Evening star., 1939-06-18
Famous Reporter
Al 10 Still Finds
Charm in Trivia
Many Leading Writers
Were Discovered
By Bob Davis
By the Associated Press.

20 Lord, send down two white
handled knives!"
Every three minutes the Supplica-
rose. For in the earthly kingdom
of the Davis boys, white-handled
knives were obtainable only at the
hardware store for the impossible
sum of so cents. And their mother,
the night before, in reading the
bedtime text from the Bible, had
repeated Christs admonition in the
shall be given you"
Bob and Bill were asking.
Like giant raindrops glistening in
the sun, two white-handled knives
dropped in the dust around their
feet.
That the Lord delivered the knives
with the aid of the strong right arm
Of father Davis, an Episcopal
clergyman who overheard the pleas
and answered them unseen from
the other side of the barn, is be-
side the point. The point is that
Bob Davis saw a wonder happen
in his own backyard. He has been
seeing wonders in his own backyard
ever since.
Conducts Column.
"A few days ago, for instance, he
walked into a restaurant and found
waitress with the face of Mona
Lisa.
Sooner or later, her story un-
doubtedly will appear in his column.
Bob Davis Reveals" on the edi-
fnrIa1 Of
some. Tuesday, Thursday or Satur-
day afternoon.
That column has followed Bob
Davis this full name is Robert HI
around and around the globe since
the sun management instructed
MN dozen years ago to consider
the whole earth local story"
1t has revealed:
An elephant that could count
money and refused to be fooled by
lead nickel .. The troubles of
Bill Mccoy king of rum row" with
snySter lawyers the lob Presi-
dent Warren Harding once lost-as
a trombone player A Peiping
oreSSmakeT who advertised respect
snle ladies may have fits up
? STAIRS
In any wonderland, one wonder
always IS greater than the rest, In
the DAVIS realm. that one is his
"dlscovery' of o. Henry.
.. Henry star was just beginning
10 rise IN 1908. He was in New York,
but no one knew where. Davis. on
the staff OF the Sunday World.
was assigned to find him and make
him three offers of job-st $40
$50 and $50 a week-With a long
pause between offers to give o. Hen
ry a chance to accept the lower
figures.
Makes Last Offer First.
Davis found his man in hall
bedroom, o. Henry was in his Shirt
sleeves. his suspenders down. en-
thralled by bowl of cracked ice
IN which foated a half dozen Bart
lett pears.
Have some fruit" o. Henry said.
1T is nice and cool. l suffer like
hell from the heat. What can I do
for you?"
Davis grabbed a pear, got reck-
less, and made his last offer first.
.. Henry closed the deal with a
grandlloQuent gesture:
Mister, you can have the balance
OF the pears"
Later the World fired o. Henry.
Q. Henry was pleased. Davis wasn't.
ana When he became fiction editor
Tor Munseys famous 10-cent maga-
zines short time later he signed
Q. Henry on five-year contract.
10 sign O. Henry to write stories
was one thing. To get the stories
was another. The creator of "Bagh-
dad on the Subway" always was
delaying and borrowing money on
his promises to deliver. Once he
got so far behind that Davis called
on him to ask how the story at
hand was going.
Going fine!" o. Henry enthused
Got great start. I could sit down
any time and finish it."
Davis Shown Empty Page.
Can I read the first page?" Davis
inquired.
o. Henry tossed over a sheaf of
manila paper on the top page of
which was written the numeral q"
and the title of the piece
AS Davis stared at the empty
page, o. Henry took it gently from
his hands and said:
whats more, can go right on
with this story. You have already
seen page l. Now here's the second
page"
He took another page and wrote
page q at the top of it.
And so on, he continued. Page
8, and 5. I think I shall stop
there, if you don't mind, and rest"
Davis weakness for o. Henry's
charm was evidenced in the fact
that his first offer for the. World
Job was $50 instead of s4O.t Davis
was not always so generous. There
was the case Of Israel Zangwill.
Davis was assigned to get Zang-
will to write a story about Jewish
h life in New York City. The top
offer was $500, which Davis split
into two parts-S200 and $300-and
stuck into two pockets.
would $500 be fair?" Zangwill
asked when the question of price
arose.
"Haf-Jewish Friend"
Fair enough" said Davis, placing
the money promptly in the Zangwill
palm.
Suppose had asked for $500 in
stead Of $780," the Jewish author
queried. What them"
The other packet of greenbacks
emerged from the Davis pocket in
mocking reply, then went back into
the pocket again.
Thereafter. Zangwill referred to
Davis as MY half-Jewish friend"
o. Henry and zankwill were but
two of the literary immortals whose
writing passed over Davis desk at
Munsey's. In that 20-odd-year in