Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 67, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 July 1931 — Page 5

JULY 28, 1931

18-YEAR TERM 'GIVEN BOY, 15, WHO SLEW OOP Chicago Youth Blinks at Severity of Sentence; Parents Flayed. Bn United Pr** CHICAGO, July 28.—Fifteen-year-eld Varner Corry, who killed a policeman when caught stealing a swim in a high school building, was eentenced today to eighteen years In the Illinois state penitentiary at Joliet. Judge Jpseph Sabath passed the sentence on the youth “who never cried’’ with the explanation that he had consulted Warden Henry C. Hill of the penitentiary and assured himself that young Corry would not be brought into contact with older, hardened criminals. Varner blinked a lew times at the Severity of the sentence, which was contrary to the expectation that he would be sent to a boys’ school until he had reached 21, but otherwise displayed no emotion as he stood Silently before Judge Sabath in the crowded courtroom. His mother and father, occupying a front row seat, trembled, then closed their eyes and cried, as Judge Eabath criticised them for the boy’s tearing, which he pronounced responsible for Varner’s inability to distinguish between right and Wrong. Widow Is Silent Mrs. Mildred Smith, widow of patrolman Edward Smith, the officer whom young Corry killed with a stolen revolver last Memorial day, Sat behind the boy’s parents, dressed In black. Although it was by her insistence that Varner “was a murderer and Should be tried as one’’ that the youth’s case was not heard in juvenile court, she was silent today. “I have consulted with Warden Bill,” said Judge Sabath, short, portly, ordinarily kindly of face, but grave at the moment. “I have obtained assurance that this defendant will obtain disciplinary treatment, but will not come into contact with older prisoners.” Judge Sabath turned to Corry’s parents, the father a machinery mover, the mother a school teacher. Parents Criticised “The parents exercised an influfence in what led up to this crime,” Judge Sabath said. “They are in part responsible for it and I wish I could punish them as well, but I pan not." Varner, the model scholar, prizewinning Boy Scout and Sunday Bchool pupil, tensed his muscles when Judge Sabath reached the sentence. He stared straight ahead at the American flag beside the bench. His features remained unwrinkled. Judge Sabath pointed out that the 18-year sentence would be reduced by good behavior. “You can get out in ten years and three months if you are a good boy—two years less than a prisoner sentenced for life, but if you don’t behave, you will have to stay in prison for the full eighteen years. I hope youSll take my advice and be good.”

'X-rayedfree WHILE YOU LOOK ON to you and if your radio reception it not ab- The Afarvelous sicrcmctcr solutely perfect, we tuggest that you bring * n act * oru It * ccs know* all, in all your tubes and have them "X-rayed.’* te^s a k° ut your radio tubes If you will call here first, we will give you ————i—■ —bb—— a convenient Tube Container so that you , ~ _ ... ..... ~ , . —ls Your Radio Noisy? can bring in the tubes without danger of n r,. . .a. . • r> ... , . . 6 —Do Distant Stations Fade jarring or breaking them. Take advantage on y our Radio? of this free service. You’ll be interested in —Are you unable to get the same disthe marvelous Acremeter and you 11 get a tance that you got when your set was ■freal analysis of your tubes. new? —Has your set lost its “wallop” and volume? —ls your radio has any of the above ills the cause is probably weak or inefficient tubes. THE ACREMETER tells you instantly what is wrong with your radio tubes. JMwftA Tb* Horae of Guaranteed Furniture" la conveniently located fa Bhm| on Washington street. Just Ift blocks west of Illinois jfnHgy street, directly opposite Statehonse. Open Evenings by Appointment Cedi Lincoln 7555 mr Lincoln 7556

