Author Attends Hollywood Party

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 886, 1 February 1930, Page 31

Author Attends Hollywood Party

GUESTS MAKE MERRY IN POOL “FATrY” ARBUCKLE, HOST Let me describe two or three of the bibulous parties I attended in Hollywood and Beverly Hills, though it will be well, perhaps, to refrain from giving the names of the particular stars who were my hosts, writes Mr. Arthur Weigal, the well-known author for the “Daily Express.” At on©, of these parties, a correct evening dress affair, dinner was served at small tables placed in a double row round the tennis court, on which a

dance floor liad been laid down for the occasion. As we trooped out into the moonlight from the drawing-room, where exceedingly potent cocktails had been drunk, and mountains of ornate appetisers had been wolfed, X observed with the pleased shock a flagrant contravention of a tiresome law always provides, that on each table stood two bottles of whisky, one bottle j of gin, and half a dozen bottles of soda-water, arrayed as a centrepiece j round the shaded lamp. Atmosphere At my table were an Apollo-like young man and a Diana-like young women, who I learned had been married to one another for some time, but were now divorced, and'were living together again. I mention the fact merely for the sake of atmosphere. A host of waiters brought the guests an excellent dinner, during which America’s most celebrated baud marched in processionally, and afterward played the usual tunes for us. The great conductor actually consented to rise from his place at a table and lead one number with a fruit fork. At another party the dinner tables were placed round a sunken pool, the water in which was about a foot deep. When the whisky had done its work, some of the guests began to step, accidentally or deliberately, into this pool as they crossed the circle to speak to friends on the other side. At length somebody sat down in it, after which somebody else lay down in it, whereat three or four others flung themselves into the water and wallowed there, pretending to be seals, while those still at the tables flung food to them. Stars as Barmen Later the wet and ruined evening clothes were exchanged for overcoats, dressing gowns, bathing suits, or whatever could be found. Then we all went into the drawing-room, which bad been ingeniously and thoughtfully converted into an old-time saloon, with a counter along one side, and two or three screen celebrities serving behind it as bartenders. At another party the receptionroom of the house had been cleared of furniture, and filled with bundles of hay. All the guests were dressed as haymakers. Charlie Chaplin’s idea of this costume, by the way, comprised a smart grey flannel suit and a red bandanna. At, yet another party, a circus ring had been constructed in the main room, within which the stars did their turns, announced by a typical ringmaster, with a whip. Supper was served at tables placed around this arena. All the waiters were dressed as clowns. Outside the front door there was a platform on which stood the usual circus characters, shouting “Walk up! Walk up!” aud beating drums. The cloak-room was a cage wherein attendants, dressed as lions, and roaring horribly, received our hats through the bars. A Great Ovation The master of the ceremonies at this party was “Fatty” Arbuckle, whose simple, silly, good-natured face carried my memory hack through the years—tragic years for him!—-to the time when he was still an idol of the public. On his entrance, to my great bewilderment, he received an ovation from the assembled celebrities. It seems that the occurrence which ruined his career, and placed the ban upon his pictures, has now been given locally a much more favourable interpretation, and what little remains of the original story is regarded as an accident which might have happened jto any exceptionally mad party. That is one of the many things to ho said for the world entertainers in I Hollywood. They judge not.