New-York tribune., 1921-05-30
Night Life Officially Decd;
FroIic Closes in Sod Cayety
Megfeid's Cirlies Try Vaantly TO Inspire Joy
in Sober Revelers, but All Is Solemn
as Roof Locks Up in the Cold, Gray Dawn

The last frontier of New York night
life disappeared for an indefinite period
at dawn yesterday morning, when the
Aegfeld Roof closed to the strain of
Aud Lang Sync," played on muted in
struments by Dabney's syncopated or
chestra--now seekifg an engagement.
Florenz Megfeld jr. swears it is closed
forever, but as the walters piled the
tables into pyramids when. the last
sober-faced reveler disappeared they
whispered rumor that September will
bring reopening with the fourteenth
edition Of the midnight Frolic"
The end came at o'clock. when the
curtains were drawn on the closing
number, "At st. Moritz," with all the
hand~picked ziegfeld beauties in winter
sports costumes tossing cotton "snow.
balls at the "Johns" and "Janes" seat
ed about the dance floor, highly pol~
lshed rectangle that has reflected a
larger area of nudity per capita than
any other space Of similar size in the
Western Hemisphere.
Guests Stay Hopefully
For more than two hours after that.
however, the folks who had paid for
tables and those who had merely
crashed the gate" fingered and endeav-
ored to be hopeful. First they would
toddle. Then back to the tables for an
other desperate struggle with ginger ale
or grenadne cup. Hours after the last
of the girls, clad in somber street frocks.
had departed with Johns" or ''Sweeties''
or female relatives the last of the
foddIers left to be greeted at the street
ievel by two Jocose cab drivers Each of
these insisted that his broken-kneed
morse was Man o. War himself. Appar-
entity the cabbies have access to places
uninvaded by detectives who taste all
the drinks in sight.
I'm gonna do it if like it," sang
kathlene Martin in the opening portion
OF the revue, soon after midnight. But
she didn't sound convincing. One of her
audience, who from time to time poked
his head out of sight beneath the cloth
on his table, asked: "How you get that
way? You're gonna do nothing the po-
hce don't want you to do" His lady
friend shushed him vigorously
Stationary Dancing Necessary
When the thirtyminute intermission
came the dance floor became so
crowded with toddlers that the sta
rlonary method of their juggling
seemed almost an act of necessity,
Each couple remained in one spot
trembling like tiny birds in aspic icilv
Imprisoned there were such figures
as Thomas Meighan, favorite movie
hero of Harriette Underhili. and Gene
Buck, who. writes the lyrics for the
Alegfeld shows. There were vounp
men with hair sliclled back as if with
glue; one paunchy figure with g. bald
head that appeared to have been pol
lshed with a manicure buffer. The
women they danced with wore anv-
thing from evening gowns to street
frocks and suits.
Then came the final half Of the
frolic. Van and Schenck sang. The
audience forgot N1eir woes and lack
of liquor. The little wooden hammers
pounded with something like the old
pre-war clamor. Van ard Schenck dis
appeared. The pounding of the ham
mers grew in intensity. The curtains
parted on the last number.
Sad Effort to Be Gay
AS if they had suddenly realized
that the end was near, the gathering
endeavored to grow boisterous. But
without stimulants the effort was
feeble: The girls began to lombard
the tables with cotton balls. The men
at the tables, who in times past would