DEAUVILLE'S CASINOS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 47 (Supplement)

DEAUVILLE'S CASINOS.

A FASHIONABLE RESORT.! ITS SPREADING FAME, j HEAVY GAMBLING. X Deauville, on the north coast of France, ten miles south of Havre, has become the most fashionable seaside- - resort in Europe. Before the war Deau- > ville was practically unknown. It attracted a few hundred French holiday makers in the summer, which, swelled its normal population of 3000* But after the war it began to attract English and American visitors, and each' year ita fame has spread. For ten months of the year Deauville looks faded and empty, but during July and August it is thronged with wealthyvisitors, who have made it the most expensive little town in Europe. Kings and Queens and ex-Kings and Queens (there are more ex-Kings and ex-' Queens in Europe in these iconoclastic days than there are reigning and people of the highest social position, as well as people who have been deprived by the Divorce Court of the social positions they formerly held, are to be seen among the fashionable at Deauville in the season. The corpulent youthful Shah of Persia has been a patron of Deauville; the King and Queen of Spain and the Prince of Wales make brief visits every season. Exiled Russian princes and the dethroned Kings of Portugal and Greece have been to Deauville, but only for brief visits, as the place is too costly for impoverished royalties. The London picture papers publisfc many photographs of fashionable society at Deauville. The latest styles in bathing dress, which would be ruined if the beautiful irearers went into the water, are reproduced. Beautiful wraps, costing hundreds of pounds, are worn over fashionable bathing attire. The wearere sit in comfortable chairs on the sand, and hold court with their admirers and their social rivals. One bathing suit, worn by the wife of a New York banker, was adorned with many valuable gems. There is no limit to the absurdities to which women go at Deauville in order to attract attention. One woman wore a mauve-coloured costume, mauve shoes, and had her hair dyed mauve. She was accompanied by a toy dog which had been dyed mauve, and her male companion wore a mauve suit, mauve socks and a mauve hat. ' ;_ Tables at the Casino. But more important than the bathing facilities at Deauville are the gaming tables at the Casino. As a gaming, centre Deauville has suddenly become a rival of Monte Carlo. It costs money;, even to look at fashionable society gaming at Deauville. To enter the Casino costs 20f, which, at the pre-war value af the French franc, would be 16/, but' is now about 5/. But 20f only admits you to the dancing hall and some of the., outer rooms. To reach the rooms where baccarat is being played costs another lsof, which, even at the depreciated value' ■ of the franc, means nearly £2 in English money. ' ' A recent visitor to Deauville gives in' the "Morning Post" the following description of the gambling at the Casino:—"A '< certain amount of play goes on all thell. afternoon, but it is after 11 o'clock at J. night that the real fun begins—tun for/ ; winners and spectators. The scene i.% ... j one of great brilliance. There are 40.; tables, at which the minimum stakesvaries from the wretched 5f piece to coins worth 20f each. Seated at green boards, or watching the are a large proportion of the financial, and other notorieties of two*'' , worlds. A third of the gamblers ar«"7 women," dressed in the richest and most / beautiful costumes which the female soui; ; , can conceive, and loaded with euch..■.. jewels as are only seen now and again at' Ei gala night at the opera or a court re-L , ception. Look at the 25-louis table. AtDne end are two smart young girls with ■• bracelets flashing from red and green" rubies and emeralds almost from wrist;, to elbow. A couple of places lower-• iown is a London lady, celebrated for the perfection of her toilets. Somebody ', says she lost a few hundred thousand francs last week, but this does not seem ' to have afflicted her, though occasionally ehe wears the hard look that can be. noticed in most women gamblers. . . A Showroom for Dresses. "At the other end of the same table is a famous cinema beauty, with a sweet baby face and slender grace of form. She does not seem more than twenty, but she' ' is coruscating with diamonds, and the jealous declare that her youthful appearance is deceptive. She plays carelessly and intermittently, turning from time to time to smile and talk to passing acquaintances. At another table is a fine whitehaired old lady, whose name is synonymous with millions, and she is only playing to amuse herself. Standing near is an ambassador from an Eastern country in immaculate evening dress. There are, of course, earnest and hopeful punters, and also professionals, who have enough capital to eat up the 3mall fry, but for moat of the frequenters the rooms are more of a showroom for iresses and jewellery than anything else. ' "There is, however, a Holy of Holies, inside whose portals no petticoat can penetrate. Here has been seen baccarat that beats all records, compared to which that at Monte Carlo is a mere family game. It is a large and lofty room, with one big table in the middle, capable of seating twenty or thirty punters, who are railed off by a bronze fence from the rows of spectators. The bank is being held by a gentleman in spectacles with a ruddy, gentle, smiling countenance, and opposite is the croupier handling piles of metal counters, and stacks of thousand franc notes. The round metal disc represents a hundred thousand francs each, and the square ones over ten thousand. At a rough computation there are visible about two million francs in metal, and as much again in notes. "The average stake is anything from a quarter to half a million francs. For two hours this evening the present banker has held his place, and won about four million francs. A respectable silence reigns, broken only by the voice of the croupier announcing that the first or second tableau calls, or does not call, for a third card. The banker deals very slowly. When the six cards are out he waits. The croupier announces,' 'Card for first tableau,' 'card for second tableau." The banker turns up his own point—six. He deals a six to his right and seven to his left, and without hesitation draws one eight for himself, and wins on both sides. Tableau one had drawn on five and tableau two on three. The next coup he losee on both sides, and assists the croupier to pay with exquisite urbanity. There is something impressive in the way in which thousands of pounds change hands every few miiiutes, however painful it may appear that such sums should be treated almost like waste paper.