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Show AR; MILLARD COUNTY CHRONICLE, DELTA, UTAH I la. ii I i A as, Poor Yorick, Capital Has Seen Its Last Theater ed ma 3rSy By BAUKIIAGE id ; News Analyst and Commentator. T 5 WASHINGTON As Washington hurries through summer, forced to commute to Philadelphia for its major distraction, t b it is faced with a painful prospect of less diversion next fall. W. This city which once boasted of almost a dozen legitimate n- - theaters (when it had a much smaller population) is about to 10 have the last one that lingered on alone turned into a movie rho house. e. The old National theater, which opened In 1935, was burned and rebuilt Y th four times, collapsed once, Is now about to end its legitimate days on an d I issue which is giving the Democratic party equal concern civil rights. n"r: The Actor's Equity, to which most actors belong, won't play here because c Negroes are not permitted in the audience. ld There is talk that the old Belasco ' theater, erected in 1895 on Madison naJ place, facing La- - is fT-- Nie M . 5 fie .' v f ay Lt, ' n and t I 1 'si. ! j iror V, J fc ; i fayette square, may be reconditioned and leased to a management which will lift the racial discrimination prac-tice (the Belasco is currently gov-ernment property and is used as a storehouse). If the Belasco is not re-opened, Washing-ton will be theater- - S his life, wouldn't think of letting him sit anywhere but in a box where he is separated from the crowd. This, on the other hand, makes him con-spicuous. One guard outside the door to Lincoln's box in the Ford thea-ter could have prevented the as-sassination. The fact that there was no pro-vision for protection by the govern-ment in the Temple of Music in Buf-falo cost the nation its President William McKinley. Since then, the chief execu-tive has had a bodyguard wheth-er he likes it or not, and a body-guard can't hide its light under a bushel. Entrance and exit from a public building become a little bit of a pageant, no matter how they are effected. Woodrow Wilson loved the theater. He liked vaudeville and was a fre-quent visitor at Keith's now one of our big movie houses. Edmund Starling,' head of the secret service under several presidents, often talked to me about how much Wilson loved the theater. Starling enjoyed' it, I enjoyed it, and perhaps togeth-er, we exaggerated Wilson's affec-tion for the footlights. But Starling used to say that Wilson got more recreation from that source than any other. In his book, "Starling of the White House," he says Wilson pre-ferred musical comedy and vaude-ville to serious drama. That was the general impression among the newspapermen, I know. Both the Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, were great theatergoers. Neither of them was a blushing Tr-iolet as far as receiving adulation of the crowds was concerned, but for a number of reasons, largely the hectic times of the late Roosevelt's regime, the former made his at-tendance anywhere more of a show. Although an assassin's bullet did lay low a man in Franklin Roosevelt's entourage Mayor Anton Cermak of Chicago when both were visiting Miami Theodore Roosevelt was himself actually shot and badly wounded on one occasion. However, this was after he left the White House and while he was making a political speech in Milwaukee. It was the movie which drove out the later Washington legiti-mate theaters, but this death blow to the present-da- y National theater arises out of the grow-ing demand to end segregation a demand which made itself felt after World War I. and which in-creased in World War II. The frequent, con-troversies over lifting of the seg-regation ban in Constitution hall, property of the Daughters of the American Revolution and one of the few available concert halls in the city, have spotlight-ed Washington's segregation habits they aren't laws. The manager of the National thea-ter is not closing the theater for social reasons. He simply can't book shows if he continues race discrim-ination and he thinks that if he raises the ban, he can't sell tickets to enough white people to make it pay. To southerners it probably seems absurd that such a question should arise, and northerners probably will be just as surprised for the opposite reason. Washington was once a southern city, now it is a mixture of North and South and typical of neither. Embrace, Pity, Then Endure Before his third party's conven-tion in Philadelphia, Henry Wallace repeated several times the assertion that he was not a Communist, that he didn't want Communist support, In fact, that he wished they'd get out of his party. For this, as some observers pointed out, Wallace was mildly spanked by the Daily Work-er, mouthpiece of Muskovite com-munism in America. It seems to me that Wallace is foDowing one of Alexander Pope's quatrains in reverse. Remember Pope said: "Vice is a monster of so fright-ful mien As to be hated needs but to be seen. Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace." Having embraced the Reds, Wal-lace seems to be beginning to back up, through pity, and now is finding that he has to endure them, whether he likes them or not. Baukhage Washington's 1 theatrical tradition J, began early. One of the first theaters 0t here was the Washington theater at i 3 Eleventh and C streets. It opened ,t J In 1804 and its ads proclaiming the grand premiere added in small type: "No Segars are to be smoked during the performance." - When that edifice burned, a second Washington theater, seat-- S ing 700 persons, was opened in ' : 1821. It boasted numerous im-S provements and innovations, in-cluding stoves, reserved seats, improved acoustics, no liquor in the box lobbies and facilities for Negro playgoers. "Facilities" ' today wouldn't satisfy accom- - JA modations would have to be on Vfik a basis of race equality. 3fl Fourteen years after the new gM Washington theater had opened its i TO doors the National theater appeared tfgl on the site of the present movie- - house-to-b- It is located in the very Cxi tij center of what only recently has been called "downtown," on E street which meets Pennsylvania avenue just before it bumps into : ;i the treasury building, skirts its northern front and ambles past the Kf 'p! ' White House. Important clubs, hotels, and res- - - taurants are only a few blocks from ti Li ' the National today but when it was in built, it was, like any other point LSx to the young capital, well-nig- h in- - Mtl accessible in inclement weather, j When it rained or snowed, Pennsyl- - : vania avenue became a mudhole. I Residential areas, except those in - ' Georgetown, weren't far from the 1 , center of town in the early 1840s, 14 i; but because of the rough going (the ) j! wealthy didn't like to risk their k j; fancy equipages out on bad nights), V ,' it cost as much as $10 to get from ' !; home to the show. Ij Now you can ride all the way tja from Capitol Hill to what was forest and farmland in 1835 for Y, 30 cents. 1 ' The capital's greatest theatrical ft i; development began right after the If.,! civil war anJ vent on for three dec- - li'j ;; ades. By the time I attended my 111;! first show here in 1914, there was I I !; no dearth of dramatic entertain-- j ; , ment and sometimes three original Broadway companies would be play-- ; ': ing in different theaters at the same .... time. It was a good town for open- - ' ings up until fairly recently, ni ' There is one theater, now a mu-seu-which is still a point of in- - terest for tourists. Originally it was and ; a Baptist church on Tenth street. In 1861 it was converted into what was called Christy's opera house. PjJJJ" " Later it became Ford's theater. In 52'4't) j the upper stage box of this theater, Bvy President Abraham Lincoln was as- - SHOW sassinated by the actor, John fu Wilkes Booth. '' j There was a saloon on the corner below the theater where Booth was 5 said to have had his last drink be- - 'Jf lore he crept into the theater, shot Lincoln and leaped to the stage, tripping on a piece of bunting and i breaking his leg. I For many years, over the bar of that saloon, hong a crude pic-ta- re of the assassination, and on 'fi- tne floor was a metal marker j where the half-ma- d actor was ; i supposed to have stood as he . . warmed his oourage in prepara-- 'Al tion for his theatrio crime. A fj Washington theatergoers were ' i well acquainted with John Booth's AH acting but better still with that of ; his elder brother, Edwin, who had the greater talent. But they never saw Edwin Booth on a local stage again. He was so heart-broke- n over his brother's crime that he never again played in the capital. A theatrical performance in Wash- - ington plays one role that It plays in .f! no other American city. It becomes, on certain occasions, few or many according to the taste of the in- - cumbent president, a ceremony of state. No matter how private a pres-- j ident wants to be when he sees a ' show, he can't help being a public . personage on such occasions. The secret service, responsible for Distill ! i ' I WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS