Indianapolis Times, Volume 44, Number 110, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 September 1932 — Page 13

Second Section

INook mud

Virki Baum

Interest, again centers in Vicki Baum, author of the highly successful "Grand Hotel." She has come out with a statement that she desires to become an American citizen. Because, "I am in love with America.”

BY WALTER D. HICKMAN IF I should meet you on the street and ask you this question: “Why don't you commit suicide?” —What would you do? You would probably think that I was crazy, but Will Durant raises that question in “On the Meaning of Life,” which has just been published by Ray Long and Richard R. Smith, Inc. Some time ago, Durant put a certain question to such leaders as Theodore Dreiser, H. L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, John Erskine, Will Rogers, Havelock Ellis, Gandhi, Helen Wills Moody and many others. The question in brief was: “What is the meaning or worth of human life?” I am interested in the answer of Adolph S. Ochs as follows: “Suffice it for me to say that I inherited good health and sound moral principles: I found pleasure in work that, came to my hand and in doing it conscientiously: I found joy and satisfaction in being helpful to my parents and others, and in thus making my life worth while found happiness and consolation. My Jewish home life and religion gave me a spiritual uplift and a sense of responsibility to my subconscious i better self—which I think is the j God within me. the Unknowable, the i Inexplicable. Thus makes me believe I am more than an animal, and that this life can not be the end of our spiritual nature.” a it m I know that you will be interested in the answer given Durant by Gandhi. I was surprised with his modern viewpoint. Gandhi writes: “Striving for full realization keeps me going. This strife is the source of whatever inspiration and energy I possess. My treasure lies in battling against darkness and all forces of evil.” In considering religion. Gandhi writes: “Religion, not in the con\entional but in the broadest sense, helps me to have a glimpse of the Divine essence. This glimpse is impossible without full development of the moral sense. Hence, religion and morality are, for me, synonymous terms.” Durant in discussing the Gandhi position states “this is not quite satisfactory,” but the author is grateful for the answer. In Chapter 111, Durant considers “Letters to a Suicide” under the following heads: “The Popularity of Suicide,” "Concessions to Suicide,” “Mid-Victorian." “A Personal Confession" and “Invitation." The appendix contains a letter from a life term convict in Sing Sing prison. The answer of this man to the question on the meaning of life is tremendous. This book is serious but brilliant reading. It sells for $1.50. ana Just received a letter telling me that “The American Spectator," a literary newspaper, will begin its monthly publication on Oct. 20. The editors include George Jean Nathan. Ernest Boyd. Theodore Dresier, James Branch Cabell and Eugene O'Neill. In addition to these editors, the first copy will include contributions from Havelock Ellis, Frank Swinnerton, Van Wyck Brooks, Lincoln Steffens, Jim Tully, Ring Lardner, Clarence Darrow. What a list. What a list. B B B This time of year when I receive the new publications for children, I sincerely wish that I was a child again. What wonderful books children have these days. I have before me Snipp, Snapp. Snurr, and the Red Shoes," by Major Lindman. It is published by Albert Whitman <fc Cos. of Chicago. It is the story of three little Swedish boys. The great thing about this book are the splendid pictures of boy life. This book is for the very young. u a a Another juvenile book of great ehßrm and also published by the Whitman Company, is “Peter Kroak." the story of the largest green frog in the pond. The pictures are in color and would be wonderful for the nursery. Here is something new and refreshing in children's books. GIRL, 8, HURT BY AUTO Suffers Scratches and Bruises When She Runs Into Side of Car. Rosemary Selch, 8, of 1452 Hoyt, avenue, suffered scratches and bruises Thursday night when she ran into the side of an automobile driven by Kemp House. 1611 Villa avenue, at Hoyt avenue and Spruce atreeL

