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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1922)
r THE OREGON SUNDAY JOTmNAT, POBTIK07 HSOTTfclY HOBNTSTG, SEPTEMBER 10, 1922. Dare-Devil 4f Miss Ruth and the Exquisite Mr. Karyl Fell Madly in Love and Their Friends Gasped and Now They Have Fallen Madly Out Again Exactly as Broadway Predicted I AN th eagle mate wJtl the doTeT" No, says Broadway and neither can love last between a famous tomboy and a famous female impersonator. Witness ibe shattered romance ot Ruti Budd, spunky girl dare-deril. and Karyl Norman, dainty male exquisite, known 84 the "Creole Fashion Plate." Their engagement la broken. Borne peo ple say It was smashed by doable-action "too much mother-in-law." Others insist there was a squabble over artistic affairs. But Broadway, quoting both poets and ornithologists, declares it was Just a case of "the eagle and the dove." Eagles and doves have tried to mate be fore without Success. But always th eagle was a man some adventurdus high flyer with an incurable wanderlust and the, dove was a maid some gentle, cooing creature who wanted nothing save a cozy love nest In the Budd-Nonnan affinity the pro verbial roles were reversed. Ruth Budd, a flying gymnast, whose stage stunts would make most birds giddy, might well be compared to an eagle. And no dove seems more fragile than Karyl Norman when the little chap wafts before the footlights in his feminine make-up. When these two announced they were going to be .married even their best friends gasped. Had Norman been the caveman type and Miss Budd the "clinging - E "A H On the Star Kafyl Norman (right) I a - Girl, and Hi Naturally Fragile Appearance ll ' Accentuated by His Costumes. vine" their attachment would have seemed con gruous enough. But as it was Well, of course, thera was nobody sweeter and more charming than Miss Budd off the stage. And Karyl Norman was s good fellow outside business hours. Yet. in "the pro fession they were far apart as the poles! Since she was a kinder garten kiddie. Ruth Budd has been living the most strenuous sort of life. First with her brother. 11.1 1 Ml.l.l I I.HI 1.1 (l 1 $ i j j1 - - ?-3 a -," . - -fee ,' - . f wmmmmmmmmmmm Ruth Budd (left) Has Risked Her Neck Every Night in the JVeek for Almost as Xonsr as She Can Remembers trader the name of "The Aerial Budds, and then doing a "single" In vaudeville, she has risked ber neck every night in the week for almost as long as she can remember. The climax of her act comes when she slides down a rope from the proscenium arch to the stage and alights on one finger. No matter in what theatre she' plays, no matter how high the. arch, Ruth Budd tanes that breath-catching swoop at full speed, darting head first down the thread like cable to the accompaniment of ro.'l tng drums from the orchestra, landing on the tip of her right forefinger! A million eheatregoers in every part of the United States hale felt their hearts leap to their throats when little Rutb Budd made her sensational slide. And they have gone out of the theatre, exclaim ing, "That girl is the cLt's cuffs, all right! She must have a body like ateel and a heart like a lion!" And she has. Demure and reserved as she is in private life, Ruth Budd yet is assupple and strong find anywhere. She a girl as you will has to be to get away with what she does. And her heart has never known fear, It couldn't or she would have quailed long ago before her plunge from the proscenium. She has the look oi eagles in her eyes, and she is the eagle-f earless, sinewy, buoyant, ready to perch on any lofty aerie, eager to swing herself out in the most reckless sort ot flight. And this was the girl who loved a female impersonator! Broadway couldn't believe it Broadway predicted tie mar riage would never take place. A Charming Boudoir Stage Pose by Karyl Norman, the j "Creole Fashion Plate," Who Is Really a Good Fellow Off the Stage. 'aObHrrlslti. 