A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Women Total One-Third At Academy.

OPERA SEASON OPENS IN SPLENDOUR

(F rom Our London Lady Correspondent.)

A SECOND visit to the Academy leaves one in 110 doubt that women are forging ahead in the field of art. One-third of the total number of exhibitors this year are women. As though in defiance of the old gibe that feminine art must be of the "pretty-pretty" order, (lie portraits and studies shown by women are some of the boldest and most vigorous 011 view. Dame Laura Knight heads the list with six, including '•Dawn." The works of the two Zinkeisen sisters stand out, and Cathleen Mann's three portraits "on the line" strike the eye. The youngest exhibitor is Miss Mary Aiulsley, who is showing a head in the sculpture gallery near to the fine bronze of the Duke of York by Lady Kennet. Margaret McMillan Home. The Duchess of York opened the Margaret McMillan Home at Wrotliam. Margaret McMillan and her sister, Rachel, were amongst the first women to go into the London slums and organise clinics and nursery schools for poor children 011 lines which have since been adopted and developed by the London County Council. The new home has been built as a memorial to Miss McMillan, and is to be used as a country home in connection with the Deptford Nursery School. Every modern educational idea has been incorporated in tlie building, which stands in IS acres of ground on the Kentish hills. Parties of 40 children are to be sent down each month with their own teachers, and will combine the joys of country life with exceptional educational advantages. Covent Garden First Night. The London season opened with immense eclat. It was seven minutes after advertised time for the curtain to ring up at Covent Garden, on the first night of the opera, when Sir Thomas Beecliam, with nonchalant dignity, tapped his puissant baton. The delav was a kindly concession to the terrific traffic jam round . tlie Opera House, which was besieged with sumptuous Mavfair and Belgrave limousines. But after that respite tlie doors were locked and half a dozen incorrigibles had to cool their furs and opera hats in the foyer till after the overture. The Opera House was a really brilliant spectacle, not only sartorially, with an amazino- array of magnificent costumes and jewels, but in the matter of patrician and artistic celebrities. The elder ladies wore tiaras and gemmed hairclips, but the younger ones flowers, and a vogue of opera cloaks amongst the men gave almost a romantic Spanish touch to the scene. Sunderland House. Sunderland House, the latest great town house to be converted into flats and offices, lias a strange history, and is connected, by marriage as it were, with Qii"cn Mary's new home. Marlborour'; House. Forty years ago, when Cr>- iielo Yanderbilt married the ninth Duke of Marlborough, her millionaire father made repeated offers to the agents of the Prince of Wales for the purchase of Marlborough House, but

with no result. Determined that his daughter should have a fitting town house, lie built the great mansion 111 Curzon Street at a cost of over half a million. The ballroom was so large that when a party was held there the guests had to dance at the end where th u orchestra played, as it was imjjossible to hear the music from the other end of the room. After a few years the house was sold and, after having been considered as the Soviet Embassy, eventually became a "house to let" for charity functions. Primrose Wedding Gifts. A white ostrich feather fan was sent by Queen Mary to Miss Ruth Primrose as a wedding gift, and it was given a place of honour amongst the great number of presents arranged in the ballroom at Derby House. Eight hundred gifts had arrived before the wedding and Miss Primrose superintended the arrangement of them herself. One of Lord Derby's presents to his granddaughter was a complete supply of household linen in tlie fashionable pastel shades, and she has also been given some beautiful pieces of family jewellery. Close to the Queen's gift were two specially valued by the bride—one a tortoiseshell and silver paper knife from her old nurse, and an ivoryhandled hunting crop from the groom who taught her to ride.

Women's Dog Show. "Doggy" folk made their way to Olympia recently to inspect the aristocrats of the canine world shown by the Ladies' Kennel Association. The association was founded forty-one years ago to promote interest in dogs amongst women, and this years enormous number of entries shows that it has more than justified its existence. Countess Howe showed Labradors again—a breed which she has greatly improved— and the Duchess of Newcastle had some of her famous fox terriers 011 the bench. Private View at Burlington House. Visitors arrived early for the private view at Burlington House. Magnificent hvdrangeas and roses decorated the entrance hall and the main staircase, and made a vivid background for tlie dark toned dresses worn by most of the women present. Viscountess Astor was one of the first to arrive, wearing a simple black ensemble relieved with a cluster of white flowers. The Lord and Ladv Mayoress, Lord Wakefield and Lord and Lady Plender arrived together, just in front of Sir John and Lady Simon, the latter wearing black satin and furs. Mrs. Baldwin wore silver foxes with her black and white frock, and the Countess of Oxford and Asquith had one of the new spotted muslin cravats tucked into the neckline of her French taffeta suit. Cyril Maude arrived with his wife, who was one of the few women wearing colours —-a soft reseda green dress and coat trimmed with "rev fur. One of the most striking figures in the galleries was the wife of Cowan Dobson, the artist. She wore a military ensemble of thick white linen with gold epaulettes, and a hat which was faintly reminiscent of those affected by Roman gladiators.