Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-10

mously Tor
gave the
driver, had
his wounds kSA
patched up LoUis soBoL
and then
sailed back TO England. But II
you think the distinguished Mr..
Churchill forgot the incident,
you don't know him. Once back
In London he sat down. wrote q
few thousand words under the
title How 1t Feels to Be Run
Down by an American Cab" and
sold II to q British publication
for 500 pounds, almost $500
In those days.
Noel Coward 10 reported 10 hsss
lamented to friends that he
hasn't the heart nor the urge 70
write anything for the stag, 4
while the war II on-that any,
thing he turns out will be
mechanical and cold. This I
cannot believe-Coward's writ.
ings are frothy. surface.smart,
paprikish-but cold or mechani-
cal, never! For some reason l
am reminded OF my favorits
Coward story which IS by no
means new for I have told il on
several occasions and will tell
II anew when the opportunity
affords.
When kosrs /iya ASsmsfis
effort. Queen of the Parlor,"
opened In London. the audience
Kissed and booed and when the
distraught young author passed
by, some of the boys and girls
in the pit spat at him. He never
forgot - nor forgave. Years
later when his This Year OF
Grace" premiered and was re-
ceived with tumultuous acclaim
and loud cries OF Author,
Author" Coward couldn't be
located. Not until the excite
ment had subsidized, did an usher
discover him near the roof OF
the house, leaning over and
kissing at the audience. She
made no fuss about that until
she looked aaain-and saw him
splitting down on the heads Of
the cheering customers.
II was Noel Coward's re-
venge.
Metro sisssys he'd O soff spes
In its heart for Poet.Playwright
Maxwell Anderson. It date
back to the time he was brought
to the Coast to write an original.
the sum paid being $4,000. But
AZ often happened In those days
and occasionally In these -
Maxwell sat around without re-
ceiving an assignment for a
single line. Just AZ his limited
contract was coming to an end,
he was asked by Metro how
much he would accept to grant
the company permission to use
a scene from his play Elizabeth.
the Queen" for The Guards
men,"
Anderson replied that since
Metro had paid him $50. 900 for
nothing and had provided him
with the typewriter and the
office and the leisure with which
to write Elizabeth, the Queen"
he felt the decent thing was 70
give permission TO use the scene
free Of charge. You could have
knocked the Metro officials over
with q kiss or q hiss.
We got togehirs ssifk . few Of
the hometown folks the other
evening and one of us recalled
the case of the wealthy msr-
chant Of our town VINO grew
more and more pompous ~ his
wealth increased. Canute, you
may recall, ordered the waves
to stop. This fellow. II there
had been waves In our inland
town, would have done the same
thing. we all agreed. What he
used to do was to walk along
the street and stop people witt
a flourish Of his hand 20 h
could pass.
People stopped becase he
was q very important fellow.
Then he took TO hating auto.
mobiles whenever he wanted to
cross the street. In the busi.
ness traffic, he would start
across, waving his hands In
peremptory command for auto
mobiles TO stop. They would
stop and he'd cross.
One day he waved his hand
In front Of IN out-of.tcvn auts.
The auto did not stop. II struck
him and killed him.