Navy Man Bars “Tipperary.�
No longer will the song “Tipperary� be heard at the United States Naval Training Station, at Newport, R. I., because Lieutenant Commander Frank Taylor Evans, executive officer, has decided that for navy men to sing it is a violation of President Wilson’s neutrality order.
The marching song seemed to have struck the popular chord with army and navy men, not because it was the song of the Allies, but because it had the ring and rousing chorus suited to the men of the service.
One night recently, when a thousand or more apprentice seamen at the training station were having their weekly motion-picture entertainment, with songs between the pictures, the orchestra struck up “Tipperary,� and it was sung with spirit, and an encore was demanded.
While the apprentices were having a vaudeville show in their theater at the station, they sang the chorus of “Tipperary,� while a vaudeville actor led the singing, so Lieutenant Commander Evans stepped in and issued the order that “Tipperary� was not to be played or sung by the men.
All that the executive officer would say to-night was that the song came under the president’s neutrality order.