The Washington times., 1936-03-05

taken place.
We were born in Wheaton,
Ill. As we never reveal our
ages we will skip the day and
date Of this event.
When we became Of age we
took to dancing, singing and
reciting and, naturally, we de-
cided to take up theatricals.
We made our first appearance
on the stage in Marion, Iowa.
We gave q concert all by our
selves and sang our own songs
and recitati0nS.
We toured with our concert
idea around Illinois, Iowa, and
the Middle West, and if we do
say it ourselves we were a SEN
satiOn. They wouldn't let us
off the stage at the finish OF
our show.
We were playing in Sioux City
A well-dresSed. handsome man
from New York came back to
our dressing room. He said his
name was Alfred A. Aarons and
he was general manager FOL
Oscar Hammerstein. He offered
us a chance to go to New York
and appear at Hammerstein'S
Music Hall as the headline at
traction.
At that time HammerStein's
was the greatest theater in the
world and We jumped a. the
opportunity. We could never
figure out why Mr.. AarOnS
came all the way out to Iowa
to engage us for such a job.
He told us our fame had
reached Broadway. We &C
cepted the engagement. When
we reached Broadway we were
thrilled when we saw our
name in lights and the papers
were full Of stories about the
two sisters from an Iowa farm
that would capture New York.
On our bill at the time We're
Perpimta, the Fire Dancer: Maude
RAYMOND and Josephine Sable
who was then singing "Thereu Be
a Hot Time in the Old Town To
night"
On our opening matinee we
were a sensation. The audience
yelled and yelled and wouldn't
let us off the stage. We were so
good we had to sing all our songs
all over again. Mr.. Hammer
stein told us that was the reason
he featured us. He said we were
SO good the audience would leave
the theater when our act was
over.
We were staying at the Bartholdi
Inn, located at Forty-ffth and
Broadway, where Loew's State
Theater now stands. This was the
most popular hotel of the day
and the guests included William
Jennings Bryan, Bob FitzsimmonS
Lew Dockstader and many OF the
stars Of the day.
Right now we both want to go
ON record to state that the stories
that we had to sing and dance
behind a net are nothing but
lies. No such thing ever hap
pened. That was story trumped
up by opposition managers who
were jealous of our success and
the big business we were doing.
Instead Of vegetables being
thrown at us, they were sending
baskets of flowers so big it took
three men to carry them down
the aisle.
We were invited out on parties
by Lillian Russell, Sarah Bern
hardt, Della Fox, Mile. Melba
Walker Whiteside, Diamond Jim"
Brady, John L. Sullivan and other
stars Of the day. but we never ac-
cepted. We had all our meals in
our own hotel and went right to
bed after the show. Our chief
pleasure was to walk through Cen
tral Park, which was beautiful.
One of our best friends was Nile.
Mercer, a dancer from Paris i'm
ported by Mr.. HammerStein. She
was on the bill with us. She was
beautiful. She now owns a tea
room in Sioux City, and when we
played there recently she gave us
. banquet and had everybody in
town there to meet us.
Our idol Of the day was Richard
Mansfield, the great dramatic
actor. We never met him but we
bot" adorded him very much.
B. F. Proctor, the vaudeville
king, presented us with a gasoline
buggy (the first of the automo-
biles) but we refused to ride in it
and did no accept it.
Mr. Hammerstein, did, how.
ever, send his two sons, Billy
and Arthur, to take US buggy
riding around the park. I'll
never forget the day we all went
and MIR. AarOnS had us pose for
photographs, which were in the
paper the next day. Arthur
HammerStein later turned pro-
ducer on his own and we hear
he produced Rose Marie"
"Sweet Adeline" and many other
shows.
Through Mr.. AaronS we played
eight weeks around New York.
We broke all box-office records
and we were in the papers every
day. Silly. outrageous stories, all