The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-11
Man About

.BvGeorge Tucker

NEW YUM, ooA' ~
pretty crowded. For a split second
there was a vacant spot on m OF
the divans and I beat seventeen
other people to it. Polite fellow.
Charles L%aughton, WEAKNESS on
his face but still game, was stand
ling right in front Of me. I could
have reached out and touched him.
The Laughton manner in mo-
ments of mass encounters is inter-
esting, But, like a wary boxer, you
shouldn't watch his face. You
should keep your eyes on his feet.
The situation, roughly, was this:
He had been talking to several
hundred people for a couple Of
hours. His hands hurt him because
The had shaken hands with all
those people and had mumbled a
polite greeting each time he did
it. Occasionally someone put an
interesting question to him, and
when this happened Laughton
showed his gratitude by entering
Into animated conversation.
But chance and the jostle Of
scores of people had finally shifted
me into that vacant seat and left
Laughton, standing, about three
feet or less, In front Of me. He
was ringed by a group of women.
His footwork was impressive. I
haven't any idea what they were
talking about, but it was the sort
Of conversation that, added to his
long, tedious day, had him balanc-
ing on the outside edges Of his
soles. Try that some time. It is
equivalent to standing on your
ankles.
After a few minutes Of this Cap
tain Bligh shifted to one toe and
one heel. When strained muscles
would permit him to do this no
more he shifted his weight to the
other toe, and then dropped back
on the other heel. Then he picked
up his right foot and tapped a
little ditty against the floor with
the flat Of his shoe. He couldn't
go on tapping forever, SO he be-
gan sketching little imaginary de-
signs in the carpet with his other
toe. After this he went back to
standing on his ankles. I began
to feel sorry for him, and if I
hadn't been so tired myself I think
I would have offered him my
place on the divan. But in any
case, he never would have made it.
He would most certainly have
been knocked down in the rush. if
I had stood up just then, and I
should hate to be the cause, how
ever indirect, Of harm Detailing SO
distinguished a visitor.
Mr.. Laughton finally got a brief
respite when his wife Elsa Lam
chester, came in and asked him to
meet some friends Of hers. They
all had their pictures taken to-
gether, an dthen, kissing him on
the cheek, she murmured, "Charles,
dear. I've got to run along now"
He watched her depart sorrowfully,
rs if he thought it would be won
derful if he could be running along
too. But this, of course, was too
much to ask, and so he went back
to drawing little murals in the
rug with the toe of his shoe.
The ladies by this time were six
deep, and as they were blocking
my view anyway I decided to va
moose. How to do this without ex-
posing myself to too much danger
was a problem, but T drew a deep
breath, stood up and leaped quickly
to one side.
It wasn't until I was downstairs
that I discovered how really tired
I was. So I went into the first
door, which was Music Hall, and
got a really swell look at Charles
Laughton without any trouble at
all. He turned up just as I sat
down as "The Hunchback of Notre
Dame"-and despite the trials
Quasimodo went through on the
screen, I began to wonder which
of the Laughtons were worse Off
the n upstairs or the one I was