felt for her vibrated on the strings
under his long. strong fingers, and
when he had finished Yvonne was
pretty sure that if she lost him
she's die. So they were married.
1t was in the first days of their
marriage that they began to laugh
at the street minstersl. They would
be walking down Broadway arm
in-arm and they would come upon
some swarthy panhandler pumping
an accordion as if the accordion's
heart would break, or a man f1d-
ding so that it sounded like a saw
going over a nail. And Yvonne
would laugh and say:
IF the breaks ever go against lis
and we both lose our jobs, all you
have to do, Harold. is to get out
your voilin and walk up and down
Broadway playing it. It's cinch
you can't be as bad as any of these
street musicians, and the chances
are that the crowds will follow you
and shower down plenty of money
into your tin cup"
MAYBE will try it some day."
1VA he wogld smile. Just for a