The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-09-22
THE VOICE OF
Broadway
By Louis Sobol

EEOm hamDurg arrives q note
from Renita Kramer. :. . Renita,
you may recall, was the dashing
young beauty who arrived with
the first French Casino show
and startled our susceptible ma
tives with her Lovers Dance"
In which by means Of an in
geni0usly constructed costume
she was . man when she turned
TO the left-a woman on the
right The dance caused con-
siderable talk. Miss Kramer
wants to know whether we miss
1t back here. The answer is
provided by the "FOllieS" In
1t, a whole number is devoted
to this half.man, half woman
enthusiastically done by the
young pretties of the chorus. .
Incidentally, it may be we have
mellOwed considerably since
the first opening Of this prOduc-
ton, but certainly there seems
new spice and certainly more
color in the edition which came
back to town last week Fannie
Brice is funnier-BObby Clark
Is at his beSt-and the song
bird, Jane Pickens, thrills us .
A bang-up, swell show, this
"FOllieS"-and not the least Of
its attractions 1.-THE StatueSque,
seh-pOSsessed beauty Of bur-
lesque-the strip-tease queen,
Gypsy Rose Lee.
This department has become
more and more reluctant with the
ascending Cor de6cending) years to
intrude his personal and intimate
affairs on such of the reading pub
lie as still remains faithful to him,
but you may recall that some sea-
sons ago we had a thoroughbred
wire-haired, tagged "Whiskey," a
source of constant columnar in
Spiration. "WhiSkey" was ban
iShed to the kennels one day by
his mistress when she came home
and found that, despite her pre-
viouS Advertisements, he had
taken advantage of her absence
to rip up her brand-new canvas
back terrace furniture, and had
added insult to injury by invading
the house proper and Shredding
brand-new nightgown and also 4
hat which was not quite so brand
new. The very mention of dog"
in our household since then has
been the signal for a wordy and
somewhat monologuistic outburSt
in which the master (socalled
laffingly) has been compelled to
sit and listen while the mistress
exploded. All by way of prelude.
The other night the little lady
turned and remarked brightly, if
somewhat incoherently: Don't
you think our home has been a
little barren lately? I stay home
SO often-alone. I need company
where do you go nights? was
thinking we shouldn't be so alone?
-. "You mean-you mean," Sput-
tered, unbelieving Don't be
silly" replied the queen. What I
mean is, I've seen the cuteSt toy
bull-So I bought him. I mean I
bought his brother-for Christ
mas present for myself" why
a Christmas preSent?". Because
the man said the brother wouldn't
be born until around Christmas
time-youu just love him" This
is advance notice, in adherence to
the true columnistic tradition, that
the Sobols will be more than three
on or about Christmas.
The handsome young Spanish
orchestra leader, Enric Madri-
guerra, has not been too happy
this past month, during the san
culinary turbulence in his home
land. For weeks he has received
no word from his parents and
his four sisters and had con-
cluded they had met the fate of
SO many others "A cable ar
rived assuring him simply that
"they were alive" in Barcelona
:. .BenitO COIlada, who operates
the cOIOrful Spanish biStrO, Ell
Chico, also has received a letter
from EScuderO, the dancer, post
marked Paris, in which he ad-
viSes he escaped from Madrid
by airplane, accompanied by
Carlo MOntOya, guitarist, and La
Argentina E uderO writes
that his nephew, Antonio BayO,
when he last heard from him
was fighting on the LOyaliSt side
at Guadarrama-and it was his
impression that he had been
killed.
Broadway has been observing
with mingled emotions-c chiefly
with tolerant amusement-the few
erish courtship of a doddering old
man smitten with one of the
young show lovelies of town He
has heaps of wampum, is highly
intelligent, has family position
and showers his devotion upon her
She seems to relish his atten-
tion-which may or may not be
an act But they make an incon-
gruous-looking pair, these two
She with her fresh, vivid beauty
and youth-he Shrunken, baldiSh,
uuaver-voiced-So old Someone
summed it up so neatly once o..
oIove with old men is like the
sun upon snow; it dazzleS more
than it warns them"