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ON THE BROADWAY SCENE By Burt Boyar NEW YORK May 13 WEEK END AT THE WALDORF Well it wasnt exactly a week end it was just Friday night and we shuttled between the Friars Club Frolic in the Grand Ballroom and Bob Hopes party downstairs in the Serf Room It was a busy night in the elevators Hope went upstairs to the Friars and many of the latter came downstairs to help cel ¬ ebrate his new picture Paris Holiday Jane and I missed the movie and the opening of Diana Barrymores pic ¬ ture and Tony Martins opening at the Town Country in Brooklyn But thats newspaper biz bizA A A A AThe The Grand Ballroom bulged with people who had held tickets to Mike Todds Testi ¬ monial dinner which as you probably re ¬ member was scheduled to take place on the evening of the day he was killed You cant just leave over a thousand people holding Fifty Dollaracrack tickets and do nothing about it so new tickets were issued and this party was held heldA A A A AHarry Harry Delf the Dean of the Friars took the microphone to state Im sorry that our Abbott Joe E Lewis and Abbott EUneri tus Milton Berle couldnt be here tonight but thank heaven some of us are working The curtains of the Grand Ballroom stage I were drawn open some 1400 black ties and chinchilla wraps leaned forward and the show began Led by Johnny Johnston a male counterpart of the Rockettes in Top Hat White Tie and Tils sang the clubs song Heres to the Friars with new lyrics kidding their recent move to the east side They did a medley of George M Cohan songs also with special lyrics by Milton Berle and Buddy Arnold ArnoldA A A A AJack Jack E Leonard the first MC of the eve ¬ ning took over glared at the audience and said bluntly Good evening opponents I think the boys did a wonderful job and I wanta thank Johnny Johnston who was very popular many years ago Ke looked at the front line of tables Theres Harry Hirschfield the Jewish Abe Lincoln Glad to see you sitting there instead of in the box I never cared for your stories anyhow Again Jack E sur ¬ veyed the room There are a lot of celeb ¬ rities here tonight but forget em because if they were any good theyd be up here with me Wait a minute ladies and gentlemen theres Mr Red Buttons a truly wonderful fellow who has had such a won ¬ derful break recently Lets all get together and walk right outa here Leonards machine gun spouted dozens of gags If I make good here tonight he explained it might mean the Lambs Club for me The Frairs has changed a lot in recent years We let women in the new clubhouse now and I wanta tell ya its very shocking to walk into the steam room and all of a sudden you see yourself next to Sophie Tucker TuckerA A A A AGeorgia Georgia Gibbs was introduced She looked great and sounded even better sing ¬ ing I Love Everybody and Rockabye There was an act by the Molindor Trio which went over very big Joey Bishop came over between shows at the Copa too He thanked Leonard for a brief but in ¬ telligent introduction He said It was wonderful of Fat Jack to come here be ¬ cause he hasnt been well iJHtes on the critical list at Slenderella Tlts an extra thrill to be here with the Friars because Im delinquent in my dues duesA A A A ABishop Bishop told the story about a fellow who walked into aNbar and said Gggimme a bbbbottle of bbbbbbbeer please The bartender said Yyyessir one bbbbottle of bbbbeer cccoming up The customer was insulted Whwhwh why are you mmmmaking tfffun of me he asked The bartended told him Im nnnnot mmaking ffun of you I always spspspeak this way Another cus ¬ tomer came in and said Ill have a Scotch and soda please Yes sir snapped the bartender one Scotch and soda coming up The first customer became angry I ththththought you sssaid you wwwerent mmaking ffun cf me The bartender explained Im nnNOT mmaking ffun of yyyou He pointed toward the second customer Im mm making fffun of HIM