Fighting Truman Gets Democratic lamination, Sails Special Session; Barkley Selected as Running Hate ' By Bill Schoentgen, WNU Stafi Writer (EDITOR'S NOTE: When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of Western Newspaper Union's news analysts and not neoessarily of this newspaper.) j PERSHING: Taps Sounds Gen. John J. (Blackjack) Persh-ing, who led American troops tc victory in World War I., is dead a the age of 87. The aged former chief of stafl had been ill since February, 1938, when he was stricken at Tucson, Ariz., by a form of rheumatism which affected his heart muscles. He came close to dying at thai time, but rallied with a display o fighting spirit which amazed his physicians. Since then he had lived at Walter Reed hospital in Wash-ington, D. C. Death was caused by a blood clol which reached his lung. At Persh-ing's bedside when death came were his son, Warren; his sister, Miss May Pershing, and his long-time physician, Maj. Gen. Shelley Marietta. Long the idol of a grateful nation, Pershing held the rank of general of the armies, a title conferred on only four other American soldiers, Washington,- - Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. He outranked such con-temporary five-st- generals as George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Douglas Mac-Arthu-r. Their title is general of the army. Pershing won his greatest fame as commander-in-chie- f of the American expeditionary force in World War I. Appointed to that post in 1917, he took personal command of the American troops sent to France. He almost imme-diately became involved in a dis-pute with other Allied commanders who wanted to break up the American army and use it to rein-force the French and British armies wherever necessary. Persh-ing flatly refused to let his troops lose their identity. Born Sept. 13, 1860, in the fron-tier town of Laclede, Mo., Persh-ing was graduated from West Point when he was 26. He became a sec- - ( ? 'Yv "r! " ' w Hiim'iny - fpwwtnw lwwsps M . ? - '1 X '. V-- - - I i ' " i ' ' ' ' f ' , - - Truman 'WE ACCEPT! ' Barkley In Fighting Mood Born in Log Cabin ing senator from Paducah, Ky., for the vice presidency. The President's call for a special session provided a dramatic and startling climax to the 30th conven-tion, which had been marked by bitter debate over ferocious family differences. The party had been ripped by in-fighting between northern progres-sives and southern conservatives over the issue of equal civil rights for Negroes. One-hal- f of the Ala-bama delegation 13 of the 26 votes and the entire Mississippi delegation of 22 had stormed out of the convention amid boos, cheers and a great pushing and shoving. This was the high point of . the widely-heralde- d southern revolt, al-though a rump convention was called to meet in Birmingham, Ala. ' - - ' i " ' 'V I, 4 ;x f ' I The PHILADELPHIA STORY Truman - Barkley If the Democrats hadn't known before their convention that Presi-dent Harry Truman was their man they found out on the steaming Wednesday when their political show slammed through to a smash-ing, triumphant finish. Harry Truman told them so, after the enterprising liberal forces of the party had spent all that Wednesday in the heat of convention hall proving it be-yond any doubt. It looked like the Democratic party might have been completely revitalized in 12 tense hours on that last day of the convention, ending a period during which the Democrats' morale and will to win slowly had been ossifying. The revitalization came as a re-sult of two potent factors which actually could be reduced to one President Truman's influence. In the first place, in adopting the strong, positive civil rights plank in the platform the party not only repudiated the idea and spirit of reaction but also dealt an extremely sharp and real slap to the hands of the southern wing which had tried, at times almost savagely, to produce a cleavage within the party. That action, closely followed by the nomination of President Tru-man to run for and the nomination of Sen. Alben Barkley Df Kentucky by acclamation for the spot on the ticket added another solid timber to the structure that the liberal elements Df the party were fighting so hard to build. Those developments were, in themselves, a complete and vic-torious proof that the Democrats this year intended to bring them-selves before the American public as a responsible, cohesive party that would be striving for nothing less than total victory in the No-vember election. But it remained for President Truman to give the whole affair a significance that could not be Ignored. GENERAL PERSHING Last Battle ond lieutenant in the sixth U. S. cavalry and launched a career in soldiering to which he devoted his entire life. He fought Indians in the American west, Spaniards in Cuba, Moro tribesmen in the Philippines, Mexican bandits un-der Pancho Villa on the U. S.