Evening star., 1945-11-29
By THE SPECTATOR.

Elephants are not the only crea-
lures with long memories. Love birds
do not forget things. either. Now
you may or may not feel that this is
a pertinent bit Of information ut the
moment, but we can assure you
that 1t Is happy discovery to make
If you set out to train some love
birds to perform for you in 4 night
club. Once the love birds learn their
tricks, they never forget them. This
is one of the things which makes
life easier for Jack Lane, whose
birds are performing these nights
in the floor show at the Lotus. II one
Of his little helpers falls Ill or runs
OF with a saxophone player, heI
doesn't have to break in q new
member Of the act: just wires home
for bird he has already trained.
Another thing which probably
makes life easier for Mr.. Lane isl
that his competition is somewhat
limited, few people having the pa
tience to train love birds, or evenl
knowing how to go about 1t in thel
first place. After all, you can't toss
love bird fish, as If 1t were seal
you were teaching to play How Dry
I Am" There isn't much you can
give bird, by way of reward; and
you would feel awfully silly standing
over one with a blacksnake whip,
shouting directions.
You see. You don't even know how
to start. But we did learn part of
Mr.. Lanes secret. You grasp the
bird gently, but firmly, in your hand
and blow softly in his face. This, in
addition to making him angry, in
terferes briefly with his breathing
and he does not like it worth a darn.
Not being stupid, the love bird soon
discovers that all he has to do is
what you tell him and you will not
be blowing in his face. The part Jack
did not divulge was how you tell a
love bird what to do.
Training love birds to perform in
theaters and night clubs is no over
night, or even overmonth, chore
1t takes Mr. Lane two years to get
group ready and he has been at
it professionally for IA years and
before that as hobby, while he was
magician. He buys birds in two
and three dozen lots, then gives
them an I. @. test, based on those
contraptions the psychologists are
always driving rats batty in, to Sc
lect those with personality, perse-
verance and stage presence. There
is great difference between any
two given love birds, it seems. Some
Of them are temperamental and onl
occasion give their boss the distinct
impression they would like to say
"the heck with it." Others are
showoffs and get lot of fun out
Of the act.
Mr.. Lane even is convinced they
have the power of reason. He
points to the, time when one of them
supposed to walk q tight wire, quit
quarter of an inch short of the
end. Next night he Topped of an
other quarter of an inch. Finally
he was making only half the dis
tance, obviously, Jack says. in an
attempt to discover how much he
could get away with without hav-
ing his face blown at.
X 4 Y X
The Midnight Merry-Go-R Round.
The movie factories aren't what
they used to be. Time was when the
film publicists were the hardest
working of the tune-pluggers, at
tempting to ram any song from a
new picture down every ones throat
(by way of the ear drums, of course)
But it has Just taken three weeks to
get the sheet music Of 1T Might AS
Well Be Spring" for Pete Macias'
Orchestra at the Lounge Riviera.
That was from state Fair" which
was around some time back.
Wouldn't have happened that way
if Daryl Zanuck hadn't become so
engrossed in the war. -. Monte
Proser of the New York Copacabana
Prosers, was the most amazed man
at the Duet ringside the other eve.
"Jeepers, I saw four couples out
there doing a real samba," he told
Herb Sachs. I'm my place the most
they do to a Samba Is rumba. I
guess this really is cosmopolitan
city" This being the Yule season
coming up, you'll be hearing q lot
of appropriate music in the after
dark haunts. And we think you
ought to know that the sleighbell
sound effects added to the Christ
mas tunes at the Madrillon will be
authentic, Johnny Robb having sent
off to Pennsylvania, the closest place