Acknowledgment is due to the New York Evening Post, Sun, Times, Tribune, the Boston Transcript and the Wilmarth Publishing Company for their kind permission to reprint some of the matter in this volume.
CONTENTS
[EDWARD L. BERNAYS]
[ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN]
[THE BARITONE]
[PATRIOTISM]
[THE PILLOW CASES]
[BETTER INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS]
[THE PRIMA DONNA]
[PRESS STORIES]
[THE DISTRIBUTION OF CREDIT]
[TEARS]
[PHOTOGRAPHS]
[SAMUEL HOFFENSTEIN]
[THE THEATRE SCRUBWOMAN DREAMS A DREAM]
[THE STRANGE CASE OF THE MUSICAL COMEDY STAR]
[THE STAR IS WAITING TO SEE THE MANAGER]
[THE JESTER]
[IN A CAFE]
[TO A CABARET SINGER]
[IN THE THEATRE]
[WALTER J. KINGSLEY]
[LO, THE PRESS AGENT]
[FIRST NIGHTS]
[THE DRAMATIST]
[TYPES]
[GEORGE M. COHAN]
[DAVID BELASCO]
[LO, THE HEADLINER]
[MURDOCK PEMBERTON]
[THE SCREEN]
[BROADWAY—NIGHT]
[MATINEE]
[PAVLOWA]
[THE OLD CHORUS MAN]
[BLUCH LANDOLF'S TALE]
[PRE-EMINENCE]
EDWARD L. BERNAYS
ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN
He was a burly Dutch tenor,
And I patiently trailed him in his waking and sleeping hours
That I might not lose a story,—
But his life was commonplace and unimaginative—
Air raids and abdications kept his activities,
(A game of bridge yesterday, a ride to Tarrytown),
Out of the papers.
I watchfully waited,
Yearning a coup that would place him on the
Musical map.
A coup, such as kissing a Marshal Joffre,
Aeroplaning over the bay,
Diving with Annette Kellerman.
Then for three days I quit the city
To get a simple contralto into the western papers.
Returning I entered my office; the phone jangled.
The burly tenor was tearfully sobbing and moaning over the wire;
Tremor and emotion choked his throat.
This was his ominous message:
A taxicab accident almost had killed him two and one half days ago;
He had escaped with his body and orchid-lined voice—
And not a line in the mornings or evenings!
What could I do about it?
Accidents will happen.