The Theatre: Show Girls

In Manhattan last week Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. spun around in his chair and seized a telephone. In Los Angeles, Fred Stone soon heard his telephone bell ring. Mr. Ziegfeld wanted Dorothy, golden-haired dancing daughter of Mr. Stone, to proceed immediately to Manhattan to play the lead in Show Girl. Where was Dorothy? On Will Rogers' ranch outside Hollywood, said her father. "Call her," snapped Ziegfeld. Fred Stone said that Will Rogers had no telephone in his breezy retreat. "Fly to her," pleaded Mr. Ziegfeld. Fred Stone said that he had risked no flying since his nearly fatal air accident last fall. "Motor," gasped Mr. Ziegfeld. Fred Stone said he would.

At the ranch he quickly told his daughter the rest of Mr. Ziegfeld's story—Ruby Keeler, pert star of Show Girl, third wife of Al ("Mammy") Jolson, had been mysteriously stricken during a performance. With a twinge of sympathy for Ruby, a burst of joy for her own good fortune, Dorothy Stone ran to pack.

Meanwhile an airplane zoomed away from Manhattan bearing the Show Girl script for Miss Stone to learn while crossing the country. It arrived in Los Angeles just three hours after her train had departed eastward. There upon Will Rogers took to an airplane, pursued the train to an outlying station, dropped the script to Miss Stone who caught it on the fly. In her drawing room, as the train moved on, she began memorizing lines, practicing tap steps, after eating cautiously, with an eye to health.

One week after Ruby Keeler's collapse, Dorothy Stone was in Manhattan, ready for Show Girl. Ruby Keeler was operated on. The surgeons made no other state ment. In the interim, Understudy Doris Carson, 17, blonde, had stepped from the chorus, performed ably.