MONEY TO BURN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 5 July 1926, Page 9

MONEY TO BURN.

AMERICANS IN PARIS. MIDNIGHT AT MONTMARTFE. Even the Parisians admit that the 10.000 odd Americans who crowd the Inrid main stem establishments of Montmartre these nights help to make that section of "Gay Paree" about the liveliest spot on earth. Conservative estimates place the figure or American money spent in Montmartre alone earn night at round about £130.000 sterling. Midnight is the magic hour when the nocturnal American invasion reaches its liigh-wa-e- marK. when the taxis tout louder than any other time of day. Red electric signs proclaim the presence of Elsie Janis and Maurice the dancer, and Valentino's illuminated likeness looks down on the boulevard. Not a seat :s vacant in the s_,levvalk cafes. Caravans of automobiles, from tiny French touring cars to lumbering American jusrgernaurs. and shiny Italian roadsters, bring constant reinforcements of revellers. One cat..- announces a gipsy band from Hnnjrary _".ie players wear bizarre. multi--.;..;;-.-,! costumes, but employ among tl.-m*e!ves th- purest Brooklynese as ianuuage of communication. Throu_b i.: the crowd you encounter sinister under.v irl-1 •reatures. who go whispering about that they have cocainefor sale. Guides, generally social outcasts from England -o America, volunteer to lead oartie to opium dens and joints W:,eie the most fantastic orgies are sta_-d From mid:iip.it onward the din and roar increase, and Montmarte becomes a world abandoned to gaiety and revelry, rou heat ill lar.g;ag"s of the universe. It is BaN : without the tower.