The Washington times., 1937-01-25
THE VOICE OF
Broadway
-ByLOuiS SObOl-
Few Notes at Random !

~
Few Notes at Random !
Miss Wilma Crittenden, whose
brilliant poetic effuSions have often
topped this pillar, came home to
find that her tiny apartment had
been entered and robbed. Among
the prize possessions thefted were
her typewriter and a gold vanity
case which she cherished because
it was gift Of a close friend. Miss
Crittenden being a poet, it is need.
less to say, has very little money
The loss Of that typewriter, so es
Sential to her, in addition to the
loss of the vanity case, clothes and
other personal possessions, brought
her to point of despair. In this
q genuinely tragic moment for the
girl, she did not call up the police
Instead, she sat down and in
pencil dashed off a poem! A beauti-
full poem about the spiritual in
spiration of, the seasons first snow
blanketing the rooftops of village
houses. Poets are funny people!
Mr.. Howard Hughes chief con-
' Germ upon completing his
epOchal, recOrd-shattering air
jaunt across the continent was
not cOnfided to the reporters.
But the first thing he did after
breaking away from the field
was to telephone his pal, Sher-
man FairchiId, and ask him to
cancel a beefsteak a Ia mode.
Just before leaving the airport
ON the Coast, he had wired Fair
child to have the beefsteak ready
for him at 2 o'clock at Twenty
one. Hughes arrived long before
2 O'clock-but without the appe-
tite. The beefSteak was eaten
by Jimmy, the dOOrman, who has
never flown in his life.
Psychologists, I believe, call it
''overcompensation" Broadway
might label it much more simply
"guts' For instance, a girl af-
flicted with chronic anemia, made
the world see it as glamour" 1
refer to Greta Garbo D.. A nose of
the proportions of Jimmy Du-
rante's smeller would ordinarily in
ject the owner with an inferiority
complex It brought Durante
fame - and dollars Sinclair
Lewis. despairing of his writing
ability, actually had that mental
illness called "inferiority complex"
e.. So he started out by selling
his plots to Jack London Only
to become an outstanding novelist
and Nobel Prize winner Eugene
O'Neill another Nobelman, handi.
capped by threatened tuberculosis.
employed his periods of enforced
idleness to become one of our
greatest playwrights Miriam
Hopkins, planning a career as
dancer, broke her ankle-and be-
came a dramatic actress The
wide mouths Of Joe E. Brown and
Martha Raye were converted into
assets.
Dig, Arthur Murray, with a limp in
his left leg, Is one of our fore
most dance expOnents Gary
COOper's puny physique made
him turn to outdoor activities to
build up Sylvia Sidney was
and is frightened at the sight Of
blood-sO she had to give up her
plan to become a physician to
become a movie star j.. Z. Paderew-
ski had weak fingers as youth
so he took to the piano and
constant practice to strengthen
them Deaf Thomas Edison
gave us the talking machine =.
Deaf Beethoven gave us immOr-
tai melody Shy Albert Elm
stein, like DemOStheneS, had
difficulty learning to talk, con-
quered his failing to utter words
and lived to rock the fOunda-
tiOn of world knowledge An
impediment of speech inspired
Jack Pearl to conceal the failing
behind a German dialect E.
And, of course, there's Helen
Keller!
The days mass of odd notes
includes the news that Dave DaV-
idson, a theatrical insurance
agent, has just negotiated a pol
icy with Lloyd's for Betty Law
ford stipulating a payment of
$1,000 a week if she should con-
tract a cold while taking those
nude baths on the stage every
night in THE Women" That
Harry Richman's sister Mrs. Jack
Newmark. and her husband have
parted and will take the Reno
way out. That Douglas Fair
banks, jr., is expected here within
the fortnight-to resume his court
ship of Gertrude Lawrence.
That the British-National Pictures
American office in the RKO
Building folded last week-with
all employees out-also the furni-
ture. T.. That the program for the
Joe Humphreys Memorial dinner
blandly announces the death of
the announcer as having taken
place July 10, 1887 That George
Miller, Journal cameraman, born
on October IS, has been on the
Journal 13 years, and in 1896 won
20 hoouSeS That "TTha R1on(r