The Wilmington morning star., 1946-12-15
Along Broadway
By WALTER WINCHELL

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By WALTER WINCHELL
DR.. RUNYON, FFICE UPSTAIRS
You knew the great, the fallen and the weak
And shared the dreams they carried in their
heart,
You knew the goals that all we dreamers seek
And helped us as we played our feeble part.
The Guys and Dolls along the Great White
Way
Have lost a Pal who understood them all,
You were their Star in Broadway's gilded play
Yet ev'ry play. must have the curtain fall.
You'll miss the breathless tension OF the
TIE warmth you found behind Manhattan's
mask.
But God has called you to a greater job
And you were never one to shirk a task;
So, be the great reporter that We know
And cover H eaven. . With a brighter glow!
Don VAIN.
Int'l News Service via London: "London's
morning newspapers today published page
obituaries of Damon Runyon, American col
umnist and author. The N. Y. correspondent
Of the London Daily Express cabled his news
paper: we are a sad lot of fellows on Broad
way all on account of Damon. So long, fellow,
you were good"
don gazettes used all the copy available on
him, including yesterdays prelude to 80 -
which one London editor ordered blind" -.
l hope London sees Burris jenkins editorial
page toon-show the city editor on the
phone and the captain: mo Runyon Tonight"
-. And, by all means, Bill Corum's re-
port in the N. Y. Journal-American yesterday.
nv Cor1,no cI1ro kpOUve his RunVOnS.
Since mid-July until very recently (when we
were advised that the night air wasn't good
for him) Damon and others IN our Cruler-
Dunking Set would 60 chasing crime in my
police-radio-outfitted prowl car . Out OF
those all night excursions-Runyon found some
thing exciting to write about@tor the Hearst
and other papers . So good were they
cat IS, not 81, Mr.. Historian that his boss sent
two directives to all Hearst editors within
two weeks. Run Runyon Daily No Cuts" -.
Some editors apparently didn't get it the first
time, so the Chief wired again: Run Runyon
Daily No Cuts Nomatter What Serious Pieces
You Have to Omit"
Damon carried those Hearst memos proud
w.. Not to show off. Just to show to Len,
Jimmy and Walter when we started braggln.
One Of the stories many Of his intimates
didn't know was this one . . l read 1t IN a
over z year dSo. AAeh l SoN"'
'Looka here, Daddy. How come you never
told me l helped discover the new Runyon?
That peice about you makes me feel good.
Pop!" Damon merely shrugged . i
wrote it because I needed some money ne
explained Nevertheless, it was his first
fiction and it led to countless others j..
Movie scenarios, books, plays, anthologies, etc.
All of which totalled more than a million
smackers. But just before he wrote that first
piece Damon Runyon believed he was washed
up, done, through, dry.
It started this way -. I mean l read 1t III
that piece about him Damon CATER d lew
decades at the typewriter) suddenly felt that
The Parade Was Passing Him By f.. That
newcomers we're better That he was a
has-been, etc. . . ALI this was in the early
30s~-about 1881 or 80, perhaps . He couldn't
sit down and write about the fights at the
Garden or observation-disclosures II can see
what's coming next" . He hated the .phony
wrassling matches, the guys who said the
same things before each event and so on &.
He apparently was tired of the strain-the
sameness-or just being a sports writer-even
though he was rated champ Of his division.
He wanted to reach out And write a book
or a show He had contributed handsomely
to literature with his verse about Jockey
Sande: Gimme a handy guy like Sande
bootin' those winners home! &. Was 1t
home or In? I'm not sure.
Anyway, Damon GIN quoting that mag
story, don't forgot just couldn't write a
column, a line or anything He stayed out
of print for many weeks. Just sat around
Lindy's or went to a movie or kibitz'd a card
game or snapped opinions With the midtown
wisenheimers He couldn't write any.
more. He was sure he couldn't He even
stopped trying.
Then one 3 or 4 in the yawring, ~(restless in
the hay) he got up and went to his portable
. In an hour or so he finished the first
piece OF copy he had started in several months
He wasn't sure how good Cor bad) it
was He liked it because he had run doing
it But he wouldn't lay the odds that it
would click any editor. SO he sent
it to his friend Van Loan--then bossing Cosmo-
politan, a Hearst mag TELL me what you
think, Van" memo'd Damon. its the first
fiction l ever tried. But don't kid me, please"
Van Loan phoned him at once. do a dozen
Of those a year for Cosno!" he said excitedly.
Pm sending over a check for $1,000 Gle
would up getting 5000 an article).
Runyon sat there (phone off the hook dazed
with joy He needed that CO., too. He
had settled call he had" on his. first wife,
and was broke incidentally, the last
few lines came from Damon directly when
we discussed this new Runyon'o The
title of that first piece is: Romance Of the
Roaring Forties' >. It is a hilarious short
short about a Broadway columnist who got
oo,,rL oo1;~ ro,,p1 - 6on0cfor'e dnln