The Washington herald., 1920-02-01
New York City
By o. o. MeIntyre

New York. Jan. 'si.-Down in
Papa Blanchard's place--a little
wine cellar-on Eighth avenue.
pretty French girls from perfume
factory over on lower Fifth avenue
gave a fearful. farewell luncheon
the other day. They are going
back to France soon. Without light
wines life to them Is incomplete.
1t has been a bad year for Papa
and Mama Blanchard. First the
" And then n small black band
on Papa's sleeve told of the glori-
Gus death of their only son. Pierre.
in France. And then prohibition.
Papa was famous for his mild
wines.
And Mama Blanchard's cooking!
Her pancakes were gastronomic
poems and her salads a triumph of
cuisine. II was at Papa Blanchard's
that one met the gayest and pretti-
est of French girls. They were OF
the working class and in the even
ings gathered at the cellar. which
was right In the heart of the
French quarter on Eighth avenue
between Twenty-eighth and Thirty
sixth streets.
Papa blanchard mingled among
his guests. He was a big. jovial
fellow who wore a white apron and
brown shirt and waited on his
own guests. Sometimes during
rush. Jules, who painted pictures
no one would buy. would help.
Papa always had stories to tell
stories of the Commune. gay bits
of gossip from the bculevards-a
joke on Poincare.
n Pape liked you he took you
back in the little hallway, un-
locked a little closet and with low
let of rare old vintage which he
called "the imprisoned laughter OF
the peasant girls of France" No
one ever got drunk in his place.
He would not serve whisky or
brandy-"devil stun he called it.
If one did not like wine there was
beer drawn from ice packed kegs
on the counter.
When Papa sent out word to the
faithful recently to drop in on a
certain evening he was very quiet.
As the evening wore on he ap-
peared in the middle of the floor.
clapped his hand. raised a goblet
of vine and cried "Nfve rAmeri-
que" All drank and then he told
them that nc was going to close
and return to France. Most Of
them cried-especially the working
girls who had made Papa their con-
| fident. Then the little rerfumery
workers decided they would go too.
They held their farewell luncheon
at Papa's and cried and laughed
and were only made happy when
Papa told them he would find a
little place somewhere in Paris and
open up again.
| ran into group OF dramatic
critics late the other afternoon try
ing to get inspiration and solacc
out of some coffee and indigest BILE
pastry in a Danish pastry shop.
The subject of posing came up and
there followed a most illuminating
series of highlights on one of Amer
ica's greetest exponents of the
drama.
He is. they said the worlds best
poseur. Everything nc does is for
effect. Incense burns in his Office.
ragoda like bells tinkle, soft chimes
are heard fancy and always he is
| found by the caller in some ar
| tistic attitude OF thor ght-and has
to be spoken to before he can be
brought back to the world OF
reality.
| The criticism was not bitter. In
fact they all seemed to love him
but they did not think he was great
NOT even as great as blunt old AL
Woods, who wears striped silk
shirts. splits his infnitives but has
the heart of q Snowman and took
Bowery melodrama to Broadway
and made them like 1t.
/ Tea at Child's, And it is getting
to be 4 fashionable stunt too.
Limousines draw up and befurred
women meet afternoon-suited gem
tlemen and drink over the marble
topped tables. Outside the common
people look at the fiap-jack juggler
and the tea drinkers. A new spirit
of democracy. People go to Child's
white tiled eaterics in the same
naughty manner that they visit the
Ritz or st. Regis