The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-06-01
THINGS | NEVER KNEW TIL
 N0vV

THINGS NEVER KNEW TIL
 NOW
 I, (About the Theatef)
 George White made four million dollars in the theater-and lost nearly all of it on real estate and investing in foreign government bonds '. His biggest hit was the Scandals of 1927' .. It made over $l.40O,000 Gin two seasons) and with only one companyl A year in N. Y. and ditto on tour =. One week it enticed $60000 at $7 a ticket.
 Arch and Edgar Selwyn made more than White-about five mil- lion on a dozen touring companies of Within the Law Jane Cowl starred in the B'way version ]. :. Edgar is now in the Hollywoods.
 Another producer (legit shows) made about five million dollars and kept it all in cash Today he's broke His wife was "Good- Time Charlie" and she squandered it, according to insiders, on other men!
 Billy Rose said last night that he was thinking of quitting Broadway cafe shows and that he expected to retire with the million dollars he was going to get from his Aqua cade show at the Fair "AW," aw'd one of his listeners, you'll be back on Broadway in no time!" To which he replied: When the rest of those Broadway night clubs start playing to capacity, then I'll reopen the Casa Mammal"
 William Archer, the English Saint Beuve, is the only dramatic critic ever to have written a successful drama.
 The heaviest packer of shows was a Texas oil man named Burlington He started angeling theatri- calls when he read a tiny add in the papers inserted by Earl Carroll <. . The ad told how other producers, critics, ct al were trying to keep him from succeeding and he needed money! :. Burlington responded by putting up $6,000,000 for most Earl Carroll ventures, few of which clicked .. And then came the '29 crash and Burlington died-broke.
 No roof-garden theater ever paid for any length of time . Ham, merstein had to give up the Victoria Roof; Ziggy, the Frolic atop the New Amsterdam; the Shuberts, the Nora Bayes; and Erlanger, the Jar- din de Paris over the New York theater.
 Big business backing and man. agement was seldom success in the legitimate theater. Witness the New Theater, later the Century, repertoire idea that cost millions. Mtce recently, the Rockefellers and the Center Theater now with its first hit: "The American Way.
 The bigger the movie star, the greater his chance for failure on Broadway Katharine Hepburn, at her Hollywood peak, in "The Lake; Frederic March in "Yr Obsdient Husband: Estelle Taylor in Belascos "The Big Fight; Rich- ard Barthelmess in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" Only this season did Katharine Hepburn and Frederic March score in their first hits The Plays the Thing, after all.
 In the Gilbert and Sullivan com bination, Sullivan's job was the toughest. Gilbert never fitted one wo-d to one of Sullivan's notes, He wrote the lyrics without thinking of the music, and then Sullivan had to musicalize words as best he could.
 Theaters named after living per- sons rarely succeed. Such houses as the Selwyn, Sam H. Harris, You mans and the George M. Conan are dime movie palaces today :. The Earl Carroll, now the Casa Manana, was taken from him soon after it was built.
 Whenever Peggy Hopkins Joyce makes a stage appearance, 1t costs her over $100 to appear with all her jewels. She has to hire two de- tectives to guard her.
 John Powers. the big model man, used to be bit actor In 1917, he played the role of an Indian ser- want with Sir Herbert Tree.
 Grease -paint makeup was not used until electric stage lighting was discovered. The heat of the gas lights would have melted it.
 Actors used to make up in the gas light era by applying ordinary brick dust to their faces. A burnt match was used to create eye lines. Tired, Achy, Every Morning Waterbury matron says Vendol re- lieved constipation and now she is