Evening star., 1943-06-10

known the world
over and whose
Henry McLemore. weekly salary
checks run into five figures to the
unknown little entertainers who are
grateful for $40 week.
That's the story of Dwight Deere
Wiman. In his time he has pro-
duced 54 Broadway shows, most OF
them successes. Right now his by
Jupiter" is one of the smash hits
of the Big Town. But where is
Wiman? In New York counting
the money that rolls in? In New
York working on another outstand-
ing hit? NO, he is over here work.
ing for free, as variety" would
put it, in the cause of the American
soldier.
In a tiny little Office provided for
him as entertainment director of
the American Red Cross he is
working 18 and 20 hours a day
| arranging, producing and directing
shows for the pleasure Of the men
who are here to fight our country's
battles. Does he miss Broadway
and the glamour that goes with
| handling famed stars in shows that
pack them in? I wondered about
| this, SO I went to see him, but I
never had to ask the question. His
enthusiasm for his war work pro-
vided the answer.
He was trying out talent for a
new show when I arrived-a show
that will play hospitals up and
down the British Isles. He watched
a mind reader and his stooge do
their act. He studied the aero
battles of trick dancer long past
his prime. He listened to an ac-
cordionist, a xylophonist, a trap
drummer, a ballad singer, soft
shoe dancer and a wise cracking
master of ceremonies.
Directed Headliners.
He was just as intent as he put
them through their PAGES as he
ever could have been auditioning
stars for his Broadway shows. At
one time or another he has han
died and directed Jane Cowl, Basil
Rathbone, Mary Nash, Clifton
Webb. Libby Holman. Fred Allen.
Peggy Wood, Beatrice Lille, Roland
Young. Ernest Truck, Walter o.
Keefe and Ray Bolger. They work.
ed for him in such shows as the
| first, second and third Little
Shows" The Road to Rome" THE
Vinegar Tree, ""She Loves Me Not"
"On Borrowed Time" Command
to Love" and scores OF others.
The entertainers he works with
now 60 out under such names as the
Rainbow Girls, the Second Frontiers
and the Bomber Babes. The top
price for unit for a week is go
pounds, or something like s24o.
That wouldn't keep some Of the
stars Wiman has directed In cigar
cites or perfume for week.
talked to his staff about Wiman.
Most OF them knew him on Broad
way.
Dwight used to get awfully nerv-
Gus when a new show was OPEN
ing in Atlantic City or Boston" one
of them said, but you should see
him now! When a unit opens in
Birmingham, Bristol or Salisbury he
doesn't sleep the night before and
sits around here chewing his nails
until the report comes in whether
1t is a flop or hit. He had thou
sands and thousands Of dollars tied
up IN the New York stuff, but he
never did suffer the way he does
now.
Most Of the time he makes ths
openings. He gets In a jeep, drives
to the opening and watches it from
the back, studying the reaction of
the soldiers. If they don't like the
show 1t kills him."
Wiman told me that the Ameri-
can enlisted man was the toughest
critic in the world.
He is tougher than any New
York critic he said. "He makes
Brooks Atkinson, John Mason
Brown, Johnny Anderson and Dick
Watts seem like gentle, nice fellows.
If soldier doesn't like what is 60
ing on, he gets up and says, To hell
with 1t. I'm going to get coke
The regular first-nighters in New
York, such as Jules Glaemer, Jules
Baches, William Rhinelander Stew
art, Mrs. Harrison Williams, Elsa
Maxwell and Billy and Phyllis See
man, will stick it out, no matter how
bad the show is. But not G. I, Joe.
When he has had enough, he has
had enough and makes no bones
about it.
Boy! When you put on q show
that pleases them, it makes YOU feel
good. The biggest thrill the theater
has ever given me was right here
when, after show, the soldiers
came up to me and said it was swell
and when could they see it again."
He is good Joe, this Wiman who
Is serving the G. I. Joe.
distributed by McNauRht Syndicate, Inc)
Girl Scout Unit to Graduate