The Washington times., 1936-02-08

he called, "feed a fish to that s,
Add Fate'S Little Twists:
Years ago he was among the
top bOOkerS Of the R-K-O-
Orpheum circuit-a powerful
figure in vaudeville. There was
one mild little actor he seemed
to favor particularly and this
artist was always sure of 30 to
20 weeks booking through the
year. Now, the former vaude-
william has one of the bigger
stores in the Broadway section
and working for him as q clerk
is-yOu've guessed 1.-THE once
powerful booker. Bread upon
the waterS-cOme back q little
mOldy!. Billy Rose calls me on
the phone to tell me he's almost
as heartbrOken as Fannie Brice
that her illness forced her out Of
the FOllieS cast temporarily :.
''NOt only is she physically ill
but all broken up because this
Is the first time in the Is years
she's been on the stage that she's
ever failed to show up for a per-
fOrmance. You can imagine
how she feels.
In the short march up the street
to the backstage door, this is the
gantlet through which the average
vaudeville artist has to pass-and
try to rebuff: Peddlers Of per-
tune, ties, insurance, trunks, silk
hose, and magazine subscriptions
ALSO advertising statesmen for
obscure publications, auto
Eraphiends-and chiefly "pals"
who knew you when-can you slip
me a fin, pal old pal. In town
for q few days are Sir Oswald
Stoll, one of the more important
theater owners in London, and
Martin Poulsen, who perates the
famous Cafe de Paris there.
Their chief mission here was to
inspect the French Casino and its
new show, and as result of their
findings, London is to have a
French Casino. But what puzzles
me is why Sir Oswald and Poulsen
couldn't have saved themselves all
this trouble by simply taking a
run over to Paris-birthplace of
the FollleS Bergere. Incidentally,
Matthea Merryfield, the tall doll
who couldn't get beyond a $50 a
week assignment here at the Holly
wooe Restaurant only to leap into
the $3.50 to $1,000 a week height
IN London and Germany, is now
the sensation in Copenhagen,
She dances with Skimpy fans.
For that matter, consider Arthur
(Street Singer Tracy, who after
mis- marital debacle here went on
the skids until he found it difficult
TO get real engagement. =.
1racy'S income now in England is
close to $4,000 a week-from stage.
screen. radio and recording activi-
ties.
Among the luekier girls of
tOwn-and now of Hollywood
Is Kitty Carlisle, who flashed
over the horizon some seasons
ago In champagne Sec" and
The luck of Kitty Carlisle lies
IN the fact that in each Of the
pictures in which she has ap-
peared no matter how minor the
role, 1t has been her good for
tune to have assigned to her
songs which have developed into
nationwide hits. Thus, in her
first, Murder at the Vanities,"
she introduced Cocktails for
Two; in "She Loves Me Not"
she sang Love in Bloom; in
Here Is My Heart" her assign
ment was June in January"
and in "A Night at the Opera" )
they let her be responsible for
the current top song, "AlOne"
Ursula Parrot, who may
write a play any minute now,
has dedicated her new book,
Next Time We Love-" to Critic
Bob Garand. Two new bits of
Harlem slang (new to this re-
porter, anyway: "Dicty," mean
ing high tone, and 'hainkty,"
meaning stuck-up. And now
there's soap firm which is
tying up with various movie
companies in exploiting its
products. The company pro-
duceS soap in the shapes of
various movie favOrites, from
POp-Eye to Shirley Temple.
POp-Eye, for instance, starts at
'AHhQut five inches in height and
reduces gradually to less than
two inches without changing its
identity. Then it becomes just
. plain fragment of soap. The
height Of tough breaks. The
Cab-driVer who, carrying us on
5Oth st. past Madison, skidded
clear past the red lights. The
cop started to hand him a
ticket and it took 10 minutes
Of strenuous pleading and ex-
planning before he relented j..
The snicker is that If the city
had taken care Of its job and
cleaned the streets, there'd have
been no skid.
Glass teeth may be the new