SMART WORDS FAIL TO PUT PLAY OVER Shaw In ‘The Apple Cart’ Buries His Wise Cracks Under Several Tons of Mere Words With no Action, BY WALTER D. HICKMAN IT seems to me that the great George Bernard Shaw has used too many words in too lengthy speeches with too little action in “The Apple Cart.” Never have I heard so many words spilled over the stage as the cast is compelled to do in the first act of the latest Shaw opus to see the light of day. The first act with King Magnus and his cabinet in 1971 in London is just one series of endless speeches. I have had many doses of Shaw and as acted, I considered “The Apple Cart” the most talky and awkward of all things that Shaw has done. I really felt sorry for Donald Woods

as King Magnus in the many long passages that he has in the first act. Oh there are flashes of the regular Shaw cunning and writ and his slaps at the high and the lew, but

that alone does not necessarily make a good play. There is much less action in this play than in another Theatre Guild opus, “Wings Over Europe.” And “Wings” (not a Shaw play), did have action and suspense. I can testify that “The Apple Cart” left me mentally and emotionally cold most of the time. Consider that a confession or a

■ . \

Mildred Hastings

slam upon myself. The fact is, “The Apple Cart” reads much better than it acts. That’s my verdict. So be your own judge. I found Shaw from the standpoint of theater mighty dull and uninteresting most of the time.. There are several delicious thrusts against government and the dear people in the first act. The second act is a 10 and 20 cent written version of a king wrestling with his mistress while his queen waits for him at the tea table. The third act is pointed satire in which the United States wants to tear up the Declaration of Independence and become part of Great Britain. But the king thinks it is a political trick and the cabinet is too busy about preventing the king from making public speeches and telling the people about the veto to consider the offer of the states. Included in the big cast in addition to Woods are Edward Fitzgerald, Freddie Sherman, Dick Elliott, Katherine Mayer, Douglas Wood, Jack Story, Roy La Rue. Milton Byron, Jack King Davis, Mildred Hastings, Mae Ray, Frances Dale, Yvonne Stebbins, Walter Davis and Thomas Coyle and Duane McKinney. I admit in all frankness that Arthur Casey has given a most expensive scenic background to this Shaw play and paid a lot of money for the rights, but this Shaw play does not click with me. Be your own judge as usual. At English’s all week. a a a GREAT SHOWMANSHIP IS AGAIN PRESENT This man Don Zelaya has troubled me for many years because he is the showman of the piano in any language. Take his “stunt” on a funeral march and let him tell you by hip

Radio tubes

movements and mental thought what jazz may do to the classic. This Don Zelaya tells you in the spoken word that all music has a

certain mental and physical reaction. He even tells you that “ mind ” in modern appeal has nothing to do. That “hips and legs” will win. Then he sits down to this piano that he has teased into human audience understanding and he proves his point. He puts the wiggle and the hip movement into a classic. And the

HNS

Walt

thing that I marvel in this man, he gives the jazz conception of a classic the same technical appreciation that he would give the works of a great master. After he plays his opening number (and it is a classic done as a classic), he frankly tells you that in some theaters he would not dare to play it. He knows tomatoes and lemons as well as I do. I have seen and heard this man for years and every time he shows more intelligence, luck and ability than before. To me, he is the only man in the business who has made the piano talk in as many languages as there are people in the audience. And I can not give a bigger tribute. My words to you, the reader, only prove the consistent showmanship and integrity of this man. This man “sells” melody. And he sells a dream of great music done in the tempo of the day. Jim and Walt. One blind and the other with not that affliction. Both are better showmen. The one in darkness has allowed his ears to feel and “hear” his audience. And how so fine. The other one has seen and heard the natural response of melody. Their program is reaching the big class era. Both are growing. And how so fine. The Wranglers are singers of appeal. They know how to land and they land solidly. No jokes. Just singing. They click. Others on the bill are Joe Herbert and his singing and dancing crowd, and Lloyd Nevada and company. I did not get the name of the other act but a good eccentric turn. The movie is “Gold Dust Gertie.” It looks like a knockout with this vaudeville bill. Now at the Lyric. a a a Other theaters today offer: “Women Love Once” at the Indiana, “The Girl Habit” at the Circle, “The Night Nurse” at the Apollo, “I Take This Woman” at the Ohio, “The Great Lover” at the Palace, and burlesque at the Mutual.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

