Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 52, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 May 1936 — Page 15

MAY 11, 1936.

Today's Short Storjr

STREET MINSTREL By Charles McGuirk

WHEN Harold Darriek and Yvonne Printemps were “going together,” they used to have a lot of good laughs at the street minstrels. Not the blind ones who move along the street very slowly and playing the most beautiful tunes in the worst possible way. Nor the one-man band, blind, too, who crawled up Broadway, knocking hell out of a guitar, a mouthorgan and a drum, the latter which was pumped into noise by an auto hom-like arrangement under his arm; nor the old, old man with the flowing white hair and the piccolo who fifes his way daily through the midtown section. They didn’t laught at any of these, because they were all cripples, the first two by reason of the loss of their sight, and the old man because of age. Instead of laughing, they would dig down into their pocket or their handbag and find a coin and toss it in the cup. Harold and Yvonne were in show business. Harold was a chorus boyin “Now Or Never,” a hit musical comedy, and Yvonne was one of the dancers in the chorus of Henry Ace’s “Frivolities,” which is a hit every year Henry puts it on. a a a OF COURSE, if this were a fiction story, Harold and Yvonne would not have fallen in love with each other. Nevertheless, they did fall in love. They fell in love while the “Frivolities” were playing the Alcazar on Broadway and “Now or Never” was playing the Henry Withers Playhouse on 48th-st. The location of their shows is mentioned here because the fact that the two theaters were near each other had a great deal to do with keeping the romance at white heat. Os course, the mein reason they fell in love with each other was natural selection. Yvonne was a shapely blonde with a head of hair which was like corn flowers. She had a husky voice and as beautiful a pair of legs as you could see for $t of a night on Broadway. Harold was dark and thin and high-strung. His hair was curly, his face was white and his black eyes were intense. Yvonne had a wonderful sense of humor. She could imitate anyone in the world and at aftertheater parties she would Irj'* everybody in the hollow of her hand with her idea of how Beatrice Lillie or Fanny Brice or Helen Morgaij or Ethel Barrymore acted, either for an audience ov in private life. Next to her gorgeous beauty, this was the thing which drew Harold to her. He watched her doing an imitation of A1 Jolson singing “Mammy" and knew he couldn’t do without her. She had what he never w-ould have, a sense of the ridiculous. And, strangely, this lack in him is what made Yvonne first notice hin*. She first noticed that when she was doing her imitations, he never laughed. Just sat there and stared at her as though his eyes would bore through. ana WELL, one thing borrowed another. Romances flame to fulfillment pretty swiftly in , show business because, mostly, they are ..ight-blooming, Harold and Yvonne got to spending every minute of their spare time together. Harold’s show ended about 20 minutes before Yvonne's, and when Yvonne had dressed she generally found him waiting for her just outside the dressing room. Yvonne had known Harold more than a month before she learned that he played a violin wondefully well. Not as good as Rubinoff or Heifitz, but darn near. He played to her one night and all that he felt for her vibrated on the strings under his long, strong fingers, and when he had finished Yvonne was pretty sure that if she lost him she’s die. So they were married. It was In the first days of their marriage that they began to laugh at the street minstersl. They would be walking down Broadway arm-in-arm and they would come upon some swarthy panhandler pumping an accordion as if the accordion’s heart .ould break, or a man fiddling so that it sounded like a saw going over a nail. And Yvonne would laugh and say: “If the breaks ever go against us and we both lose our jobs, all you have to do, Harold, is to get out your voilln and w T alk up and down Broadway playing it. It’s a cinch you can’t be as bad as any of these street musicians, and the chances are that the crowds will follow you and shower down plenty of money into your tin cup.” an a “Tl/JAYBE I will try it some day,” IVI he would smile. “Just for a

m* -> coutOfrr GET grease off his HAW Jj ■3 JZZ HE USED TO SCRUB UNTIL HIS HANfK HIIPT W '—^ MM _ BUT HOW USES LAVA TO GET PIRTY ORT. ift if we can use yours we'u fill your puRSE^^AMm S€NO VERSE,LAVA CARTON OR ITS FACSIMILE M Lava Soap gats tha dirt other soaps can’t. Its LAVA® m pumice-filled lather gets even ground-in grime in ZIT I if |g • Jiffy- Its soothing oils protect the hands. SOAP 11 Wk LYRIC ENTRIES MUST BE MAILED SY JUNE 30, 193$ |

