Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-05-10
Free Lunch
Praised as
Boon TO Poor
Bartenders Looked Away
While Hungry Grabbed
BY DAMON RUNYON

- tavern restaurant in West
Forty-eighth street in New York
for the last eight or 10 years
of his life, had a saloon in pre-
prohibition days in the mid
forties on Broadway where in
the late afternoon he would
serve miniature Welsh rarebits
at his free lunch counter. The
actors at liberty and other
BroadwafS would cluster about
in large numbers at the ap-
pointed hour to partake of this
nourishment which went with
the price of a drink.
We always thought that was
the most heightened free lunch
we ever saw. Not the most
elaborate, you understand, but
the claSSiest A Welsh rarebit
was considered quite a thing in
those days and still is for that
matter. We are personally
great devotee of the rarebit but
always feel a little embarrassed
when the waiter Tugs it in and
the other diners rear back and
stare as the perfume drifts
across the scene. like lot of
pointers that have suddenly hit
the aroma of quail.
We never could understand
why a Welsh rarebit always at
tracts so much attention in a
restaurant. 1t makes a fellow
more CONSPICUOUS than when he
orders crepe SuZettes and the
waiter sets 'em afire in public.
The nature of the Welsh rare
bit is such that you cannot have
it sneaked in quietly. We sup
pose some form of deodorization
would help. But would it then
be a true Welsh rarebit? Our
own practice under the trying
circumstance of facing a rarebit
is TO just glare defiantly at the
surrounding gapers, letting them
know that they cannot intimi-
date us.
WELL, to get back to the free
w lunch. We remember that
we vowed to our readers to lay
off the saloons. but we got to
thinking last night of the times
that the free lunch has saved us
from the cruel Mate of starva-
ton. and we feel we ought to
pay some tribute to this once
fine American institution. now.
alas. just another memory. The
saloons of today offer you a few
pretzels or peanuts without ex-
ira charge with your dram. but
this is piffling and wholly made
-quate stuff as compared TO the
gorgeous spreads of the old
time gin mills.
OF course nowadays under the
law the saloons have to make at
least some pretenSe of selling
food in connection with their
wet goods traffic. so the saloon
fellows can scarcely be blamed
for not distributing free eatableS
with the lavishneSS of the old
times. 1t would leave them
without any profit whatever.
We often wonder how some of
the old-timers could have showed
A profit against the prodigality
of their free lunch counters.
There must have been a lot of
money in beer and liquor in the
old days, cheap as it was COM
pared 10 the present scale.
IN THE expenditure of a
" nickel for glass of beer,
we have enjoyed without addi-
tional charge a plate of soup, a
roast beef sandwich. a COB of
potato salad. and even a piece
of pie and. neighbors, we are
here TO tell you that it often
came in mighty handy. Mighty
handy, folks. We got TO be a mas
ter at sort o just idling along a
free lunch counter as if the food
displayed there had no definite
attraction for us. and was in
fact a bore, but at the same
time doing a rare job of trench
ering.
The nonchalant attitude was a
highly important technique in
spots where the bartenders were
inclined 10 manifest great hos
tility toward big appetites ac-
companied by small purses. We
never could understand why
some bartenderS used TO get so
Stuffy about the free lunch. We
VIII always remember vi I h
great loathlng a fellow with a
dropping muStache in a Toledo
saloon where We had invested
our case jit in a mug of beer.
He reached over the bar with a
hung starter and sprained the
thumb and index and middle
fingers on our left hand as we
were reaching for our tenth
picked pigs foot. 1t was our
best free lunch hand. too.
But we must say for most of
those old-time bartenders that
they were kindly, understanding
gentlemen. They let YOU go quite
a piece on a nickel. We knew
several who would not only let
YOU work through every course
on the free lunch counter on )
cents worth of beer, but who