Full Leaned Wtr Service of the t niferl Pre** Aseociatlon

‘SPREAD WORK’ MOVE IS CALLED COMMUNIST-AIDj Donald Richberg. Attorney and Author, Assails Hoover Plan. MORE DEPRESSION SEEN Effort to Divide Jobs and Pay Held Further Fall Into Poverty Depths. BY MARSHALL M’NEIL Tlm*s Staff Writer WASHINGTON, Sept. 16—Presi- 1 dent. Hoover’s business committee that will start its “spread-the-work" drive on Oct. 3. is attempting I to impose a lopsided Communism on ; America, Donald R. Richberg. labor j attorney and author, said in an in-; terview today. The next step, if this ‘‘communistic" program logically is to be followed. Richberg said, is to have these big business executives themj selves divide up their own work and salaries, and to have the profits from property divided among all ! property owners. I The e.ssence of the "spead-the-work" movement, Richberg said, is j to level down the livelihood of all workers to a common standard of poverty. This Hoover-sponsored movement isrlhe outgrowth of the President's' business and industrial conference j held here late in August. Walter | Teagle, president of the Standard Oil Company cf New Jersey, has se- | cured a leave of absence from this j job to conduct the drive to get employers to spread work to aid the unemployed. More Depression Seen But Richberg sees the movement as one that will help to further de- ! stroy purchasing power, and insure , a longer and worse depression. ‘‘The leadership of Communism in j the United States,” Richberg said, j j speaking entirely for himself, “ap- i patently has been assumed by President Hoover's ‘share-the-work’ com- j mit tee, which includes the president j of the Standard Oil of New Jersey. ( American Telephone and Telegraph, I | General Motors, and other huge corporations. "They have announced a nation- j wide drive, beginning on Oct. 3, to j compel all those still employed to ' j share their work and wages with ! the unemployed. Logically, we j should expect these high-salaried : executives at the same time to di- j j vide their own work and salaries j also with the unemployed. ‘‘Presumably, a division of the op- I ' portunities and rewards of labor on a Communistic basis is only the first | step in educating the nation to a | similar division of opportunities I and rewards for the employment of capital. x Courts May Halt Move ‘‘There has been considerable complaint against continuing full j payments of interest to bondholders,! while stockholders, as well as em- j ployes, have been deprived of in- 1 come and driven into the breadlines. ‘‘lt- is possible that the Constitution will prevent our industrial lead- j ership from putting their Commu- j nistic program into full effect. Prob- i ably property owners can not be | compelled to share income with one j another. “In truth, the courts might stop j j the President’s committee from even j advocating this application of Com- ! 1 munism. So it seems likely that l I this business dictatorship only will : I impose a lopsided Communism on the unorganized workers who have no constitutional rights to their jobs and whose jobs can be divided up at the will of their employers. Spur to Communism "How will General Motors, Stand- i ard Oil and those other great corp- | orations keep out of bankruptcy j i after they have levelled wages so j i there is little purchasing pow-er left j for anything except the necessities! | of life, thus insuring a longer and| ' worse depression? "How will our business dictators! | stop the further spread of the Com--1 munism they are advocating? After they have forced thirty million workers to live as Communists, how i long will it be before they will vote as Communists?" City Chiefs’ Parley to End By Initfd Prrs GARY. Ind., Sept. 16.—Closing business sessions of the Indiana Municipal League's thirty-third i annual convention were held here ! j today. A tour of the Calumet indus- ! trial area, a parade this afternoon and a pageant tonight were pro- j vided in today's program.

FIGURES AND SCENES IN SEARCH FOR JEWELER’S MYSTERIOUSLY MISSING WIFE

THE DUBOIS’ LONELY COTTAGE at Great Herring pond, formerly occupied by the wealthy jeweler and his wife.

When poliee arrested Charles Edwin Dußois at Plymouth, Mass., on a charge of murder following his wife’s unexplained disappearance, they afterwafs were compelled to release the wealthy Tucfcp

