“JOY OF LIFE” BALL.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18492, 6 February 1930, Page 10

“JOY OF LIFE” BALL.

ELABORATE PAGEANT AT COVENT GARDEN.

(Prom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 12. More than 200 performers took part in the Joy of Life Ball at the Covent Garden Opera House, where the pageant was one of the most elaborate ever witnessed. The ball, which was in aid of the People's League of Health, of which the King is patron, attracted more than a thousand dancers. The pageant was staged at midnight and consisted of 17 episodes, depicting the joys of life, some of the characters including Romance, Beauty, Adornment, Wealth, Learning, Art, and Sport. Following this was a dress parade showing exaggerated fashions throughout the centuries from the 13th. century up to the most modern dresses, pyjamas and bathing suits from the Lido. Lady Brecknock, in a marvellous winged costume as Life, was followed by Grecian, Egyptian, Italian, Georgian, and Lido scenes. The costumes were very magnificent. Mr Bruce Winston was producer. In the Grecian scene was Lady Georgiana Curzon, who represented Helen of Troy, dressed in yellow chiffon with a wreath of pmk roses. She had no opportunity, however, of emulating Helen, for she was under the watchful eye of her mother, Lady Howe, whose magnificent tiara glittered from a box. The “Scene at Bath,” the Georgian

scene, included Sir Frank and Lady Newnes, who represented Beau Nash and Augusta Princess of Wales. Lady Newnes’s costume was one of the most remarkable in the whole show. It was one of the actual dresses worn by her three times great-grandmother, the' Baroness of Rutzen, in 1790, and it was an exquisite cream satin affair embroidered in pink and green flowers. She wore, too, some of her same ancestress’s jewellery to match the dress —some yellow and green topaz set in gold. Other scenes of interest were the “See Me Dance the Polka” scene, in which Lady Mountgarret took part, the performers wearing exaggerated period costumes, the Goya (Spanish) I scene, and the Lido scene. Unfortunately, during the pageant, one member of the Spanish scene, wearing a brocade, full-panniered Spanish costume, tripped and fell headlong down the half-dozen steps leading on to the floor. She must have been considerably shaken, but picked herself up, and, with a smile, took her place in the procession. The audience, appreciating her courage, applauded vigorously. Most bizarre of all was the Lido scene, in which many* well-known society girls took part, dressed in grotesque costumes and enormous headdresses . These included Lady Audrey Talbot, Lady Gwendoline and Lady Myrtle Jellicoe, Lady Patricia Moore, Miss Joy Verney, Miss Betty Nuthail, and the Hon. Mrs Charles BaillieHamilton.

The most brilliant figure at the ball was the Hon. Mrs John Barran, Lord Buthven’s daughter, and one of the famous Ruthven twins. She represented “Adornment,” and she wore the finest set of white diamonds ever worn by an individual. The jewels, valued at £200,000, were lent by Mr Cartier, of Bond Street, to the Ball Committee, to assist them in their portrayal of “Adornment,” as representing the last word in ultra-modern fashion in contrast to other characters attired in the fashions of Eve and the Stone Age. The headdress, valued at £38,000, was a close-fitting cap of brilliant black beads, over which was a broad band of diamonds from the nape of the neck terminating at the forehead with a large pear-shaped diamond pendant. The necklace was composed of a row of large diamonds fitting to the neck and a long cabled chain of solitaire diamonds, and was valued at £65,000. A large single stone diamond ring was valued at £38,000. and other ornaments, such as bracelets, dress ornaments and anklets, at over £60,000. As a special setting for these jewels, Mrs Barran wore a specially-designed black evening frock with a double train, representing the last word in modern fashion. A large staff of detectives was in attendance. Primo Camera, the giant boxer, was greeted with roars of applause when he approached as Strength, a massive figure wearing nothing but a leopard skin, and carrying a large club. Miss Betty Nuthall, the tennis star, was Sport.

Other striking dresses were worn by Mrs Woolley-Hart, as Cleopatra in the Egyptian scene, and by Mrs Winifred Garnder and *Mrs Wilfred Ashley, as the Sun and the Moon. At 1.30 a.m., members of the Lido group took part in a race on wooden horses, the starters for which were Michael Beary (jockey), Bobby Howes (stage star), and Primo Camera. Miss Joy Verney was an easy winner of this, though Lady Patricia Moore could not manage her steed at all. Lord Lonsdale, the judge,, enjoyed himself enormously, and skipped about like a two-year-old. Frocks appear to have been the main subject of conversation at the ball. Apart from the gorgeous costumes worn in the pageant, there were more ankle-length frocks worn to the square yard than at any other affair during the season. Long and flowing, or tight and constricting, they almost touched the ground all the way round. Moving, in some cases, was extremely difficult. Two women had the misfortune to appear in exactly the same and very distinctive design, one in black and the other in a deep blue.