FEMININE INTERESTS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18545, 16 April 1930, Page 3

FEMININE INTERESTS

PERSONAL AND FASHION NOTES. A Ballet Party: There have been many original parties recently and the latest novelty was to provide a ballet for the entertainment of one’s guests. It was the bright idea of Mrs Lovat Fraser and Mr Clough Williams-EUis, the well-known architect, who gave a party at Romney House, Hampstead. Not many houses, of course, have sufficiently large rooms for performances of this sort, but Romney House with its huge studio proved ideal for the purpose. It vr a house-warming party, for Mr .lliams-Ellis moved in a short time ago and many of his friends had not seen the novel way he has decorated the place. So the whole house was thrown open and before the ballet took place at half past twelve, everyone wandered about on a tour of inspection. Once the performance started, however, the studio where Romney once painted was crowded. The ballet had been specially arranged for the occasion by Madame Marie Rambert—who is Mrs Ashley Dukes in private life. The most attractive item of all was the dance of “Mannequin and her Beau,” to music specially composed by Eugene Goossens. As well as pupils from Madame Rambert’s ballet school, some

of the dancers from the ballet she composed for Mr Ashley Dukes’ dramatic version of “Jew Suss” also took part. Everyone regretted the absence of Mrs Clough Williams-Ellis, who was in Russia and could not get back in time for the party. Her mother, Mrs St. Loe Strachey, was there, and her young M.P. brother, Mr John Strachey, who is Sir Oswald Mosley’s secretary, came on from the House. Others to be seen were Miss Margaret Bannerman and the two young women who are perhaps the most beautiful members of the Russian colony in London, Miss Niouta Kallin and Mrs Delahaye.

Composer’s Novel Scheme: That ingenious Welsh composer and bard. Dr Leigh Henry, who is also a librettist, scenic artist, costume designer and ballet master, has embarked on a new enterprise. He is arranging special concerts for children to take place on Sunday afternoons at the Marble Arch Hall. This effort is to encourage the idea of the Children’s Museum, and is sponsored by Mr Picton Davies, the president of the Young Wales Society. The programmes are to consist of music directly connected with the moods and spirit of childhood. They will be designed to foster the imagination of the child through such music and its imagery to make it familiar with the human and ideal theme of the world’s poetry, literature, drama and painting, and to appeal to its innate musicality instead of merely instructing it in musical craft. Fairies, toys, animals, Nature and many other such-like subjects will be illustrated not only by the music but by scenic settings. At the first performance everything will tell of the fairies. The March, the Elves’ Chorus and Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the lovely Purcell and Arne airs from “The Fairy Queen” and “The Tempest,” will be some of the artistic masterpieces submitted for the approval and elevation of the youthful audience. Other composers whose work will be heard are Arnold Bax, Cyril Scott and Holbrooke, the eminent British musicians, Herbert Howells, the Australian, and Debussy and Ravel. And after this feast for the spirit, there will be a feast to appease the corporal longing of the musicians in embryo, who can book tables for a really good tea, with favours —characteristic of the programme—thrown in.

Quiet Weddings in Society: Potential wedding guests, bridesmaids and ushers have lately been denied several of what might have been very brilliant ceremonies. Perhaps brides are finding the pomp and fuss of a big wedding too great an ordeal, but several distinguished young women have recently preferred to be married very quietly. The latest was Lady Doria Hope, who was married to Mr Freddie Childe at Christ Church, Down Street. Her wedding garb was simple though attractive. She wore a tweed coat trimmed with fur and a close-fitting beige felt hat, while in her buttonhole was a spray of orchids. Mr Childe wore a doublebreasted lounge suit. The Duke of Newcastle gave his daughter away, and there were not many more than a score of guests, among them, not surprisingly, being Lady Seafield and her husband, Mr Derek Studley Herbert, for Mr Childe was the latter’s best man a short time ago.

Lady Seafield had a very quiet wedding, and so did Lady Diana Abdy and the Duchess of Westminster. They are all young women whom one might have expected to see followed by a retinue of bridesmaids. Fascism and Women: Although Fascism is primarily a men’s movement, it has not neglected the women, and Italian girls and women are now organised on an almost equal footing with boy Balillas, youthFascists, according to their age. The three categories into which the feminine admirers and supporters of Fascism have been divided are the “Little Italian Girls,” the “Maids of Italy,” and "Women Fascists.” The passage from the first group to the second takes place when the candidates are thirteen years of age, and they remain among the “Maids of Italy” until the age of eighteen, when they are eligible to become “Women Fascists.” The object of this organisation is to instil into the girls precisely at the time when their character is developing a full comprehension of the duties of a woman not only as a wife and mother, but as a citizen as well. The activities of the women’s group vary; they go from physical education in all its specialisations such as sports and gymnastics, to cultural preparation (libraries, evening and Sunday classes, educational cinemas, and theatres, etc.), while a great deal of attention is given to charitable work. It is no exaggeration to say that the practical results achieved in the very short time since the movement was first started are simply marvellous. Throughout the peninsula 1500 groups have been formed, comprising 20,000 “Maids of Italy,” duly provided with their Fascist tickets, and the organisation is developing by leaps and bounds. Moreover, there are 135,000 “Little Italian Girls” grouped in 3000 centres ready to strengthen the higher organisation as they gradually reach the required age, when they will be entitled to wear the picturesque black cap as designed by Raphael.

