The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-26
GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER.


 1ndinerentIy. 'sI couldn't afford the fat singers. but it isn't the singing that pulls these gooks; it's art I make spike tails and open face boSoms com pulsory in the first twelve rows Say, where do you eat?"
 eStar hotel" confessed Wallingford gloomily.
 T thought so." groaned Hickey. Ex- cuse me a minute. and we'll edge in. I've got a pair of sure enough Spanish dances, and I've split their hot spe- cialty into the second act. It's the best part of the opera
 He waddled hastily into the box of flee. and Wallingford and Blackie stood interested1y watching the solemn pa rade. These people took the duties of wealth quite seriously. The women wore their rich capes and the men their stiff gloves with brave determination to be at aristocratic ease. no matter how painful. They exchanged gay ban ter and laughed lightly and moved with careless grace. and occasionally apologized for it, and did all the other things which persons of wealth and breeding do.
 eIt is indeed gay and festive scene,'' observed B1ackle. admiring it. nevertheless s'I will hand them one thing, Jim. They built this theater re- gardIess.''
 T never saw finer one" agreed Wallingford seriously, as his eye roYed from the magnificent marble lobby to the glimpses of carmine and gold re- vealed through the open doors.
 Hickey came back to them as the overture began and led them past the doorkeeper. Blackie. catching the
  ed into the auditorium, where he found dark corner and promptly proceeded to forget the world, but WaIlingford's commercial mind was caught by the costly foyer, and he hung behind with Hickey to examine it in detail.
 Hickey led WaIlingford back into the lobby, where, to the right and to the left just outside the entrance to the foyer, wound beautiful marble stair cases. He stopped at the box ofice q moment and came back with a key. s..I was so paralyzed when saw this new shack that want to see some body else struck stiff.r he remarked as he led the way upstairs. He opened an electric switchoox at l the head of the stairway and flooded the place with light. Even WaIling- ford, used as he was to luxurious in- teriors. was amazed by the richness and beauty of the extravagantly dec orated suit of rooms, all of them ablaze from the light of crystal chan deIiers, leading up to an immense re- citaI hall in white and gold. the panels between it's pi1asters embeilished with 1 fresco paintings, in soft pastel colors of more than usual breadth and strength.
 ttFor highbrow stun" explained 1 Hickey with grin. s'They had few lectures and recitals and readings for the fourteen story intelIects here, but the real brainy people of this town haven't any money. and the other kind would rather sleep at home; so they cut out the classics, and the last thing they held in here was barn dance | Shame, too, afn't it2''
 elf old Gap Churchill could see this. he'd have a freak orchestra in that 1 balcony and gross of celluloid palms ] on that waxed floor in twenty-four hours" observed Wallingford thought- fully
 l ssWouIdn't it make a swell restau- antr' agreed Hickey enthusiastically ly- ssRight over there Is a tiled Kitchen with ali the aseptic improvements for modern Red Cross cooking, and suit | of private dining rooms that might have been designed by David Belasco 1 himself Let's get out of here. get cross when anything makes ma hungry