- Mexican border and Germans in France. Throughout World War II, Persh-ing received a full report twice a month from General Marshall, his aide of 1917.. Although old and feeble, the general followed daily developments closely from his hos-pital room,' paying particular at-tention to "my boys," who included Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, and George S. Patton Jr. Discord Flares Discord prevailed long before the 1,596 delegates from the 48 states and territories gathered in stifling, steaming Philadelphia for the quadrennial convention. Dissident factions of the party rallied behind a concerted drive to draft Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as the party's standard bearer. "Ike," however, removed himself from the race with his third and final insistence that he "would not accept the nomination." The day after the Eisenhower boom collapsed, the New Deal ef-forts to oppose Mr. Truman with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas also blew up. Douglas, whom the President had wanted for his running mate, flatly refused to be considered and also knocked himself out of the vice presidential running. After Douglas declined to enter the presidential race, Senator Pepper of Florida announced his candidacy with the backing of the New Deal wing, but his bid was not considered very seriously. Civil Rights After seven days of wrangling, a platform pledging the Democratic party more specifically than ever before to work for basic constitu-tional civil rights was adopted after a floor fight which proved rather tame in view of the anticipated knock-dow- drag-ou- t battle. The platform calls on congress to support guarantees of: "The right of full and equal po-litical participation" meaning anti-po- ll tax legislation. "The right to equal opportunity of employment" another way of promising a fair employment prac-tices act. "The right of security of person" meaning a federal anti-lync- h law. "The right of equal treatment in the service and defense of our na-tion" meaning the end of segrega-tion in the armed forces. The d southern re-volt, however, failed to develop into the Dixie-wid- e proportions predicted. Only Mississippi's 22 delegates and 13 of Alabama's 26 stalked out of the convention in protest against President Truman's nomination and adoption of the strong civil rights plank. However, 263 remaining southern delegates registered that area's protest by voting for the presiden-tial nomination of Sen. Richard B. Russell of Georgia. Size of the pro-test vote indicated the Democratic party still has a problem on its hands in the South. CROPS: Record Output Barring a major crop disaster, the nation will harvest another bumper crop this year, with indi-cations pointing to a general crop production which may surpass that of the outstanding year of 1942 and the recordset in 1946. Acreage in crops is among the largest in recent years and yield prospects are good for most crops, agriculture department spokesmen said, on the basis of July 1 condi-tions. An e record corn crop of 3,328,862,000 bushels was forecast although corn, the largest feed crop, still faces such hazards as a dry, hot August or an early frost. Previous record was 3,287,927,000 bushels in 1946. The wheat crop prospect of 1,241,-751,0- bushels represents a gain of 4 per cent from earlier forecasts. If that amount is harvested, it will rank as the second largest crop in history. Rice will set a new acreage rec-ord and nearly equal last year's record output. Oats and barley will be well above average crops. Bumper crop prospects are not expected to mean any immediate increase in meat supplies or any noticeable decrease in meat prices but the record harvest should mean larger meat supplies in the future. Fighting Finish It was a far cry from a love test as the Democratic clans, feuding for many months, met in the City of Brotherly Love for their 30th national convention. After three days of strife and bickering, the conclave came to a close as a fighting President Tru-man triumphantly accepted his party's nomination for the presi-dency and then rocked Democrats and Republicans alike with an in-stant summons to the 80th