Semi-monthly magazine
The BIG
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HELEN VAN CAMPErW
Illustrations by C.F.MILEEftr:
10LLIE VON LINDEN was on the road, starring in a musical
comedy advertised as "the New lork success. It had run a
week on Broadway, by the efforts of the Von Linden and Nolan
.Music Company's whole staff of plungers and boosters, three
. specially engaged press agents, all of Benny Von Linden's news
paper friends, and a large amount of his money. There were
well known Broadway favorites in the cast, the songs were bright
and new; Benny had gamely put one of his own numbers into the show, al
though fearful that it would never achieve the fame possible from its use by the
clamorous vaudevillians whom he had disappointed for Dollie's sake.
Every night, after counting up, the show's treasurer sent Benny a night-letter
giving the deficit, and every morning, Benny, at breakfast in the handsome
Riverside Drive apartment that he had fitted for Dollie, read the hews and
swore.
Then he rode down to "The House of Sure-Fire Hits," and smiled coldly at
the jestf ul ones who asked how it felt to be an angel ? He had not expected to
make much out of the show, but leaving out the fact that Dollie herself, while
winsome enough as a small single act, had not the voice or dash needed for her
role, there were others whose names ought to fill seats, and the booking was all
in live cities.
He walked sourly into his office on a Monday morning, inquiring if there
were any telegrams! Nothing had been received at his home.
"Not a thing here," replied Miss Murphy, his stenographer.
"Queer," said he, scowling. "Get Detroit on the wire, and call the Hotel
Henley. I want to speak to my wife."
Miss Murphy reported with a grave face that Mrs. Von Linden was not at
the Henley, nor any of the other hotels which Miss Murphy's wisdom had
bidden her try. She had next spoken to the theater where the piece was to
open that night, and been told that The Merry Bachelors had cancelled the
week by wire, no one knew why, and Sunday's paper declared the show had
closed. Benny telegraphed Cleveland, where presumably the company had dis
banded, and got no satisfaction. By afternoon, he was obviously disturbed,
and remarked that the seven pianos, all in action in as many piano-rooms where
eager vaudeville performers were trying songs from the firm's catalog, were
driving him crazy.
"She's on her way back home, a' course," suggested Sammy Martin, the head
plugger.
"S'pose she ain't, though?" demanded Benny excitedly. "S'pose she's done
some daffy thing you know how little sense women have, Sam like
jumping off a dock or taking poison, because the rotten old show's lost
me a piece of change I '11 be a bug if I don't hear from that kid by
night!"
"If you think I better go hunt her, say so," said Sammy. "I
realize your feelin's, 'cause before me an' Clarice split, an' she went
into the movies, when she was playin' out of town, I could hardly
keep my mind on my pluggin', wonderin' what she was bavin' for
dinner, an' if anv fresh mugs was a' hangin' around the showshop
eh?"
"I '11 brain the guy I catch monkeying after my wife," said
Benny agitatedly. "She's so cussed good-looking that they 're al
ways rubbering at her, too."
Sammy consoled his employ
er by observing that the men
would not pursue unless the
women encouraged them.
"Meaniir nothin' personal,
a course," he explained.
Two days wore away, and
Benny was still without a
message from Dollie. Sammy
suddenly bought two tickets
for Cleveland, and employees
of The House of Sure-Fire
Hits informed visitors that
Benny had gone "West on a
business trip, and the date of
his return was indefinite.
THE pawning of all in her
jewel box except the great
solitaire that was her engage
ment ring, had sufficed to pay
each member of the company
two weeks' salary instead of
the usual two weeks' notice,
and Dollie had smilingly paid,
then said farewell and disap
peared. She told herself, "I
will nevpr. never eo back and
face Benny until I 'm a sue- She drearily gazed into his pictured face
Sandowlina, heading a
straggling band of news
boys, was in pursuit
cess at something!"
She sat in a 50-cent room in a Chicago hotel, after a frugal dinner in a 15
cent restaurant. She was still hungry, the room had no heat, and the gas jet
was just large enough to show what a desolate refuge was hers. She had not
unpacked the trunk that occupied a corner, because she shrank from the contrast
of her pretty frocks against that dismal background, and only a small toilet bag
was opened.
I'M a dub," said Dollie to the ineffectual gas jet. "He put me out in a swell
musical show, and he advertised me like a grand opera tour, and he said on the
jump that he did wish I could get the idea that I had to go back to the foots out
of my mind, so we could have some peace, and I kept nagging I made a joke
of Benny before his friends in New York, I was so punk and to think of us
in town after town, papering the house, and even at that we could n't fill 'em.
and me to be told by a light comedian that he would n't risk his personality with
a frost like my show any longer but they're all paid, that's some comfort,
and until I can get it with money I 've made myself, the jewelry will stay where
it is, for there 's been enough of Benny's wasted. Poor boy, it '11 be a relief to
him not to have any more wires about how much we need for salaries!"
What would Benny think when he received the incoherent letter she had
posted an hour ago? "Would he set the Pinkertons after her, or realize that
her life would be unbearable until she had shown a palpitant world, and Benny,
that Dollie Von Linden was not a
theatrical nonentity? She had con
cluded her letter with:
"Everybody in the business thinks
you married a dead one, but they
will find out you did n't. I am all
right, so do not worry, darling
Benny; but when they see me on top
they won't be able to give you the
laugh any more, and when I think
of the money I feel like ending it
all. I am perfectly calm as you see,
dearest boy, so have no fear at all,
as I have a plan oh, Benny, what
a terrible world this is where peo
ple must suffer so, anyway, good
bye, and remember I am your lov
ing, miserable Dollie. I leave for
the Coast at once, D."
That lie about leaving would fool
him. She must not give way to sen
timent, or useless repinings, but cen
ter her faculties on succeeding,
somewhere and somehow. It would
he dangerous to seek an engagement
in any Chicago cabaret, for Benny's
firm had a Western branch office there, and his pluggers certainly visited
theaters and restaurants where his songs were used. There was no chance
of booking on the "big time" without a spectacular act, and it required
time, money and a live press agent, if she had the ability to arrange one.
1"! J
A fat flabby young man confronted her
tt
WHAT 'D I tell him I had a plan for?" she wailed. "Oh, just think
of the periect rummies that hnd a good manager, and he makes
the agents believe they're great, when they're really awful! And I feel
that no matter what anyone says I 've got talent I know I have! The
trouble is Benny don't understand me no one does, and if they don't
how can a person get ahead? I bet if I could have one plain talk with
Mr. Belasco, he'd put me in a production, for the truth is that I ought
.to have gone into drama, but of course when your folks are all dancers
they train you for that so really my own parents are to blame. Maybe
it 'd be better to just go down to the Lake front and let the chill waters
close over me I could leave letters for the Coroner and Benny, and put
the big ring in the Parcel Post, so he 'd have it back. The papers would
play a story like that up swell."
She sat in gloomy meditation. The room was so cold that her fingers.