Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 August 1936 — Page 13

s To Me

IE etm: HEYWOOD BROUN:

NEW YORK, Aug. 20.— Gov. Landon ~ seems to be beaten. At any rate the odds are much against him. This prediction is based largely upon the poll directed by Dr. George Gallup. To be sure, the poll can be presented as giving Landon a slight majority in the electoral college, but an examination of the figures shows that more than half the states assigned to the Governor are in his column by a 6 very slender margin. All of which means that in order to win Alf M. Landon must make some 10 or 12 straight passes. If Alf throws snake eyes just once he is done. Ten passes have been made, perhaps even more, in a few political campaigns, but that is not the way to bet. Moreover, such exceptional candidates as have succeeded in running a shoestring into a triumph have all proceeded on the theory of shooting the works. Gov. Landon has shown no disposition to let it ride. On the contrary, he has been pinching every roll. For instance, the Republican candidate for the presidency is soon to make an Eastern speaking trip, and what is he going to talk about? Will he speak specifically about relief or labor or conservation? Apparently not. According to the present schedule, one of his addresses will be on Americanism and the other on education. There is a very strong probability that Landon will come out for Americanism and that he will declare himself in favor of education,

3 os 8 @ Roosevelt Most Specific

MUST admit that so far the campaign has been a great disappointment. Browder and Thomas are the only candidates who have talked with any very greal candor about their specific platforms. President Roosevelt has been much more specific than any of his other rivals, and to some extent he has a right to generalize at times upon the plea that he is running on the record of his Administration. The public can hardly be said to be completely in the dark about his position on most of the major issues. ‘When the race is all over I think there will be very general agreement that the Republicans used extremely bad strategy throughout. It has been charged by some that John D. M. Hamilton is more interested in showing himself off as a bright young man than in advancing the fortunes of his candidate. I think this is unfair, because my guess is that Hamilton runs an excellent chance of universal selection by friends and foes as the campaign goat. If Landon goes down to defeat still murmuring, “Shoot another nickel,” the blame will belong to John rather than to Alf, because it has been evident from the beginning that the Governor was willing to put his fate in the hands of his counselors.

In some Middle Western cemetery, Mark Hanna must be revolving rapidly in his grave. Many commentators have remarked that the present campaign is much like that of 1896, and they have commended Hamilton for assigning Landon to a back porch campaign just as Hanna did in the case of William McKinley. But if Hanna were alive he would certainly be shrewd enough to know that the existence of radio has made any such program ineffective. Having gone on the air once, Landon«is in duty bound to appear before the microphone again and yet again, and, gosh, how all his campaign managers -seem to dread it!

® 8 =

What a Cabinet

‘be sure, there is something to be said for ~Hamiilton and the other forcé¥ in charge of Landon. They must work with the material they have in hand. A new Alf can’t be manufactured overnight. Moreover, it has often been said that the American public votes against somebody rather than for somebody. If by any chance Landon does cut loose and gets the dice to dancing he will gain not so much victory as chaos. Imagine a Cabinet composed, among others, of Ogden Mills, rald Smith, Bill Borah, Father Coughlin, William Allen White, William Randolph Hearst and Eugene Talmadge.

My Day

BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

HE PARK, N. Y., Wednesday—Some one was talking to me a little while ago about the art projects and remarked that great artists were developed only by starving. That Van Gogh would never

have been Van Gogh unless he had starved most of his life.

Perhaps, but this morning I had a pathetic letter from a young man begging for a job on the music project and for a chance to have his composition orchestrated. It set me to wondering whether this theory is really correct. Our greatest works of art, it seems to me, were produced under the patronage of * the great nobles of the past. Florence's greatest period, from the artistic standpoint, was certainly under the patronage of the rich men of the day. I somewhat question whether an empty stomach does not retard inspiration, Perhaps we are awakening to the realization that if individuals can no longer patronize the arts in the way they did in the old days, We may come to a time when the public may under take to do this for its own pleasure and profit. Before I left the house to retreat to the cottage the usual stream of visitors had begun. Never less than three people were sitting on the front steps waiting to see the President.

After I went to bed last night I started marking my mail, but I always end up by allowing myself time to read something I really enjoy. For an hour I found myself deeply engrossed with the trials which the women, who lived in Georgia during the Civil War, suffered. : “Gone With the Wind” is a book you would like to read straight through, but since there are so many things which have to be done, I am it rather more slowly, and perhaps enjoying it all the more on this account. If you have not read it, I can assure you will find Scarlett O'Hara an interesting character. For pure selfishness and ruthlessness she seems to be almost incredible.

(Copyright, 1936, by United Feature Syndicate, Ine.)

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1936

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GRACE

Life Has Been I xClI Ing * MOORE

Opera Trial Failure Spurs Singer to New Effort.