congress to return for a special session July 26. The convention, perhaps the most bitterly divided since 1860 and 1924, ended with a political ex-plosion detonated by the quiet man from Independence, Mo. The ex-plosion startled even the regular members of his own party who had engineered the nomination of Mr. Truman to the presidency. The Democrats pinned their No-vember election hopes on a ticket of Harry S. Truman and AJben W. Barkley. It was the modest, former senator from Missouri, who had succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, for the presidency. And it was the cdmpromis- - Czar John L Lewis Very few people realize what John L. Lewis has done to white-coll-workers, to old people living on government pensions and to the rest of the labor movement. To get a bird's-ey- e view of Lewis' operations, you have to go back to the days of the New Deal when it was recognized that all old people in the United States deserved some kind of security. Accordingly the social security act was passed, pro-viding unemployment compensation and old-ag- e pensions. Today these pensions have be-come most woefully inadequate, and one factor helping to make them so has been Lewis and his never-endin-inflationary demands for wage increases and miners' pensions. For instance, when Lewis gouges a multimillion-dolla- r welfare fund out of the mine operators, the op-erators in turn pass the cost on to the oldsters and everyone else in the country, whose pension then be-comes less valuable. Thus the miners become a privileged class set aside from the rest of the American people. Not only do they get three and four times the pensions given ordinary citizens, but other citiz-ens have to pay for the miners' pensions. Thus the widow who tries to make both ends meet on a meager gov-ernment pension of $30 a month, has to help pay for the miner's pension of $100 a month because the increased price of coal is passed on to her. ANOTHER THING: Lewis now can bulldoze wage increases for the miners which certain other un-ions can't. For instance, the rail-roads have their rates set by the interstate commerce commission. As public utilities they are not free agents to decide what they will charge the public. Actually, coal is just as much a public utility as the railroads. It is essential to the lifeblood of the nation. But while the rail-roads are regulated by the ICC; the electric power and gas com-panies by the federal power commission; and the radio, telegraph and telephone compa-nies by the federal communica-tions commission, the coal in-dustry remains unregulated. STILL ANOTHER THING: Pri-vate industry cannot get together and conspire to fix prices. To do so violates the Sherman anti-tru- st act. Yet Lewis can get all the miners to-gether from West Virginia to Utah, and from Ohio to Alabama, and present uniform demands on all coal operators, big and little, me-chanized and - unmechanized with-out violating the Sherman anti-tru-act. PREDICTION: 1. The Supreme court in a year or so will reverse its previous ruling and make la-bor unions subject to the anti-tru-laws. 2. Congress, recognizing that the coal industry is just as much a public utility as the railroads will set up a commission regulating both coal wages and coal prices. In oth-er words, Lewis, will kill the goose that laid his golden eggs. Special Session Some White House advisers are strongly urging the President to call congress back for a special session. They tell Mr. Truman that he should insist on enactment of major legislation, such as the public housing bill, which, though blocked in congress, was indorsed in the G.O.P. conven-tion platform. Friends tell Mr. Truman that if G.O.P. leaders continue to block housing during the spe-cial session, he then could charge them with failure to car-ry out platform pledges. Other advisers, however, have told Mr. Truman that it would be wiser politically not to call a spe-cial session, but to let these Repub-licans stew in the juice of their congressional mistakes. Since the President plans to make congress his No. 1 campaign issue if renominated, the latter is prob-ably what he will do. Venture Harry Truman has taken a lot of ribbing about that failure in the haberdashery business. But the other day the President told on himself the story of how he had had still another business experience as an oil prospector. He told the story to Frank P. Douglass, able boss of the national mediation board, who called at the White House to report that he had nothing to do with efforts of friends to get him