National Affairs: Poor Ederle

A year ago, Gertrude Ederle arrived at Cape Griz Nez, France, began to eat many an egg, many a steak. Later, as everyone knows, she swam the English Channel while the band on her tugboat played Barney Google, etc.

New York City’s welcome in her honor was runner-up to the recent Lindbergh carnival. But the vaudeville and cinema contracts in her honor were not as fat as admirers expected. Her lawyer, Dudley Field Malone of Manhattan, finally allowed her to accept a contract which required that she perform in a glass tub on vaudeville stages. “The idea of an endurance swimmer showing the public anything in a one-stroke tub suggests a whale doing a marathon in an eye cup,” remarked a Chicago Tribune writer.

Last week the news came out that Miss Ederle has profited only $20,000 since the day she staggered onto the beach at Kingsdown, England. Her vaudeville act started out to earn $6,000 a week, of which her share was approximately one-third. Her father and Lawyer Malone took one-third of the gross between them; the theatrical agent grabbed 10%, leaving Miss Ederle to pay the expense account of more than $1,000 weekly out of her own share. Recently, her act has fallen considerably below the $6,000 mark.