CHAPTER FOUR WITH the proper coaching, after my disastrous voice failure in a musical comedy audition, I rapidly regained confidence. My voice actually had better quality and greater volume than before. But that horrible experience had taught me a needed lesson. Since then I have tempered ambition with common sense and been content to progress more slowly. It is a lesson which every singer should learn. Great success in the world - of music can not be won overnight. i

I decided to spend a year in Paris—a year of glorious living. I had been studying French and I wanted to conquer my accent, Opera, you see, was still my goal, and I knew the importance of mastering the Latin languages. Yeysa McMein, the sculptress,

by then one of my dearest friends, |

was in Paris. We shared an apartment in Montmartre and were, of all Bomehians, the gayest and most carefree. We danced out the nights and spent our days in work. To rid myself of that unfortunate accent, I sought the society of French people. Usually, I would pretend that I was French and if my accent betrayed me, I would be furious. And then—anothér milestone. Irving Berlin visited Paris and I was introduced to him. He had never heard me sing, but his friend, Robert Benchley, the author, had recommended my voice. I sang for him and he invited me to lunch, To my complete amazement, he offered me the leading role in “The Music Box Revue” of 1924, “Your voice is excellent,” he said. “I'm g to take a chance ‘on your footlight ability. You say you want to be an opera singer. This will enable you to earn enough to finance your study.” Papp o 8g CT ND there, on a table cloth in a French restaurant we drew the first important contract in my ‘career. Behold me, then, suddenly a prima donna, a full-fledged musical comedy star. The show was as instant success and I saw my name blazoned in headlines. The public approved, the critics approved, and glowing predictions were made regarding my future. It was my first taste of fame— and Iloved it I have heard many great stars, especially those of the screen, bewail their “lost privacy” and bemoan the “penalties of fame.” I can not be hypocritical enough to join the mournful chorus. The realization that many people talk about me, read about me and point me out to one another, has always been stimulating and enjoyable to me. I freely confess that when my first motion picture opened in New York, I rode past the theater in a taxi cab exactly 19 times in the course of that first evening just to see my name in lights. . And exactly 19 times I thrilled to the sight. At the end of my first season with “The Music Box,” I was given an audition by the Metro-

Miss Moore as she appeared in “The Music Box Revue,” one of her stage successes.

politan. My voice was compli-

mented, but I “was told that I

was “not yet ready—in another year, perhaps. . ..."” And the season of 1925-28 found me again starring in the “Music Box Revue,” an even more successful show than that of the previous year. As far as Broadway was concerned, I “had arrived.” I was the highest paid salaried prima donna on the musical comedy. stage. Strangely, however, I was far from satisfied. I felt that I was “not being true to my ideals, to my real ambitions. The amount of money I was earning was, of course, gratifying, but it was also terrifying, for it was a temptation to commercialize my career. I had not set out to work for money; grand ‘opera, to me the highest expression of song, had been my original goal and my goal it mustiremain-if I were to be an artist in the truest sense of the word. I studied: diligently to ac‘quire a comprehensive operatic repertoire, and lived in anticipation of my promised second audition at the Metropolitan.

8 » T proved :& dismal, crushing

failure. Otto Kahn brought me the verdict of my judges, and

I learned. that I had been con-

demned. “Something . has happened to your voice during the past year,” they told me. “It has lost quality. You will never be an opera singer. It will be much better for you to content yourself with an undoubtedly brilliant career in musical comedy and avoid breaking your heart by striving for something which is beyond your ability.” If it was a smashing blow, it was also a challenge. I stqQod at a crossroads; on the one hand was certain financial success and a career of a sort; on the other was ‘uncertainty, self-denial, prophesied failure and yet—possible tri“umph. I am proud of the fact that I did not hesitate in mmking my choice. I wagered $100 with Otto Kahn that I would make my Met-

LET'S EXPLORE YOUR MIND

BY DR. ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM

en,

YE© ORNO

2

ropolitan debut within two years from that day. And then I rushed home, packed my trunks and caught the first boat for Europe. We were beyond . Sandy Hook when’ it finally occurred to me that I still was supposed to be starring in “The Music Box Revue.” I cabled my resignation and my apologies. ’ I had saved a small amount of money, but not enough to finance me adequately for the period

which I expected to spend in |

study. I had turned my back, in midseason, on a contracted engagement, and that is a misdemeanor not lightly condoned in. show business. Combined with a prolonged absence, it undoubtedly would handicap my reestablishment on the musical comedy stage, should I fail in my greater plans. Judged by practical standards, my venture was

‘honest ambition, by allegiance to

-an ideal. When judged by prac-

tical considerations, most of the

decisions of ambition are flecked

with folly. : In Paris, I plunged again into Bohemia. I eliminated every responsibility excepting the duty of developing a ‘talent. I worked eagerly and, resolving that I never again would invite disaster, I played just as zestfully as I toiled. I made many new friendships, I became an habitue of many of those fascinating but very inexpensive little cafes which are hidden away in Montmartre and Montparnasse.

