“On East Houston Street is the lasagne or ravioli belt where the gay boys
from out of town take the leading ladies of the jobber plants out for a
wild evening,” writes O. O. McIntyre. “You know the gay out-of-town man.
He carries a patent cigar lighter and has a sterling silver monogrammed
belt buckle and, oh, yes, a handkerchief with a purple border. His eyes
are blue and he wrinkles them in a merry twinkle, at least he thinks it
is a merry twinkle, but it’s just the sap oozing out. The Leading Lady
knows Broadway because she reads Broadway Brevities and her theory of
life in the abstract is that Ladies Must Live. After the first quart of
red ink, he whispers a story the boys told him in front of the Bon Ton
Store before he left for the east. She pulls the two gun, hair-trigger
Bill Hart stuff and says ‘Naughty Man.’ To complete the evening and
display the ultimate in savoir faire he calls loudly to the waiter:
‘L’addition, s’il vous plait garcon.’ They ride to one of the Oranges in
a quick-firing metered taxi and he returns to the McAlpin to write the
wife and kiddies of his lonesomeness.”
* * * * *