lark. Maybe I could make more money than I make for dancing.” Then his smile would fade away as he thought about the future. “Gee, sweetheart,” he'd say, “I wish vaudeville was still going. You and,. I would make a pretty swell dancing team. That way we could go places. Probably have our names in lights in two years.” Os course, they shouldn’t have married. But they did. They had to make matters worse. One day, after their wedding, 7vonne, pulling a stocking on her shapely leg, stretched and yawned. “This getting up at 10 o’clock to rehearses anew number is awful aggravating,” she said. “I'm glad I won’t have to do it much longer.” “Can’t you ever get. out of bed without waking me up?” Harold protested sleepily. “What do yon mean, you won’t have to go to rehearsals much longer?” “Why,” Yvonne pulled on the other stocking, “didn't you know? I’m going to have a baby. Yes, sir! Little Yvonne Printemps Darriek is about to shed her youth and become a mother. And big black Harold Darriek is going to become a father and the sole support of Yvonne and the little one—l think we’ll call him Mike.” a a a “T>UT, Yvonne!” Harold said and •D sat up straight in bed and ran both hands through his hair. “We can’t afford to have a baby! Why, we haven’t a dime except what we both earn! How are we going to pay the hospital and doctor’s bills?” “Why, I don’t know,” Yvonne carelessly admitted. “I never even thought of it—except every night for weeks.” Then she turned over on her stomach on the bed and cried. “I didn’t want to have a baby!” she wailed. “I wanted to wait until we could afford one! Now, I’ll have to quit my job in the chorus!” “Never mind, kid!” Harold reached over and took her in his arms. “I can handle this. You go ahead and quit your job. I’m awfully glad the baby is coming. It will keep you home nights.” So that was that and time went on. Yvonne quit her job two months after that conversation and Harold carried on for four months alone. But his salary wasn’t anything to brag about and one thing and another took it every week. It was a week before the baby was due that Harold’s show closed. He had had ample warning and he told himself he wasn’t worried. He spent his mornings haunting agencies with no luck at all. There wasn’t a job in sight. Three days before the baby was born, Harold went to the tin box in which he kept his money and found therein 78 cents. He put the box carefully back in its place and went into the front room of their apartment to think about where he could get money and quickly. a a a HE thought of every possible place in show business. He went outside of show business and thought of every possible place there, even to bank robbery. But he couldn’t think of any place or any way he could make money until his eye happened to fall on his violin case. And there he got his idea. The next morning, he slipped out of the apartment about 9 o’clock while Yvonne was asleep. He got on a subway and rode down to Eighth -st and there he began a round of areaways beneath the large apartments. He played there all the popular tunes, housewives raised their curtains and, pleased at what they heard, sweet music, and what they saw, a handsome, dark, intense young man. persuaded them to raise their windows and showier down silver in really substantial amounts. That night. Harold walked into the apartment with S2B and told Yvonne he had a job. The baby was born in Bellevue because he made his entrance with practically no warning and Yvonne was carted away in an amublance. Ts was a boy and the official time df his arrival was 9:30 a. m. of an intensely cold winter day. Harold took a long look at him and went away from there with his violin. a a a HE had been playing in area-w-ays for two weeks and he was doing very well. This morning he went up in the Thirties. He was doing as well there as he had always done. But a policeman, with a strong sense of duty in his heart and no music in his soul, arrested him and charged with with disorderly conduct and soliciting alms. Harold didn’t visit Yvonne and the baby at all that day because he was in a cell. But the next mom-

OUR BOARDING HOUSE

THE LAZY LUMMOX ‘SOWBV “THE fcCfkT Os SEEDS OM THE ST2OUNTD AMD Wfj -REAPED A CROP OF SPARROWS/ WITH ; all the old junk that has beem ROTTINJO !M HIS VARD VO R YEARS,THE K * sMrhjr SOIL. OU6KT TO BE RICH, BUT THE OMLV fit irk THlNcs that calliope will raise is his VOICE- AMD HIS SIDE-RICK WILL CUT THAT J DOWM IM a HURRy- HE OU6MT TO rs? ' y|| \6O IM FOR RASIMS WALMUT TREES-/ V THEY'D SHED THE , MtrS bramd ov A M vSTf ( FODDER FOR jjg OiC v •'■j MEAL crop/

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS

- Mxl ITS A STRANGE THING ABOUT ALL THOSE COWS BEING UNDER THE FLOOR ....THERE ■ WASNTA NICKEL.DIME OR QUARTER AMRTJ3

WASHINGTON TUBBS II

HEEDLESS OF DANGER, EASY GIVES CHASE TO THE e? HE mm aw^

ALLEY OOP

"ALLEY OOP, HORRIFIED AT FINDING HIS ~ PET DINOSAUR, DIWWY, HUNG BY Ok THE NECK, GPi'ABBED A LADDER 1 Alt IJ AND RUSHED IM TO CUT HIM DOWN- A ?.| mtiMl i vJUST AT THAT MOMENT A TOWERING V-YTTIIIIRf CRAG, WEAKENED BY THE WEIGHT OF ' 3 3 0 WE C-CS.T BEAST. C'AvE WAY/

