Evening star., 1942-03-22

MO onO1 aEN LEk-6CJu1 tUG
1Dhich he guides large part
empire he and his brother, J. j.,
point at rehearsals even though
logic often fails him.
]. ]. Likes Musicals.
J. J. Is taller. has hair which Is
gray and wavy and looks rumpled.
He Is louder of voice, less abashed
yet warmer in his friendliness, lives
more normally-that is, he goes to
bed at an earlier hour-and is fonder
than Lee of the musicals which have
earned 30 much of the Shubert
wealth.
Lee works on the top floor Of the
Shubert Theater Building in . cir
cular room IL feet in diameter and
lives at the Century Arms, . prop
erty near Columbus Circle in which
the brothers have an interest.
]. J. lives on the top floor of the
10-story Sardi Building, across the
street from the Shubert Theater in
. luxuriously furnished apartment
with q great deal of Louis XIV fur
niture, a wrought-iron door from a
Venetian palace, Syrian furniture
inlaid with nacre and ivory and a
fountain.
The bathroom is equipped with
battery of electric heaters and a
roomy armchair where j. J. does
most of his play-reading. The heat
in the Sardi Building is turned on
at pm. and isn't on at all on Sum-
days, so 1t would be impossible to
heat J. Us apartment without heat
ing the whole building.
They Remember Sam.
The brothers built the Sardi
Building in 1926. intending to move
into it. That summer j. j. went
abroad-he used to travel extensive
ly-and on his return found that
Lee had remained in the Shubert
Theater Building after having
moved J. Us Offices across the street.
The spiritual focal point Of the
Messrs. Shubert is the memory Of
their brother Sam.
Sam died in 1905 when q train in
which he was travelling to Pitts
burgh hit q car loaded with dyna-
mite near Harrisburg For . time
after his death, Lee and j. j. fell
into the habit Of naming every thea
ter they built the Sam S. Shubert
Memorial Theater.
Ultimately they concluded that
the word Memorial" had an un-
pleasant connotation and discon-
tinued its use.
One curious effect of Sans death
an indication of the weight the
brothers attach to their Importance
in the theatrical business-is that
they never travel on the same train
or plane.
It has been said that Lee uncon-
sciously has taken over some Of his
brothers traits, including his habit
of walking fast and being generous
to panhandlers. He does walk fast
and is unbelievably liberal to all beg
gars to the point of going out of his
way to help poor devils in distress.
Careful Of Their Property.
Along Broadway both brothers
have the reputation Of being un-
usually kind to aging chorus girls
and other pensioners.
Still, both brothers are as careful
of their property as Yankee from
Maine. Lee, indeed, is noted for his
attendance to business and his
conscientious scrutiny of all items
of Shubert business
One story appears in various forms
the tale of Lees belated lettering
near one Of the Shubert theaters.
Always, however, the end is the
same:
A stranger asks Lee the way to
the stage door, Lee politely shows
the way, and as politely inquiries
about the persons business, to dis
cover that the stranger is bent on
complaining that shoes sold to him
tor herr by an INSCRIPTIONS ward
robe mistress don't fit. Thus, the
story goes, Lees native vigilance
was rewarded.
The counterpart OF this story,
since most Shubert stories run to
their property, is that J. J. some
times leads chorus girls to the
Shubert warehouse to pick out, for
road shows, costumes which were
worn in ancient Shubert musicals.
In 1885 Sam Shubert at the age
of II took walk-on part in a
Belasco production, May Bios
sons" in Syracuse at 81 a per-
formance for a whole week with
free ducats for his family, which
included Lee, 10, and J. j., S.
The prospect of money dazzled the
ShIlherfs Sam became a nr0Rram