The Theatre: Gold Rush

For six weeks Broadway has had a dazed look in its eyes, a toothy grin on its face, and its itching fingers crossed. For, week by week, the line in front of its box offices grew longer and longer. Broadway was frightened to look for reasons, for fear of jinxing itself. But plausible reasons there were:

1) With the new season abnormally slow in starting, there were fewer shows than usual to divide the take. 2) With a war on in Europe, many Manhattanites stayed home, many expatriates returned to Manhattan. 3) Fed up on the World's Fair, New Yorkers developed theatre appetites. 4) A final horde of out-of-towners arrived for the Fair. 5) During October, New York had a World Series, an auto show, and 108 other conventions to bring in other out-of-towners.