OUR PARIS LETTER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 82, 3 October 1929, Page 21

OUR PARIS LETTER

JHE ARMISTICE COACH

SCENE TO BE PERPETUATED

(From "The Post's" Representative.) Pilgrims to that famous clearing in the Conipic-gne Forest, where granite monuments mark the spot where the Armistice was signed, will before long find considerable changes there. Additional avenues leading to the clearing are* to be made, while tho bordors around the. monuments are to be planted: with flowers. In the railway coach in which the Armistice was signed, ■which now stands in a permanent building on the edge of the. clearing, tho scene at the signing is to be reconstituted with wax figures representing the personages who were present. General Weygand, who was a witness of the signing,.is assisting1 in the work of tho leeonstitution. .. . WHAT THE SALMON KNOWS. One can be sure of nothing these days, it seems. Even our simple and steadfast belief that the city of Paris stands on the banks of the Seine is not to go unchallenged. For, according to M. Pierre Larue, a very learned man and a. member of tho Paris Faculty of Sciences, Paris stands not upon the Seine, but upon the Yonne. M. La rue claims that at Monterau, it is the Seine that loses itself in the Yonne, and that therefore the river that flows on toward Paris is really tho Yonne and not tho Seine. The superior width and depth of-the Yonne at the junction is one of his arguments. It is also said that sal; mon,~ coming up-stream from Havre, on reaching the Montreau junction, disdainfully shun the Seine and continue: their.journey into the heart of Franco along, the Tonne' Well, if the salmon, which everyone knows is a very intelligent fish and honourable withal, declares that Paris, is on the Yonne and not on the Seine, there would seem very little more to be said about it. DORVILLE'S BEAL ROLE. Dorville, the popular comedian, assumed a role that was new to him tho other day in a setting that was no less singular. He was attending his daughter's wedding and for once played the part of a real father-in-law as well as that of a real father, the scene being the. Town Hall. The bridegroom was M.' Boger Wolf, a young businessman. There was a happy company of friends present, including a number of M. Dorville's stage friends, but M. Dorville-, it was remarked, unlike his wont, wore ' a very.grave air. He quoted a lino of one of the late Polin's songs which may be translated, :" This "is the kind of thing that hits you hard," to express what he felt on separating from his daughter. Nor did the comedian who excites thousands to laughter in a rakish cap and jacket, feel at home in' a frock coat and shiny 1 op-hat. "However," he said desperately, as ho ontertaiucd his friends after the ceremony, "Let's make tho best of it, ono does not give one's daughter away in marriage every day." CATS THROUGH THE AGES. "With two shows devoted to each oi! ibena. and now an exhibition dealing with the cat and the dog through the ages, it would seem that never had these animals enjoyed so great a popularity in ' tho Gay City. Here will be found a very interesting record in drawings, prints, and statuary, illustrating feline and canine fashions from as far back as Egyptian times. Sparo and aristocratic looking animals seem to have been the pats of tho Egyptians as seen in the little models of baked clay. And there is tho clay figure of a most elegant little dog that barked and was petted, no doubt, by some Egyptian elegante 2500 years ago. And there are pictures of cats and dogs, tho pets of famous people, and thore are dog collars and coats and dog harness of many periods, and a host of interesting things for cat and dog lovers to see. FAMOUS AUTOGRAPHS IN FAMOUS BOO&S. A host of people, one imagines, will bo keenly interested in the sale of books to be held by the Legion of Honour in aia of its famous school at Ecouen. Not only will the books be de luxe editions by well-known modern authors, but in addition they will contain autographic appreciations by distinguished personalities. One of the prizes of the collection, for instance, will bo a copy of Paul Valery's "Discours de Valery," autographed by no less a porsonago than M. Doumergue, the President of the Republic himself, while a volume signed by M. Poincare, the Premier, | will undoubtedly evoke spirited"bidding.; Other noteworthy "lots" will be- M. ! Barres' " Jar din sur l'Oronte," signed ] by General Pershing, Abbe Prevost'sj "Maaon Lescaut," signed by Marshal Joffre, and Oscar Wilde's "Ballad of Reading Goal," with the signature of M. Barthon, the French Minister of Justie*, appended. Add to all this that M. Barthou himsell.'will be seen in the xm.aceugtomed role" of auctioneer and tho interesting character of the sale will be appreciated. It.will take place in the headquarters of the Legion of Hononr on the Qnai d'Orsay. POOR EVE! Although men envy the coolness and comfort of women's., clothes in hot weather, writes a woman correspondent, there are occasions when the* tables aro turned. Men, for instance, can usually keep themselves dry in the heavy summer showers that have marked these latter days. Poor Eve, however, finds them very trying. It is usually too warm to wear a coat and, in any ease, she carries only _a diminutive umbrella. When a shower comes suddenly from a:hithertoo blue sky she may,in a few seconds be wet to the skin, her pretty frock''a soaked rag, her thin shoes, which afford her little or no protection against tho wet pavements, squelch unpleasantly with every step, and her fragile stockings aro muddied almost to the knee. Her appearance, she feels', has been ruined and when the sun appears again the creases in her dress and tho spots, on her hose aro enough to provoke her to tears. "HUMAN" WAX FIGURES. _ Men's tailors, of late, have been coming to the conclusion apparently that it is better for their wax mannequins, to look more lifelike. Good oxamples of this new -phase in window display maybe seen on the Grands Boulevards. In one shop window, for example, a humorist in wax, with ono cyo closed and an mane grin, balances a cane on his finger. • Near him stands another mannequin watching him with a strained and frowning look, while a third looks on with a pitying smile. Another figure is equipped with an eye-glass and three gold teeth, and in a corner are two mannequins telling one another, seemingly, funny stories. Tho novelty of the display draws a delighted crowd to tho windows. '.■",. ARC DE TRIOMPHE. Parisians, as well as visitors, will be interested in the announcement that the lift in the Are de Triomphe is installed and will shortly be'ready for public use. A small charge will be made for its use, and so it should prove as profitable an innovation for tho authorites as it will be. welcome to the public. Could a similar mechanism be introduced into one or two other lofty monuments or public buildings, without, of course, disfiguring them, tho public would undoubtedly bo appreciative, as many people dislike climbing m dark passages bo matter how. safe-

