Evening star., 1940-12-15
Christmas
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Center. Dolls poked their heads
out of wrappings and scooters lay in
a shiny red pile. The entire floor
was carpeted with toys
Girl Scouts, half buried beneath
the great heap Of packages, inme-
diately started unwrappins and
sorting the toys into age and inter-
est groups.
AS soon as the toys are sorted. 4
corps of volunteers will start the
packages on their way to their des-
tinations the Christmas stock
ings Of needy boys and girls.
How Gifts viii BE Handled.
In some cases, the Christmas pack
ages will be taken direct to the
homes, but in other cases groups Of
toys marked for each family Will 80
to welfare agencies. Then the
mothers and fathers will be notified
to visit the agencies and obtain their
packages. In that way, no child will
be aware that the gifts he finds in
his Christmas stocking comes from
any other source than his parents
or Santa Claus.
The youngsters who made those
full Christmas stockings possible had
the time Of their lives yesterday. AS
one Of them put it, scanning the
pile OF toys in = theater lobby:
ITS Christmas now"
They came early, some of them
two hours before the show started,
and they fingered afterwards to .ex-
anime the packages and to guess
what they contained.
Gives Up Her Own Doll
They brought with them things
they'd like themselves for Christ
mas. One little girl came into the
Sheridan Theater hugging q blue
eyed baby doll. Tears streaming
down her face, she kissed her gift
and said, "Good-by, dollie." She
confided that mother promised
Santa will bring another one just
like it,"
The piles of toys in most theater
lobbies far exceeded gifts of previ-
oNs years. One theater manager,
veteran of all 10 TOY matinees," said
more toys had been brought to his
theater this time than ever before.
Leading in collection Of toys were
the Penn and Tivoli theaters, both
OF which had well over q thousand
gifts piled in their lobbies.
|
For a little lad"
Merry Christmas to little boy"
For little lassie."
Grown-Ups Join In. Too.
Grown-ups shared in the Christ
mas giving. One woman brought IL
children to the Beverly Theater
She had collected the youngsters in
the neighborhood and provided toys
for all of them.
A white-haired grandmother at
the Tivoh said she had attended
every one of the TOY matinees" since
their beginning. They are her only
trips to the movies and she comes
so can see so many children hav-
Ing a good time"
| The youngsters left little doubt
about the kind of time they were
having. They laughed. They
shrieked. They sat on the edge OF
their chairs or perched in their
fathers laps.
Ushers, busy taking toys, direct
ing youngsters to water fountains
and keeping them from falling head
long into the heaps of toys. still
found time to wind up toy racers
and send them scurrying across the
floor.
Stores Send Big Boxes. s..
The flow of toys didn't stop when
the show began. Chauffeurs drove
up and handed out packages. A
woman brought half a dozen toys,
peeked in at the children and left
the theater. Another grown-up left
a doll with several changes of cloth
ing.
Besides the gifts of children, TOYS
came from other sources to the TOY
matinees." A carton full Of new
toys was sent to the Takoma The.
ater from Peoples Drug Store No.
SO and the Chevy Chase Novelty
Shop. Six scooters left at The
Stars Christmas House were added
to the collection ut the Uptown
Theater along with Z baby rocking
chair and number of dolls.
One Of the gifts brought to the
Silver Theater was country doc
tors bag. complete with stethscope
and medical certificate qualifying
child to be a doll and pet spe-
cialist."
Here are some of the toys collected
at the Beverly Theater:
Carpenter tools, footballs, teddy
bears, dominoes. marbles, airplanes.
racers, fire engines, trucks. minia-
ture typewriters, a "jitterburg" hat
a white woolen sweater, ties, penny
banks, musical tops, q bow and ar
row. q flrst-aid set, toy tank, books
dolls and games OF every possible
type.
Union Co-operated.
The "toy matinees'' were held ai
the Ambassador. Avalon, Beverley,
Calvert, Colony, Kennedy, Penn,
Sheridan, Silver. Takcma. Tivolt and
| Uptown Theaters. At each thsetse