London Women Police: With the increase from 50 to 100 in the number of women police attached to the London Metropolitan Force, a complete reorganisation of the women’s branch of the service is to take place in June.

The final details of the reorganisation have not yet been settled, but numerous proposals have been considered at conferences between Home Office officials and the heads of the Metropolitan Police. At each conference the need for a woman head of the force was urged. As a result, it was decided to appoint Miss D. Peto, who has charge of Liverpool’s women police, to a temporary position as adviser to the Commissioner. She takes up the position this month, and will be provided with a room at Scotland Yard. One of Miss Peto’s first duties will be to consider the numerous proposals for the reorganisation of the Women’s Force which have been before the conferences, and draw up a report for the Commissioner on the questions of training, terms of service, uniform, and the particular classes of work on which women should be employed. Under present conditions women enter the police force in London very much on the same footing as men. On being enlisted, they are sent to Peel House to receive training under men superintendents and inspectors. One of the strongest points made at the recent conferences was the need for separate and special training quarters for the women. Whether the women police should be organised as a separate unit and be under the control of a woman officer is another point for the consideration of Miss Peto. In some quarters it is considered that were the women serving directly under women officers their sphere of usefulness could be greatly extended. It is not suggested, however, that the women’s service should be kept entirely distinct from the ordinary police so far as orders and the working arrangements of divisions are concerned. The proposal is that Miss Peto should

devise a scheme which will serve as a link between the two bodies, to ensure efficient working and co-operation. There appears little doubt that in the reorganisation scheme far greater use will be made of women police by the C.I.D. at Scotland Yard and in the i various divisions. It is considered that properly trained women detectives would be able to obtain certain classes of information, which is essential if a successful war against crime is to be waged, than the ordinary officers of the C.I.D. Amateur Theatricals Revived: Private house parties in London are very much in vogue. When it became the fashion to entertain at smart clubs and restaurants, parties at home were regarded as “stuffy,” but now real lovers of entertaining, like Lady Cunard, Evan Morgan, and young Lord Ava (to name a few at random), have revived the art of the house party. At last month’s house parties, dancing was not the only attraction. Guests who received coveted invitations also received a typewritten part from their hostesses, with a request to be wordperfect on arrival. Amateur theatricals. CAKES SHE BAKES HERSELF. ALWAYS AN AIR OF WELCOME AT PICCADILLY. (From our own Correspondent). LONDON. February 24. “ I know what real comfort can be given to a home by a wife who is interested in domestic matters.”—The Duke of York. Everybody who knows the Strathmore family, either slightly or well, must have read the Duke of York’s tribute to the Duchess’s powers of home-making with complete understanding. Neither in England nor in Scotland, will you go into a house where the atmosphere spells comfort and peace more distinctly than it does at Glamis Castle and at St. Paul’s, Waldenbury. And from these two happy homes, where the Duchess spent her years before her marriage, she has taken to the home which she has made for the , King’s son, something of the care and consideration for other people and the simple beauty of everyday life J which Lady Strathmore seemed to in- | stil, without the slightest effort, Into , all her children.

At 145, Piccadilly, the homeliness and the quiet comfort of the whole household meet you in the cosy hall, with its flowers, its parrot in a great jage, a fascinating cast of a child’s head over the mantelpiece, and softly shaded lights. People talk glibly about home-makers being “born.” The desire to make a house a place where there is comfort and peace for the people using it, may be in the mind of the home-maker. But nobody knows better than the Duchess of York how constantly it has to be followed up by personal effort, if rooms are to be “friendly,” and furniture and colouring and lighting are to say “Welcome” at all hours. Although there is a housekeeper and a full staff of servants at “145” —as it is familiarly known —the Duchess does a great deal of supervising, and is in every sense of the word the mistress of her home. No matter how many public engagements she has, or how much entertaining she is doing, the Duchess is always in personal touch with her staff, gives instructions about the general care of the house, and discusses every menu with her old Scottish housekeeper and cook.

After a night engagement, the Duke and Duchess frequently let themselves into the house and enjoy a light meal that has been left for them by the staff in the Duchess’s boudoir. The Duchess makes coffee in an electric percolator. And the food frequently includes cakes and scones she has baked herself in the modernised kitchen she planned when the house was taken. The Duchess knows what is being done about nursery meals for Princess Elizabeth, although the supervision of

both nurseries, and general routine in them, is entirely left to Miss Knight, the faithful Nannie, who herself was in the Strathmore family for many years.

Before everything else, the Duchess puts the Duke’s health and comfort. His life is a very strenuous and busy one, and long days spent in factories and works, in digesting facts and details about modern industry, and in meeting relays of fresh people, would soon have a wearing effect on him, if he could not go home to perfect quiet and simple comfort. Meals are arranged to fit in with his engagements. Favourite dishes are planned for days which have been particularly full and strenuous, and the Duchess goes with him herself on his industrial engagements whenever she can, in orde rthat he may be able to discuss with her afterwards the points which have impressed him, and which he is anxious to follow up. If he wants to be alone and have perfect quiet after a round of duties, the Duchess gives instructions that he is not to be disturbed. His study is a very quiet room, and planned so that the arrangement of the furniture, of the lights for reading, and the ventilation and heating, are as perfect as they can be.

The house always strikes the guest as being pleasantly warm and comfortable. There are flowers everywhere, and yet the vases which hold them are not obtrusive. Bright chintz covers the furniture in all the rooms. There are any number of table lamps in convenient positions for reading, and cushions ordained for use.