Show BROADWAY AND MAIN STREET Bogey and Pandas Were T Tame orne Compared to J. J Brutus Booth BoothBy By Bv BILLY ROSE There was a lot of talk talk on Broadway in recent weeks about the I incident at the El Morocco club where Humphrey Bogart was caught with his pandas down and to hear the prissy boys tell it unless Bogey stops acting up hes he's a cinch to finish behind the well- well known eight We Well so but I wouldn't bet on it Its It's my belief beliet that if 11 anything anything any any- thing his daffy didos will help his power pulling-power at the box office very much as they helped John Barrymore W. W C. C Fields and other talented screwballs who had the nerve to do what the rest of us only daydream about And dont don't let any timer old with braid on his vest tell you that th the e entertainment entertain ment business wouldn't h have a v e tolerated a Humphrey Bogart Bogart Bo Bo- 1 gart in the dear dead days According According According Ac Ac- cording to the V record the antics antics antics an an- tics of ot yesterdays yesterday's yesterdays yesterday's yesterdays yesterday's yester yester- days day's s stars tar s make our present pres pres- DUly BUly Rose Roso ent crop of performers performers per per- formers farmers look as pale as a ghost who has just seen a man mm For easy example take say the great tragedian Junius Brutus Booth Booth Booth-a a name to conjure with and make faces at S S S JUNIUS BRUTUS was born In England a few years before the century made its bow and by bythe bythe bythe the time he was 13 a servant girl had bad accused him of being the father fath fath- er of her out bounds baby During During During Dur Dur- ing the next four years among other things he took a crack at being a sailor a sculptor and the husband of two ladies without the customary divorce in between None of this stunted his growth however because by the time he was 20 he had become one of the great stars of the London stage He appeared at Covent Garden as Richard III and the following season season season sea sea- son at Drury Lane as lago Ingo to Keane's Othello And unless the I record is lying his success was so great that a group of envious actors actors actors ac ac- ac- ac tors started a riot in the theater and tried to burn it down o stage O Juni u was as even more moro spectacular than on and if Lauren Bacall's Bacal's bus husband band had been sampling samp the flesh fles and tl of 01 Piccadilly at the time lime chances are his bis capers wouldn't have hav rated a II morning after thought though Booth so goes the story made mad so many passes and fwd passed assed out so many nany I tines times mes that finally filially at al atthe atthe the Ibo insistence of husbands bar bar- bartenders tenders lender and bobbies h he packed and to 10 New York Here he proceeded to revolutionize revolution revolution- ize most of ot our acting techniques and despite the enormous quantities quantities ties of water wa ter he consumed he never let his audiences down At Atone Atone Atone one matinee he was literally carried carried car car- ried ned into the theater and while the manager was splashing water on his face the customers began to yell for the show to go on Annoyed by their catcalls the tragedian stuck his face through Ib the curtain and roared Im drunk now but bul it in ten minutes Ill I'll give ghe you 1011 the greatest King Lear you ever saw And he did Another time he went into a pawnshop to borrow 10 pledged himself himsel as security spent the tenner tenner tenner ten ten- ner on Jersey applejack and then as per promise came back and squatted in the pawnbrokers pawnbroker's win win- dow until his manager redeemed him I One night while playing Richard Richard Richard Rich ard III he suddenly decided to revise revise revise re re- re- re vise Shakespeare's script a and n d when it came to the duel scene in inthe inthe inthe the last act he began slashing away at the young actor playing the role of Richmond The episode ended with his chasing the kid out the stage door and several blocks down the Bowery AS THE YEARS TEARS leapfrogged on on Booths Booth's capacity for nuttiness be became became became be- be came something of ot a national legend legend legend leg leg- end and any theater he wa was wa scheduled play generally sold out the day the engagement was an an- Stories about the caper- caper ous crackpot were repeated around aroun every pot-bellied pot stove stove and and little little- wonder For instance while taking an ocean voyage the ship passed the spot where an actor named Conway had committed suicide by drowning Junius Brutus suddenly suddenly- appeared on deck and yelled I 1 have a message for Conway and an dove overboard And for the next 30 minutes he played water-tag water with the sailors who jumped in to tc- fish him out In his hh finale years Booth lookup lookup look took up the study of 01 Buddhism ISn and developed so great greal a horror of inflicting death that Ihal be he would burst into tears if il someone happened happened happened hap hap- to step on a bug He finance financed fi fl nance a II campaign against hunting hunting hunt hunt- ing lug and while on tour one ane autumn au au- au lumn enraged at the wanton killing of birds he bought a II cemetery plot and held a II funeral for some som pigeons a II sportsman bad had shot Despite all this jinks hi-jinks and hoopla hoop hoop- la Ia however he was quite a family man mans and the 10 children he raised were devoted to him Unfortunately Unfortunate Unfortunate- ly the final curtain on the career of ot the inspired looney who hated killing was that one of ot his children John Wilkes Booth was the mar man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln |