The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-02-11
Walter WinclleII
In NezO York

Not long ago one Of them attended
q concert which bored him
A celebrated soloist was running up
the division and subdivisions Of
notes on his fiddle-but the critic
yawned and yawned ,: A com.
panion tried to get hin to show
more interest BY reminding him the
solo being played was very diff
cult
Il WISH" he groaned, at we're i'm
possiblel"
Mark Twain was once guest Of
honor at an opera box-party given
by dowager She was talka-
tive throughout the performance,
much to Twair's irritation -.
When the opera was almost over
she gushed: II SO want you to be
with us Friday, Mr.. Twain. I'm GER
tain you will like It. The opera
will be a great favorite Of mine,
"Tosca'l" ~.
twain coldly replied: IT never
heard you In THAT"
Conrad Thibault, the radio and
concert barytorle, was among the
notables invited to the Presidents
birthday party at the White House
recently At the depot earlier
waiting for trolley, he turned to a
red cap and asked: Aren't you ex-
cited with all these celebrated movie
and stage people coming to Wash
ington?"
mister" said the blase porter
with all the movie stars, Senators
and foreign ambassadors who come
here, this is still q one-thrill town
And until he gets back from Casa
blanca, the thrill Is gone"
The other night In Kitty Davis
place ct Miami Beach, Kitty's hus-
band (who officiates as nanager)
paused at a crowded table Of fun
lovers and observed: 1--WE sure got
q lotta soldiers here tonight"
"You also have an Admiral" said
one Of the group. "This Is Admiral
Van Cook on his way back to Pan
amaw
"You shoulda been here last
night" replied the big-name wor-
shipper. I'VE had Gene Tooneyl"
Bennett Cert, irving Hoffman and
others who still miss Haywood Broun
were discussing him again last night
One recalled when Broun was do
ing great baseball pieces for the
Tribune and when he was trans
ferred to covering shows. The day
Of the switch, Broun served as Of
fetal scorer at O Giant-Cub game
and that night he reviewed Ethel
Barrymore's premiere In an Edna
Ferber play called "our Mrs. Nc
Chesney."
At the ball game that afternoon
Broun scored O close play as an err
ror for the Cubs shortstop, thereby
depriving the Giant batter a base
hit In the records That night
he roasted Barrymore's acting.
Next day the Trib managing edi-
tor received two indignant tele-
grams. One from the Giant batter
which read: whats the idea oil
sending a lousy dramatic critic ur
here to be an official scorer?"
The other, signed by the great
actress, concluded: "How dare you
assign o cheap baseball reporter tc
cover q Barrymore premiere"
songstress Iildegarde and q friend
were invited to attend the pre-
miere Of q new flop {. The pro-
Queer sent passes After q nlSer.
able evening waiting for the final
curtain to drop, the friend said:
"Well, anyway, he sent free tickets
so wen have to do something 70
reciprocate."
"is retaliate!"
During the filming Of Casa.
blanca" the players had great fun
with q parrot which had nothing
to saw In the picture. It was ef1i-
ployed as atmosphere In a sequence
Ingrid Bergman and the other
actors asked: "Polly wanna crack
err" Polly merely greeted them
all with q stare One day 1t
winked at Humphrey Bogart as
though 1t wanted to have a talk
Bogart obliged =. polly wanna
cracker?" he asked.
"Polly," was the reply. want
Bergman!"
South Africa is reducing many