named secretary of la-bor. "I can understand your posi-tion," replied the President. "You know I was once in the oil business myself on a limited scale." Truman grinningly related how he had had an interest in two oil wells, both of which proved dry on the first drilling. "The project went broke and my partners and I were forced to sell out," he added. Man About Town "" The Big Time- - 4 chief Ken Cooper', H is so "top secret" C?,k dersifit is to meet j g r mer must be blUboard.S"' 46th and 48th MT m Some ticket agen l patrons to buy ducats for 1 !:; shows when they wan! ; of Bulgaria lives Tf sent to him by G. PhiUiM City, Nebr. Life has . new phoW, techrnqne ze the leasing , majw Takes pictures by trol and by ' locates pressis , h famous people mj,; in the auditorium. Broadway Confetti; Jack j... the net champ, has made since turning pro last year" The New Amsterdam theater ' of the Ziegfeld shows and proud queen of 42nd street, is' ing jts face lifted. . , . n telligence will be completer' hauled. ... John Foster d' brother, Allen, has nix'd Mr:. man's bid to become . . . isn't Ph0ne b: the same as entering a p' home without a search wiri . . . Henry Luce didn't giV! GOP $50,000. He donated only f to the Repub state commit Connecticut Manhattan Murals: Tht Fan street place which calls itiilj'i-teria.- . . . The hack driver qum his tug's thirst by filling iijw, tered silk hat with water jran i 6y park fountain. . . . The w. policeman chasing kids filing i k the park lake while the ducks W satisfied. . . , The ioo!! at 49th and 7th The chow. lacedged sun specs. Stage Entrance: These m dog days along B'way. Soariti: peratures are causing spirits biz to droop. Several slows, ready to surrender to the he: while others are manage; hang on via e ducats. A glance at the backwoodi f the lie to the s il about the decline of the thittir and dale sectors are clogged summer playhouses. There more actors in the cotir.:rj . mosquitoes. . . . Incidental' hayloft circuit used to serve a Incubator for new shows. But : of the plays now being are reclicks. Midtown Vignette: Tmi ie en of cafe society came H a night club and went Ion stroll in Central park. look!" said one, "isn't IM sweet baby?" They went is to adore it. "Good beitffi exclaimed the same we-"it'- my own daughter!" E: surprised friend gasped: "1' you sure?" "Oh, yes," u reply, "I recognize the m The Airistocrats: The reasc' can't flip a dial without et across a giveaway: Kilocyi crowded with about thru i; treasure hunts. ... The mt: medal for politeness goes t y who thanks to after spinning a record, newscaster Harrison Wood to type of sinewy tones that f paprika touch to news bulleus The compliment swapping of woodites after appearing matic show is a molar-gnu-- NBC's "Serenade to Amend fers a tasty dish of musiesl t gue. Israel is having Wenul culties. Bntit should be that other fought for freedom domestio troubles. Revolutionary wr Americans enM British army. The Intelligentsia: A": will rip the small town idM tem wide open is 10'h: Stick" by Virgil Scott oj lished this fall W Mn boards Probably wiU fc ; : er caught reading it-- ,J State teacher at Michigan East Lansing, Mich.) j f of the Waldorf has retMj autobiography, w his t called "From the C Gravy" or jf to Nuts." . former bandleader and of "Forever Amber, p literati with a novel, a musical comJ ; in e Vl a straight play George Long b who has to eat. His ditties are titled: 0. , the Man of the Bo Want Truman , f, 'W'D D More" and Dewey." VO LIMITS American Cities Are Increasing in Size Los Angeles, brunt of many jokes for its city limits, is not the only American city which is increasing in size. In fact, American cities are get-ting bigger all the time, with 298 communities extending their boun-daries in 1947 for a new e record, according to the Interna-tional City Managers association. The rush to keep up with urban expansion marked a 15 per cent increase over 1946. when 259 cities annexed new territory. Most cities seek to annex suburban land to solve their population problems. "Cities want outlying territory to equalize local tax rates and to provide uniform public services," according to the association. Employment Gains Continuing the postwar upward trend in civilian employment, 1.5 million more persons were em-ployed in civilian occupations last April than in April, 1947, it is re-vealed in figures compiled by the National Industrial Conference board. Accompanying this increased em-ployment was a decline of more than 200,000 in unemployment over the year's period. |