Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-19
HAVANA REVELS TAL|E;;
NOT LIKE bROADWAYS
Cuban Capital Less Gay Even
Than New Orleans; Americans
Spending Winter There.

Havana. Cuba, Feb. I7.-~scvcral mil
Iiors Of dollars in American capital arc
being invested in the conviction that
citizers Of the United States cannot, or
will not, dispense with the sporting life.
This investment ia actually wager.
I'VE are betting TINT Americans can't
be made good by laws, said Jack Mar
golis. Michigan roadhouge proprietor and
owner Of the New York bar here Mar
golis has put many thousands into hotel
stock and into his saloon business and
is confident Of making fortune.
KNOCKING HAVANA.
Things are tame down here right
now" said II ID. Brown, manager Of
Oriental Park, the Cuba-Amorican Jockey
Clubs track. "Ihere has been lot
Of propaganda in the States, especially
among the Florida resorts, knocking
Havana. They have spread the re-
ports that IL costs Ss5 a day 10 live down
here, that ''flu' is killing hundreds, that
the town is full Of crooks and the labor
situation borders on revolution. Next
year and in years TO come this viii be
the pleasure capital of America. IT will
be gayer than Paris.
What. then, are the present facts
about gay life in Havana?
NOTHING LIKE OLD BROADWAY.
New Orleans and San Francisco. up
until recent reform movements and pro-
hibition came into force, altogether out
distanced Havana m the extent and the
abandon of thor night life.
And there - nothing even remotely
reminiscent Of old broadway.
There are. IN Havana, three cafes
where fnlIsic and dancing are offered on
anything like the scale Of an ordinary
American cabaret. One ~ these cafes II
in q suburb Jazz music, dancing and
drinks are the attractions The cafes
are not vicious IN any sense, and the
attendance is never large.
At the splendid track Of the Jockey
Club, with weather and racing condl-
tions nothing less than perfect; with a
long line of bookmakers and OF pari-
mutual booths eagerly taking bets, the
weekday crowds are thin IN the extreme
On Saturdays and Sundays, the big days
there was, Perhaps, a. per cent at
tendance OF the front-row boxes, the
only one occupied was tho press box.
The flu rIrnors, passport conplica-
tions and tho lack Of hotel accommoda-
tions arc given in explanation Of the
tame aspect of Havana, from the sport
ing viewpoint.
We saw no direct evidences Of "Hu ="
Havana's rs daily newspapers made no
mertion of an epidemic. We were told
that the mild climate made fatalities
from bronchial infections very rare.
The hotels now IN operation certainly
do not appeal to American tastes nor
Amerc4n pockethooks since the typical
sperder in the United states always likes
TO feel that hD IS getting a show for his
money.
Rooms that in midsummer rent for
$50 n day are now bringing IN s1G
with bath means nothing IN the young
life Of q Cuban hotel proprietor. Some
times the bathtub roosts IN the middle Of
the bedroom. Sometimes II is directly
adjoining, in which case its privacy is
purely fictional. The porter keeps his
rnops and pals in your bath, the barber
obtains his cold water for shaving from
your bath, strange persons invade 10 at
all hours. and the lock won't work
There has been, and is, much propa-
ganda afoat regarding Havana IS tour
ist center. II is evenly divided, for and
against Outside Of the hotel exploita-
tion. prices are reasonable: the city is
clean. splendidly policed and full of nat
lraI attractions. Its drives and buildings
are picturesque. and when the American
capitalists who are putting M hotels
have completed the job the city will have
a strong appeal for cold-weathcr refugees.
But the Wild yarns of Havana as a
second Babylon as capital Of feverish
gaveties. thrcnged with spenders, are
Matched in the minds OF thirsty folks who
would like 20 come here, but can I, or
else these tales are circulated BY ire
sponsible press agents.
Conservative Cubans are not al all In
terested in seeing their metropolis adver-
tised as the mecca for sporting charac-
ters. and it il American cash that is be-
ing expended Ia the construction of the
three or four new hotels which viii be
opened next fall.