The Washington herald., 1920-07-04
New York City.
b. q. o. MeIntyrs

said that New Yorks summer ses-
son Is officially opened until +. Zieg-
field. jr., presents his "Foliies," and
now that they have arrived the lit
tie old island Is settling down to
it's summer season of merriment
tra-la-la-lai
There is little doubt that as a
Snowman Ziegfeld stands without q
peer. He combines sagacious busi-
ness wisdom with artistic acumen.
His production this year. cost $780,
900. Critics have agreed that he has
surpassed his hitherto mastodonic
efforts to furnish mental and ocular
Eutriment to the tired business men
Of Gotham and the visiting buyers
from Clay Center.
Ziegfeld's fingers are eternally on
the public pulse. He is the Camera
Eye of the Thespic World. Who
would attempt a performance in this
town without a prohibition bon
mot or the epileptio convulsions of
shlmmy shaker? ZieEfeld did.
And for this he deserves the praise
Of a suffering citizenry.
II Ziegfeld wants an artistic set
ting he goes afield and pots Ben
Ali Haggin. II he wants a blue sky
twinkling with stars suggesting all
the bewilderment of beautiful
summer night. he gets Urban. His
orchestra leader comes from Lon
don, and his stage director Is the
great Royce OF the London Gaiety-
and not of the Rolls Hyphen fame.
Victor Herbert strains with the
Hitting lullabyes Of Irving Berlin
foat dreamily through the per-
formance. And back of 1t all is
stage magic. or better. the Zieg-
field touch. There Is no denying
that Belasco gets dramatic effects
that accelerate the heart beat. But
Ziegfeld dazzles the eye and be-
wilders the brain.
New York has been deluged with
pretty girl sextets. No doubt they
have their appeal but they are all
done in the same fashion with little
variation. Ziegfeld had a scene with
six pretty girls, but they did not
come tripping on smlrking at the
audience. They came In six Rolls
Royce cars. That one brief scene
gives an idea of the expense of a
Follies production.
There is no appeal to the senses
q
girl and music show cannot sur
vive without a wanton display of
naked limbs. This gratuitous ana
tomical exhibit has for years been
an insult to public intelligence.
Ziegfeld seems to be the first to
realize this.
For bare legs he supplahted the
twinkle OF a pretty foot peeping
coyly forth beneath a dainty petit
coat and the feeting glimpse of a
well-turned ankle in a billowy sea
of chiffon. He whets the ocular ap-
petite without shocking respecta-
bility. There has never been any
need for a reckless display of wom-
ems personal charms.
A man who has never seen a rose
might regard a sunflowsr as the
acme Of floral perfection, having
never seen a female figure artistic
ally draped he might contemplate
bare limbs with satisfaction. but 1t
is doubtful IL he could regard the
wearer with that chivalric adora-
tion which places women n little
lower than the angels.
1t is a rare privilege TO see a Fol-
lies first-night audience. The fiow-
ers of New York society. the mil.
lionaire colony. the artistic set and
all the rest are there. Away up IN
a, curtained box sits ZiegfeId, who
calmly awaits the verdict that will
make or lose him a fortune. His
audience never sees him. He affects
sedate clothes. His hair is iron
gray. lie has piercing eyes and a
delightful smile.
My friend william Johnston has
written another corking mystery
story, The Mystery in the Ritz
more" When he is not editing the
Sunday World he Is untangling the
webs of a personally conceived mys-
terry. An author rarely knows just
how his plot will turn out. and as he
works over his characters they be-
come living personalities. 1t is said
that Oppenheim was so engrossed in
a character he was writing about
once that while passing a London
hotel where he had placed the char
acter he absent -mindedly stopped in
and asked the clerk to send up his
name. 1t was not until he realized
that IL was taking the clerk a long
time to find the person on the regis
ter that he FASTENED away without
explanation. Johnston turned to
~
longed illness and when he was re-
stored to perfect health he found II
a fascinating pursuit and has writ
ten a half dozen successes. His
"Limpy" has gone into a number of
editions.
At a wedding in the Black Belt in
Harlem recently thirty limousines
were counted in front of the church.
The negroes there now have their
own stock theaters and are present
ing Broadway successes.
Greenwich Villagers are now
builcing bungalows on the roofs of
houses and buildings. The more
elaborate bungalows are gay with
Italian green trellises that hide a
multitude of architectural -blots.
Copings and ugly wall extensions,
chimneys and other eXcrescences
may be artistically concealed be-
hind such network. From the simple
800 variety of roof home one may
advance to the 5000 or $500. There
are some that have cost twice $500
and even 1000. These have shingled
walls, windows and doors and are
equipped for a winter as well as a
summer abode. Some even go to
the limit of steam heat and plumb
ing.
Flattery beclouds the mind. A
well-known joker has been perpe-
trating this one during the week.
He first fatters a person by telling
them that he understands they have
an unusual knowledge of history.
Then he propounds this one:
Which Is the heavier, Wilson or
Taft, and the answer is the name of
a former President
Invariably the person questioned