Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-03
BY BILLY ROSE
CHAPTER q


motor job which is standard OF
Soviet airlines. AS we drove
from the airport into the Polish
capital, we were depressed BY
what we saw. Warsaw, ii year,
after its liberation" is still &
city OF rubble and ruin.
1t was raining hard when We
checked in at the Bristol Hote
and Joyce said. 81 think In
catching a cold"
Let me buy you a sweater,
I said.
There were sweaters in each
OF the four shops we visited, anc
they were identical in price
500 zlotys or $3.50 at the officia,
rate of exchange.
Il won't let you spend thai
much for a So sweater" saic
Joyce.
The next day my girl had 6
headful Of sniffles. And, so help
me Paderewski, I unbelted with
$50 clans for a blue cotton
sweater which ran like a beef
tap the first time it was washed
Audience Size Regulated
Show business in Poland,
quickly learned, was simply a
scaled-down version of the en-
tertainment setup in Russia. II
is under the thumb of the Min
istry of Culture, which occupies
the tallest and fanciest building
in town.
A Six-Year-Plan of Theatrical
Services, currently in effect, reg
ulates the number of theaters
productions. performances, and
get this-even the size of audi
ences. Composers and play
wrights are expected to meet
rigid work norms, and no nom
sense about waiting for the Muse
to strike.
Polish dramatists are still say
ing nasty things about the United
States, but one of their best ac-
tors told me the "hate-America y
plays were a box-office waShout,
and predicted they'd all soon
fold, Fortunately for me, no one
said nasty things about my pro-
posal for a reciprocal exchange
Of artists Two days after
arrived. Mr.. Eugeniusz Markow-
ski, deputy secretary general of
the Committee for Cultural Re-
lationS, signed an agreement
similar to the one l had worked
out with the Soviets. and that
night the news was all over the
Polish radio.
Polish Blue Jazz"
The Warsaw National Theater
and the Warsaw Opera and Bal
let were suffered for the sum-
mer, and the one night club we
visited. the Krokodil, served bet
ter borscht than entertainment.
saw one show. however, which
merits a mention. It's called
Polish Blue jazz" and consists
of 40 musicians and singers who
do their darndest to sound like
a Chicago dance band of the
'30s. Practically everything they
played was from Tin Pan Alley.
N Y, and the high spot of the
evening was selection of tunes
from "Porgy and Bess." which
had played Warsaw earlier in the
year,
AS I listened to Summertime. .
l couldn't help but think back
to the summertime of 1884 when
was married to Fanny Brice
and we had a place on Fire
Island. George and Ira GershWin
lived in bungalow few dunes
up the beach, and many an eve
ming they'd drop in and play us
the songs they had written that
afternoon for their new ''Porgy''
show If anyone had told me
then that % years later I'd be
listening to those songs in Polish
in a Communist theater in War
saw. / would have chased him
into the Atlantic.
Speaking of "Porgy and Bess. y
it's my belief that Robert Breen's
production of this Yank classic
did almost as much for us in
Europe as the Marshall Plan. It
effectively rebutted the charge
that the American Negro is only
used to tote that barge" and
1t slapped down the nonsense
about us being nothing but a
dollar-happy bunch of barbar-
ians.
"Porgy' was seen by $4,000
IN Warsaw alone. and Joseph
Jacobs. our able Ambassador to
Poland, told me it could have
played to half million. Even
today this show is talked about
and remembered with affection
thing that all the Marshall bill
lions never got us.
Cracking Wise in Krakow
There's story kicking around
Warsaw which I think you'll like +.
A labor official was addressing
bunch Of workers in Krakow
who had complained about their
low pay.
Forget about money and dou-
bic your output" he Numbered
and in ten years each one of
you will have his own plane"
"Whatll I do with a planeq"
asked a worker.
Don't be stupid. said the Of
ficial. III you hear they've GOT
potatoes in Poznan, you can fly
there and be the first in line.
Big Deal--For Mr.. Big
After the wrack and rubble
OF Moscow Prague looked like
the Champs Elysees in April IT'S
an old city and. like Paris. !,
wears its years well. Here. fol
the first time in our trek. we
again saw people who were
dressed like people The grocery
stores were ismmed with goodies
and every bake shop window va.
well-produced show As We
sfrottnd afo,u Is. ~