Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-27

mouse, lTOM lA9 CnAlF D.,
when the lady, now with much dis
led:-
kindness, sir! Will you please sit
down
At this uncomfortable point in the
proceedings, monsieur, feeling like q
brute. leaned forward to madame, and
asked:
what on earth does she want? I
am sitting down, and I'm not sitting
on a hat Or anything" As a com
freshly; and, at each fresh request,
he did it again. until he felt like a
jumping jack.
At this chaos ragged in that loge>
for the French gentleman and the
French lady held an animated con-
ference. while monsieur and madame
agitatedly discussed the impossible
point at issue. Some halls minute OF
this-it seemed an eternity-while'
Ssh" "Sh!" ''Sh!'-when madame
happened to catch one in%teligble
word in all the rapid-fire speech, and
that word was "ici."
"Oh, ici!" she repeated eagerly. 1t
means here !,
"oui, ici!'- vigorously repeated the
French lady and gentleman, and they
both stood up. :.
Monsieur stood up. Madame stood
up. Whereupon. the French lady n
gentleman, politely but firmly, insert
ed monsieur into the front seal by
the side Of madame. while they hap
PLY took the two rear seats. and the
audience hooted; then the heaven
sent lights were turned on, and our
pleasant companions, a very nice poilu
and his girl, explained, in most salts.
factory pantomime,. that they wfsned
to sit side by side &c they might hold
hands, and that we. now sitting also
side, by side, might have the same
privilege!
The wild thought flashed across
monsieur's mind that, since he ana
! madame were the late-comers. they
would feel it their duty. and pleasure.
to take the rear seats, but any attempt
at another shift would have brought
on a riot from the surrounding sur
ferers. SO it was allowed to go at that,
with everybody contented. @
All, those movies!
The first treat to unreel before our
%astonished eyes was a Coincide
! Comique Americana.
Two of our best known and justly
infamous acrobatic screen comedians
INDUCED in a mad knock-about.
which left the intellect stupidfed m
| the reason insulted.
The four of us. when the lights
| went up and we could see to talk, ex-
! pressed our unanimous condemnation
! Of hat picture: we protesting that II
was not representatively American.
and they protesting that they believed
it, although we could see, from a GER
tain glisten in the poilu's eyes, that he
thought he chad it on US"
H. All, but wait! The next picture
was a French one, where we knew
Immediately the heroine's appalling
! virtue by the fact that h was total
ly embarrassing. and that all the
dramatics would go to the wicked
,young woman in the beautiful gowns.
who. in her death-bed repentance,
would be ever so much more sympa-
thetic than anybody who had ever
For Ave long reels that inane mer-
'y-go-roHnd Of temptation, and fall
and repentance and temptation and
fall and repentance dragged it's weary
way, with nine sobbing points to the
reel: but. before it was over, our eyes
having become used to the gloom, we
turned triumphantiy, and saw In our
Ipoilu's shifting gaze,, that we '.had it
on hint"
we are happy to be able to report
to the anxiously waiting American
public that the movies in France are
just as ghastly as they average at
home: although, like at home. they
are not all bad.
But the music! 1t was a treat to
such starved souls as ours.
1t was good music. and they weren't
stingy with it: they see-sawed right
along. and shifted the we'll known
classical and popular bits ~instantane-
ously to fit the varying phases of the
picture, even playing The Death Of
Asa for the final scene of the re-
pentant young women. when, thank
heavens. she died at last! r.
The movies have their place. II
you never thought it before, you
would If you could look at the faces
Of those poilus Is they filed out,
humming! There were lots of them.
come to enjoy the music and : the
movies: and the darkness and the
hand-holding!
We found ourselves humming. too.
fragments of long-forgotten airs. as
we swung along the %boulevard: and
u footsteps were lighter and our
hearts were lighter, inc for a little
time we forgot that there was a war,