The Washington times., 1937-06-15
THE VOICE OF
Broadway
By Louis SObOl-
Down Memory Lane
With John Halliday

or % then. 1 was digging under
ground in a claim a partner ano
I had staked out. We came across
q stringer of practically pure gold
"a short vein which a later as
say showed to worth $165,000 q
ton. We took out 100 pounds the
first day-the most exciting day
of my life.
Some miners and prospectors
in the settlement decided to put
on a show for our own amuse
ment. I happened to get the job
of staging it. We put on
III. M. S. Pinafore." 1t seemed
a bit too British for the wild West,
so I interpolated a song by the
entire company-"My United
States"
Nat Goodwin, the most famous
touring actor of the time, was in
our audience. After the perform.
ance he came back.stage and
asked if I would like to join his
company. Making as much
money as I was then. refused.
Any Coast in a Storm
Six months later the vein of
gold ran out in our mine. I sent
Nat Goodwin wire and asked if
his offer still held good. He wired
back that it did, and that was
the accidental way became an
actor.
I trooped with Goodwin several
years. Then one night I was play
ing in a piece called The Brute,
in which juvenile was supposed
to come in and let fall certain
cosby items that led to all the
other complications of the plot.
The juvenile on this particular &C.
casion dried up" I tried to
prompt him, but it was OF no
avail. Finally I said, Didn't you
want to tell me so-and-so-and-so-
and-so," going on to detail the
whole thing which was supposed
to be such a surprise to me. He
blurted out, YES" and ran from
the stage.
AS the juvenile ran off, I noted
a man in a stage box lean almost
across the footlishts and hiss in
violent indignation. He came back
10 see me after the show to COM
miserate with me over this fiasco.
IT was William A. Brady. He asked
me If 1 would like part in a
show he was planning to produce
N New York.
Mr.. Brady's show was 1.-THE
Whip" a Drury Lane melodrama
which was, more or less, 1.-THE
Miracle" Of its time. It was put
on at the Manhattan Opera
House, and had about $50 Supers
in the cast alone.
Brady As a "Super"
On the opening night, I in
suited one of the grandeSt old men
in the American theater. Toward
the end of the play, there was a
great deal of shouting, but at GER
tain cues the shouting was sup
posed to die down. On the open
ing night I found that when the
shouting died down, there was one
super's voice from behind me
which kept yelling through my
speeches. I was furious. When the
curtain fell, I turned around and
began the most scathing kind OF
denunciation of the careless super
and discovered that it was Will
liam A. Brady himself. who had
decided to augment the crowd by
one more person.
Which reminds me of the open
ing in Atlantic City of Somerset
Maugham's "The Circle" We
opened at the old Apollo on La
Dor Day night, when Atlantic City
was celebrating with a fireworks
display. Grand old John Drew
kept repeating his lines. He'd say
them once, and, sure as fate,
there'd be a terrific BANG!
Whereupon he would say under
his breath, ''If they couldn't hear
it that time, I'll give it to them
again!"
The play ran for two years in
New York and on tour. 1t marked
the first time ever had my name
in lights, and. believe me. 1 was
very proud to be in the same cast
with Mrs. Leslie Carter, Drew.
Estelle Winwood, and Ernest Law.
ford, who is now playing with me
in '"Tovarich."
Good Luck at Rinqside
The chanciness of an actors
career was never better illustrated