The Washington times., 1937-01-09
THE VOICE OF
Broadway
BY Louis SObOl-
Casual Comment!

gotten Man, is sided with Her
bert Hoover, manufacturer of
vacuum cleaners Vincent
Lopez, the orchestra leader, is
mated with Vincent Lopez, heavy
weight wrestler Bishop James
c annon, sombre panned. has
smiling, voluble James Cannon,
New York American sports writer
as his companion John Ham.
ilton, Republican campaign man
ager, keeps his face turned from
John Hamilton, last of the Dill
linger mob ETC., etc.
They might have included Louis
Sobol whose mail is occasionally
directed to Louis Sobol, railroad
The late gagman, David
Freedman, left his estate in a
gnarl Of tangleS, it develops
so much so that his pretty
widow is at present almost
without funds and is preparing
to auction off most Of his eff.
fectS Her chief headache,
intimateS claim, is the lease on
the luxurious triplex penthouse
apartment which she finds her
self unable to break Yet
Freedman'S earnings were said
to have been close to $150,0OO
a year-and climbing Ed
ward G. Robinson was pointing
out to a group of us the other
night that they can't make q
movie out of Forty Days on
MuSa Dagh" because Turkey is
Squawking They can't make
'The Siege Of Alcazar" because
the Spaniards object They
can't make "The Greatest RO-
nance in the World" because
England protests His Sug-
gestiOn is the fiIm0guIS pool a
kitty and buy a country where
a king can marry q cOmmOner,
tyrantS perSecute victims and
brothers kill one another for
the movies without a kick from
OLner naLlOnS.
Another of the type of shuddery
stories that Broadway likes to
hear is going the rounds-I un-
derStand Basil Fomeen sponsored
it. "A young Park Avenue scion
was motoring to Florida some
seasons ago when he passed a
gypsy encampment and decided
it would be fun to have his palm
read. An ancient hag studied
his lines, mumbled a few words
and then Scrawled out a note,
warning him not to read it until
he reached his destination.
They found his body two hours
later under his wrecked car In
a pocket was the slip of paper.
1t read: You will never reach
your destination alive"
Vincent Lopez new protege is
Melba Melsing, West Coast so
ciety girl. The press agent told
me that much. Quite by acci-
dent he forgot to mention that
Miss MelSing is divorcing her hus-
band, Ward Smith, who was sec
retary to former Governor Miller
.. The girl who boasts the great
est collection Of wrist charms in
Manhattan is the pulchritudinous
Bessie, hat check queen at Ell Mo-
rocco. Among contributors to
her wrist chains have been Alfred
G. Vanderbilt, Cornelius Wander
bit, jr., A. C. Blumenthal, Count
Won Haugwitz (brother-in-law of
Barbara Hutton), Woolworth
Donahue-and others. "A class
mate of Cardinal Hayes became
a religious skeptic in later years
and finally bloSSomed out as a
nous pSychoanalySt. The
genial cardinal, receiving letter
from his friend, read between the
lines that the fellow wanted to
return to the fold. So he sent
one of his personal secretaries,
the story goes, to talk to him and
convince him Of the error Of his
ways. Three days later Cardinal
Hayes received a letter from his
recalcitrant former claSSmate. .
Enclosing a bill-for services ren.
dered!
The Benny Leonard restaurant
deal for Champions Corner
18th and 50th) has fallen
through Gypsy Markoff is
laid up-injuries from a recent
auto crash Ditto Nan Black
ston. The Lefty Kemble-DeI
Casino nuptials have been post
pOned to June 1, 193S-the Opti-
mistS! The parted team Of
Jacques Fray and Mario Brag-
giOtti is reuniting-after each
went solo for = period AL
though local night clubs were
jammed New Year Eve most
Of the arrangements report that
the receipts fell far below ex-
pectatiOnS In most cases, the
clubs were empty until after
midnight when the rush began
Bill Frawley and Nanci