\ The Indianapolis Times

FIFTY YEARS OF WEBER AND FIELDS

Funmaking Pair Separate, But Then There Is Happy Reunion

A banquet at the Hotel Ajtor on the night of Sept. 2!> will mark the golden Jubilee oN theatrical institution—the famous comedy team of Weber and Fields. t In a series of articles, of which the following is the last, A. J. Liebling tells the romantic story of the rise of two esst side boys whose Joint career forms one of the most entertaining chapters in the history of the theater. BY A. J. LIEBLING Time* Staff Writer ./ (Copyright. 1332. by the New York W 7 orldTelegram Corporation) “T'vO either of you think that U you ever will get together again?” Such was the direct if ungrammatical query of the Boston interview in April, 1904. ‘‘No.’’ Still sharing the same dressing room "else we might make an entrance,’ ’the partners agreed their disagreement was permanent. "After "Whoop-de-Doo" closed Weber would be Weber, Fields would be Fields—Weber and Fields would be no more. It was front page news. There was to be nothing comparable until Roosevelt spilt with Taft. Commentators of the stage devoted columns to the question, "Who will be Weber and Fields” successors?” Rumors of the split had hung heavy over Broadway since early in the theatrical season. There had been denials, then tacit admissions. finally the acknowledgment of the split and now a statement that it was irreparable. First interviews on the subject, had been in the spirit of "How is it possible?” Later ones had taken the tone of "Say, it ain’t so.” It was hopeless. The partnership was ended. Weber paid Fields $40,000 and took the Music Hall. That, any one with the slightest arithmetical flair can perceive, was twenty-eight years ago. The team still exists. Last year they were featured in a nationalist radio hookup. But what the temporary break cf 1904 did end was the Weber and Fields Music Hall type of show. A newer musical comedy, which has survived to the present day in such representatives as “The Cat and the Fiddle" and "Show Boat,” offering competition. a' n a THAT season had seen "The Wizard of Oz,” "The Sultan of Sulu,” “The Prince of Pilsen” and "The Merry Widow,” on Broadway. Music, dancing, lavish spectacle were being emphasized. Fields already had been flirting with the new conception. That was one of the underlying causes of the breach. "Why, all we have ever done is you come and I try to get your money,” he told Joe in the presence of the Boston interviewer. “We have to get something new.” The "Whoop-de-Doo” company had done good business, and it is possible a continuation of the Music Hall, with its clientele and reputation, might have held its own against an essentially stupider type of entertainment. But when the partners broke up for eight years, the new style gained so much impetus that by 1912, when they put on "Hokey Pokey,” it dated. The reunion was a sentimental success; critics acclaimed it as always, but there were no more Weber and Fields shows. Fields, many years later, produced a classic of the later musical comedy. “A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court,” for which

Leslie Architect to Get Cut in S4O Daily ‘Wage’

Expense Accounts Pile Up Heavy Cost for Small ‘lnspection Jobs.’ O. N. Mueller, Governor Harry G. Leslie's state architect, whose S4O a day services are financed from the Leslie’s emergency contingent fund, will come under the salary reduction formula, it was reported today. This will bring Mueller’s fees down to $35 to S3B a day, it was said. The salary reductions become effective with the new fiscal year, Oct. 1. From July. 25 to Aug. 25, Mueller drew $796.21, vouchers on file at the state auditor's office disclose. On Aug. 6 he inspected the swimming pool at the Madison state hospital for a S4O fee and $10.56 expense account. A one-hour conference with in-

ahoe fN. Y.) jewelry buyer because they could find no body as evidence. Meanwhile, the waters and land about the DußotS* summer home near Plymouth were thoroughly searched for to the l ' ’

INDIANAPOLIS, FRIDAY, SEPT. 16, 1932

j" • " - 1 1 - 1 - ■■ ■ . 8 iv Ml "".isH mswim iL jjnflf. HHr HUH HUB JHH is son H.rbor* Fi'W* wrote the |silure ard illness, end is n" at ear, in addition to all the old 1 ‘ f Newspaper files since their first v ran cVa „o n . Ts i 1. 17He,le)e. I 9nd

his son, Herbert Fields, wrote the book. There was talk, too, of jealousy between the partners, and between Fields and Louis Mann, who had joined their company in the last season of its existence. Today they say that the star system beat them. u u “TT7E started it,” Joe Weber VY declares, “and the public got used to it and demanded new names at the Music Hall every year, in addition to all the old ones. "The company had to be stronger each year. It couldn't go back. So our pay roll grew, and the theater stayed the same size.” Warfield wept with Belasco. Willie Collier and his wife, Louise Allen. Collier, headed their own company. Fay Templeton was starred by herself. Fields went after Nat Goodwin and Maxine Elliott, then favorites of drawing room comedy. "They said we couldn’t pay their price. $2,500,” he relates. "I offered them a contract at that figure, and the? backed out They didn’t think they’d fit in with as." During the long pull up from the dime museums, the partners bad never "gone Broadway” in the present sense of the word. As people iaid then, they weren’t "sporty.” “When we were kids, the other actors used to spend their money, but we had to send ours home to the folks,” Lew explains. "We could never afford more than one drink an evening—that was a sort of ticket to the case, where we could exchange shop talk. So liquor makes us dizzy, even now. We don’t like it.” The stage was occupation and preoccupation for the young comedians. "We spent our spare time trying to think up new stuff," Weber says. Not that they believe one must lead the good life to be a food