2 8 8

N spite of economies almost as rigorous as those of my Greenwich Village days, my meager funds dwindled away at an alarming rate. I forced myself to be even more saving, for'I was determined that I would not return to New York defeated. I was dissatisfied with my progress and with my teachers. . I felt that Paris was proving a distraction. In short, for the first-time in my life I lost confidence in myself, - . In the extremity, I thought of Mary Garden. She knew my sincerity of purpose and would advise me. I wrote her a.long letter and told her all the circumstances of my plight.

Characteristically, that -great--hearted woman rushed to a cable

office and took charge of the situation. I was commanded, not invited, to live for six months in her apartment in Monte Carlo. I was ordered, not advised, to follow a course of study which she prescribed. At the same time, she cabled orders fo her own accompanist, who was then in France, to work with me and aid me by every means in his power. And ‘no small aid he gave me, for he had

: - been with her for years and knew more about opera than most vet-

Grace Moore as she appeared as the prima donna in “La Boheme.”

ised that if again I failed to win I would accept defeat, dismiss every thought of my career: and be content with wifehood. The great impresario heard me

and then .sat in silence, thinking

for several age-long moments, while I, trembling like any culprit on trial for. life, anticipate the verdict. Finally he spoke: “Your voice, I: believe, is ready

now. But you—are you ready?

Ready mentally, ready in temperament, ready in repertoire?” “I've got to go now—now or not at all,” I told him. I received my first contract with

_ the . Metropolitan : Grand . Opera. folly. But it was dictated by [| Cot

Company the same day Gatti Ca-

- sazza said my voice was ready. I was to receive $50 a week—exact-

ly one fiftieth of the salary paid

.me during my last ‘musical com=

edy season. But, had it been possible, I would not have sold that precious piece of paper for all the gold on earth.. There are some things which can not be measured in terms:of money. ME Having spent - several weeks in Milan, I had a host of acquaintances and friends in the student quarter, and that night we cele-

brated my good fortune with a

party seldom seen by even that gay old city. We took over one of the largest restaurants on the galleria, shifted the tables until they formed a huge square, and barred the door to other patrons. We ate spaghetti by the yard, pledged one another in the native wine, and sang until every music-loving Italian in the neigh-

| borhood : stood - just outside the

restaurant shouting our choruses. Even the waiters joined in our mad carnival. Some one hoisted me {o:the wine-stained table top and demanded “Ciribiribin.” We sang it again and ‘again—and, when in the Italian cafe scene in the picture, “One Night: of Love,”

I sang it; how I was carried back

in memory to that joyous: night in Milan! ; At midnight, reinforced by a large party of young fascisti, we paraded through the streets to La Scala, the great opera house. Enroute, we rang doorbells and serenaded the sleepy househciders, who leaned from their wine dows to protest. And at the opera house every one drank one last toast to the: success of “La Sige norina. Americana.” 3 2 8 = : " MADE my Metropolitan debut in “La Boheme” Feb. 7, 1928.

Just 10 years had passed since the

tried to

half-hearted praise of a Washing= ton critic had induced me to run

“away from school “to be an opera

star.”

Only those who actually have undergone such an ordeal: can appreciate the terrific nervous tension generated by an important debut. Musicians, as a class, are the most temperamental people on earth. An ordinary. performance creates an emotional whirl=pool; an event of such vast ime portance as a grand opera “first night” occasions a veritable maelstrom. gap And, in my own case, the tension was even greater than usual,

for ‘belatedly. I realized my ‘lack

of bg Yas Com successful European tour:-I neve had stepped foot on an opera stage nor sung to the accompaniment of a large orchestra.

My memories of that debut,

‘notwithstanding the fact that . excepting my marriage it was the

‘most important event in my life, are fragmentary—a = jumble of vivid . emotional = impressions rather than a well-ordered record of facts. I remember that I wanted desperately to see my parents, and was not permitted to do so for fear that they would excite me. I remember that many of the “great ones” of the music world and the theater came backstage before curtain call to wish me luck. My beloved Mary Garden, accompanied by: Geraldine Farrar and Alma Gluck, was there to encourage me. And Otto Kahn managed to slack the tension by paying me, with mock pomp and solemnity, the wager, which he had lost by a margin of 10 days. te Then, suddenly, I was qp the stage, facing a sea of misty faces, an uproar of applause. Maestro Bellezza raised’ his baton ... I said a fervent little prayer . . . and I was singing. My dreams had come true. I was singing at the Metropolitan! Would I, after all these years, be a success?

