Displays To Delight Paris Children

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30631, 23 December 1964, Page 2

Displays To Delight Paris Children

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) PARIS. Children hold a special place in preChristmas commercial planning in Paris and “les enfants” are taking full advantage of it. The sixteenth annual “Children’s Salon,” in the exhibition buildings at the Port of Versailles, is attracting record attendances of more than 100,000 children a day.

On Thursdays, “closing day” for French schools, children from five to 15 years of age make up 80 per cent of the crowd converging on the exhibition hall at the Porte de Versailles. This year for the first time, daily attendance at the Children’s Salon has exceeded the number of tickets sold for the annual motor show held in the same premises last October. Giant Playground

France’s answer to the United States’ Disneyland has

been to turn its largest exhibition hall into a giant indoor playground. Here, the Lilliputians emit deafening roars of approval as they roller skate, ride bicycles, make a trip in carriages drawn by live ponies, or sail boats on a miniature lake.

Educational displays are a special feature of this year’s salon.

Pamphlets and instructive games in which the children take an active part are sponsored by the French armed forces, the Paris police and the public transport services.

Girls are attracted to the cooking stand where Michel Oliver, son of the owner of the well known Paris restaurant, “Grand Vefour.” teaches them to make cakes. Children line up to take turns with mixing the ingredients to bake in individual stoves, before consuming the result. Future artists are trying their hand at abstract painting by spinning a cardboard wheel smeared with patches of wet paint.

Lost And Found

The French Red Cross has organised an unique “lost and found” department this year for those younger children who get separated from their frantic parents in the maize of attractions. According to one spokesman, the majority of “lost” children are eventually found at one of the numerous stands which dole out free edibles. Among the record number of 520 different exhibitors. American-inspired displays featuring cowboys and Indians, and scenic reproductions of the “Far West” are the most popular attractions. An exhibition of toys at a leading Paris department store also turns the spotlight on the Wild West. A miniature stage setting made of plywood depicts a street in Texas complete with saloon, prison, bank and post office. “The Beatles” Guitar Great Britain is represented in this “world tour” of toys by reproductions of “The Beatles" guitar. Both the four-chord and the higherpriced six-chord instruments

can be played and are decorated with the Beatles’ signatures and photographs. The Olympic Games have turned attention to mechanical toys and dolls from Japan. Prices are surprisingly low.

Motor cars are the feature at another children’s exhibition, at a permanent showroom for Renault cars, on the Champs Elysees. The snack bar there is also popular as it has a collection of miniature cars dating from the earliest pre-World

War I models to the present day, and a model speedway with electrically operated sports cars. Tours of Paris One of the most successful new entertainments organised for children in Paris was the idea of an American, Mr Bill Taylor. His half-day tours of the city include a choice of 15 different programmes, ranging from sailing toy boats in the Tuilerie gardens to riding camels at the zoo. The tours, which

cost 25 francs (just under £2) are run for a minimum of three children and a maximum of six.

Mr Taylor is covered by a special accident insurance policy which protects him for everything, from the loss of teeth or braces to skinned knees.

So far, the policy has not been used. No child has had an accident.