192, fear Intern sHenal Teatars DM ; s Broadway spoke of "the eagle and ths dove. Not that Broadway didn't like Karyl Norman. Quite the contrary! Norman is a Chicago boy who got his first taste of theatricals "plugging popu lar songs some years ego. He had a clear falsetto voice, which he first learned to nse chiming in on "barber-shop chords" with the boys in his neighborhood. He got a job with a publishing house as a "plugger, and from there it was a short step to the stage. "Why don't you be a female Imperson ator? a vaudeville booking agent asked him. "You've got the voice, you've got tie form- You're slim and you're graceful as a girL Julian Kltinge, Bert Savoy and those fellows are making scads of money doing a woman act. You could, too. The result of that suggestion was "The Creole Fashion Plate," the name under which Norman is known to every, vaude ville patron. . On the stage his naturally frail appearance is even more accentuate! by his costumes. He is the epitome of fastidious femininity coy, shrinking, super-refined. He is the violet the cut glass, the rare china -the dove! - And this was the man who loved a dare devil gymnast! Broadway marvelled, shrugged its shout-, ders, shook its head, and watted. Nor did it wait very long. Only a few weeks after the engagement was announced came whispers of dissension between the sweet hearts.! And on the heels of this followed sews tiat left no room for doubt. Not only was tie engagement broken, but Miss Benrtea, Zao. 6mt BrlUta SUfeta Budd was suing Norman for $50,000 for alleged fpreach of promise! , Overnight Broadway heard half a dosen stories of why the match , exploded". One of these attributed the trouble to Smother s-in-iaw' that is, to Miss Budd's mother 'or to Norman's mother or to both. The fact that both principals had mothers ' and such devoted mothers! was enough to start this rumor. . The public pictures the average stage girl as defenseless against th9 wiles of the world, because she has no mother to guide her." But Miss Budd has had a mother guid ing hei? traveling with her every where, mending her costumes, even taking part in her act at 'times throughout her sev enteen years on the stage. And not only that, but Karyl Norman has had his mother at his side ever since he stopped song plug-, ging for female impersonat ing. The mothers were known to be "crazy about" their respective children. Would Ruth's mother give up her pet to a husband and a mother-in-law? Would Karyl's mother give up heir boy to a wlf j and a mother-in-law? Would Ruth leave her own mother for a substitute? Or would Karyl make the sacrifice ? Or would they both discard both mothers and make their own home minus all "in-laws"? . Broadway heard that such questions as these were argued to the point of bitter- ness. But Broadway also heard an em phatic denial of the story Xrom the mother in the case. Each would do anything, she declared, to make her child happy I , So that was that story. There came another one from Baltimore. Ruth Budd and Karyl Norman played there on tha same bill Just before they split. Rumor said that, after watching his fiancee's gym nastic exhibition on the , opening night, "Norman exercised his right as prospective husband to suggest a few changes in Miss Budd's act. Rumor also : said that Miss "Budd re ceived his suggestions none too sympa thetically; that she made certain remarks to the effect that she was playing In vaude ville before Karyl Norman knew what a stage door looked like, and if it came to that, she could give Norman a few. J "Rumor said that, after Sratchixtg his' fiancee's gym nastic exhibition. Norman I exercised hit right as prospec tive husband to suggest a few; changes in Miss Biidd's act." lessons In what was what on the-etas. It is said that Leo Mlnton, Miss Budd's pianist, sided with Norman In the argu ment. However that ; may - be, Baltimore thought It was rather significant that Miss Budd played .the. remaining four days of her engagement without an accompanist, and, returning there later for a special bill, bad a brand-new young man banging the) keys while she sang and pranked on the rings. ""f , areenroom gossips say the Baltimore quarrel was the rock on which the Budd Norman romance was wrecked. When Miss Budd told her fiance Just "where to get off" as her j would-be stage manager, it la said the Creole Fashion Plate made a graceful exit, but "telephoned her front the corner drug store that she could con sider herself free. , - Whether Miss Budd would 'marry Nor man - Co-day, if he proposed agatn, el whether she was .secretly glad to get her release, she refuses to say. But she dll consider her feelings injured so severely by this sudden snip of the thread that she filed a suit for $50,000. . , When the news of this action reached Broadway there was one. united "I toll you so! And. for one comment that blamed the breach on . mothers-in-law or "artistic temperament" there were a dozen that attributed it to the. simple motto, "The eagle and the dove cannot mate." Broadway doesn't put it quite so poet icaily, perhaps. For Broadway doesn't g in much for either the poets or the Orni thologists. What Broadway says Is, "Ruth Budd and Karyl Norman? A tomboy dare devil and a female impersonator?. nance? Biahj..