stitution officials on Aug. 17 is charged at $4.40 and on Aug. 20 there is another Madison trip with tfie S4O fee and $10.56 expense account. Two hours at the orphans' home at Knightstown. July 27, cost SB.BO, and an hour and one-half checking bids for electric repairing at the New Albany armory on Aug. 4 and 5, was $6.60. *An hour devoted to writing up plumbing contracts on Aug. 5 was another $4.40. Although Pierre and Weight won the architectural competition for the new $1,000,000 state library and are handling the work there, Leslie has Mueller do inspecting of the building. These are listed for the month as "conferences and inspections” for a total of eight and one-half hours at $23.40. Half an hour spent with Leslie and Frank Caylor, statehouse custodian, on 26. came at $2.20. The conference \*as regarding bids

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THE WIFE. Mrs. Edith Dußois, mysteriously absent

Joe Weber and Lew Fields looking forward to their golden jubilee banquet Sept. 25. Above the response to the first call of the Weber and Fields stock company, Oct. 15, 1912. Seated, left to right, Jack Norworth, Nora Bayes, Marie Dressier, Joe Weber, Bessie Clayton, Helena Collier Garrick and Edgar Smith. Standing, left to right, A. B. Sloane. E. Ray Goetz. Frank Daniels, W r . R. Sill, Lew Fields, Arthur Aylesworth, William H. Oviatt and Thomas Beauregard.

actor. Their fondest memories are of Pete Dailey, who never went to bed before sunrise and never drank legs than a quart of rye after a performance. n a a " npHE famous comedian of their A variety days, who spent all his time between turns in saloons, invariably appeared just as the act ahead of him was forcing an extra bow, and the stage manager was drifting into apoplexy. “But he never was a minute late to a performance,” says Fields. Hardly had they attained their first solid success when they married, Fields in 1892 and Weber in 1896. Both wives were non-pro-fessionals. Despite the shining example of De Wolf Hoppei*. which they ever had before them in their company —and Airy-Fairy Lillian herself had four husbands—Lew and Joe stayed married to the same wives, and remain that way. Fields has four children—“ Dorothy, the song writer; Herbert

BOY HURT IN FILL Plunge of 15 Feet From Bridge Injures Youth. Falling fifteen feet from a bridge at Minnesota and Shelby streets today, Ralph Stokes, 16, of 1180 Centennial street, employed as a water boy for workmen on a street car line project, was injured severely. One of the ties on the bridge turned as he walked across the bridge. Stokes fell through the opening, to the bed of Pleasant Run. First aid was administered by workmen before the youth was taken to city hospital. for some new doors at the statehouse. Mueller is a former classmate of Leslie's at Purdue university. He has beeft employed by the Governor for the last two and one-half years. The Governor contends that thousands of dollars have been saved the state through his services and that the saving through coal tests alone are great enough to pay the cost many times over.

: ■ s|Bßgg| J

THE HUSBAND, Charles E. DuBois, Tuckahoe (N. Y.) Jeweler.

fate of the wife whose mysterious absence since Aug. 10 had aroused the suspicion of neighbors. While police chemists analyzed a mass of woman's hair discovered floating in Plymouth bay, and other

the bum writer; Joe, named for j Weber, and Frances, a respectable 1 married woman.” Weber is childless. If there is one offstage diversion dear to their hearts, it is the perpetration of puns. Florence, the smiling girl who types letters for them, drops her j hat. Before it has touched the ! ground. Weber chortles, “Hah, a fall hat.” A reporter asks Fields where he got his tan. “In the five and tan cent store,” answers | Weber. They always have proceeded on 1 the theory that a question ad- : dressed to one partner may be ; answered by the other. “In fact, half the time people call me Lew Weber and him Joe i Fields,” Joe says. After the break they went their j separate ways. Weber stayed on at the Music Hall with a cast , including Anna Held, who was i panned unmercifully by the re- ! viewers, and Marie Dressier, at j the zenith of her first career. She i has had three, punctuated by |

