Evening star., 1939-06-19
BY IRA WOLFERT.
NEW YORK.

ny INA WOLFEHI.
NEW YORK.
Thirty years ago this week Sophie
Tucker started hollering from
stage-coon-shouter she was, fresh
IN from entertaining the customers
at her fathers Hartford, Conn, res
taurant. The New York Roof was
the theater, the Ziegfeld Midnight
Frolic the show, and she was fired
from 1t after four weeks. They said
that when she sang she made too
much noise.
Tucker" as the boys and girls
call her when they're not asking
favors-when they're asking favors
they call her Sophie" "Soph," or
"So"-cried a little bit, but kept
right on hollering. Mostly about
this RED Hot Mama" and that
Red Hot Mama" After not such a
very long while it was Zeigfeld's turn
to cry. Get your red hots hot"
acquired a double meaning. The
Nation didn't know whether ticket
to a Tucker show was being offered
for sale or a length of sausage on a
roll.
Thirty years is a long time for a
red hot to stay in business. So,
when the day finally showed up,
Broadway gave Tucker a party at
the theater she has been hotting
up as the star Of Leave 1t to Me-"
Beer at the party, keg of it, ham
sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, liver
sandwiches, olives and so forth,
strawberry ice cream, coffee, cookies
and a little bit of crying in the cor
ners when the piano started play
ing the old songs. When the songs
were new, we all were young.
Other valid entertainments were
= bevy OF old Follies girls and some
not SO old and bevy of babes from
Sophie's current show-slick young
things, very pretty, looking the way
college girls look to a magazine il
illustrator, starting out on the road
these other girls around them had
travelled almost to the end.
After 4 while, this last became
the point of the gathering: The
young, beautiful girls sitting on
chairs and looking at fair sample
Of what they were likely to become
If they kept on the way they were
going-meaning on Broadway.
On the whole, it wasn't a bad
fate they were staring at. They
stared gently, with the fond benevo-
lence young faces acquire when
looking at nice. older folks. whom
they can describe as cute" AS a
matter Of fact, the girl who stays
on Broadway all her life, and has
that certain, fantastic something
which enables her to stay on Broad
way. makes out pretty much okay.
At least. she can laugh and look
as If she means it. which is more
than one can say for anybody else
her age who has been through the
same kind of ordeal.
Somebody thought it would be a
good idea to get together all the
1909 Ziegfeld frolic people who
were still around and let them
have fun with Tucker. That meant.
according to the old play bill, Jack
Norworth. Rosie Green. Gertrude
Vanderbilt and Mae Murray. But
Miss Murray denied Indignantly
that she had been in show busi-
ness before 1915 and refused to
show up, over which everybody at
the party giggled enthusiastically.
But Jack Norworth was there,
and, Of course, he sang Shine on
Harvest Moon" A round. gray
haired man now. singing the song
that he wrote and that made him
and his late wife. Nora Bayes.
famous. He used to sing it with
his arm around her and they'd
sway together gently and then she'd
rest her head on his shoulder and
they'd sway across the stage that
way. while the audience thought,
Gosh and felt the heart 60 hut-
terry inside. Now he was singing
it alone, very softly.
At the second chorus, Tucker
sidled up to him and he put his
arm around her waist and they
began to sway together. She rested
her head on his shoulder and closed
her eyes and he didn't look at her.
He looked straight ahead and sang
softly. They swayed clear across
the stage. Everybody there had
known Nora Bayes. When the song
was over, there were a couple of
people wiping tears from their eyes
and everybody was feeling wonder
full.
This much can be said: The vet
Grams of no other profession could
turn out a party of the quality of
this one. A good time was had by
all, even by William Gaxton, who