The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-10-22
CAST IF CHARACTERS

CAST VI SHANAS rNo
MYRNA DOMBEY - heroine.
Wife of the sensational swing
band leader.
RLBERT TAIT-hero. News
p.per Observation-Disclosures.
ANNE LESTER-Myrnas clos
pANNIE FREELEY-offieer as
signed to investigate Ludden
Donkey murder.
Yesterday: Feeley and Iait are
unable to identify the attaeker'
but the taxi driver remembers
cat meowing as he fell. TAFT re-
calls the Dombsy song success
"The Cats Meow"
CHAPTER. VIII
Neither TAFT nor Feeley saw
any humor in the fact that they
were quite as much in the dark
as the unfortunate taxi driver.
Certain that the wounded man
could cnlighten them no further
they left the General hospital a
disconsolate pair if ever there
was one. -,
On the steps of the hospital
Feeley looked at Bob TAFT Il
know good beer tavern near
here" ..
LEAD me to it," said TAFT
YEARLY.
Within the next five minutes
they were seated in back booth
of beer parlor a stein before each
of them and heaping bowl OF
popcorn between the stems. Sup
pose" said Dannie Feeley, that
YOU start talking. You hire a taxi
10 take you on a foOlhardy trip m
to the Mllbay district, The driver
gets knitted and thinks he heard a
eat meowing. And you ask me II
! ever heard of the cats meow 2!
Il mean the song" grinned
TAFT. II told you about that song.
If you paid any attention to swing
music you'd know that song. The
one that Lud Dombey was suppos-
ed TO have written-and didn't"
Feeley nodded. "The one that
was written by George Weeks. !
remember"
Yeah. So there's the chance
that the guy who wanted to cut
me up was our erratic friend, the
unknown musician" TAFT took a
drag at his beer, leaned forward
and went on excitedly. Look,
Dannie. Put yourself in his place.
Suppose you'd been a thlrd-rate
musician all your life, living from
hand TO mouth"
al WISH" said Feeley in a tired
voice, II was"
"All right, let's dream it, then.
You are. All your life you've fig
ured. you are as good as some OF
these guys in the big dough. And
maybe you really are, the breaks
being what they are. Then you
write a song, and you're sure it's
pretty good. But the song pub
fishers don't think so. They never
heard of you, anyhow, and what
jobs have you had and with what
orchestra? But you have faith in
this song-it's called "The Cats
MeOw'-and you know how Lud-
den Dombey is the king of swing.
And this is q swing song. It's
ready. It's a thing from the bow
els of Africa. It's Beethoven and
Irving and something from the
drums of the jungle. You know it
is, because you know music and
you've got the feel. But you're
stuek-hecause, somehow, some
way, you didn't get the breaks,
You begin to realize that the au-
thOrs of the declaration of indie
pendence were nice guys all right,
but they weren't quite right when
they said that all men were Great.
ed free and equal. You begin to
tumble to the fact that something
can happen between the time you
were created free and equal and
the time when you start to earn
the daily bread. But that's all
right. You're a good sport. You
see that a guy named Ludder
Dombey has got some breaks
along with his hard work. So you
take your song to him, and you
ask him to put it over for you"
I'm following you," said Dan
ME Feeley. And I'll buy another
beer"
TAFT nodded. "Okay. Well
you've taken your song to Lud
DOmbey and he sees something in
it. It's decided that you ought to
let him plug it under his own
name. Maybe he decides that, oil
maybe you do. Anyhow, that's
the way it's done. And the agree
ment he makes is all right with
you. Then, under Ludden Dom,
bey's guidance, the song become:
one Of the greatest contemporary
hit smashes. And then :" Tat
paused a moment. Then DombeS
doesn't pay"
e"Pd be SORE" said Feeley. "Nat