The Fashions and Pleasures of New York

JOHN McMULLIN

NIGHT life in New York is a very extraordinary and interesting phase of American life. Our after-midnight entertainments are more characteristic of America than the amusements presented to us before that hour, and in America, unlike other countries of the world, night life is not a fungus growth imported to amuse the stranger within our gates. It is enjoyed by all of us and it is for ourselves that it has been manufactured. In Paris, Cairo, and Berlin, they boast that it is only the foreigner who goes to the cabarets and that it is for them a most unusual experience to go once or twice in a lifetime to such places.

This is not the case in New York—we all go to the smartest and newest cabarets. Who does not know now that the Plantation is the latest on the list and that if by chance you have not seen Florence Mills and her coloured troupe do their fantastic dances and serenades you are not "in it". All the modernists and musicians, you know, are mad about this new phase of the development of coloured talent,

In addition to the Plantation the smartest round of cabarets includes, first of all, the Rendezvous, with the famous Miss Gilda Gray who does the most remarkable and most authentic Hawaiian dance there is anywhere. Then there is the Beaux Arts cabaret with Veronica who does a South Sea Island stunt, Ted Lewis's place with his jazz band is a riot of sound and he is a show in himself. At the Russian Inn, on 37th Street, the ex-captain of a Russian submarine sings his Russian songs to delight and charm the supper guests. And the food is extremely good,

The French speak of luxury and extravagance as elegance and though we have no word in English that quite expresses this phase of life, we have the phase itself. In fact, New York is one of the most luxuriant and extravagant cities in the world. The huge scale on which it is built is the greatest contribution to the architecture of the world since the XVIII century. And then, we have every great shop in the world represented here. The American hotel is the pattern on which the rest of the world has remodelled its inns and taverns.

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Everything new and smart is to be seen in New York, no matter from where it comes. Have you seen the wonderful Renault car which is adapted from the old fashioned hansom? It is quite the smartest motor in New York. Any day you may see it at Renault's shop at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street. It is one of the latest French designs.

Another point of fashion which you may not know is that mural paintings, decorative panels and screens are considered much more interesting nowadays for house decorations than framed pictures. In almost all beautiful modern houses there is a room with painted walls or panels made expressly for the room. It is a revival of the Italian fresco. The idea is growing that it is preferable to decorate an entire wall space rather than break the space up by hanging many framed pictures, which produces a spotty effect.

There are several people abroad who have achieved great fame for their mural decorations such as Joseph Sert and Leon Bakst. In this country Robert Chanler and Caro Delvaille have become famous in the same manner. If you are not familiar with this sort of decoration you should see Chanler's exhibition at the Kingore Gallery. One of his decorative screens, which is after all nothing but a fragment of fresco put to this use, is shown at the bottom of this page. Chanler is one of our great American artists, considered so by all the world. Many of his things are in London and Paris where people go in for this form of decoration more extensively than we do. Modern artists are not encouraged in this country as they are abroad, and their work is not to advantage in our houses as in Europe.

Another item that we feel bound to mention in this article, though it has nothing to do with either a fashion or pleasure is Shaw's play, Back to Methuselah at the Garrick Theatre. It is a great experience and another high-water mark of the Theatre Guild's efforts. It has drawn the most interesting and serious audience we have ever seen in New York. It is impossible to criticize or give you an idea of this play in this column, in fact, we would not attempt to criticize it. We recommend it.