JOURNALISTS' BALL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18890, 15 October 1929, Page 12

JOURNALISTS' BALL.

The Journalists' Ball in Melbourne was a very merry affair. Fancy dress was , compulsory, and as there were more than 700 people in all kinds of fancy . dresses, you can imagine how gay and colourful the whole scene was (sa}\s an Australian correspondent). The hall was decorated brilliantly with huge lanterns in vivid colours/ and banners striped and spotted in futuristic manner. Amusing posters were hung round the walls, and chaff bags, stuffed tight and covered in bright shades of orange, blue, cherry, green, black, and gold made excellent seats around the walls and in the lounge. In spite of the huge gathering, few costumes were alike. Occasionally a gladiator met a gladiator and glared, or an Early Victorian damsel met her twin sister, but on the whole the variety was amazing. Most of the men had hired their costumes; most of the women had made their own—a natural division of labour. There were an Eastern Princess, Samoan Girl, Child of 1820, Lenci Doli, Dutch Girl. Pirate Girl, Coster Girl, Cricketer of the Eighties, Norwegian Peasant, Spanish Peasant, a Merry Wife of Windsor, Carmen, MorJ.cs, Marie Antoinette, Pierrots and Pierettes —several of these—Sweet Nell, an Underground Whippet, a Rheumatic Tire, Bohemians, Madame Pompadour, Black Cat, Donkey, Sheik, Artists, Peter Pan, a Chinese Lady, and many many others—the list seems endless. A young girl, a journalist on one of the daily papers, was possibly the most amusing figure in the room. She went as Velocipede Lady. She was attired in a striped blouse, with leg of mutton sleeves, a bloomer skirt of the 'eighties, and a tiny straw hat perched on her head. She had one of the old-fashioned velocipedes with the enormous front wheel, and she rode this solemnly round the ballroom. She was a huge success.

At midnight a special paper was published. Most of this had been written beforehand, though a flashlight photograph of the dancers end a list of the names and dresses were published to prove the speed with which a modern newspaper works. The paper was published through the kindness o-f the proprietors of “The Age.” It was called “The Midnight Etaoin.” and was extremely amusing. The mysterious title has a simple, technical explanation. The keyboard of the linotype is in two divisions. In the division with the letters the lines begin with E. T, A, O. 1. and N. Sometimes to fill up a space in a line, a compositor slide.s his finger down these letters, and the word Etaoin results. There is no known way to pronounce it.