SCOTTISH RITE GRAND OFFICERS ARE IN CITY Sovereign Commander and Secre-tary-General to Attend Parley. Leon M. Abbott of Boston, Mass., sovereign grand commander of the Scottish Rite supreme council, which will meet at the cathedral next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, arrived in Indianapolis Thursday’ He was accompanied by Charles H. Spilman of Boston, grand secretarygeneral. employes enrolled City Firms Interested in Butler U. Extension Courses. City firms are interesting themselves in the Butler university’s extension courses which will open Sept. 26, * Classes of employes from the Polk Milk Company, Eli Lilly & Cos., Indianapolis Power and Light Company, Republic Creosoting Company, W. H. Block & Cos., Link Belt Company, and the Gibson Tire and Rubber Company have been enrolled.

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THE POLICE HUNT for clews in Great Herring pond, site of the Dußois summer camp near Plymouth, Mass.

officials examined a nude torso found near Tuckahoe, Dußois himself was kept under observation. He shot himself today in Quincy, Mass., and is j*iear death. • m.

Second Section

Entered as Second-Cla's Matter at Poßtofrirp, Indianapolis

failure and illness, and is now at the top again. un FIELDS went with a musical company, "it Happened in Nordland." Each had many successes and failures. “It’s a great business.” Joe philosophizes. "If you stay in it long enough, it will break you. But it will go on forever.” They concede now 7 that neither singly rose to the comedy heights achieved,by the team. Newspaper files since their first formal reunion, in 1912, when they produced the last Weber and Fields extravaganza and were feted by their friends at the same Astor which will shelter their party this month, are dotted with the magic line, ‘‘Weber and Fields Reunited.” They got together again to make silent two-reelers for Mack Sennett in 1914, in vaudeville in 1915, 1918, 1926 and last winter, and for tw'o other movie forays "Friendly Enemies," which they did for the screen in 1918. was a popular success. They have faith in the show business, but it is a sort of unreasoned faith. Dancing today, they stuff ls ~ acrobatlcs ‘ comedy nut stviT” 6 „. COmedians ha ve no style, they complain. “Thev Character -Insh, Dutch, blackface or anything else." They make a few honorable exceptions, of course. They wish had Bee Lilli e in the old Music Hall shows. And the movies have brought such a different class of people to,. Broadway,” says Fields. ,' A h’ if you had seen it in the old days, with the handsom cabs and the men in top hats, and the fine wine restaurants, and the w’omen like Lillian Russell— “ All going to Weber and Fields Music Hall”—Joe joined in. "You w'ould have said it was beautiful, young man, beautiful.” the end.

HIT POLICE OUSTER Reinstatement of Women Is Demanded. * Reinstatement of four policewomen is asked in a resolution adopted Thursday by directors of the Indianapolis Council of Women, which was referred to the resolutions committee w ith the suggestion that it be recommended for adoption by the council. The resolution asserts that the beard” of safety and Chief Mike Morrissey "recently have dismissed many police w'omen who have faithfully served the city.” It is charged efficiency of the department has been lessened by "placing police women in the outlying districts and thereby not permitting these women to safeguard the morals of the children, young people and women of the city within the mile square, dance halls, motion picture shows, in our public depots and on our downtown streets."

ENDS HIS LIFE AS LAW HUNTS VANISHED WIFE Jeweler Adds Mystery on Mystery in Amazing New England Riddle. WOMAN BELIEVED DEAD Mysteriously Disappears on Way Home From Trip; Hair Only Clew. (Pictures it bottom of this pare.) BY ALLEN MARTIN tlnited Press Staff Correspondent PLYMOUTH, Mass., Sept. 16—A glim band of national guardsmen and county officials trudged through the misty woodland around Great Herring pond today, seeking a clew which would untangle the mast amazing mystery of recent years in New England. They were hunting for the body of Mrs. Edith Du Bois, wife of a well-to-do jewelry salesman. Charles Du Bois.