they may be. A great deal of opposition had to be overcome before the lift in the Are do Triomphe could be constructed, and at one time it was widely rumoured that. the "desecration" would go so far as to install on this great monument a roof-garden and supply teas and musical entertainment for sightseers. There was not, of course, theslightest foundation for such suppositions, and the Arch will continue, as heretofore, a splendid shrine to tho memory of France's gallant dead, and nothing in the'facilities it offers for obtaining one of the finest views to be seen in any city of the world will be allowed to interfere with its character as a great memorial. " "JOURNEY'S END" RECORD. In August- there will be no fewer than eight companies presenting thefamous play, "Journey's End," in different parts of the world. Few plays in recent'years have proved so popular. It has taken on a new lease of life in London, where it has been transferred from the Savoy to the Prince of Wales Theatre. It has made a hit in New York, and a company is to produce this moving drama of trench life in Australia shortly. At the moment it is still drawing large houses nightly at the Theatre Albert'ler in Paris, and Saturday evening will see its fiftieth consecutive-performance there. To cele-. brate tho occasions the English players will present a special souvenir, and the bookings are expected to reach highwater mark. In the autumn the company will take the play on tour through the Continent. Geneva will be visiteil during tho session of the League, followed, by visits to the larger cities of Switzerland and Germany, after which Denmark, Norway, and Sweden will have r.n opportunity of seeing one of the finest and- most starkly realistic war plays ever staged. "ROSE MARIE" A RECORD. Not even in their most optimistic moments, it is safe to say, did the brothers Isola, who have provided Paris with so many excellent entertainments, when they put on "Rose Mario" at the Theatre Mogador, dream that it would reach its thousandth performance. Yet this remarkable record has just been achieved by this most popular of musical plays. The event, on Tuesday night, was made the occasion of a rare gathering at the Mogador of nearly everybody who is anybody in the entertainment world of Paris. There were Mistinguett, Spin elli, Earl Leslie,_ Hairy Pilcer, and a host of others;' not to mention literary folk and people well known in :the Paris social world, and all. had come to toast "Rose Marie" and its' marvellous achievement. Never before has any play in Paris achieved a run of 1000 successive performances. It is interesting also to note, according to MM. Isola that.the people who have kept the play going have been middle-class people, who have found in .".Rose, Marie", something that never failed to appeal, to them. Many have gone to see the play again and again. MATTERS OF CENTIMES. • Here are two little points of justice that'may- bo profitably discussed over the coffee cups. Point No. 1: The other day someone enjoying' a morning walk in tho Bois do Boulogne had occasion to tie up his shoe lace which had come undone. To do so he put his foot on ono of the littlo folding chairs provided for public use. The watchful chaisiere pounced upon him and demanded the fee of-25 centimes. He refused, pointing out that lie had not s:it oil the ■■chair, but the.'women .insisted that he had occupied the chair, and therefore must pay. The policeman whoyvas cilled confessed the matter was too delicate for him and walked away. The promenadcr did likewise. Point No. 2: French. Government and municipal offices in issuing their .calls .on. the public, work out the amounts to fractional, centimes, and thus in change givo 1-ccn-time pieces. Somewhat arbitrarily, howver, they refuse to take these 1-con-time pieces when the citizen pays his bill. One long-suffering citizen has just written to a Paris newspaper stating that he has a pile of 1-ccntimo pieces, a somewhat melancholy legacy of 30 years of honest taxpaying. MUSICAL SAW DISPUTE. It seems a great pity that when anyone succeeds in making music out of a thing like a saw there should be a dispute about it. So signal an achievement as the wooing of this unlikely subject to the utterance of sweet sounds surely deserved a happier sequel^ And yet one has sadly, to record that a dis-

pute has arisen in connection with the music of the saw. Two firms of musical instrument makers are at present contesting tho honour of having been tho first to exploit tho saw, which will emit a soft, cooing note, rising or falling in try scale, according to tho degree to which the steel is flexed by the performer. The Fratellini Brothers wero the first to introduce the instrument to the Paris public; they, however, are not. among the disputants. Not even the two musical instrument makers are to go unchallenged in their claim, for from another source one hears it declared that the musical saw first broke into melody in 1921, when it was employed by orchestras-in Buenos Aires. *A RELIC OF THE WAR. The face of Paris has changed considerably since 1914, for old' streets have been pulled down and new flats and hotels have sprung up,in every district, but there may still be seen'on a large building near the Place de la Concorde a souvenir of those far-off days when the city was first stirred to its war. In 191-1 it represented a notice which made the hearts of these who i saw it beat faster with dread or with excitment, but now it is merely a "soiled piece of paper, with its edges torn and some of the words on it defaced. It reads. simply, 'General Mobilisation: The Mayor, of the Bth Arrondisement. informs the inhabitants that general mobilisation is declared 2nd August, 1914." ■'■ ' . . . ■ -|