FORMER TOLAGA WOMAN FINDS NEW YORK LIFE ATTRACTIVE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22697, 23 July 1948, Page 4

FORMER TOLAGA WOMAN FINDS NEW YORK LIFE ATTRACTIVE

YOU can’t get into one of the big churches in New lork on Easter Sunday without a ticket.

Good Friday is not a holiday there,

You can have food from any part of the world any. time of th© year in New York if you are prepared to pay for it.

American women do not and are not expected to work nearly; so hard as New Zealand women.

These were four of several observations made to a Gisborne Herald representative by Mrs. Albert H. Davis, the former Margot Morris, who is paying a flying visit to her family at Tolaga Bay.

when they were flown from another part of the country the price would go up. American firms thought nothing of directly importing foodstuffs they required for certain courses or for customers. The service was also good.. One could ring one of the firms specialising in such matters and get help for catering, a baby-minder, have a church decorated or arrange a wedding or a christening. During the war when Mrs. Daviy husband was in the air force, war work claimed her attention and she worked with the British Army Staff in New York, an organisation through which all Britons’ travel arrangements were made during the war years. Mrs. Davis was in charge of reservations. She also worked for the Southern Cross Club and at the White Ensign Club (the latter an English Naval Club). From her observations of New Zealand servicemen and their reception by Americans, Mrs. Davis concluded that no forces from any country in the world had such good reputations or were so well liked as New Zealanders. < Popular With Americans

The legendary Easter Parade down Fifth and Park Avenues in New York cropped up in the conversation and it was during this that Mrs. Davis explained about the difficulty of getting into any of the big churches on these avenues on Easter Sunday,— one reserved a seat—as “eveyrone” turned up for the parade which was officially the beginning of spring. No one would dream of not having a new outfit and “an Easter bonnet'’ for the occasion. Many were as glamorous and as smart as could be seen in Paris and crowds waited to see the congregations leave the churches after the services. Churches Like Fairylands

The church interiors were like fairylands and at St. Bartholomew's service this year Mrs. Davis heard a choir of 65 men and a fanfare of trumpeters sound the beginning of the service.

Various .people celebrated the great holiday in different ways. Some rode down the avenue (teeming with millions of people), in. antique motorcars of makes prior to 1900, appropriately dressed. Movie cameramen were always on ths> spot, enormous floats appeared and Radio City was always decorated with Easter lilies for this festive New York holiday. Then there were those who wore really "mad’’ hats, as witness one woman whom Mrs. Davis observed making her way down the avenue in a hat like a bird’s nest with a pet bird in it.

“We couldn’t possibly fill the requests from Americans who wanted to show them hospitality,” she remarked. "They were always appreciative of anything done for .them and their manners were so good.” Mrs. Davis admitted that skirts m New Zealand “did look a little short’ but added that visions of women wearing extreme fashions in New York with skirts trailing along ( the ground were quite incorrect. “The average well-dressed New Yorker is wearing clothes which are no more extreme than those In London or possibly in the bigger cities in New Zealand. In the same way, the average well-spoken New Yorker has only a very slight accent and not the exaggerated one so often heard in the films,” Sh \Vith her charming, slight accent and wearing a lovely version of the “new look” herself, which might have come straight out of “Vogue,” Mrj. Davis upheld her remark about non-ex-tremes. Her nigger brown skirt was mid-calf length and with it she wore a basqued fawn and cream striped jacket belted in brown at the waist, and a triple choker of pearls. She also wore plain brown snakeskin court shoes and a fascinating gold charm bracelet with various unusual “charms” attached. Later she added a furry toque with a filmy side drape which she looped through her pearls. This is Mrs. Davis’ first trip back to New Zealand for nine years and she returns to her apartment in New York, where her husband is employed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, at the end of this month. Mr. andj Mrs. Davis have a country summer home and may go there to live permanently later on.

Referring to the fact that there is no holiday in New York on Good Friday, Mrs. Davis said that people were given time off by their employers to attend services if they wished but otherwise it was no different from an ordinary day, nor was Easter Saturday. Variety of Foodstuffs

The variety of obtainable food bad fascinated Mrs. Davis who remarked that it was possible to have any type of food or any type of national dish, at any time of the year—if one was prepared to pay for it. There were French, Italian, Swiss and Chinese cooks and chefs, restaurants specialising in various types of national cooking. It was possible to order strawberries, Persian melons or crayfish from South Afica and .know that they would be on hand when required. The United States being so close to the Continent made much of this possible, foodstuffs often being flown in on ice and not canned. Certain commodities were, depending on seasons, alternately dear and cheap. Strawberries grown just outside New York would be cheap but