A PARISIAN FETE

Evening Star, Issue 17921, 17 March 1922, Page 6

A PARISIAN FETE

MOULIN ROUGE REOPENED

Silent before (ho war, the Moulin Rouge, or “Red Mill," for so long a feature of the pleasure 'places of Montmartre, is again at work. Montmartre has a republic of its own, controlled by famous caricaturists like Willctte, Foraiu, Poulpot, Neumont, and Hanf.i. It was solemnly proclaimed last year, and as a Marianne for tho eocoiid year of its existence had to bo clextod it was felt that no more suitable place for ♦tie fete could bo chosen than the Moulin Rouge on its reopening. There has never been anything like the scene witnessed at its opening. “Tout Parts” was there. Firmin Gcmier lent his genius as a producer of spectacles, and put on a show which revived the atmosphere of the French Revolution. Four thousand people who filled tho dancing place wore costumes of the period. One saw Ohouans, aristocrats in wies, Muscadine, chic ladies known as Lea klarveillcnses. royalists, and officers, but the majority of masqueraders belonged to the category of. Sans Gulotte, wearing Phrygian caps, blue and red blouses, rod neckerchiefs, and striped trousers. .And to giro verisimilitude to a night of tho Terror, there were men and women with smeared faces, as though they had been engaged in bloody conflict, and a guillotine. the same instrument of execution which worked unceasingly at Ivimes. It cut off tho head of Satan, and chopped bread for tho supper.

In color the spectacle ris true to history. The “ Carmagnole ” was Ming, and a singer from the opera, who had his pla.ee in the Temple of Reason, taught “revolutionaries” the ‘ Marseillaise ’ line by line, while the Provencal hVnndolo was reconstituted for the occasion. But in expression the night tinder the Terror had a gay rather than a, tragic note. The election of Marianne was the “clou ” of this wonderful show. Of course, the candidates were selected for their beauty and shapeliness. They were mannequins, and they were dressed by the lending dressmakers in Paris. Milo. Dollio was the chosen beauty, and her triumph was .signalised by a, Sans Culollo carrying her through the crowd on his shoulders. The spectacle ended by a parade of the “Ministers" of the Montmartre Republic, which, by the way, is an ultra-patriotic body, hut is dead against any attempt made to rob the “ butte ” of iky pictiiresquencsa. The French Revolution was forgotten,' and wo were brought back to realities, to the shimmy, fox trot, tango, and Boston dances, which, in the opinion of the- Montmartre Ministers, prove that man is indeed descended from the monkey, and that woman is returning to (his animal. Nono the toss, it was a gay ball. The Phrygian caps were like nodding poppies in a field, and flaming red was accentuated by an illuminated windmill in the ballroom, while another outside kept turning all night, lighting up the boulevard, which was filled by a vast crowd watching the arrival and departure of masqueraders. There was no doubt about it. tho reopening of the Moulin Rouge was cn event in the life of Paris.