They were under orders to keep looking “inch by inch" through the countryside, until they have suc- | ceded or definitely proved that the | effort to solve the mstery of Mrs. IDu Bois’ disappearance must be shifted to some other locality. And as they searched, mystery and tragedy were piled on mystery. Du Bois shot and fatally wounded himself in a boarding house at Quincy, Mass. He died leaving- no note or statement. Convinced Woman is Dead Authorities have been convinced , the woman is dead. But they have ; only a tangled strand of hair, taken i from Plymouth harbor, and a few | less tangible clews to guide their search. Mrs. Du Bois, 40, dark-haired and j attractive, drove with her husband | and tw r o other persons from the Du j Bois cottage at Great Herring pond !to the Providence, R. 1., railroad station Aug. 10. Returning from ! Providence, their car halted by the i roadside between Taunton and Plymouth. A passerby saw the woman in the ! car beside her tall, broad-shouldered j and handsome husband, Charles E. IDu Bois, who is four years her | senior. She never was seen alive afterI ward, so far as police can learn. Later the Du Bois car swerved I into the road leading up to the Du Bois camp, on the Great Herring pond. It is a lonely road and the region about the pond is isolated. The w'ater extends for five miles j through the woodland. It is a mile j wide. Reports “Old Woman” Killed The next few weeks appeared to pass normally for Du Bois. He re- | marked to some persons, police were | told, that his wife had gone away ;on a trip. The couple had a fine j home at Tuckahoe, Westchester county, New York, to wfiich Du Bois returned Sept. 6. Police quoted him as telling the | laundry man at Tuckahoe that “the old woman'’ had died. Again he was , quoted as saying she was killed in an automobile accident near Monj treal. A third time, he was reported 1 to have said she disappeared with another man. Then the laundryman at Tuckahce reported to police that he had : seen a woman known as “Grace” at I the Du Bois home. On Sept. 7, j Du Bois visited the First National ! Bank and Trust Company of Tuckaj hoe, and asked access to his wife’s | safe deposit box. It was refused, pending a court J order. He told bank officials his j wife was dead. Two days later he again attempted to get the safe deposit box, sayi ing this time that his wife had gone I away with another man, taking : $25,000 of his money. He was permitted to open the box, but bank j officials did not know whether he ! took anything out. Returns With Girl On Sept. 10 Du Bois returned to Great Herring pond. With him was an attractive girl. Later Miss Grace Atwood, 23 years old, the daughter of a wealthy box manufacturer of Middleboro, Mass., told authorities of her acquaintance with the suave Du Bois and offered to help if she could. About this date, a letter was received at the Du Bois Tuckahoe home from a New York bond house, regarding a request that certain properties in the name of Mrs. Edith Du Bois be transferred to “Mrs. Grace Du Bois.” Suspicions of neighbors at Tuckahoe were aroused. Inquiries about Mrs. Du Bois were made and eventually the police entered into the investigation. They soon discovered the conflicting statements made by Du Bois concerning his wife. A woman's torso, in such condition that identification was difficult, had been found in Yonkers, about a mile and a half from the Tuckahoe home of Du Bois, Arrested in Massachusetts Last Monday, Du Bois was arrested in Massachusetts. Police attempted to enter a charge of murdpr against him. There was no corpus delicti, and he was released. He went immediately to Quincy, Mass., and was reported transacting business of some sort. Then he went into seclusion. Meantime, Miss “Grace” Atwood, prostrate at her home, issued statements saying she knew nothing of Mrs. Du Bois’ whereabouts. In Westchester county, officials began attempts to check the torso found in Yonkers with a description of Mrs. Du Bois. Today a court order was to be issued granting permission to exhume the torso and make comparisons. A letter from an “Uncle Charlie” in Ft. W r ayne, Ind.. was held. It spoke of Mrs. Du Bois’ “death.” In Plymouth harbor, a strand of hair was found and a check by Plymouth experts showed it to o© ‘consistent with” the hair of Mrs. Du Bois, even to the afct that it was dyed. In the Great Herring pond cottage, officials found a mattress on which chemists said were “human blood" stains.