The Coolidge examiner., 1938-06-30

EW YORh.-lt IS perhaps just
! as well that Crosby Gaige is a
bachelor. He drags home 100000
patent models, including a corpse
preServer. hog
Bachelor Has catcher. burglar
100000 Odd alarm. an early
Gadgets Hoe prin n g
press. a dentist 5
chair, a machine gun. an egg-beat-
er. an engine. a steamboat. a pret-
zel-bending machine-and so on.
and on.
The patent office models had been
gathered by the late Sir Henry Well
come and kept at his estate in 3,251
packing cases. Mr.. Gaige bought
them.
A friend of this writer. remem-
bering with remorse he hadn't
bought a birthday present for his
wife. stepped into an auction room.
He became confused and bought
ten barrels of tin cookie cutters 1t
almost broke up his home. Mr..
Gaige will have no such trouble.
Mr.. Gaige was born the son
of the postmaster at Skunk HOl-
low, n. Y, and became
Broadway theatrical producer,
with a 300-acre estate at Peeks-
kill on the Hudson, where he in
dulges his taste for knickknacks
such as the above. but with
more discrimination than this
ensemble suggests.
He is a gourmet. with 300 cook
Cooks in his kitchen. has de luxe
machine shop where he makes art
objects, is a master Of viticulture
and a maker and connoisseur Of
beautiful wines.
He has cattle folds and breeds
blooded cattle. a printing plant
where he prints typographical
knock-outs in limited editions, a
huge library with 5000 reference
books. and is distinguished both as
a bibliophile and a cook-one Of
the best cooks in the world, his
friends say.
All these concerns are merely
extra-curricular. In his % years on
Broadway. he has
4 heaters hit off his full
Out of Red share Of successes,
for 2o Years built three thea
ters and kept
steadily out Of the red In Column
bia university, he wrote the 1903
varsity show, "IlluSia."
He got a job with the late Elisa
beth Marbury, famous play broker.
reading plays at ten cents an act.
He saved his money and headed
into the show business with a fast
running start.
His life is the fuifiiIment of
every commuters dream. He
is of clerical, almost m0nkish
mien, of somewhat austere
countenance, with OctagOnal
pince-nez and, like all epicures.
abStemiOus in all things-saving
such things as patent models.
He wears red, white and blue sus-
penders and is very fussy about his
handkerchief pocket. He always has
the tailor sew a button on it
a N ATTACK Of laryngitis gave
u Margaret SULLIVAN her big
start. Lee Shubert saw her in
Three Artists and a Lady" at
Princeton. an d
Sore Throat rushed back-stage
GdUe Start with a contract.
IN Scree, Ace You have
voice just like
Ethel Barrymore, " he said.
She explained that it was mere
ly laryngitis. but the excited Mr..
Shubert wouldn't listen. There was
nothing to be done about it. so the
helpless girl was signed for five
years.
That was bit of luck which.
In Miss Sullavan's career, off,
sets embarrassing entangle-
ments in some of the most elab-
crate fiops in current stage
history. Today. she is at the
peak of her career as critics
turn cartwheeis and back flips
over the new film, Three Com
rades," and Miss SulIavan's
performance therein.
Her story has none OF the up
from-poverty success routine. She
is the daughter Of prideful family
of Norfolk, Va. a descendant of
Robert E. Lee. Her journey to
Boston to study dancing was in
dulged as a passing whim. but there
was considerable family eye-rolling
when she switched to the theatsr
and began adventuring in summer
stock, on Cape Cod and way points.
Her father got her home once.
but only for short time. 1t is to
be hoped that her story won't be
widely circulated around Hollywood.
1t would start all the extra girls
sleeping in a draft.
g Consolidated News Features
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