A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1929, Page 14

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON TOWN.

AN ELIGIBLE PRINCESS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, May 23. Each succeeding visit which Princess Ingrid of Sweden pays to England sets in motion a circle of rumours about her forthcoming betrothal to an English Prince. It has begun all over again this week —the talk about her marriage, and people refuse to believe that- these annual holidays of hers in England are primarily due to the fact that she is closely related to our own Royal house. Fortunately she is one of those sensible modern young people who are not worried by gossip about marriage. She is great friends with all the Princes, and sees a good deal of the Prince of Wales because he shares the garden of Connaught House with tlie Duke of Connaught. THE KING’S SHACK. The King has never, I think, appreciated so much the delightful little shack which the Canadians built for him in the privacy of the Home, Park during the war, and to which he finds he can retire now and enjoy the air without fear of being disturbed. The shack was a tribute of affection to their Majesties from the men who were in charge of the forestry at Windsor in the war years, and was built to represent a typical colonial hut. It was, however, finished with the utmost care, and everything was done to make it as cosy as possible inside. The Queen superintended its furnishing, and now the King sits there for several hours every day, reading, or chatting to her Majesty and Princess Elizabeth. A SAD GRANDDAUGHTER. Lord Rosebery’s orphan granddaughter, little Ruth Primrose, will find life very empty for a long time to come. The companionship which existed between her and her grandfather was of the most devoted kind, and never again, probably, will she have quite the same privileges and pleasures. Fate has dealt this attractive and clever little daughter of two great houses a series of hard blows. Her father, Lord Rosebery’s gifted son, Neil Primrose, was killed

when she was a baby. Her mother, the only daughter of Lord Derby, met her death nearly two years ago in the hunting field, and, now she is bereft of her grandfather, with whom she lived sometimes for months at a time at Epsom. Her mother’e people, Lord and Lady Derby, are devoted to her, and it is, I imagine, possible that she will make her home very much with them in the future.

A NOTABLE BOOK.

Lady Frances Balfour will shortly be publishing her autobiography. It should be a very interesting book, for she has spent all her life among famous and prominent people. She is a daughter of that Duke of Argyle who was famous as a fiery orator. Lady Frances was brought up at Inverary Castle in almost feudal conditions. But she was a child of her age, and early became a prominent feminist and on ardent suffragist. She married, when quite young, Lord Balfour’s youngest brother Eustace, and from that time was associated with leading politicians. In those days she had bright red hair, and a vivacious, not to say aggressive, manner. If one particle of her vivacity and emphasis has passed into her style, the book should be racy and provocative, for Lady Frances does not spare her critic-

ism. FASHIONS IN FOOD.

Oversea hostesses, who always seem so genuinely pleased to entertain their guests, may like to know some of ’’ic food fads of the London season. For there are fashions in meals just as there are vogues in clothes these days. The elaborate dinner of many courses is gradually fading out. Instead, there is a cocktail party round about six or seven o’clock, at which people eat salted almonds, chipped potatoes, olives, and the delicacies usually associated with hors d’oeuvres. If dinner is served afterwards, it is a very light one, because everybody concentrates on supper

now, and risks the effect of eating ‘’mixtures,” at which our grandmothers would have held up their hands in horror, last thing at night. We have certainly got away from the kipper craze, and not many people go in for “sausage and mashed” as they used to do after seeing a show. But there is a tremendous demand for smoked salmon —not a scrap which serves as an aperitif, but a whole plateful, eaten with crisp new rolls! BALHAM AND TOOTING.

It is a dreadful thought that the twin daughters of Dr. Brook, the Labour candidate for Balham and Tooting, may be penalised for their indiscretion in having entered this world on the eve of a general election by having to go through life under the names of “Bally” and “Tootsie.” Some facetious friend has suggested that they may be christened “Balham” and “Tooting,” and Dr. Brook is understood to have agreed provided he be elected. If the threat is fulfilled it will by no means be the first occasion children have had to suffer through being born at the time of political crises. The middle forms of Russian schools are at present overflowing with little Lenius and Trotskies, while France is full of war-named youths and maidens. The industrial unrest of 192 G also brought its patch of freak-named • children. In one Durham mining village there is at present a toddler who rejoices in the name of Lockout.

THE NEW SPORTING CLUB.

Everybody is asking about the new International Sportsmen’s Club which is to open in London at the beginning of next- month. It represents a rather charming gesture on the part of many of our well-known sporting men who want players of every sort of game to feel, when they come here from other countries, that there is a welcome awaiting them.- I am told that the club owes its inspiration to the Prince of Wales. When he was offering his good wishes to Lord Lonsdale at the time of his golden wedding, he said that the best friendships, whether individual or international, were made on the field of sport. A dozen men with big sporting interests immediately interested themselves in the formation of this club, which is housed in Park Lane in superb surroundings, and the prominent people who have been seeing tne scheme through include the Duke of Westminster, Lord Londonderry, the Duke of Penaranda—a relative of the King of Spain—and Mr. Harry Payne "Whitney, the American racing man.

