NOTES FROM LONDON

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1930, Page 17

NOTES FROM LONDON

LONDON’S ICE CARNIVALS. (From Our Own Correspondent). Our skating, and ice performances generally, are improving out of all recognition) Last winter there were perhaps a dozen people who were outstanding figures on the ice club rink when carnivals took place, and of these Lady Rachel Stuart, the Duke of Devonshire’s daughter, was probably the most efficient and graceful. She- had the benefit of. several winters in Canada when her father was Governor-General, and so wao thoroughly at home on the ice. A night or two ago, when the first of this season’s society carnivals took place at the ice club,’it .was interesting to see so many men and women who were novices twelve, months ago skating and cutting figures with? the greatest ease; The exhilaration which skating gives brings a very happy expression to most faces. After the bored,* weary looks one encounters In most ballrooms it is very refreshing. “ j-y. ■ ■ ' •

SUMMER UMBRELLAS. ...... The ib-hger skirt .is producing the longer umbrella.- From the displays of summer umbrellas now being shown to th 3 trade, it is plain that the prophecies of four and five foot umbrellas are not to be realised just yet, but. nearly all the hew models are what the trade calls “walking length.” . Cheeks are expected to be popular and various shades of pink are being used. The greens, however, so universal a few years ago, have rather lost favour, as th modern girl found them not too kind to the complexion. A great feature of the new umbrella ranges is the number of beach and garden umbrellas in large sizes and bold designs. It is,, however, rather a reflection on our climate that these are called umbrellas, and not sunshades. lam told the technical distinction is that a waterproofed sunshade is an umbrella. THE DECLASSE PEACH. There are certain fruits of the earth, notably early strawberries shown in West End fruiterers’ windows at about la each, that arouse the worst class hatred. Street corner orators of the red tub variety expatiate eloquently on such luxuries of “the idle rich.” But up-to-date cold storage and steamship enterprise are knocking the red tub from under the feet of these demagogues. The peach used to be one of the luxury fruits. Poor men, with income tax returns in their suburban-tailored pockets, gazed at such damask costliness behind shopwindows, and passed on to the banana stall. Those days are gone. The peach is declasse now. London consumed about 7,000,000 last year —an average of about one per head of our Cockney population. South Africa is .sending regular supplies even to our Strand costers. WHAT THE MANNEQUINS GET These are hectic days ,for mannequins. I should think that in the whole of London nobody is so thoroughly tired by the end of March as these girls with beautiful, figures who sway so quietly through the salons of the fashionable Mayfair -dressmakers, showing off the models in the spring collections. Hour after hour they change from one frock or costume to another, and no sooner is the morning parade over than, it is time to get" ready for . the afternoon one. Many of them, too, go on from the shop at -which they are employed to take part in cabaret shows at night. What : do they get out of it ail? The gir] who is a free lance, if she has a reputation for attractiveness, can demand five and six guineas a day in the season, and add to that if she is willing to work in the evenings as. well. There are only two spells, in the year when she is able to make money like this, and, with occasional odd. days’ work when manne- t quins are required, she is expected to j. earn: enough at the spring .and autumn I parades to live on for the rest of the ■ year. ' '•

QUEEN OF COOKERY. The death of a Viennese restaurant proprietor may not seem a very important matter, but that of Frau Sacher is really something momentous. This remarkable woman was a unique figure in the restaurant world. - Almost every restaurateur of any’ distinction in London owes his early training to her. "Sacher’s” in Vienna was the worlds most exclusive restaurant, although little larger than a fair-sized billiard room. Before the war it was said that no one below the rank of an Arch-Duke could dine there, and? even an ArehDuke might be; refused admission if Frau Sacher did not like him. Some years ago I was given an introduction to Frau’ Sacher by a relative who owns a • well-known London- restaurant. !She received me like a reigning monarch in her famous sitting-room, crammed with mementoes of European sovereigns. Even- when those who knew her personally are gone, Frau Sacher will be remembered' by her “Sacher Tart,” which has become a national delicacy.