BOOTS AND HER BUDDIES

TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD MEN

j||g

When Tarzan challenged the witch-doctor to conjure up the Taloned Death against him, Sobito chuckled mysteriously and stalked away. The villagers were aghast, for they knew there was no escape for him who was marked as a victim of the Thing that killed with claws.

ing in court he told the Judge all about himself and Yvonne and the baby. The Judge took a look at Harold and suspended sentence. That's all there would be to this

THE TIMES’

Several times that day Tarzan sought from the people some information about the Taloned Death, but the mere mention of the name sealed their lips. Tarzan reminded them that he was a good spirit who had come to aid, but the villagers only shot* their heads silently.

story wily for a sentimental police reporter. He overhead Harold’s story and telephoned it to the office. The office dug up pictures

With Major Hoople

C p YXI WASHED TO MAKE “THINGS DIFFICULT, YXJ 1 SHOULD HAVE MIXED "THOSE COINS UP A BIT* BUT I ’iOU CANT TELL ME THAT ONLY HALF-DOLLARS ’fg M__ _ . . I

of both and spread it on Page 2 for a human interest yarn. Now both Yvonne and Harold are comely and the layout looked swell. The story was pretty good.

OUT OUR WAY

111 / THERE rT 15 AGAIN! f \/ ITS FUNNY WHY YOU l| I! nl/IP A GUY AIN/T SWEATIN' \ / ALWAYS TAKE LESSONS \ || !i HE AIN'T DOIN' NOTHIN'/ \ N 50METWIN0 I DON’T il l IT WAS TH’SAME WHEN \ UNDERSTAND/ BY THE | mi I TOOK VIOLIN LESSONS \ TIME I CATCH ONTO / iWmlimijMl if 1 WASN'T PLAYIN' LIKF \ THIS, YOU'LL WANT TO / I A JIG FIDDLER, WHY I \ TAKE LESSONS? IN / muirmimuuJ; WA9N' PRACTICIN' ~ NOW / \ HVPNOTISM/ J '■fiNT-rrHjLa \ THAT I'M TAKJN* TAP / M < \ PANCIN', I GOTTA BE / f j'JJ U/ \ BUMPIN' TH' CEIUN,ER / N ff/ Ho'j' \j T. M. KJO. g at, OFF. ' v wwvwesci>vicc.twc. WLIY MOTHERS GET GRAY Xs 5-// J

f (WELL,LET ThA COME.) dji. ( \\/JUST WAIT'LL HE STEPS AROUND

V 1 - hi- 1936 BY WE* SERVICE, INC. T. M, REG. U. S. PAT. OFr. J

OH, WELL • WHWS TV\E TERENCE ? CORA IT’S VROEABEY AH OEO ANCAOR I AAIV { \ ' v VI *\ GRACIOUS l 0R... OVA, MOST \ CNN YQO

The people of Tumbal liked the stranger who was an embodied spirit, but was he more potent than the Killer-Thing? Somehow, the evil spirits seemed more powerful than the good. It would be safer to await a test of strength before allying themselves with either side.

too. Abe Schlemmer, the theatrical producer, thought so when he read it. He sent for Harold. "What the hell is the idea of playing for nothing when I need a

WHAT \ THERE A LAW ACCUSE ME ) OH, HO? COOK IS /TO PUNISH * OF SUCH / WELL, JUST \ PEOPLE who AW ACT J WAIT AMD TO MAKE j INTERFERE < . tt er-cr . THE COURT \ wrw ) k, ' BELie^E^^VrtELS^OF ' V g) 7m6 >Y NC SERVICt°wC . V ) J

That night the Jungle Lord lay down in the hut which had been assigned to him, but he did not sleep. He expected, or rather he hoped to have a visitor—a visitor, that would require the full wakefulness of his every faculty—the dreadful Taloned Death!

dancing violinist for my new show?" he snarled. "You’re hired for SIOO a week." The first that Yvonne heard of Harold’s career as a street minstrel

—By Williams

—By Blosser

—By Hamlin

—By Martin

—By Edgar Rice Burroughs

was when Harold told her of the new job and mentioned how he got it. She laughed and they named the baby Sam Kubelik Darrick. THE END. ,^tj

COmC TAG!

—By Crane