Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-19

mentioned dining novelties with their
eats I believe / told in this CORE
spondence. some time back about that
little singing kink they ,puItsat-a New
York restaurant. If So, and il not, I'll
mention it again. They're still working
the neat plan Gor them what likes it,.
right along. and oh.->ssr Is so gay and
spontaneous, as it wair. .---
Over on the rig1t-hand side of Maxim's
as you go in. and beneath the gallery,
you'll observe, before and after theater
party of four folks. two nfea-and two
women, a-dining; They have large and
luscious eats spread out before Them to
which they go with manifest enthusiasm,
not neglecting the cochineal Chianti in
wicker-covered bottles with which their
table is literally Uttered.
Obviously these four are foreigners.
You judge this, kee-rectly, at once. even
before they pull their-Stuilt. because you
notice their shoulder shruggings and the
intricate doings of their hands and the
generally Latinesque character of their
gestures and gesticulations-
But you don't (unleSs you're a cal
loused. and therefore wise, diner OUT
suspect that they really are props, as 1t
were; just part of the scenery.
After the restaurant is pretty we'll
filed a young man in evening clothes
takes his place at the piano in the gallery
directly above these four diners and ex-
tracts a few soulful chords. Then the
wavy-haired vioIinist and the ditto-haired
cello youth line up alongside the piano,
and Immediately they dash into de-
cidedly tremolo-ish exposition of the big
aria from "Rgoletto." or one of the arias
from La Boheme." or something from
1 ."Stradeila''-or anything that COMFORTS
and aigns with the careful little frame
up.
No sooner are the instruments plough
ing along with the aria than the four
shoulder-shruggers at the table below
seem to be seized. all together. by the
sudden impulse to lift up their spirits
I'm accompanying song.
They sing the aria. They sing 1t well.
That must be given to them. There Is
o soprano. a contralto. tenor and
baritone-b asso. and they all know how
to sing. being persons of grand opera
training. Naturally. their stuff is hit.
It looks so nachul. you see. There they
are with their hats on-the women. /
mean-and looking just like a cunnin'
little party that has drifted in from
the street like all the rest of us. and
here they are busting their threats with
singing, just spontaneous and easy
and fine anything in the world. And
aren't they talented. gray-shus. Why,
they sing just like people In grand opera.
Deah me, suz. we've heard that thing
sung not half so we'll in grand opera.
at five per toss. many a time.
The stunt is a knockout. naturally. in
it's effect upon the folks who are visit
ing the place for the first time. They
fall for IT. They take 1t entirely for
granted that the four people at the table
over under the gallery are sure-enough
outsiders who've just zephyred along to
eat and drink. and who can't help but
sing when they hear the music. And the
beauty of the scheme is that il isn't over
done. After the big aria the applause
is tumutuous from the tables, of course.
but the folks at. the singing table don't
pay the least attention to the acclaim.
They look. in fact. decidedly embarrassed
over the attention they're creating, and
the applause they're eliciting. They re-
spond to no encores, thus cleverly carry
ing out the idea that they're private pair
sons. you see. Then there's some instru-
mental music after the appropriate pause
and after quite long while the four
professional singers. who go on eating
and drinking in their naturalistic attitudes
during their intermission, break into an
other song when they are moved by the
swing of another aria played by the
musicians in the. gallery above them. The
thing attracts big crowds When it comes