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PAGE FOUR-A
Vaudeville's Back
But Is It The Same?
BY WILLIAM GAXTON
As Told To Richard Kleiner
NEA Staff Correspondent
NEW WORK.—(NEA)—A lot of people are calling the
reappearance of vaudeville at the Palace a “rebirth.”
*Tain’t so! Let me set one thing straight right now—vau
deville wasn’t dead, vaudeville wasn’t gone.
It was just some place else, that's all. It was in the
night-clubs and in radio and in pictures. They called it by
a lot of other names, but it was just plain vaudeville in
disguise.
| Now thev're “bringing it back”
What The People Say
Athens, Georgia,
May, 13, 1949.
Editor
Athens Banner-Herald,
Athens, Georgia.
Dear Editor: 5
This letter is prompted by the
failure of some newspapers—but
not necessarily yours — to help
clear away the widespread public
confusion over the separate iden
tities of the two co-existing World
War II veterans’ organizations.
There is abundant evidence that
the public generally and even
some newspapers consistenly jum
ble the names of the two groups
and that many persons are un
aware of their duality.
Here are the facts:
There are two distinct organi
zations —the AMVETS (Ameri
can Veterans of World World 11)
and the AVC (American Veterans
Committee).
AMVETS is the older. It is also
the only one chartered by Con
gress. It was formally organized
at Kansas City, Mo., in December,
1944. It is substantially the larger
with 130,000 paid up members in
1400 posts in the 48 states and the
District of Columbia. AMVETS
was incorporated by Congress
when President Truman signed its
charter July 23, 1947. It has also
been accredited by the Veterans’
Administration to handle veterans’
claims through fulltime employes
of its Service Department func
tioning in 11 states. Its headquar
ters are in Washington and its
present national commander is
Harold A. Keats.
AVC’s constitutional convention
took place in the early summer of
1946 at Des Moines, lowa, al
though it had been active prior to
that. AVC membership is proba
bly less than 40,000 they claim.
(Last winter the New York Her
ald Tribune listed its membership
at 20,000). It has chapters—not
posts—inat least half of the states.
1t has not been chartered by Con
gress. It was barred in the 80th
Congress from testifying before
House Veterans' Affairs Commit
tee (Feb. 14, 1947) on grounds it
was not exclusively a veterans’
group althm:fh the ban was lifted
for one hearing this year. Doubt
jess the major factor in this de
cision. was the AVC’s long-stand
ing Communist problem. AVC has
been accredited by V. A., to handle
veterans’ claims but it does not
have an organized Service De
partment. Its headquarters are
also in Washington and its present
national chairman (not comman
der) is Gil Harrison.
Originally AVC admitted war
correspondents and merchant ma
riners; hence the charge by some
congressmen that it is not exclu
sively a veterans’ group. But the
major policy cleavage with
AMVETS has been on the Com
munist issue. Whereas AMVETS
specifically bars Communists in
its by-laws, has never had a Com
munist member to its knowledge
and has never had this problem
internally, the AVC in the begin
ning accepted Communists know
ingly in some instances and large
numbers of them joined in the
early stages at least — some of
them achieving positions of prom
inence. Result: thousands of peo
ple have contracted a general and
hazy idea that any or all War 11
veterans' groups are Communist
infested. Such is emphatically not
the case.
Even AVC finally amended its
constitution last year to ban
Communist members although the
vote was divided at 13,534 to 9,-
436 according to the New York
Times. A former member of
AVC’s National Planning Commit
tee publicly condeded ‘‘appalling
losses” of membership over the
Communist problem.
Policywise, AMVETS has pur
sued at moderately liberal course
embracing issues now obviously
«favored by a majority of the body
politic. For. example, AMVETS
supports the Truman Doctrine, the
North Atlantie Pact, aid to Greece,
the Marshall Plan; the Mundt-
Nixon bill, the Taft-Ellender
‘Wagner housing bill, U. M. T. and
the United Nations. It favors ad
justed service compensation pay
able in six years but opposes gei
eral service pensions. Its aims are
threefold: to promote world peace,
tq preserve the American Way of
Life and to help the veteran help
himself. Its motto: “We fought to
gether; now let’s build together.”
The AVC motto is: “Citizens First,
Veterans Second.”
