Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-06
SPAIN INVENTED KISSING,
ASSERTS DIAZ MIRANDA
Disputes Professor Starr, Who Says
Mexicans Are Most Artistic
Kiss Throwers

NEW YORK, July 5.-The class in
kissing will rise and tell us which
country leads the league In tossing
OSCILLATION. Prof. Frederick Starr of
Chicago university thinks the Mexican
curves are the most graceful and eff
fective.
1T takes a young Mexican to toss a
kiss with perfection" says Mr. Starr,
anthropologisu HE brings the tips
of his fingers together, touches them
gently with his lips and, spreading his
hand out as he makes the throw, watts
five sweet kisses to his lady love by
five different routes"
We shall now hear from Senor Caye-
tano Romero, consul general from
Mexico. Senior Romero smoothes his
bullying shirt front and begins:
Mexico! kissing! At last my dear
country comes into its own. The pro-
fessor is correct. We lead the world
in love, kissing and all forms OF ro-
nance. The sunny fields and the
balmy air of that dear Mexico make
osculation our principal industry; and
this throwing kisses, is that not an eX-
port? Ha! Ha! We take the hand,
close it, we make one long look at the
sweet senorita and then we plant on
those five fingers one long smack, We
make another look at the senorita, and
pouf! off she goes like your man Gal
lagher We are the great race.
inventors of Kissing
wrong" chirps Senior A. Diaz Mi
randa, who looks after the welfare of
Spaniards In New York. ''If those
Mexicans know anything about kissing,
believe me, they took ii from us. we
invented kissing. 1t Is our first nature
We leave off work, eating, sleeping,
everything, to give the kiss. 1t is an
art with us. To do 1t right, one must
be a Spaniard. First you are tilted to
an angle of twenty-three degrees. Then
you bunch the fingers of your right
hand, slip them into your facial aper-
ture and smack. Then you hold your
left hand, palm up, and stick the right
into the left to show that you've got
nothing up your sleeve. All, and here
the part You raise that left hand to
your face and turn on the exhaust.
Can you beat it?"
Venturing forth to No. 35 South Will
lam street, we find the office of Etienne
Lanel the French consul general, who
is not in. The small gentleman at the
railing bushes at the word kiss" and
in embarrassment runs to the side of
his assistant, a tall, heavy man with
white hair.
An Old Flame Bursts Forth
"G'wan!" remarks that person in pur-
est French.
Perhaps" it was timidly suggested,
you never threw a kiss"
Another "G'wan!" and he bursts
forth like a broken cylinder on pho
nograph. II threw re kiss when you
were walking on your hands. You
know I came from Paris. We are the
real original kiss throwers. 1, myself,
In my day was much sought after to
ship off osculation by the air line. Time
without number, as we say in Paris,
l would stand below the window of my
beloved, join the first finger and the
thumb, touch them with my fairy lips
and blow the product skyward. From
what l have told you it must be at
once apparent that we lead the world
in osculation."
Little remains to be told. Jack Bar
rymore, the actor, has broken in upon
the gathering and begs to be heard.
Shall we? Yes, let's.
'I am not keen for this far away
kissing. My particular hobby is grab
bing the girl by the shoulders and plac-
ing my lips on hers. It's q good way.
But If saw some sweet young thing
who really wished to be osculated
hanging from a window, and I couldn't
get up to her and she couldn't
get down to me, I'd simply whirl my
trusty right arm around few times
and hurl the kiss upward"