The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-29
Man About
Manhattan
By George Tucker

| "dS III oN~ NASSS
being the lifeline of New Works
frivolous enterprises, the recent
stock market tumble quickly re-
moved it. This scare gave Broad
way and indeed all the five Dor
cughs a bad headache. 1t wrecked
the fun trade. 1t left vacant seats
in theaters that had sold out con-
tinuously since opening. It put a
chill on racing enthusiasts, sent
sWank stores into advertising
"wednesday sales" which his rare
mere. and left nightclubs and no.
tel dining rooms lamentably
empty.
This scare came with the news
the Germans had overrun the
Lowlands. That night stocks were
off / to 16 points. That night for
the first time in nine months the
Music Box, where THE Man Who
Came to Dinner is playing, failed
to sell out. That night three big
musicals, which play to a strong
Wall Street trade, had half-filled
houses. Twenty-One, The Stork club
and night clubs of a similar char
acter were lonely outposts where
only a few of the faithful remained
to keep the tables from being al
together deserted.
The severity of the scare was
most eloquently reflected in the
turnout that greeted the Belmont
Park opening. always an event in
the east. Belmont is New York's
finest track. But only a meager
crowd of $4,000 turned out for the
opening. Four weeks ago, twice
that number were on hand for the
Jamaica opening, and Jamaica is
a down = at = the = heels track in
comparison.
The answer was this: all the
Wall Street boys, who supply most
of the trade, were at their offices
burning late oil. They were fright
el,ed. Some of them had lost a
lot of money. They didn't know
what might happen next.
If our hand seems swollen to-
day it is because we have been
doing a lot of Misunderstanding. First,
we went over to see Larry Gin
ton, who hasn't been in New York
in several months but who has re-
turned to Broadway now and will
be in the Summer Terrace for the
next few weeks. Larry is in from
a long tour which carried him to
the Gulf, and while in New Or
leans he acquired a new vocalist
whose name is Helen Southern.
That isn't her real name. Her real
name is Helen Inglert. ="
she's a Southern girl, and in any
case Southern is a better show
n a m e than Inglert," explains
Larry.
While we were talking to Larry
our old friend Fay Thomas came
up. Fay used to be manager of
the Carter in Cleveland but has
been brought to the New Yorker
in New York. With him was Ollie
Olsen of Olsen and johnson, and
when we asked where johnson
was, Ollie said, Why, that great
big outdoors hero has bought him
self a farm in Connecticut, and he
orlves up there every night after
the show. He gets up at dawn and
goes trout fishing. Every day he
brings trout down to New York.
Something tells me I'm going to
get awful tired of trout before the
summer is over
That same night we we're over
to see Ray Kenney and welcome
nm back to New York. The bic
lrish-HaWaiian, after a three
months holiday in the islands.
was back in Manhattan with a
cargo of brand new hula talent.
Brought three new hula dancers
along with him, in addition to the
other two he already had. After
seeing the new show we asked Raw
whether these girls had been in
New York before.
New York" he cried. .'Wben
l found them they hadn't even
been to Honolulu"