Advertising, Dopey

Like beaten puppies, the snarling folk of Broadway often cringe from the hand that is raised to stroke them. For example, Edgar B. Davis, an obscure but very wealthy operator in oil, produced a play called The .Ladder (TIME, Nov. 8, 1926), which dwelt, with confused eloquence, upon a theosophical theory of reincarnation.

A feeble fable held no interest for the gay dogs of Broadway; yet, when they scorned it, Producer Davis took pity on them. "It has a message for you," he said, and offered free seats to any who would have them. Almost no one could believe that a man would willingly throw away money upon Broadway without hope of return. He threw away $750,000. "Advertising," said many. "Dopey," said others.

Last week Edgar B. Davis again surprised Manhattan theatre-goers by announcing that from July 11 until further notice The Ladder would play to paying audiences, if any.

The Ladder is the current Broadway play with the longest run. On the last day of June it will reach its 660th performance. In the duration of its run legends have grown up about the members of The Ladder's cast, its author, a friend of the producer, whose name is supposed to have been forgotten, its audiences, but most of all the staunch oil man who is its angel. At Houston, the man who got $10,000,000 in oil almost overnight was given an overnight boom for the U. S. Vice Presidency.