FRONTIERS OF PEACE

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 21, 26 January 1939, Page 21

FRONTIERS OF PEACE

LONDON'S CLUBS. MUSIC HALL BOOM IN SPORT. UNUSUAL AILT SHOW. (By CHARLES MARTIN"). i I/)XDOX, January 1. A highlight of the Royal Tisit to Canada may be an impressive ceremony on the Canadian-American border to emphasise the friendship and unity of the English-speaking peoples. When Their Majesties, accompanied by the Governor-General and the Prime Minister of Canada, reach the frontier they -will be met by President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The historic meeting, it is urged, should be commemorated by the unveiling of a plaque bearing the King's and the President's names, with an inscription drawing attention to the thousands of miles of unguarded frontier. "East India" Member a Rejoin. The amalgamation of the East India United Services Club and the Sports Club, which draws the majority of its members from Africa and Asia, is going well. Already, lam told, 200 lapsed members of the former have rejoined. It will be some time yet before the magnificent premises in St. James' Square will be ready, but when completed, probably in about 18 months' time, they will be among the finest of their kind in London. The club will be able to boast of the best bedrooms in clubland; there will be over 40, each with its own bathroom. Internal reconstruction is costing £60,000. Sport on the Stage. Sport to most people these days is merely a form of entertainment. That prominent performers at various games should demonstrate their' skill on the music hall stage is an inevitable development which the public have bean quick to appreciate. One of the moat popular acts in the recent Royal Variety programme was a game of badminton. Now we have Henry Cotton giving golf instruction from the stage of the Coliseum for a fee of £900 a weak and W. T. Tilden drawing crowds with s laws tennis set in a London cinema. Moat thrilling of all sporting spectacles on the London stags waa the recent reproduction of the famous Cresta Run. A well-known Alpine sportsman descended at breath-taking speed on a bobsleigh, flew into the air, turned a somersault and regained the run just where it left the stage. Be Paints Saw Meat. It is not always easy to identify the subjects of some examples of modern art, even with the aid of the titles. No such exists about the paintings of a contemporary Russian artist, Smitine, whose work is now on show in London. He specialises in realistic studies of raw meat and dead birds. On one occasion whan be was s struggling artist in Montmartre he wanted to paint the corpse of an ox. Funds not running, to a whole animal, he bought half an ox .and hong it to kj* Stumo* wMeb he shared with two other artists. Paris was sweltering in a beat wave at the time and it waa not long before Soutine was able to enioy the amenities of the studio in solitude. The picture was completed in ten days, just in time to save his door, which he had kept locked, from being broken down by angry neighbours. Baggy Trousers. Englishmen, apparently, are sot sufficiently clothes -conscious. To stimulate a greater interest in the subject a "men's wear council" has been formed and I understand that war is to be declared o» what a Savile Row expert recently described as the "cult of the shabby." I don't know whether a similar campaign is to be waged in Germany, but my tailor tells me that baggy trousers are going to be common in that country. This does not mean that Germans "who like to .be .well-dressed are ceasing to care, about their clothes; or that the tailors of the Reich are losing their skill. The quality of the cloth will be responsible for the sartorial shortcomings. Cornering the South African wool market will not give Germany anything like the amount of wool required by her clothing industries. Synthetic fibres, mixed with the wool, will make up the deficiency. Suits made of this mixture may look well at first, but are apt to lose their "hang" very quickly. Bagginess at the knees which disappears within 24 hours when trousers are rested, if the quality of the material is good, is likely to remain permanently when little or no wool has been used in the manufacture. New Zealand Doctor-Dramatist. Mr. Merton Hodge, the young New Zealand doctor, is another playwright who wants to succeed with more than one type of play. Like the author of the very funny "French Without Tears," who has followed up his success by writing a serious drama of contemporary life, Mr. Hodge seems anxious to prove that he can be serious. Having written a light-hearted comedy about modern medical students, "The Wind and the Rain," which ran for two years in the West End, he has now turned his attention to a . dramatisation of Olive Schreiner's famous novel, "The Story of an African Farm." On the first two or three nights the play ended on a tragic note with the death of Lyndall, the heroine, in a covered wagon. Now an extra scene has been added which indicates a happier future for the other members of the little farm community. This concession to the playgoer who demands a happy endina is an anti-climax unjustified on artistte grounds, but it met with the approval of the referee appointed by the Olive Schreiner estate to overlook the stage version. Dinner of the Year. London's dinner of the year is the Reunion of gastronomes, attended by tnost of. the world's leading gourmets. Guests invariably are given a rich and original meal; their after-dinner speeches, always entertaining, are like the food, not without an element of surprise. This year's banquet, held the other day at the Meyfair Hotel, was not an exception. The menu included turtle soup with absinthe in it; a timbale of lobster with chopped sole and truffles; baked Prague ham with wine saueei a new chieken dish; a souffle ice flavoured with kirsch and raspberries; garnished with - fresh strawberries, the last an expensive luxury in an English DsoMsbsr.

Of the speeches that followed, one of the most amusing was made by Mr. H. Hills, tthe president of the gastronomes. It included the remark that his favourite dish was sausasea and ma<she<l. More "Purchasers." The Almost Modern Order of Purchasers has gained several recruits lately. Members of this society, which meets twice a year in London, have it," to use a colloquial expression. In other words, they have made fools of themselves, committed a stupid error or been badly done. Members, elected without their knowledge, receive a "green gin and tonic tie." MoOormick, the Australian bowler, got one for his no-ball record a few months ago. The latest to join in is Tom Walls. The famous actor-sport»man went to back one of his own horses recently. It was No. 52, but by mistake he quoted No. 53. The clerk pointed out the mistake and Tom, with polite thanks, changed the bet. No. 53 won at odds something like 70 to 1!