Show A New Yorker at i iI j Large I By GILBERT TS SWAN V I NEW YORK July 3 3 Chair Chair No 6 at at the Hotel Astor barber shop is practically dedicated to the pot poten potentates potentates n tates of Broadway and members of their court An almost perpetual per reservation c. i keeps it open for forUs its Us favored seekers seek e k ers of or haircuts shaves es mas massages ages I and sham shampoos OOs I In charge of or orthis ji j this tonsorial dais Is the good Herr Gut Guttman t man but around his Broadway Broadway Broad Broad- way reservations he is merely Fritz To others he is Fritz of or the Astor And so 50 he has been long enough to become a tradition He has been there since the opening days of or the Astor which was something like 25 years rears ago or more He has known the shaving dislikes and likes of the timers old and the new Three of the historic Four Cohan came caine to his chair before George M. M had In In- identified hIm himself el with the big street George Ade would drop In n In the days when The College Widow was establishing the humorists humorist's humor st's Broadway reputation and making mak mal Eng ing him a a. considerable fortune The I late Louis Mann one of ot the funniest I gents of yesteryear was tangling English En En- glish in an Inimitable manner Fritz had arrived a as a lad from Germany He had taken a a. chair in hi indue due lue time at the old Holland House Howe md and when the Astor came into being IB ie was among the first to move over He tie has never left And he has done cry very well for tor himself Not only have ils tips been fat when fat when they were were were- but mt ut he has a list of famous ones who go to no other barber He mows all an too well Just how the they want then heir hall hair fixed flud A few of his customers Include the ate atc David Id Belasco Al Jolson Nick Schenck the late Nat Goodwin Sam Bernard and Marcus Loew William i Morris torrIs Sam Harris Harns George M M. Colan Co- Co lan ian and Just about all aU the rest of or he Broadway Perhaps you ou can recall the white white- ind md silken hair of Belasco Belasc Belasco-at Belasco at least rou ou ou have ha seen photographs of It fost rost particular was as the veteran pro pro- lucero lucer But Fritz knew exactly how howo o a produce a n billowy suggestion of oC a Cohan likes a a. leisurely afternoon ith his barber and so ro rarely visits he shop He has a standing appoint appoint- nent ent which takes Fritz to the Cohan place Cohan likes his bar bar- jering ering done clone at home He Is more han finicky about his hair hair- though It seems merel merely a well well- Mastered mop to a person looking it t It from the audience seat While ils is barbering barbern Is being done he hc talks bout the timers old that Fritz knew o 0 well Charles Dillingham Is another with arber chair eccentricities He Hc finds find Ills his a relaxing place for carrying carr on arious arlous business engagements He has hascon con known to make an appoint appoint- lent nent with various Interested parties om rom authors and actors to ng mg associates Conferences it has been said have haye frequently been conducted conducted conducted con con- ducted from chair No 6 and the fates Cates of at pla plays s and players settled by bythe bythe the end of or a 3 haircut So it comes about that Fritz has heard much and andeen seen een much He has been given tips on races and has heard just about alt all there Is to be said about plays plays past past present or future Fritz finds that most mast actors and gIt producers I leave c a. a v e tonsorial tonsorial problems I to him and accept I 1 his verdict They are arc among t the ii e most generous of tippers Uppers S so Fritz ismore is la ismore more than comfortably com corn well wen off H He e has n never eve l' l asked for tor a a. theater pass and most of the play pla folk appreciate ap ap- ap that predate His regular cu customers customers cus- cus keep him so busy and his a ap appointments ap- ap are so many that ho he rarely has time for an outsider He Is in a sense the first 1 barber of Broad Broad- way Copyright 1931 NEA Service Inc J |