Morning journal and courier., 1880-11-12
The Jardin Mabille.

What an American Says About the Great
 Place-Ferocious Comments TpOn the
 UglIncss ofthe French Females.
 Correspondence of the Philadelphia Sunday Itsn.I
 It is safe to say that no place of it's kind has acquired the worldwide notoriety of the Paris Jardin Mabille, and not one man in hundred comes to Paris without paying this establishment one or more visits, as his tastes incline. Nor is the foreign patronage ex- clusively confined to the male sex, many ladies, whose attendance at church is regular ito suspicious degree, paying clandestine wis ts here, and as many more not following their example only for want of opportunity. That it's attrac c1Dns, however, is not what one is led to expect, is conclusionto which but few do not come. So well is the place known by re- putation, if not by personal observation, that the briefest description will suffice Situated on the Avenue Montaigne, not far from the Champs Elysees, 1t presents most brilliant exterior, being lighted by hundreds of gas jets, surmounted by the well known 'fBal Mabille.'' On two nights of the week the admission is three, on others five francs. The time to go is about 10 o'clock, before that time there being few arrivals The in- terior certainly presents beautiful garden, laid out with considerable horticultural skill, and of no mean extent, being in some parts as light as day, while in others as dark as could be desired. In the part most distant from the entrance is the music stand, an or nate structure surrounded by a capacious platform for dancing which in turn is en- circled by gravel walk In different places are distributed chairs and tables, where you can sit and have diminutive s'bock" (glass of beer)for ten cents. To the right of this, as you enter, is, as the advertisement tells you. "salon convert en cas de mauvais temps" Nothing more need be said of the garden itself, for no one pays any at tention to that The attention is divid- cd hafrr adriJ1n khoo ahaTa for can-can, and the numerous cocottes, or representations of the demi-monde, who are here in full force. It would naturally be SUD- posed that the can-can, first rendered famous by Rigdboche and Finette, could here be seen toperfection, and the majority come with that expectation. The fact, nevertheless, is that the Mabille is the poorest place in Paris to see this immoral dance. The dancers who are paid are not only few in number, but are as ugly set of human beings one can see, without the ameliorating circumstances of being well or handsomely dressed. In fact so hideous are these women whom every body rushes to Mabille to see, that they would hardly be tolerated at such theaters in America as present such spectacles. Night after night however, they are surrounded by a crowd three and four deep, who gaze with unfeigned admiration at their unreserved display of neither extremities and saIicious gestures. Taken all and all this can-can dancing at the Mabille may be classified as among the least enticing of the numerous kinds of forbidden fruit. The other attract ion of this resort, as above mentioned, is the presence, in large numbers, of the demi- monde; for perhaps nowhere in Paris does one see as large as fair congregation of courtisans as here. Hardly more erroneous is the idea of Mabilla dancing than of it's habit ues If naturally handsome or pretty, these women by use of cosmetic paint, and loud adornment make themselves positively ugly, while the ugly ones by nature, who vastly predominate, make themselves disgusting It will be said that this is moro than all women of their kind do, which is true, but with the exception of the very lowest, the French "nympfl' is the only one who inten- sifies this artfcialness to such @ fearful ex- tent In other respects they are neither worse nor better than their sisters of other great cities, though perhaps more mercenary and rapacious. Such is the Mabille with the varnish of illusion of. Not that it is any less attractive than other resorts of similar nature. Indeed it must be admitted to be superior to anything of its kind, probably in the world; but it is generally mistaken for a place of 8 superlatfvely high kind, a place where vice is rendered irresistible and refin- ed, and where frail creatures of unusual beauty assemble. To dispel such riduclous illusions, a visit is all that is necessary At least such is the result os the writers personal experience, and he knows that it is not iso- lated one.