The sun., 1896-02-25
LIvE IoPIcs AMOUR TOWN.

One OF tho absurd things that Yvette Gull.
| bert told the Paris intcrvewers was that she
| had brought back with her to France $4,000
| as the result of her visit to America. Beyond
| tho $4,000 paid To her for singing In New
| York her ca,ninGs did not amount probably to
| n quarter Of that sum. Tho manager who en-.
| gagged her for New York estimated very well
the length OF time che would prove an attrnc-
| tion hero. Tho attendance at her perform
| anccs began TO dwindle before she left. and
| there has been no marked demand for her ser
| vices next year The concerts which she gave
outside Of New York were woll attended, but
| they probably did not servo TO swell her profits
| TO the figure which she conhdcd to the Paris
| journalists. Men who make II their business
to observe such matters have prophcsicd that
| Svettc Guilbert might he n profitable attrac-
| tion at u music hall In New York next year for
| onc.auarter OF the salary TINT she received this
| winter. Curiosity about her wns the potent
sasea s so far as New York roes AMI Wien %
| Svcttc comes back 10 this country with the
Srr salary she I viii hnvs To- rely npon the towns
| in the West that have heard OF her but never
seen her The great majority OF her specta,,
| tors here neve. went back 10 see her second
| time and the small propcrton of her audiences
that understood and enjoyed her did not con.
disappointing feature of Yyetie's visit TO New
York wns that she sang only y, couple of times
grounds for believing that she went there as
| guest. aud that these two appearances in
which ms nd Es wrns
| ably did not increase her American earnings.
She expected to ind New ] 1orkers falling over
| each other to pny her Sl,OoO night to sing In
| ther drawing rooms.
The ret,irn of Count Iladik to this country
recalls the fact that New York society has been
struggling along this W inter without the as
| ais n Int tnnt of ax cd nOOlpmen
| who hung around the Waldorf last year. Not
all of them lived at the Waldorf. and. in fact.
the proportion of those that did was very small.
| But from that hotel they started out to shine at
| the dinners. luncheons and dances which have
| this year either gotten along without them or
| been satisfied with the presence of Scandi-
navian baron who works In an In ;urance office
| down town. 1t is in n way easy enough to un-
| derstand why New York is less favored this
winter bv gentlemen of title. One came to
marry an heiress AID got her, and another who
| came to sell the half Of his mothers crown
that had come to him as his patrimony sue.
| Ceeded In his enterprise. Incidentally the fact
is rather Interesting II at the man who bought
| II the brother Ct the heiress. With no
| American he!resscs disposed OF. the attractions
| In this country for the chdsseurs dc dot are not
as % stronE 1 AS they were. ,,oso on ,,,.,rs ,,.,
an element t. society which 1t was ready
enough to receive. They were available at
well bred. and there was polish about Y en-
which appealed 10 Amsricann women. bay
| tti"ally an mposs,bity because American men
! work every day and usnal ly all dav. So II was
corral a half dozen men for luncheon and ge,
| them moreover. with the added attraction of
titles such men ar always certain TO- be wei
| number that are received In New York the
cases of imposture are few. !. is quite a differ
| never before accustomed TO so much luxury
and elegance \ German who has spent all
and belong to an old family. hut the chances
| are that he will blink his eyes in astonshment
at the luxury of New York ball or dinner
pa party. t Bu, society wants some OF its foreign
| titles back again, and Tor this reason there is
some excitement as to the possibility OF new
| this highly ornamental group back again to
| this country.
New York does not seem able to maintain a
! church parade which shall permanently keep
! its quality up to. the same standard. There
| was time, not very many years ago. when
! there was n distinctly fashionable crowd to be
| seen on Fifth avenue when people were com
! Ing from the churches on Sunday morning. The
people who came out OF churches that were not
OH Fifth avenue Went over to that street to have
their VA X. and people who went TO no churches
! AT all made II n point to hc on the avenue when
the rarate commenced. Usually for the hour
following l2:39 the avenue from Twenty
| third street up to titty-ninth street was
crowded with "A wel!-dressed and ist!nctly
| fasliiouablc-look ing ,hrong. Women and men
, we'll known in society wer" To be seen there
regularly. and the slowly moving crowd. show
serted very brilliantly the showiest phase OF
s IN the "hr"h parae has
less brilliant. Nowadays the showing on Fifth
avenue, even on clear sunday. is scarcely, a
suggest on of the crowd that was formerly 10 be
seen .hcre Not only have the wel-kncwn
faces grown fewer, but. further: there have not not
disappeared and the only new element in the
present diminished crowd is one that tends to
Saturday afternoon: There was un indication
several years ago that after Fifth avenue had
begun 70 ts BY heG%nS who 4. tn d
church parade the survivors would select Madi-
son avenue and transfc: the best element of
this sunday morning function to that street.
but this promise was never fulfilled, and New
York lacks for the time being anything rescm-
blins its old fashionable Sunday morning turn
out on the avenue.
Now that society has begun TO entertain ar
tistic and stage people on q large scale, the
question of language has become an important
and pressing matter. Few of the foreign celeb
rites who come to this country speak English.
and whatever their nationality, they generally
know French. But even society people in New
York are not all familiar with French as
they are with their native tongues however diff
fercnt this idea may be from the popular i'm.
preston that society does all or most of Its
talking in French. The scarcity of speakers OF
serviccable French in society and comprehcnsi-
ble English among the artists has led to the
prominence OF a number of the smaller fry in
| the opera company who would never have got
Ten their noses into houses where they are wei.
coined now II il had not been that they pre-
sented the convenient and Mt present popular
combination Of n fair knowledge OF English and
n professional employ on the stage. Dur
ing the last week of the opera season one OF
| the singers of the company came mo n DOx M
Abbey's Theatre which was occupied by one
Of the lest known women in New York society
He spoke no English. and the people in the the
atrc who knew that the woman's French wal
confined to u few formal phrases. watched the
meeting with interest. To the obvious chagrir
OF his hostess the singer insisted upon mOvinI
into the front row OF the box and turning to
ward her. Then lie began rapid fire of con
versation in French. There was a feeble cf