St. Paul daily globe., 1885-12-16
THE sEAMY sisDE OF PARIS.
Fa am0uS Ball.R OOnas and Gardens.
uccaSsnr tn M N hi lo

Famous Ball-R ooms and Gardens.
A>uccessor to MabiIle.
From the Paris Morning News.
The truth of the French proverb, 'Tout
passe, tout casse. tout lasse," has seldom
been more forcibly illustrated than in the
gradual disappearance of the public balls of
Paris. Only during the past few wears the
most celebrated of these establishments
has vanished-the world-renowned Ma
billie, from under the shadow Of
whose evergreen zinc palm trees
there bloomed forth to the world of gayety
Pomare. Maria Mogador and Clara, who
have been immortalized by the poetry of
Gustave Nadaud in his song of Les Reines
de MaDille.' and a host of other creatures,
fair but frail. who have disappeared like
the scene OF their former triumps, except
Celeste Mogador, who became the Countess
de Chabrllan, and to writing poetry and
memoirs. LIE Pere Mabille. as the founder
of this ball was called. made fortune; but
his son and successor found business falling
off, and that the ground which once was
disputed inch by inch at enormous rents by
greedy restauranteurs anxious to obtain the
privilege of retailing their gooseberry cham-
pagn. worth 3 francs bottle, at prices
rarely less than 30 francs. and the propri-
etors of rckety chairs, who frequently paid
for their chairs out of a two good nights
receipts, would bring him larger interest
if covered with bricks and mortar, and the
scene of so many gay and noisy meetings is
now covered by palatial pile of dwelling
houses.
Mabille's winter sister, Valentino, soon
after gave place to panorama. which was
established just in time to be too late, for
the panorama rage had died out, and the
panorama company wound up" its
affairs. Shortly this building will
be opened as a circus in the
winter and swmmingbath in the sum-
mer. lie Chateau Rouge" high up at
MOntmartre has also made way for houses
The pCor RENE b; nche' failed to find a
bidder when put up for auction two years
ago. and still remains closed. with only the
name on the gate to tell what once it was.
''Bullier." dear to the students of the Quar-
tier Latin, still exists, but is not the scene
OF student mirth it used to be while there
yet remained two or three of Paul de Koch's
grisettes. Even the ''Boule Noire." where,
once upon time. every one entering with a
tall hat was sure to have ''likened to con-
certina" before he had been there five min
utes. has so changed that the price of entry
major part of the |. cad covering worn by the
gentlemen freque .ers of the establishment
Twill VauXhalP' exists, but that is ALL
while the ''Elysee Montmatre" is the only
one having any pretentions to perpetuate
the traditions of its ancestors.
1t was probably after reasoning thus that
NJ. Oliver AIet a. whose magic wand has so
| often directed the dulcet strains of his mar
veouS band at the Opera Carnival balls,
came to the conclusion, to use his own
words, that 1.-The Partisan adorers of
| terpischorean art are not sufficiently repre-
sented." He thereupOn made the nee
cessary demand to the perfect Of police. con-
stituted his orchestra and reopened '.Fras-
cati'' as a concert and dancing saloon in the
the very heart of Paris-Rue Vivienne.
Whether NJ. Metra'S enterprise will succeed
remains to be seen. Many hundreds of
persons had accepted his invitation yester-
day evening. and the press of course was
largely represented. There were scores of
elegantly dressed women and the music was
excellent. The arrival of Metra at his post
was the occasion of burst of applause,
which increased as he led the music of lie
Polka des Volontaries." of his own
composition. Waltz polka and ma
zurka succeeded one another, but
not QuaQriIle could be
formed. When we asked NJ. Metra the
cause he replied: II wish to revive the
real bal public but wish the respectable
people to dance. and will not have paid
| dancers" At about 1880 in the morning
eight couples were found who formed a
quadrille and danced it right merrly. If
none of the onlookers had mis- hat lifted off
''cela vlendra." but everybody seemed well
amused NJ Metra evidently counts unOn
a large portion of his patrons dancing, to
judge from the space devoted to the
quenching of their thirst. ''Flascati'' WILL
at any rate, for the moment be the place to
see.