The Washington herald., 1918-11-23

Special Correspondent of The Washington Herald
New lOrk. Nov. 22-The Broadway
noulevardier's shining breastplate-his
stih white shirts no more The war
has taken the starch out of it as well
as many other things. The full dress
suit as they say back in Indiana OK
CITES comment for its strangeness now
IN Gotham. Even the dinner Jacket is
! banned.
Beaunash does not write of the COR
rect details of evening dress anv
more IN the theater programs. Ihe
soit shlFt is a symbol of acCommoda-
uon 10 environment and word comes
| back from Picadilly that even the
EhSllshman is adopting the soft shirt.
Soft collars that were permitted at
tennis matches or around the summer
| resort Yerandas are now a part of a
I gentleman's dress at the first night
| performances. 1t may be that some
/ day New York will come back TO the
immaculate evening dress" but it
| will be many years.
There are many reasons for the de-
cline Of the stif-front shirt The rigid
! rationing of coal prevents the fine
| gloss on linen and there is dclicacy
! about shining shirts and silk top hats
| when men are sleeping in the mud in
/ Flanders.
/ But the Big Idea goes deeper. Broad
way is just like the backwouds after
all. Broadwayites are creatures Of en-
| vironment. 1t is slowly sinking in
! along Broadway that Lincoln was a
| soft shirt !naE, h2t he presented a
/ sttn front to adversely.
/ Heroes returning from the other
/ side are wearing soft collars along
Broadway. and so Broadway. in the
! midst of this new environment. is
! changing from the conventional to the
unconventional, and will survive IT,
just as It has survived other Calami-
, ties.
/ Around the foyers and tea rooms OF
! the smart places like the Ritz. Ma
| jestic, st. Regis and Claridge a great
change has come over the well dressed
men and women of the pre-war days
| The man may have a well-ftting, eN-
| pensively tailored suit. hut the effect
| is for the unconventional and thus
he sports soft collar and goes cane
! less. spatless and starchless. And the
. women wear dinner gown" with long
! Transparent sleeves instead of the
evening gown of a few years ago.
That Manhattan is patient has been
| illustrated strikingly by the telephone
situation during the past few weeks.
! The epidemic brought the staff of
I operators down to an alarming mini
mum. Business men held to their
phones as long as half an hour to get
a call through without losing their
temper. The telephone company had
page advertisements in the newspapers
asking its patrons not to telephone
unless it was absolutely necessary. To
get a telephone connection was no
longer an achievement. 1t was a ca
reer.
Messmore Kendall Is the owner of
the Capital theater now being built on
Broadway at Fifty-frst street. He has
mother aged seventy. who looks not
! much more than half that age. Mr..
! Kendall was called West on a busi-
ness trip recently and his mother told
him that she was going TO take an
automobile trip and would be gone
several weeks. She took the autOuO-
| bile trip and is still taking 1t. But
| not here She is over there. She is
driving an ambulance in France. When
the news reached the son he was dis
tracted and cabled his mother to
come home at once. Her answer by
cable was: BE a good boy and go to
bed early"
Bert Savoy and Jay Brennan. of
THE Follies," went into Child's Cafe
at the Circle the other night On ta-
( bye was a stack Of wheat cnkeq. and
Savoy put one in his Pocket. Put 1t
! back" said Brennan. put what
! back?'T asked Savoy. THAT wheat
( cake"
! MY goodness. I thought it'was a
! souvenir blotter" came from Savoy.