Bloody Mary; Reuben; Backstage Dictionary

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BLOODY MARY (continued)

    I finally found the George Jessel ad.  From the Peter Tamony papers,
taken from COLLIER'S, 30 March 1956, pg. 65:

    "I, GEORGE JESSEL, INVENTED THE BLOODY MARY"  "I _think_ I invented The
Bloody Mary, Red Snapper, Tomato Pickup or Morning Glory," reports George
Jessel.  "It happened on a Night before a Day and I felt I should take some
good, nourishing tomato juice, but what I really wanted was some of your good
Smirnoff Vodka.  So I mixed them together, the juice for body and the vodka
for spirit, and if I wasn't the first ever, I was the happiest ever."

    So how could Jessel say, in his 1975 autobiography THE WORLD I LIVED IN,
that he got nothing for inventing the Bloody Mary?  He just forgot about
these ads?
    I looked all through the mound of Sophie Tucker papers for 1928, looking
for the Joe E. Lewis benefit.  Tucker was in England for six months.  Other
benefits are in the papers, but I didn't see Lewis's name at all.
    The Bloody Mary and the Joe E. Lewis benefit weren't in the Ted Healy
papers, either.  Ted Healy died young, but helped create the Three Stooges.
He played a bartender in the 1934 film PARIS INTERLUDE (based after Harry's
New York bar).
    So I still haven't located the 1928 Walter Winchell "Bloody Mary" column
that featured Jessell, Healy, and Mary Warburton.  Nothing is easy.

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REUBEN SANDWICH (continued)

   FWIW, this was in the Sophie Tucker papers.  From the NEW YORK MORNING
TELEGRAPH, 24 January 1928:

    REUBEN'S, that "different" delicatessen that Broadway has taken to its
heart, is reported to have been built on top of a sandwich.  After viewing
the size of some of the Reuben sandwiches we can understand the solidity of
the building in which the delicatessen is housed.

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BACKSTAGE DICTIONARY

    From the READER'S DIGEST, April 1934:

     _Backstage Dictionary_
CALIFORNIA--derisive term for uninspired acting.
CARRYING--when a star builds up the part of a minor player whom he likes.
DOG--an actor trying out new effects without warning those with whom he's
playing.
FLY-CATCHER--an actor who distracts attention from the central scene.
(RHHDAS-1955)
OFFICE ACTOR--a player who uses acting tricks on a producer to get an
assignment.
PUNCHER--an actor who emphasizes a line which leads up to a certain laugh,
thus destroying the laugh.
SIGHT GAG--something that's funny to see, loud costume or clownish make-up.
STRICTLY MINSKY--an actress miscast as a lady.
TURKEY--a failure, originating some years ago when bad shows were opened on
Thanksgiving Day to clear expenses in the two or three holiday performances.
--_The Stage._