BOARD DELAYS ZONEHEARINGS Suit Blocks Action on Sites Near Butler U. Hearing by the zoning appeals board on two petitions for rezoning to permit location of a business section in the Butler university vicinity will be delayed several months by filing of a petition for rehearing in the Ostrom Realty Company suit in appellate court. The suit was filed several years ago after the city forced the company to halt construction of a business building at Forty-sixth street and Boulevard place. The appellate court gave a decision last May favoring the city. A week ago Attorney Frank Seidensticker filed petition to establish a business district near Forty-ninth street and Hinesley avenue. Attorney William Bosscn, the same day, representing the Butler Fairview Civic Association, filed petition asking that the corner of Forty-sixth street and Boulevard place be rezoned for business. The petitions ■will not be acted on until final disposition of the appellate court case, H. B. Steeg, city plan commissioner secretary-engi-neer, announced. One of the exhibits of the Louisiana purchase exhibition, held at St. Louis in 1904, was a loaf of bread weighing 100 pounds.

L. S. AYRES & COMPANY August Sale Fur-Trimmed COATS in the Budget Shops Second Floor Presents Smart Coats •38 Sumptuously Furred S2S * flecked with \ | \ r / white is 11 1 I mj smart with a II I #/ * natural wolf I I I collar. I 1 4 —AYRES’ BUDGET SHOPS, SECOND FLOOR.

Surrenders

V'W. . . :■<> ■< w m '•

Merrill Hiner

For three years police all over the United States have hounded Merrill Hiner, 29, but that’s over now. He’s going to prison to serve a five to twenty-one years’ sentence imposed three years ago in Crawfordsville. While awaiting transportation to the state prison at Michigan City, he escaped from the Crawfordsville jail. , “Every place I went somebody recognized me. I couldn’t get a job and hold it . . I decided to come home,” he said when he gave up to officers here today.

PRISON REPORT CORRECT, SAYS AIDJOLESLIE 1 Was There,’ Says Morton of ‘Show’ at Parole Board Session. Although prison trustees and John A. Brown, secretary of the state charities board, assailed the Wickersham prison report which holds up Indiana’s parole system as a “horrible example,” Gaylord Morton, secretary to Governor Harry G. Leslie, admitted today that “there is a great deal of truth in it.” Morton is in charge of prison affairs for the Governor and attends all pardon and parole meetings of trustees. He says he was present at the meeting attended by Winthrop D. Lane of the Wickersham commission staff. It is this meeting which Lane cites as an example of how a parole board should not function. The report describes how certain trustees shouted at prisoners and mads the hearing into a sort of “show." Morton said he could not recall definitely who did the shouting, but “it must have been either Moorman or Foley." M. E. Foley, Indianapolis traction attorney, who is serving his twenty-

fifth year as trustee, denied that there had been any shouting at prisoners before the board. But Lane reported that such imprecations as “You are just about the most contemptible cur that walks the earth” were made to a prisoner before the board members, their wives and daughters and newspaper men. “You see these parole board meetings are open to the public and It seems that there are times when certain trustees can not resist the opportunity to make a speech if they have a good house,” Morton commented. Concludes System Wrong He admitted that his experience led him to the conclusion that the system is wrong. John Moorman, Knox, is president of the board, and has been a member as long or longer than Foley. A reporter, present at a recent meeting, today pictured how Moorman reacted in the case of a chicken thief. The man had been given a two to ten-year sentence for stealing some chickens which were recovered the next day by the owner. He had served more than a year and wanted a parole to support his wife and five children. Three of the trustees were ready to release him when Moorman talked out in meeting as follows: Chicken Thief “Meanest’’ “No, sir, m never vote for this man’s release. A chicken-thief is about the meanest kind of thief. I used to live on a farm and I know.” Such talk converted the other three members and the man remained imprisoned. Brown of the charities board said

PAGE 5

that the trustees have had long service with the institution and “know the prisoners.” But the Lane report said that trustees knew nothing of the record or past of a man appearing before them for the first time. Morton admitted the truth of the statement.

jf W u f<l R * 1 iCi . Always uniform and dependable