(To Be Continued)

A '(Copyhight, 1936, by United Feature

Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction in whole

. or in part prohibited. All rights reserved.)

Gen. Johnson’s Column on Page 6

GRIN AND BEAR IT

PAGE 13

Fair Enough

oF WESTBROOK PEGL

NEW YORK, Aug 20.—Considerable mys=« tery surrounds the disappearance of

Alfred M. Landon of Topeka, Kas., missing from his regular haunts for some time. The

missing persons bureau has sent out an

alarm bulletin bearing Mr. Landon’s photo= graph and other particulars and any one having ine formation of his whereabouts is asked to communie cate with the Republican National Committee. The bulletin describes Mr. Landon as follows: Height, average; weight, average; appearance, average; complexion, average; habits, average; dis-. tinguishing characteristic, scars, birthmarks, etc., average. Mr. Landon suddenly dropped from view a few days after a party of friends called on him in Topeka and notified him that he had been nominated for President by the Republicans, in a ceremony known as Landon Astonishment Day. He seemed rather startled, if not shocked by the news and intimate

Mr, Pegler | friends express the belief that he

has been brooding over this development. However, :

his personal affairs are said to have been in average shape at the time of his disappearance and those who know Mr. Landon insist that not even his worst enemy would have wished to do him harm. In fact,

his enemies have expressed only the kindliest sentie ments toward him. One, the Rev. Charles Coughlin, went out of his way to describe him as an honorable

man and Mr. James Farley is known to be worried

over his disappearance. 8 ® 8

Soft Life, Farley Says

HAT a soft life this would be” Mr. Farley said, “if all our opponents were Landons, I could not have chosen a more desirable Republican nominee if the Republicans, as well as the Democrats, had left it to me.” Mr. Landon’s disappearance might be traced to this very lack of enmity in his opponents. He was

heard to say only a few days before his absence was noted that nobody gave him credit for his dangers ous potentialities. :

. Mr, Landon has recently been engaged in proe moting the professional career of John D. M. Hamile ton, a Kansas attorney, and is given credit for a remarkably fine job. Within three months, Mr. Lane

don has raised Mr, Hamilton from comparative obe scurity to national prominence. t, Pressed for the exact hour of Mr. Landon’s dise

establish the time within four or five days. “He was around the place in Topeka as usual,” Mr. Hamilton said, “and nobody seemed to notice that he was gone for quite some time. Then one day somebody said, ‘Where is Alf?’ and nobody rememe bered seeing him for some time,

8 8 8 Unknown to Knox “Y REMEMBER, now, however,” Mr. Hamilton said “that he seemed depressed over the way his op=

< v—y

ponents were treating him. One day he Went around “a ‘J singing: ‘Nobody hates me; everybody Joves me; I guess I will go out in Estes Park and ‘throw some’

snowballs.’ I said, ‘Oh, cheer up; you probably have some faults,” and passed the matter up.”

Col. Frank Knox of Chicago was mystified when

reporters asked him if he had seen Mr. Landon lately, “Never heard of him,” said Col. Knox. “What does he do? He sounds like the Forgotten Man.” The official description of Mr. Landon has led up to unfortunate confusion for men are being turned up all over the country who resemble the person described

in the bulletin, These have included, to date, 11,383

vice presidents of trust companies and real estate firms and 2806 presidents and secretaries of Chambers of Commerce. The police are baffled.

Merry-Go-Round

BY DREW PEARSON AND ROBERT S. ALLEN

ASHINGTON, Aug. 20—Big Jim Farley's chickens are

Landon in 1936.

The White House has become so alarmed over the

situation that the President is giving it his private and personal attention.

The gloomy state of affairs is due entirely to Big

Jim’s penchant for playing machine politics. His love=

feast with the two Old Guard Democratic bosses of .

Nebraska has not only split the party wide open there; but has alienated the liberal Republicans whose votes Roosevelt must win to carry the state. ’

The Nebraska Democratic organization is domie

nated .by Arthur Mullen, former national committees -man, and Senator Edward R. Burke, Mullen’s hench< man and successor to his place on the national coms

mittee. And while playing ball with Jim Farley on one hand, these two have smeared the Adminisirae tion dn practically everything they have said or done, Nebraska only has four big patronage plums—a

Federal judge, United States Attorney, Collector of Internal Revenue and United States marshal. Despite vehement protests from liberals and Democrats, Farley has backed up Mullen and Burke in filling every “|| one of these places with Catholics.

+ : by Lichty

coming ‘home to roost im’ Nebraska, with the result that the state which went for Roosevelt in 1932 looks like an almost sure bet for :

~appearance, Mr. Hamilton said he was unable to