Show -- i ?H)c‘£alt £akc Tribune Sunday Morning t Maph 23 1941 3 t i Dnc fcdnttzznrss ms I I i By Fred Dickenson o’CIETY looked down its patricisn nose and sniffed delicately when lissom Mitzi Mayfair Broadway’s dancing darling did a fast tap on ita threshold and the heart of immensely wealthy Albert Hoffman the big fix and bubble man - Observed the ladies of the lorgnette nd lineage aet "But m’deah he’s only a dancer all that Only Pretty to be sure and these Broadway how can one be certain persons will fit in the social swim?" Gayly the diminutive Mitzi whirled on with her big romance When she lookposed for newspaper photographsAlbert her of a at soulfully portrait ing whom she playfully described as a "big blond brute” the sedate world to which sha aspired 'was horrified In fact the Hoffman family prominent In New Jersey’s exclusive inner circle broke up the engagement promptof feverish ly It was only after a series conferences for one of which Hoffman pursued Mitzi and her mother Mrs Juanita Pique to Maryland that the love affair between dancer and rich t A -- young suitor bloomed again March 12 And so they were married 1938 with Mitzi announcing dutifully "I’m giving up the stage lot good No more spotlights no more greasepaint Prom now on it’s the quiet social life for me” rSo society gave Mitzi a trial and found her wonderful Mitzi gave society a trial too She went sailing on her $75000 yacht entertained in her East Orange N J mansion sipped tea on eminently correct terraces and pondered Now she's given ktr verdict and it’s— "Guilty of boredom!" With a shake of her dark brown curls she dropped the social calendar in the waste-baskOut of the trunk came her tap slippers' and filmy dance costumes While the silver tea service cooled Mitzi warmed up to resume her - spotlight career at New York’s Versailles night club during the holidays Both Broadway and the higher-up- s view Mitzi’s presamong the hoity-toit- y ent drastic reversal of form with unabashed interest It’s only fair to record that Main Stemmers are less surprised i et "Guilty of boredom" is the lovely little dancer’s verdict after giving high society a trial so she’s back on Broadway tapping to her heart’s content at the return of the prodigal daughter but both have been shooting questions at her like this: "Does this mean your marriage is all over?” f "What does Hubby A1 say?” “Why can’t a girl who’s married the man she loves stay in hey castle and be content?” j To the first the vivacious dancer rei plies: "Oh no our marriage is happier than ever Why Albert and I have just bought home a farm with a lovely that we’re doing over” j To answer the second qtiery she merely points to a ringside table t the night spot where the now dutiful husband sits and leads the applause for her numbers But as to why a girl who’s been a since she was 16 years old can’t be satisfied playing the social ornament Mitzi has a smiling but devastating reply It’s the indictment Broadway expects "It just isn’t enough” she says with a sparkle in her dark eyes "Playing bridge serving tea and gossiping can’t take the place of a good fast whirl on i the dance floor "I really tried It for a while But a girl feels so useless It’s worse than boring it’s deadening And dancing is in my blood When I don’t dance it has a bad psychological effect on me "Any athlete feels it as soon as he lets up and a dancer is an athlete Why any time I try to stop I put on about 15 pounds — that in itself is reason enough to take up a career again 1” Broadwayites see evpn more behind the scenes to Miss Mayfair’s tossing over d of the life in favor of the stage and nightclub grind They’ve followed the fortunes of talented beauties who marry into the "broad A" stratum ever since the first showgirl sighed her way into a sable coat Most of those pioneers of glamor were happy to count their jewels and All the ancestral mansion with singing White Way pals who soon got into hubby’s hair The front-page- d marriages smashed faster than prize party crystal at a prohibition-gi- n They never tried to conquer the new world to which they had risen— or dropped (according to which side you were on) and the whole thing was just wise-cracki- ng provides a good plan of battle for any stage damsel who hopes successfully to invade the sacred blue book precincts t In the first place they point outj she never made the mistake of pursuing the wealthy catch when he loomed on the horizon At 22 she was an4 estabr lished star of the "Follies” and other shows She let the handsome heir to the Hoffman beverage fortune moon nightly at her from a front-roseat at "The Show Is On” He decked her with orchids and jewels and proposed Immediately the first bombshell burst for the staid Hoff- man family and its particularly shy the younger member For Mitzi- withshow-folk happy nonchalance so typical of broadcast the news to the- world A photographer in the group which descended on her hotel suite picked up a large photograph of Hoffman and handed it to her "Now you be gazinght your future husband Miss Mayfair" he commanded! "Look you know soulful” Mitzi fell in with the spirit of the occasion Cameras clicked "He’s a big blond brute and he’s brought romance into my life” she an- a matter of time fron he moment the ?” Justice of the Peace said "Do you But Mitzi has always been different say they and now she’s proved more than a match for any camp that wants to give her a frosty looking over before acceptance Veterans of the social wars even admit that Mitzi’s performance broad-shoulder- ed w 100-year-o- ld - - show-stopp- er nounced gleefully The energy released by the raising of so many eyebrows in conservative New Jersey would have been sufficient to move an ocean liner seven feet The Hoffman family replied quickly with a blast that "due to unfavorable publicity1 I -- the engagement is off” Mitzi went to' Maryland to forget Piquant Mary Lee of Oklahoma also a dancer who had intrigued Hoffman came forward to claim that the beverage tycoon really loved her anyway She produced a letter in which Hoffman called her "my exalted one” to prove it But by that time young Hoffman had collected his wits and regained his breath He disposed of Mary Lee by declaring that he had written that fatal letter to her long before he knew the gorgeous Mitzi And he pursued the dancer to Maryland where everything gilt-edge- Of Albert Hoffman the Big Fizz and Bubble Man Mitzi Saldt “He's a big blend brute and he’s brought romance Into my life H t" J was patched up in time for the wedding si bells That was when Mitzi launched the campaign whifch’ now finds her a com plete victor whether behind the footlights or the tea service She explains: "Even when I deserted Broadway and went to live in New Jersey I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get along without dancing And I did want to be on the friendliest terms with ' my husband’s social friends "So I got arqunA it by opening a dance studio and by i performing at J charity shows” life-blo- ? of "Little Jesse James” ' i So jealous Broadway again claims one of its own with the return of pretty Mitzi The social life which may keep other gals content can’t claim that it wasn’t given a fair trial But until spotlights become part of afternoon bridge the stage bids fair to keep ita devotees in the fold 1 t c i it FOR PORT BEFORE WERE SWAMPED 'A od f ' BETTER HEAD i When she made success out of a show for the East Orange Chamber of Commerce and put over several other charity ventures sponsored by the socialites Mitzi danced her way right into their hearts' When little darlings of the community’ leading families flocked to her dance studio and began to show signs of talent the collective frown on the profession turned to a benign smile "There may be something to it after all” matrons admitted opefully "It takes talent and if Miss Mayfair says our little girl is a born dancer— why who knows she ? might be ahem on Broadway Some day!” Mitzi found herself accepted— something which relatively few Broadway beauties have accomplished But she also found herself by the same token drawn into the inexorable round of teas receptions and gossip festa which ara of such sets everywhere the Now two and one-ha-lf years after setting out to conquer the social strongholds Mitzi returns with a triumph toiler first love "Did I say once I was through with1 the stage?” she asks between numbers "Well remember it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind” Broadway rumors are that she has been asked to take a part in the revived "Follies” —she starred in them when the late Florens Ziegfeld was dazzling the show world— orin a stage version i t LET ME CUT HlMf LOOSE LYLE NOBODY CAN LAND THAT BABY IN NOT ON YOUR LIFE! 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