Evening star., 1941-04-11
Poem in Praise of Practically Gilbert


KILLED by Gilbert gag"
And what real old meanie
He'd be to MuSsolini!
Sixty years ago, or more,
He prophesied in Pinafore:
"A British tar is soaring soul,
AS free as a mountain bird;
His energetic fist should be ready to
resist
YOU at-kind -of-word."
By soaring SOUL he meant, Of
course,
The right down regular Royal Air
Force.
When Britain really ruled the waves
In Queen Victorias time,
My subject all sublime
Was occupied in rhyme,
And what he wrote
Is worthy of note
At this particular time.
At two years old, Billy, the kid
Was kidnapped by brigands who did
The deed with great temerity.
I need not specify how glad
L am that they returned the lad
TO his parents and posterity.
This childhood incident had lots
To do with forming Gilbert's plots.
Which, as we've learned,
Mostly concerned
Mistaken identity of tots.
We all, of course, have our favorite
ops,
But, tc me, his absolute tops
I mean my unfailing passion
through the years
Has been: The Mikado." "H. M. s.
Pinafore, "Ruddigore," pa
tience," "Iolanthe." THE
Pirates of Penzance,' "Prin-
cess Ida The Yeoman of
the Guard, The Sorcerer."
Trial by Jury" and THE
Gondoliers."
Naturally, any estimate of Gilbert
would not be valid
If 1t did not also include "The
Grand Duke, ""Thespis. "Uto-
pia, Ltd" and each and every
Bah ballad.
Now write songs myself,
Most of them which are living on
some publishers shelf:
But some of them are on the air,
Here and there,
When the air was there:
But most people never even heard
of EN-,
And don't even remember a word
Of em.
CHATS lie. of course)
But the other day
At F1ftieth street and Broadway.
heard a Gilbert fan
Singing all the words to: He Is an
Englishman."
is that greatly to Gilbert's credit9
You said it!
Thayer immortalized Casev
Taking his final stance:
r. T. Adams immortalized:
Tinker to Evers to Chance"
Boswell immortalized johnson
IN three volumes on my shelf.
But William S. Gilbert
mmortalized himself.
His verses, heaven-sent
Are Gilbert's monument
In the hearts of the Savov Gror1n
In tne hearts OF the Blue Hill Troupe.
In the hearts of the D'Oyly Cartes,
And IN lots of unorganized hearts.
wen, they swung the Swing Mikardo
win music by Guy Lombardo;
AND they heated the Hot Mikado.
which wasn't very nice,
And 1 understand they're contem-
plating putting it on ice,
And calling it the Cold Mikado
But Ill take the old Mikado-
ANY old Mikado-
But particularly those in which the
boys do not insist
In improving" Gnbert's lyrics to:
I've Got a Little List"
He drew his final breath
Saving a girl from drowning:
The great clown smiled at death.
But death-wasn't cloWning
He gave the heart he often hid
1t was his duty, and he did.
One more word, and then I'm
through:
Sullivan was all right, too.
ALBERT STILLMAN. q.
When Mr.. Stillman mentions, in
what too many consider the Ogden
Nash style, each and every Bah
Ballad" he should have specified
Lost Mr.. Blake" written long be-
fore Mr.. Nash was born. You will
find it on page 256 of the Bah
Ballads.
Naivete is among our manv un-
engaging qualities. We don't un-
derstand business. We feel that it
takes training and experience to be
a good bartender, cobbler, tinker or
tailor. This is why 1t is hard for us
to know about things like the cleo
ton of Mr.. Grover A. Whalen as
chairman Of the board of Coty In
ternational Corp, manufacturer of
cosmetics, perfume and powder. To
most men the knowledge of such
is confined to a bunch of
bottles that clutter up a dressing
table, or so many shelves in the
bathroom medicine chest that there
is barely room for a razor. Maybe
Mr.. Whalen is versed in such mat
ters, but We never knew that he was
experienced in scents and essences.
The whole thing is part of the redo
lent mystery of life, liberty and the
pursuit OF business. r. P. A.
(Released by the Bell Syndicate, Incl
BruziI Gets Air Chief
President Vargas of Brazil has
created a Ministry of Aeronautics