The Washington times., 1936-07-17
THE VOICE OF
Broad way
BY Louis SObOl-
A Few Customers
Write!

you printed story on Fdul
DreSSer's Banks of the Wabash1
and I'm here to back up Max
Hoffman'S contention, and the
authenticity of his claim that Paul
and Paul only wrote the words
and music to that famous song for
was the first to sing it. 1t came
about in this way: About that
period 1 had reached the age of 16
and in order to get a publisher
interested in my songs, got my
self a job with Howley, Haviland
g. Dresser to plug their songs at
SIS a week. Among their publica-
tions was Paul Dresser's Blue and
the Gray" and my Gal, Sal" Paul
took a personal interest in me
and always invited me to his apart
ment at the Marlborough to hear
his latest songs.
One day he was especially inter
ested to have me learn new song
so I might sing it that same night
with Slafer's Band, then playing
at the Brighton Beach Hotel. He
had only the chorus finished and
he played it and sang it for me on
his little organette. Therefore, I
feel qualified to back Max Hoff-
man in his statement that Paul
Dresser wrote the words as well
as the music for the famous
Banks of the Wabash"
GUS EDWARDS.
(The controversy started
when this dept stated that
Theodore Dresser, Paul Dresser'S
brother, had written the first
verse and chorus of Banks of
the WabaSh.")
My dear Louis Sobol: That was
a swell plug you gave in your
column today to the Gae Foster
Girls and the Rockettes. know
Of no group of individuals that
deserve it more than they do, and
our girls were tremendously
thrilled at the nice things you had
to say about them.
I think one of the substantial
contributory factors to the sue
cess of the Roxy Theater and the
Music Hall has been the following
that these groups have brought
into these theaterS, through eX-
cellence of performance and pre-
ciSion as well as the ingenious
routineS they have been able to
master. They are a hard-Working
gang, but it is unusual Tor them
to receive the commentator that
you have so generously given.
We, here at the theater-and I
know at the Music Hall as we'll
have been conscious of what they
have meant and do mean to the
theater. In fact, we have sufficient
extra girls in the line so that each
girl is entitled to one day off a
week. The girls have Simplified
this procedure by taking one week
every six weeks, instead of one
day off each week.
On behalf of the Gae Foster
Girls, as their trustee, in name
only, 1 send our grateful appre-
citation.
HOWARD S. CULLMAN.
("Amazing what they have
these little girls in our big
cinema houses do. Only re-
Gently in the Roxy Theater, the
Gae Foster honeyS had to do
tricks on bicycles This week,
they perform on huge moving
globes. . These Il mean the girls
in both the Roxy and the Music
HALL are the hardest working
youngsters in tOwn-in addition
to the four and five shows daily,
They have to rehearse in the
mornings and occasionally be-
tween shows for the following
weeks presentation The pays
none too adequate. From
this dept, July 14.)
Dear Mr.. Sobol: A party mailed
me an article where Walter Woolf
King says that stranded COM
pany of mine in New Orleans Of
"OddS and Ends" that played N.
Y. with Jack Norworth. I never
stranded a. show in the 50-odd
years of producing. These wise
cracks that are false statements
by actors are not funny, and make
me look like a piker.
GUS HILL.
('Tn the Gus Hill show,
odds and Ends I was stage
manager, call boy, general I'M
derstudy, juvenile and leading
man. played opposite the
wife of the company manager.
i had the role because 1 was
the only one in the show who
could lift her. She was hard
of hearing and difficult to
work with. One night, in
lodging a nail, / warned her
to back up. She failed to hear
me and jumped as scheduled.
/ couldn't catch her and she
sat down on the nail. / was
fired the next day. When Gus
Hill heard about it he promptly
reinStated me, for, as he angrily
inquired of the company man.
ager, where could they find an
other guy to hold down all my
jobs for 40 bucks per week?
1t was a bad break for me
= either way, for two weeks later,
we were all stranded in New