IN PLACE OF THE DINNER PARTY.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1932, Page 19 (Supplement)

IN PLACE OF THE DINNER PARTY.

COFFEE AT SIX O’CLOCK.

(By

L.S.)

“Autres temps, autres moeurs” and we are living up to the saying at present by changing our ideas of what is expected of us in the way of entertainment. The dinner party of other times is going, simply because it is too costly and too exacting as regards domestic help. Incidentally, hostesses are finding that they can do very well without it. Many an invitation is now timed for 6 p.m., which means that it will be a ,coffee-party to which the men can come on from their offices. Cocktails are temporarily out of fashion, but there will bo “soft drinks” for those who prefer them to coffee. Also, there will be a multitude of sandwiches, mostly savoury, but a few made of sweeter stuff, such as preserved ginger, crushed nuts, and sliced These are quite sufficient for the guests, who for the most part will have made arrangements to cut out late dinner and substitute a light supper later on. These “6 p.m.” affairs, entailing no anxiety, pecuniary or domestic, meet the present occasion wonderfully. They prove extremely sociable, save guests the cost of taxi-fares, and the trouble of getting into evening dress, and make frequent festivities of a simple nature quite possible. Many hostesses are now making them a fortnightly or a monthly institution, either issuing invitations on each occasion or letting it be known that they are "at home-” on given days.

FEMININE “TITLES” IN GERMANY.

LUDICROUS PRACTICE GROW’S UP.

(By HF.) Germany boasts the winner of the ladies’ open tennis championship and at least one lady pilot capable of holding her own with our best women aviators. But this is a country where a girl’s opportunities of winning fame are restricted to the years before her marri-ao-e. After that there is only one ideal for her—to be a good “hausfrau.” She is there to minister to her husband’s comfort, to send him forth to business duly fed and clad, and to see that his slippers are warmed for him against his return in the evening. In return for taking off his mind all cares except business ones, she is allowed her share in his success by incorporating his business standing in her name. She will thus be known as Frau Director Smith, although Mr. Smith may be only the director of a small one-man private company of meagre assets and doubtful financial stability; or Frau Doctor Jones, but this only means that Mr. Jones has taken a doctor’s degree in commerce or chemistry in some possibly obscure university. The wife of a doctor of medicine is known as Frau Medical Doctor X. Less romantic titles are equally common, and visiting cards are solemnly e’ngraved with such appellations as Frau Building Adverser Brown, and even Frau Doctor Sanitary Inspector Robinson. This practice has been carried to such lengths that a reaction is beginning to set in, and those whose position is above the need of such petty boosting are demanding that their wives shall content themselves with a simple Frau. But in the provincial towns it shows no lygns of abating, and among a young girl’s admirers he who can offer her a “Frau Director” before her name stands a better chance than his rivals who have not taken the precaution of turning their businesses into limited companies before making their advances.

MADAME GEOFFRIN. THE RUE SAINT HONORE. (bTYf.) So little was she influenced by her age and environment that one feels Madame Geoffrin belonged to no definite period of history. Were she alive today, she would probably be little different from the woman who in the 18th century ruled the “Kingdom of the Rue Saint Honore” in Paris. At a time when airs and graces paved the way to social success, she alone was simple, unaffected, prim and rather censorious. She made no secret of the fact that she was the daughter of a valet de chambre, and that she could neither read quickly nor spell well. Although she was very rich, she wore no jewels, and she scorned all artificial aids to beauty, dressing in quiet Quaker-like clothes, a prim muslin cap on her unpowdered hair. She was married at 14, and thdre ,was little affection between her and her husband, who was over 30 years her senior. It is to his credit that he tolerated his wife’s social ambitions, although he heartily disapproved of them. And when, in middle-age, Madame Geoffrin laid the foundations of her famous salon by'* giving literary dinners every Wednesday, the old man took it on himself to arrange all the menus, and in fact to do the entire housekeeping of their establishment. He would then sit in silence at the dinner table, gazing gloomily at his wife’s guests. The hostess was the only woman present at these Wednesday dinners, for she maintained that women introduced a frivolous element into any gathering. It is perhaps going too far to say that her salon Was the “nursery of the French Revolution,” but the thinkers and politicians who met at ■ her table certainly solved the seeds, and exerted the greatest influence on their time. There were also entertainments of a less intense nature in the Rue Saint Honore. On Mondays it was the rendezvous of the artists of Paris, for Madame Geoffrin was a noted connoisseur and art patron. Women were then permitted to enter her austere rooms, but if ever the old saloniere thought the conversation was becoming too frivolous or overstepping the bounds of decorum, she would rap on the table with her lorgnette, saying “Come now!” in a severe tone.

She was feared, but she was also beloved, for her kindness to friends and dependents knew no bounds. She never forgot the starving poor of Paris, and tried in many ways to alleviate their lot.

The evening before her depth in 1777 a few friends were gathered round her bedside, and the talk turned on the subject nearest the old saloniere’s heart—government for the good of the people. ■Practically her last words were: “Add to good government the care of procuring the people pleasures—a thing that is not sufficiently considered.” Syncopated Mannequins. Dancing mannequins are the fashion experts’ latest aid in enticing women to buy new frocks (states the Daily Mail). Several/ London dressmakers held a parade at Giro’s Club, Leicester Square, in February, with their spring models shown off by these syncopated mannequins, as they were termed. Mr. Philip Vernon, a dress parade expert, who originated the idea, said: —“People have become too accustomed to the traditional mannequin who walks slowly, hand on hip, round the room. Women want to see how their dresses will look under all conditions, how their dance dresses will look in the swaying movements of the waltz or the rhythm of the rumba. In my parade a girl will show off her frock in the traditional manner, and then she will dance steps to suit the type of dress, and sing. A tall brunette in a red dress will do the tango, a fair-haired type in a fluffy dress w’ill waltz, and so forth. I am looking for 12 girls, each to be the perfection of her particular type,' and so far I have found only four. I want blondes, brunettes, a red-headed girl, and platinum blonde —if I can find her in England. But I never have a girl whose hair is tinted. There are hundreds of natural platinum blondes in the United States, but they are rare in this country. This will be the first time that syncopated mannequins have ’ been seen in England. I have tried them in the United States and in Hollywood, and the results have been most successful.” •