As an officer of AMVETS my
_ statement may be open to charges
of prejudice and I have therefore
leaned over backward to be fact
ual as well as objective. We are
eager to clarify the record because
the wvast public confusion over
fifnfit‘y has hurt us membership
wise in some areas. 1 apologize
for this necessarily long letter but
appeal to your responsibility to
your readers in asking that you
print all of it if possible. The
American _press is a bulwark
ymst public confusion no less
anjagmns&m_flright tyranny and
the publlica_ on of this letter, aside
from clearing up misconceptions,
will. demrfin#ep anew t};lour con
tinuing contribution to the üblic
galightment’. 2 r
B !’ur‘ W ! lyi
Comr Msgwel)- Woods b
~Lommanae: cwell- s t
s then! N
Now they're “bringing it back” T
to the Palace. But don’t let any
body tell you it's going to be the
same as it was. Sure, it'll be a
fine thing for vaudeville and a
finer thing for the audiences. I'm
in favor of the return of vaude
ville to the Palace 1000 percent.
But it won't be Palace, that’s
all. It won’t be Palace because
they're going to have four and
five shows a day and at ‘“pop
lar” prices. Why, the Palace
wasn’t buiit for four shows a day.
Theé Palace was always a two
a-day place. If they were opening
two-a-day, it would have more
importance to it.
And the Palace had an audi
ence to match its shows. People
got dressed up to go to the Pal
ace, to see actors like Sarah
Bernhardt and Eva Tanguay and
John Drew. They paid $2.20 for a
seat, and $2.20 those days is equal
to $4.40 today. Why, the Monday
matinee and evening audience
held the same regular seats for
years.
Another thing &akes this mod
ern Palaec not quite the glorious
place the Palace used tg be:
In the old days, wh?m a man
went into the Palace Theatre, he
didn’t put his act together over
night. He'd break it in in the
sticks. Sometimes he'd work
yeras on it, to get it to perfec
tion.
Those men were stylists, indi
vidual performers. They didn’t
steal everybody’s style or mate
rial, Today most everybody is
imitating each other.
Back when 1 played the Pai
ace, they called it ‘Supreme
Vaudeville.” And'they meant it
really was supreme. They paid
as much as SI,OOO a day, when
money meant something. Sarah
Bernhardt got SI,OOO a day, Lou
Holtz was with me and he got
$6,000 a week; I did all right,
myself.
The Palace then was the goal.
When I started my career, I
never dreamed that I'd ever be
able to play the Palace.
All the managers and produc
ers and booking agents would
see yolt on the Palace stage and
you'd get a route if you got over.
If you got over at the Palace,
you'd get over anyplace.
Incidentally, the Palace has a
sentimental attachment for me, I
met my wife there.
I was doing a dramatic sketch
by Rupert Hughes, a light com
edy part. Another act on the bill
was the Cameron Sisters, a top
ballet act. I married one of them,
Madeleine. Then we worked out
a routine that a booking office
bought and sent us out for 60
weeks, from New York to San
Francisco and back.
Mr. Lou Fields saw me at the
Palace and put me into my first
starring vehicle. 'That was *“Con
nectieut Yankee” back in 1827.
Incidentally, T still hold the rec
ord at the Palace of 10 consecu
tive weeks. That’s the record for
an actor in a dramatic sketch.
Me, I loved that ould vaude
ville. I loved the independence
of it. I loved the fight of each
artist, always changing anad try
ing to improve. To reach the Pal
ace, every act had to be a hit.
Like a ball club—get out and get
a hit was the password.
The acts were arranged 50
they wouldn’t conflict—there was
comedy, dancing, a “dumb act”
like acrobats or jugglers, and a
dramatic sketch. You had every
emotion there.. If the audience
didn’t like one act, they'd like
the next.
A success in vaudeville was a
personality that got close to his
audience. They were small, inti
mate theatres. In these big
houses today, the audience can’t
see the twinkle in a man’s eye or
hear the ad libs.
Audiences of today, too, have
gotten out of the habit of ap
plauding. They don’t applaud at
pictures, they don’t applaud at
radio, they don’t applaud at tele
vision.
Not that todays’ talent isn’t as
good. I think talent has jmprov
ed. Take my wife's .old act, the
Cameron Sisters. They did an act
that was extraordinary then—
they did a fox trot on their toes
Today the chorus girls in a place
like Radio City do the same thing
and juggle and do splits at the
same time. Dancing has improved
100 percent. :
No, talent is better than it used
to be. And it used to be terrific
—tHink of the parade of great
names thta have appeared at the
Palace. Names like Sophie Tuck
er, Ted Lewis, Doug Fairbanks,
Ethel Barrymore, John Drew,
Ethel Merman, Kate Smith, Bob
by Clark, Marilyn- Miller, Eva
Tanguay, Leon Errol, Al Jolson,
Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny, Fred
Allen, Bob Hope, Freddie As
taire, Nora Bayes, Bing Crosby,
Mae West, Walter Houston,
George M. Cohan, John McCor
mack—and hundreds like them.