PUPPY’S ROMANCE. It is probable that many ardent admirers of that famous film actor, Rin-Tin-Tin, do not know about his romantic history. He was one of a litter of five police puppies and with his sister Nanette was found in a captured sector on the Alsace-Lorraine front by an American airman, Lieut. Lee Duncan. They were named after a pair of French lovers who were said to be the only survivors of an air raid on a small French hamlet. Lieut. Duncan took them home to California with him after the armistice, but Nanette soon died, her place as Rinty’s companion being taken, however, by another police puppy given to his owner by a friend. Rinty showed amazing capacity for training, and among his feats is the scaling of a 17ft wall. He became a film star immediately, and is now quite at home in “talkie” pictures.

THE HAIR PROBLEM.

Most women are much more concerned at the moment about their hair tlian their politics. To bob or not to bob is again the question. That fashionable women are growing their tresses is certain. That can be confirmed any night by looking round the stalls and boxes at a fashionable West End theatre. Even the dowagers are in the intermediate stage now of hyacinthine curls. But whether Miss Viola Tree, otherwise Mrs. Alan Parsons, will win her bet with Lady Diana Cooper depends. Miss Viola wagered a year ago that long hair would come back and the shingle vanish. The latter is almost true already, but will women generally in these days of work and sport be willing to sacrifice comfort and expedition on the altar of fashion? Middle-aged ladies who know how bobbed hair rejuvenates them are sure to rebel, and the modern flapper may be equally firm about it. If long hair does return, then long skirts will come too.

A SPORTINU MYSTERY.

The head .mistress of a well-known secondary school in London asked a question to-day over which I have sometimes puzzled myself. Why is it that almost all the women lawn tennis stars are good looking, and nearly all the women golf celebrities just the reverse? There most certainly is for some reason or other a marked contrast between the two types, and it is all in favour of the lady with the racket and against the one with the driver. Miss Helen Wills and Miss Eileen Bennett are, as everybody knows, positive beauties. The ranks of the lady golf champions can show nothing to approach them. And this curious contrast is mainly true in the average case too.

PROFESSIONAL PACKERS

It is now possible for a visitor at a London hotel to hire a professional packer to pack her trunks when leaving. The manager of a well-known West End hotel tells me this service is neither unusual nor extravagant. He points out that women, especially visitors from America, often buy clothes in London worth hundreds of pounds, which can easily be depreciated 50 per cent., if not entirely ruined, by unskilled packing. The professional woman packer is usually a lady’s maid as well, and makes a charge of 10s 6d and upward for packing a trunk. The packing of tropical outfits for India and the colonies, which is also done professionally, is itsuallv done by men.

A FLORAL COMPETITION.

I hear that some of the London florists are finding themselves up against a rather interesting form of competition in connection with the coming-out dances of some of this year’s debutantes. . Hostesses, a little tired of seeing the' same scheme of floral decoration in every ballroom they enter, and having lovely country gardens of their own, are having flowers sent up t-o them from “home” and getting their garden staff to decorate their town houses. Some charming effects are obtained in this way. AJI the flowers are late this year, and wonderful touches of spring can be obtained quite simply by the arrangement of a branch or two from a freely flowering fruit tree combined with whole armfuls of tulips. Lady Astor is very fond of decorating her house in St. James’s Square with great branches of foliage, and Mrs. Baldwin used to bring car loads of greenery up from Chequers and from her Worcestershire home to make Number- Ten beautiful.

FILM STRUCK SPARROWS.

There is one British film studio where love of nature and the simple life has perceptibly decreased since “talkies” and the spring came in together. For some days the director, the actors, and the cameramen worked their normal hours upon the floor, but it was found that the birds who flew in and out of the cavities in the glass roof were taking too friendly an interest in the proceedings. The leading actress would splendidly . begin her part, but a sudden “cheep” would be interjected into the sounds recorded by the microphone. Electricians promptly focussed “spotlights” on the offending birds, but they gloried in this attention, having apparently developed a film complex. Finally, the director- succumbed. All scenes are now being taken after the birds have gone to sleep, and the actors, technicians, and director are being kept up till 4 o’clock every morning by common or garden London sparrows.

GIBSON GIRL’S DAUGHTER.

A good many film fans consider Dolores Costello to be the outstanding beauty of the cinema screen. A really interesting fact about this statuesque actress is that her mother was the original model who posed to Charles Dana Gibson, the American black-and-white artist, when he created his wellknown “Gibson Girl” type. This was in the days before her marriage. Mrs. Costello was then Miss May Altshuh. Her features and figure attained worldwide celebrity in the “Gibson Girl” drawings, and she is still regarded as the characteristic American type of feminine good looks. It was only quite recently that Mr. Gibson, whose artistic medium gave' her so much fame, discovered that his former model is now the mother of an even more famous film star.

SOCIAL SIDE OF OPERA.

In the old brilliant days of opera in London there was always a great deal of entertaining in connection with it out-side the Opera House. This seems to be coming back by degrees, and in the last week or two one has had invitations to delightful parties at which the great soloists in the Wagnerian operas have been guests of honour and have sung by way of helping their hosts and hostesses to entertain. One of the most charming of guests is, of course, Elizabeth Schumann, who is always in demand by her many musical friends in London. She gives her wonderful voice unsparingly, and when she is not singing she is delighting everybody with her witty conversation. The German Ambassador and the Austrian Minister in London provide the background for the most imposing of these “opera parties,” but English hostesses often have the delight of entertaining a soloist at a thoroughly English athome.