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Show BROADWAY AND MAIN STREET Al Didn't Go for Soff-Sosp, but lie Was an Easy Touch By BILLY ROSE In Miami some winters ago, Al Jolson stoppea in for a quick one at the bar of the hotel where he was staying, and as if on cue the juke box began playing his recording of "Sonny Boy." When the machine clicked off, a plainish-looking woman walked up to the bartender and said, "Lend me a couple of nickels, Mac. I can't get enough of that song." Jolson pushed a quarter down the bar. "The next five are on me," he said. The woman looked over and her face lit up. "Why you're Mr. Jol- snn' " shp said "Sure," said Al, "and you knew it the minute I came in. What's the idea of the corny routine, sister?" "I just had to talk to you," said the woman. "I've been sitting here all afternoon hoping v" - 1 hundred-dollar bills. "This makes fifteen hundred you owe me," he said. "Bet the five C's on No. 4 to win I got a tip on him this morning." No. 4 ran so fast it darn near caught up with the mechanical rabbit, rab-bit, and when the clerk cashed in his tickets he was handed $3,000 the odds had been five-to-one. "I'll take my fifteen hundred " said Al, "and let this be a lesson to you. Never bet the horses il you gotta bet, bet the dogs." Last Fall, after a guest broadcast in New York, Jolson was buttonholed button-holed by a young man as he was leaving the studio. " don't suppose you remember:' remem-ber:' bt said to Al, "but several years ago you took my folks out to the Miami dog track and helped them win fifteen hundred dollars. That money made it possible pos-sible for me to go to college," "Sure, 1 remember," said Al "and when you write your mom tell her she still owes me some dough." "I never heard about it," said the young man. "How much was it?" "A quarter." said Jolson. "She was playing a juke box and ran out ol change." horse to win. Well, the 'sure thing' came in fifth." "Has your husband ever dipped into the safe before?" asked Jolson. "Never," said the woman. "In fact, he never bet on a horse until un-til yesterday and the only reason rea-son he did it was because our son is getting out of high school next June and we've got our hearts set on sending him tb college." "And you thought that by playing 'Sonny Boy' you could soft-soap me out of a thousand bucks?" said Al. "Well. 1 don't soft-soap, that easy. Go and get your husband you're both coming with me." A FEW MINUTES later the couple were in a cab with Jolson, sure it was all over but the fingerprinting, but instead of heading for a police station the hackie drove out to the South Miami dog track There Al led -the husband to a pari-mutuel window and handed him five one- you'd drop in." Billy Rose "WHAT'S ON YOUR mind?" asked Al. "My husband is in a jam," said j the woman. "He's the desk clerk j in this hotel and he was on duty I the other night when you checked in and left an envelope full of money to be put in the safe. Yesterday he heard about a sure thing al Hialeah and iok a thousand dollars out of J your envelope and bet It on the |