HIGH JINKS AT DEAUVILLE

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3494, 2 November 1926, Page 13

HIGH JINKS AT DEAUVILLE

THE MYSTERY OF THE “HARK DOZEN.” Deauville, the dream of a man who transformed it almost in a night from a waste of empty sands on the Normandy coast to a pleasui’C city without parallel in the world, has opened its Arabian Nights season—the merriest, maddest, most riotously extravagant four weeks to bo had anywhere—with a bang (writes a correspondent). This year ihe stage is set for a wilder orgy of pleasure and spending than ever. All the world and his wife, and the world and somebody else’s wife —more often the latter—are here for the fun. There is only one cloud to dull the brilliant season in prospect—there arc not enough men to go round! Three-quarters of the glitter and frivolity arc purely of feminine origin. The hotels are full of pretty girls, but half are escortlcss. Fever Heat. But it is only the Eves who are worrying: the fortunate Adams arc having the time of their lives! j.ovoly women in superb gowns, wealthy holiday-makers from both hemispheres, adventuresses, chevaliers of fortune —never has there been such a gathering of pleasure hunters and sensation mongers. And the luxury resort grow-s fuller every day. Vaster and more expensive motor-cars than ever honk through the streets; dresses are daily growing more extravagant, and there is less of them; the marvellous casino is ablaze with Jewels and colours; anybody and everybody seems to haVc “money to burn.” Everything is feverish—the dancing, the gambling, and the flirtations. Everybody seems to bo wanting to forget someone or something. And they don’t seem to care much how they do it.

The Dark Dozen. X.ifc is always exciting- at Deauville, but an extra thrill is added to it this year by the Dark Dozen — so-called because they look exactly as though they had stepped from the pages of a William le Queux spy story. There are five women and seven men; and their appearance and manner would be enough to get them arrested in any country that happened to be at war. Sometimes they are seen about together; at other times they will pass each other without speaking. Nobody knows anything about them —who they are —where they hail from. Tljey seem to have plenty of money, and the jewels of the women are the envy of the town. That is as much as the curious have been able to discover. Meanwhile, the Dark Dozen are under suspicion. Deauville distrusts mysteries, and they present a problem that is baffling. Girl’s £BOO,OOO Gems. Among other arrivals who have created some stir is a blonde young English girl who usually lives in Paris. "When she was dancing in a fashionable restaurant there recently she was said to be wearing £SOO,000 worth of jewels. She is credited with owning one of the longest diamonds in the world. It is nearly an Inch long, and she wears it on her right hand. On the little finger of her left hand glitters another almost three-quarters the size. Round her neck is a marvellous pendant, each stone the size of a largo piece of sugar lump. Where the glitter of fashion is most brilliant is the “Best-Dressed Woman.” Mrs Nash, whose bathing suits have caused a mild sensation. Deers—and Others. Three English peers are having a holiday minus their wives. And maharajahs, multi-millionaires, wealthy Argentines, film stars and actresses —whoso acting is chiefly Oft the stage!—arc as common as mill hands at Blackpool. The English contingent includes one, bishop, a canon, and several judges. Foreign princes and titles are two a penny. In a stroll along the “plage” a few mornings ago I counted at least thirty people with more or less blue blood in their veins. They seem to be about the only pleasure-makers in the town who are hard-np! The woman friend of one prince a Russian —is so poorly _ dressed lhat the, "tabbies” are talking about getting up a subscription to buy her a now gown!

Chewing Gum. But outward show is never a safe guide to a person's pocket at Beau* villo. A shabby little man with an untidy threadbare suit, who smokes cigars in the lounge of one of the smaller hotels all day, can sign a cheque for tw'o million pounds and never miss the money. He is an American oil king of fabulous wealth. There are more Americans hero than ever. In fact, one can scarcely stir without running up against a jaw jutting with chewing gum. At the Casino the other evening one husky son of tiio States actually parked his gum on one of the tables —much to tho disgust of the croupier—while he wagered a dollar on the red. Bife at Deauville is topsy-turvy. There are more pretty women in bathing costumes than tho wildest dreams ot an American film producer. Yet not one in ten ever enters the water. That would spoil the costumes.

Instead they festoon the sands sun-bathing under sunshades! In the morning Deauville is a lic-a-bed city. Scarcely anybody rises early, and life only really gets into its stride after nightfall. Then the Casino lights flash out like a beacon, and tho merry gamblers make for them like moths.

Gambling is more daring than ever. Fortunes are being lost and won almost every night.

The minister of fashion who created the Deauville of to-day—M. Kugeno Oornuchc—has not lived to

witness its zenith. ■ During his lifctime ho used to walk through the rooms of the Casino as quietly and as humble as though ho wore tlio humblest of the waiters. Some say ho never enjoyed hla tov. At any rate ho never enjoyed the pleasures he had crated. ‘l am tired, too tired,” he once declared.