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■ ON THE BROADWAY SCENE ByBurtBoyar NEW YORK, N.Y., May 15.— CELEBRITY I SERVICE: Earl Blackwells Celebrity Serv- j ice always intrigued us, so we spent a few hours in his office the other day eavesdroping as subscribers called for bits of information on the Gables, [ the Dieaichs and ! [ even the Rin Tin Tins. Its a unique business . which goes like this: ; people pay a monthly I fee in return for a j daily bulletin listing celebrities who have arrived arrived in in New New York York ■ arrived arrived in in New New York York and who are leaving New York. The sub-• scription also gives them the right to unlimited telephone information as to private phone numbers, eta. i * * Tallulah Bankhead once called and I asked, "Is this Celebrity Service?" Black-I well himself happened to have answered • the phone. "Yes," he said, "it is." "Well." j she drawled, "in that case, Im a celebrity i and I want some service. Find me an apartment to rent." Although thats gen- | erally out of their line, they made an ex- . ception for her. We slugged away at a cup of coffee and j settled back to watch people work. We love watching people work. A phone rang. NBC ! was calling. "Yes," they were told, "Hedda Hopper has gone back to California." . . . • The next call was good news for Clara ; Kimball Young, the old-time star. Para- [ [ mount Pictures wanted to reach her. A role in a new picture. AAA The bells kept ringing: No," a magazine was told, "Bob Hope has four children, not five." . . . BBDandO, the monster ad agency, wanted to know the name of Jeannie Carsons agent. "William Morris," came the answer . . . Roz Starr, the chief information collector and giver, suddenly became very firm with a caller. "Im sorry, madame," she stated, "that information is available only to our members." She hung up and explained to us, "Someone wanted to know who bleaches Marilyn Monroes hair." AAA At another desk a young man named Martin Pierce was reading the newspapers. He was checking the society and obituary pages to bring the files up to date on weddings, divorces and deaths . . . Roz took another call. It was Harpers Bazaar, "Miss Greer Garson is at the Hampshire House." . . . An advertising agency called, "Did Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy ever do a Camel cigarette commercial?" AAA The phones were going like crazy. The SPCA was calling. Theyd figured out a plan to sell some licenses and wanted to know the names of celebrities who owned animals. "We know celebrities are honest," they explained, "but theyre so busy that may not get around to registering their pets." Attention Joan Crawford, Edgar G. Robinson and Faye Emerson: Have you heard from the SPCA lately? "Do the celebrities mind having their numbers given out?" we asked. "Most of them are very happy to have their numbers go to newspapermen and agents," we were told. Why? Because such calls generally mean a1* publicity. b» money. Roz picked up another call. She became annoyed. "Now," she said, "Ive told you before, you cant get away with that stuff anymore." She hung up gently. "Its an actor who knows that we give numbers to celebrities as a courtesy. So hes an impersonator. He calls up every day. One day hes Dietrich, next day hes Walter Slezak or Jimmy Stewart. He had me going for months till he called up and said, "This is Lady Peel, perhaps you know me better as Beatrice Lillie. " Roz shrugged, "Miss Lillie would never say a thing like that." * * * The F. B. I. called. They wanted to know how to find a certain actor. Roz gave em the information, but she hated to do it. "After all," she said, "celebrities are our friends. Theyre Mr. Blackwells best friends. And I wouldnt even have a job here if it wasnt for them." She picked up another call. "No, sir," she said, "I cannot give that information to you." She smiled and told us. "That was a process server. The FBI is one thing. But, process servers — no sir!" ... A famous jeweler called. He wanted to know what prospective customers were arriving. She picked up the phone again. This time it looked like it was an important call. It was! "Yessir," she told the caller, "Burt Boyars phone number is—."