They alk cagpe up through the
vaudeville ladder, up to the Pal
ace and fame. Todays' young
people have little opportunity to
show their worth. I remember
George Murphy, Alfred Drake
and Gene Kelly when they were
my understudies in various
shows. They all had a great re
spect for the theatre and a great
regard and esteem for artists. But
they didn’t have the advantages
of a vaudeville upbringing.
That's why I welcome, with all
my haert, the return of vaude
ville to the Palace, It will be a
blessing to ‘the youth if they
bring vaudeville “back.” It will
be a great showcase for televis
jon, for one thing. For another,
it will do artists a great deal of
good to learn the ax¢ of prpjec
tion, which you can only learn
by working with a live audience
that has to hear everything.
Even though this new Palace
vaudeville won’t be quite as su
preme as it used to be, it will
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oA, v — e e " : J f The 1949 line of General Electric Refrigerators i
. b, — l % P i { the finest in the Company’s long history of
E L DL LMI () . ; 3 building America’s Number One refrigerator.
b " - q b % . AE Now comes the announcement of a price
L "\ : e y : 4 reduction in two extremely popular models. Wait
.. ,‘ - q i ! x ik no longer to enjoy a General Electric Refrigerator!
s e ’ =1 — , i { Buy now, to have in your kitchen for the hot
b h .. | - v 5 summer months ahead, as dependable, as usable
S 5 rac ® § - ' a refrigerator as money can buy! .
SRR ¥ * 92/ Let us show you the complete line of General
T " l___.——-""""'—;‘ - . ’ Electric Space Maker refrigerators, and the
o S ! ¥ i —~ | P - phenomenal 8 and 10-cu-ft. Refrigerator
" ¢ g+ g N 7 / o - F Freezer .Combinations, ¥You'll thrili to their <
) : - 7 o s / ; beauty and utility .. , their record for
. . v A o dependability needs no explanation.
o : A 9 3 * . 10% Down! Balance 24 Months
o ‘\,)‘ ‘; JORA\ $ 00 ‘ On Any G. E. Refrigerator
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»fE BANNER-AEAALD, ATHENS, GEORGIA.
U, S, Faces
|
Road Trouble 8
| ‘
[ BY VERN HAUG LAND
| WASHINGTON — We know
how to design and pr oduce good
| highway but we're ca reless about
| keeping them up, says Public
Roads Commissioner !Thomas H.
I MacDonald. The excessively
still be a blessing fpr all con
| cerned.
heavy truck, he adds, is the ma
jor maintenance problem.
“We are overloading our high
ways in their traffic volume capa
city and in their strisctural capa
city,” MacDonald said in an inter
view. “The only way to proper use
of the highways is to limit axle
and wheel loads. i
“Axle loads in excess of 18,000
pounds should not be authorized,”
he said, “and any revision of laws
governing gross weight of vehi
cles should relate that weight to
the number and spacing of ax
les.” The 18,000 anxle-load limit
generally has the support of state
highway, motor vehicle manufac
tured and usér organizations, Mac-
Donald said, and it has been writ
ten into the laws of a majority of
the states. But he said that move
ments are .under way. in many
states to ease the restrictions.
“Today the volume of truck
traffic is nearly three times as
great as it was in 1930 and even
more significant is the proportion
of trucks that carry heavy loads,”
MacDonald continued.
The result, he said, has been a
gradual increase in damage to
pavements.
; MacDonaid said truck operatoirs
insist that highway damage is a
technical matter. that engineers
must find a remery, but that *“this
is true only to the exient that the
design of roads fails to provide
for loadings within the legal lim
its.”
ATOMIC RADIATION
MEASURES SNOW
WASHINGTON—(AP)—A new
use for atomic radiation is a re
mote-control means of determin
ing the potential water supply
from mountain snow. Government
SUNDAY, MAY 15 1949,
| scientists said the dx';r;o;natic meth
od opened up broad possibilities
for obtaining advance knowledge
of such water resourees in areas
where mountain snow is a' factor
in planning farm * operations,
flood-control, water: conservation,
and the maintenance of hydro
electric power.
The technique involves placing
a radioactive material on the
ground before the snow season
starts. A Gieger counter is poised
above the grouxg. The more snow
present, the weaker th radiation
reaching the counter.