Actorviews (1923)

202 Actorvietvs “The Widow Stevens would look well in one of those for Easter,” said he. Hatless, his straw-colored hair inviting the fragrant breezes, he sniffed Nature welcomingly. Spring was good to “Hitchy,” and he knew his Nature. He knew the budding trees and piping birds by name. I don’t think the center of his system is Broadway and Forty-second street. His apparel — morning coat, white waistcoat, saffron gloves, varnished boots with buttoned buff uppers, not to mention a gold watch the size of a swan’s egg with melodramatic diamonds on both sides — does not proclaim the man within. He was telling me now that you never can judge a man’s pleasures by his poses. “There was ‘Diamond Jim’ Brady, who left me this watch. In such jeweled junk he sewed up a million-and-a-half dollars. Most folks thought he was diamond-mad and chorus-girl-mad. He wanted ’em to think so. That was his pose. Diamonds and chorus girls were ‘Diamond Jim’s’ bait for the railroad men he did business with. I know; I knew Brady as well as any man could. That stuff was his pose.” “What was his pleasure?” “Business — selling goods — making money. He was the most consistent business man I ever met — and nobody knew it.” “What’s your pose?” “Being funny.” “What’s your pleasure?” “Being a manager.” Then he posed. “There are four things for a man driving a car