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Only Headliners Get Rich in Show WorldIf you are not a headliner, me show business la not a profession for anyone to itay In.That's the advice lo any aiagr-s'.ruck or actor-emulating youths who may have a deaire 10 see the acrid ua the stage from Joe Melvin, the dexterous boomerang thrower who has thrUier Hie crowds attending the Elks circus this week.-It you have more than average ability and want to tee the world, the show business offers the opportunity/' declares Melvin. “But you’ll never get rich unless you are a headliner. For every star you read about, there are hundreds of obscure artists who die In obscurity and often poverty Although Melvin is more adept with a boomerang than an Australian, he was bora and reared in the United flutes. His native home was in the xnounuins o! Eastern Kentucky. He was born not far from where Jack Dempsey first saw the light of day. There he grew up as Joe Melvin Hicks.No show Inspired Melvin to become a performer of the circus and stage world. As a boy he showed an uncanny manual Joe Melvin aptitude with balls,hoops and any other object that could be thrown or moved.When Melvin was 14 years old, a theatre manager at Ashland, Ky., asked him to perform. The boy was a hit. Taken to New York by a slater, he made his first professional appearance on the itage of a Brooklyn vaudeville house. And he's been on the stage ever since.„ Within five years after he had started rolling hoops, spinning tops, twirling boomerangs and Juggling balls, he was a headliner on the Orpheum circuit. He has been associated with Blossom Seeley, Charles lt;Chtc Sale, Eva Tan-guay, Bert Wheeler, Billy House, Harry Richman, BUI Robinson and other famous international start.Prior to the World war, he was billed as Joe Hicks. But after two years of servlet with the A.R.F., during which time he fought in the Meuse-Ar-gonne and 8t, Mthlel salients, his manager told him to drop the name of Hicks and become Joe Melvin.(JiboadeithethithistusobyMewatiSImeinicuithi ar. tio thi W U salthiorhUnepuantosetJinsclCOJcUmeyeitinJueelenhelt;Reserve District No. 9 EDITION OF THEriONAL BANKJST CO.STATE OF NORTH DA-)F BUSINESS ON MARCH 1940aade by Comptroller of the Cur* I, V. S. Reviled Statutes)setsluding $oo5.58obligations, dipolitical subdi*$ 661,182.96307,950.00Dentures I stock of Fed-83,757.1726,159.29banks, indud-ind cash items4.700.00,400.00; furni-300.00 . than bank444,300.1359,400.009.00Through most of the years, Melvin has played in vaudeville. He first performed in the old Grand theatre in Fargo in 1010. He played several times In Fargo’s Orpheum theatre.Melvin's profession has taken him to Canada, EngtSnd, Scotland, Ireland. France. India, Mexico and other foreign countries. Just eight weeks ago he returned from a tour of the South seas. He played in Melbourne, Sydney and other Australian elites, Auckland, N* Z, the Fiji islands and Honolulu. He would have been over there yet if the British empire had not gone to war.A scrapbook of press dippings proves that Melvin is one of the fore-most entertainers of the world. Invariably the reviewers state: “JoeMelvin was the hit of the show/’Is UnpretentiousBut despite adulation and praise he has received for more than 30 years Melvin remains a qulet-ipoken, unpretentious fellow who might be your next door neighbor.Melvin is of flcotch-Xrish and Cher-oker Indian descent. His family has lived in Eatig£n Kentucky since shortly after IheRevolutionary war.Masters of manipulation, such as Melvin is. arc “born not made,** hesays. Although he has tried, he never has found anyone he could teach his tricks to.fotunouthlt;anmis861in-grienJ.spinHlt;byAlBPJM63.dalt;Cye;sirFunoral Sopvipo IVaIH ' J
Newspaper Details
Bismarck Tribune
Bismarck, North Dakota, US
Sat, Mar 30, 1940
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Boyd C.
KY, USA 14 Jul 2017
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