Evening star., 1939-10-05
From the
Press Box
Stoee-Struck RedIees
Lack q Comedian
BY JOHN LARDNER,

by JOHN LAkDNER,
Special Correspondent OF The Star.
NEW YORK, Oct. 5 (NAN.AD -
When the series is over, Mr.. William
"Bucky" Walters. the Cincinnati
pitcher, will invade the theaters of
Ohio with a vaudeville skit composed
Of four straight men, namely, him.
self, Ernie lombard, Paul Derringer
and Billy Myers.
Before that happens the Four Re-
fined Reds, or the -Four Ohio Mock
ingbirds, or the Walters Follies, or
whatever the boys decide to call
themselves, will have to elect a
comedian from among their midst.
Four straight men never got any
where. though Lloyd George. Glenn
enceau. Wilson and Orlando came
close at Paris in 1919. Their material
was ready-made. They promised
permanent peace, and the world still
Is laughing.
Botcho Lombardi, the big catcher,
has a great comedians face, &C
cording to experts in the industry,
revolving as it does upon bugle
that eclipses Jimmy Durante's. But
lombard is a serious man. Der
ringer can sing, but only for his own
entertainment, and Myers and Wal
ters both want to play Hamlet. There
Is not comedian in the lot.
MoronvilIe Took His Act
A Bit too Seriously.
However" says Mr.. Walters Sc
riously, I'VE have evolved little skit
which will lay 'em in the aisles. If
they don't laugh, Lombardi will pass
among them with a baseball bat.
This is going to be a great act"
That was what Rabbit Maranville
thought when he and couple of
other heroes of the World Series of
1914 went out to shake down the
audiences of New England with songs
and funny sayings following their
astounding triumph over the Phila-
delphia Athletics.
Songs and funny sayings are all
right in their way" said Mr. Maran-
vile to his colleagues, "and few guys
can panic an audience like I can.
when in the mood. But think we
ought to give EN- little action. Let
me illustrate how I won the World
Series. That will make a great act
out of just an act"
Pursuing this policy, the Rabbit
retreated to the back of the stage
In town In Maine one evening.
Ladies and gentlemen" he an
nounced, II am now going to show
you how I slid home with the win
ming run in the recent World Series.
without which, where would we of
been? Here I GOMEZ"
And there he went. Enthusiastic,
as always, the Rabbit overslid the
footlights. spiked an imaginary
catcher in the orchestra pit. snarled
at fictitious umpire, and wound
up In the bass drum, with broken
leg. BY the time the limb mended
Mr.. Maranville had sworn of IL
lustrated slides for life.
keoIe Delivered Lectures
On Spiritual Subjects.
There are all kinds of ball play
ers' vaudeville acts. BY a strange
coincidence, another Cincinnati
World Series hero, Greasy Neale,
Red right fielder in the celebrated
series of 1919, took to the platform
just 20 years ago. Greasy's act was
more on the spiritual side. He lee
tured at church suppers, Sunday
school classes and ladies' aid rallies.
He drew powerful moral from the
1919 World Series, one which never
occurred to any one else before or
since.
MY Cincinnati associates and
myself" said Mr.. Neale gravely,
were hopeless underdogs in the
recent series, but We won out against
great odds. Why? Because we had
faith. The power of prayer was
responsible"
This struck the women and chill
dren OF Ohio as sound reasoning and
they piled Greasy with cake and ice
cream after each social A year
later, it developed that Providence
had been working in close cooper
alton with Abe Attell land possibly
Arnold Rothstein) in the victory of
the Reds. Not having the text be-
fore me, I don't know for sure
whether Mr. Neale ever credited Mr..
Attell and the other gamblers with
an assist in this connection, but 1
expect he did, because he didn't
know about them.
Hope Yonks Will Give Us
Right Curtoin Line.
It seems to me, however. that he