Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-19
DEEP GLOOM AT MAXIM'S.
Sad Time the Tourist Had in Being
Gay.
VAIN WAIT FOR THE SENSATION
DepressinE vaudeville show the
Usual PreIiminarT-Much Cham
paane Drunk, bat Even that
Fails 90 ExhIlarate.
AIN WAIT FOR THE SENSATION

They" are those who express in little
intimacies Of zone and manner a certain
superiority OF knowledge. They don't
indulge in explanations. but in expressive
and expansive gestures.
And remember. Whatever happens, we
warned you. Don't blame u.s.
You remember after the warning that
the Maxims which you nave already seen,
the many Maxims, never did get real gay
until after the stage clock marked some
unholy hour or early morning.
II was in those places that was planted
the seed Of desire to see the real article,
not the Americanized version which, gay
aud sparkling as 1t was with pretty girls
and d~evll.may-care youths. left you with
an unsatisfied longing which nothing hut
reality could appease.
How many times you had read on various
programs the announcements Three
Days Are Supposed to Elapse' and then
The Last Scene Shows Msxim's After
Midnight"
You remember. splsshing about in those
back waters OF memory, the pictures Of
pretty women pirouetting on the top of
tables, OF gay dogs ordering unlimited
wine, Of music which would make the
most stubborn toes tingie. OF a perfect
recklessness everywhere displayed toward
the dramatic unities OF time, place and
action, a curtain falling slowly amid a
waste OF empty bottles, of faded roses,
of a lingering perfume Of the dear, dead
hour beyond recall, a going home with
the knowledge that one should forget and
the haunting refrain that forbids such
infldelity.
Now you stand on the edge Of reality
waving a gay goodby TO anticipation as
one waves from a car window to a slowly
receding face.
You can only find one weak spot in the
program, how to kill the interven-
ing time. Your escort, a Gallicized Anglo
Saxon, suggests hat after all as gayety
is more or less like beauty in the personal
point Of view It might be we'll to prepare
for this orgy Of gayety by the proper
pr~eliminaries.
The prelimlnaries you learn, suitable to
the occasion, are the vaudeville with it's ac-
companying glace below the scenes where
the microbes Of vice lie in wait for the
American tourist who mas escaped the
sightseeing coaches Of the touring COM
panies and the equally reckless mornings
at Versailles.
A list is read off for your choice. 1t
comprises. as you remember, the Alhambra,
Folies Bergere, Jardin de Paris, Moulin
Rouge. You choose Olympia merely be-
cause II happens so; II may be, besides,
that the idea of beginning with Olympia
and ending in-weIl. that possibly was the
reason, and your escort admits that your
selection will do as well as another for the
purpose, and not willing TO take you en-
tlrely by surprise reads the program to pre-
pare you for the worst.
You hope it's simplicity c~onceais unex-
pected thrills, but you cannot detect them
as the carefully enunciated syilables fall
your ears!
"Clnematographic scenes depicting the
actual life OF a chicken.
Champion roller skating by the Videcs."
This is given for the first time in Paris
and you suppose you should feel delighted
that you witness its debut.
There follow the act Of a monkey Jockey,
that Of two American ~bicyclists, a ballet
described as romantic, a dog theater, a Sa-
lone dancer, aviation week, also cinema
~tographic in form, and a Persian troupe
which later you recognise as old friends
Of the New York Hippodrome, where, UNI
less memory plays you false, they were
Japanese.
80 far; too good" You say so, and your
escort raises eyebrows.
Paris is a city Of mysteries. There was
once an American here whom they didn't
find out about until he had gone. Any
thing is liable to happen, 1t keeps you
guessing"
Place the Flatiron building horizontally
and promenade half it's length: you have
an faaa 81 tha anYranna ho1I - No,.r -
the Vaudeville Theatre, which is situated
on the Boulevard des Capuclnes. From the
taxi to your seat you are only held UP
once. This Is to pay for the program OF
the performance; you have already paid
to see. The program is only 50 centimes
and Il is handed by a Pretty Peroxide who
has Paris's latest makeup artistically dis
played, scarlet lips. dead white face.
heavily cosmeticked eyes. The wears a
short simple apron over her princess
gown, probably TO give her a domestic
touch. They are great on touches in Paris
especially in the thester.
AS you settle into place and open the
pamphlet Pretty Peroxide returns. This
time II Is a demand for aymen for show
ms you to your seat. She takes II smil-
ingly, Why shouldn't she! Think what
a catastrophe she has saved you from.
You might never have found II and wan
dered, as the lost DO, in circles within
circles until you went out and got a guide
from mere loneliness,
The remark Of an EngIishman behind
you as Pretty Peroxide demands his
confines for saving him from the fate
that nearly overlook you, TO his companion
"By Jawve, aren't she chick" suggests
to you the fact that alluring as the pro-
gram is, suggestive OF unconcealed
mysteries that you cannot write for OBJ
vious reasons to the home circle, filled
with clues TO the topography Of that land
from which only the sophisticated return.
II may repay YOU to turn your eyes away
from the stage and the moments teemlng
with satanic JOY In which the Videcs. for
the first time In Paris" show YOU what
roller skating has really Zone to prevent
the world from getting to the millennium
too soon.
There is no Tower OF Babel let. loose I'm
this auditorium 50 far a. you can deter
mine Daughters Of the Phnistlnes are
there in plenty and the Dwellers OF Meso-
potamia and the furthermost parts Of the
earth TO a limited number. but the greater
part Of the audience recalls the faces
and figures OF American women with
which you have become daily familiar on
the Grand hOuIavarde ana tba a...- -