The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-09-24
AMERICAN FLAPPER
HAS NO EQUAL
IN PARIS
French Custom Apparently Is
to Skip Middle Period Be-
tween Childhood and
Maturity
BY GRANT GORDON
Special Correspondent OF The Accelerate
Copyright, 1922. by Tho Age HsraIdl
Paris Spntpn1 beT- % -U(scod RI COG


some American girls, eh?"
1t was in an American bank, where
American tourists cash their letters
of credit, receive their mail and read
the latest American papers.
The speaker was seated In an arm
chair under the window homesick
family man OF 30. He nudged his
neighbor as he spoke, indicating a
group Of young boarding school girls,
tarrying late in Paris. who had Just
entered, chattering.
Look at EN-; look. Talk about
French women. Why, I've been from
Sherburg to Marseilles, and there's
nothing in France that can touch our
American girls. Don't know how it
is, but our girls look younger,
fresher.'
The neighbor eyed thera up and
down, from their untrimmed sport"
hats to their low-heeled calfskin
shoes. They were typical flappers.
Practical travelling suits of gray or
brown, trimmed with green or burnt
orange; severe tailored shirtwaists,
stock collared with four in hand ties,
or open eve so modesty in a small
v, all -American. And IL there had
been no other indication, there were
the strongly reinforced silk stock
ings, black or brown, of first quality
but heavy, contrasting sharply with
tho gauzy flesh -colored hose of the
Parisienne, who looks at distance
as If she wore none at all.
American Boy, Too
And look at that boy, there" con-
tinued the homeslck man, nudging
his neighbor, who had relapsed into
his paper. "Where'll you find any
French boy like him? He's got to
hurry home probably to enter college
this fall, I'd say. Clean, 1.-THE, ath-
letic. smart. up-and-doing. Neat,
snappy clothes, soft collar, bronzed
neck. Bet he can kick a football,
sail boat. play first base, drive
car or build an Adirondack shanty.
There's our American young peo-
pie for you. They've got it all over
the Europeans like a summer sky.
Ever notice 1t, walking around Paris,
you never see any youngsters-girls
or boys, either-say 16 and 1877 They
must exist, but where are they7 You
see plenty of kids, and you see men
and women who look younger than
their clothes. but you don't see any
that look the age of these youngsters
here"
There Is much truth in tho obser-
alton. That very interesting age,
much catered to in America, and
also in England, scarcely exists on
the continent. A French girl dresses
like child-short dresses of white.
pink or baby blue, be-ribboned bon
net, hair down back. no jewelry I'M
til about Is or II. Suddenly she bios
SONS forth without any intermediate
changes, into q woman somewhat like
her mother.
Fiapperhood is simply skipped
The boy may be taller than his
father--may even be growing a more
or less successful .mustache-but he
continues to wear breeches that stop
short OF his knees, leaving the latter
bare down to where the turnover
socks begin. On his head, a dinky
"beret," cross between tam o. shan
ter and a skullcap.
One day, as bolt from the blue,
1t is abruptly decided Tin family
council, 1t may be supposedly that
Adolphe shall be man. He gets an
awkwardly tailored tweed suit for
every day, black sack coat and vest
with striped trousers for dress-up.
felt hat, too small and a derby
too large. complete his wardrobe of
manhood.
Middle Period Lacking
Tho period between bitter limo
cence and complete soph stication is,
by common consent, in France, ig-
nored. treated as If 1t did not exist
Today. girl content supposedly
with dolls and tatting. tomorrow a
woman, candidate for marriage, ac-
companying her mother to teas.
dances, theatres. dinners. Today
boy, overseen during the day by stern
schoolmasters, at night under the
rigid curfew laws of tradition
bound parent; tomorrow a man, with
his favorite newspaper, habitual cafe
and not infrequently a private gar
conniere." where he may entertain
the inevitable Margot or Jaime.
This lack of an age intermediate
between childhood and maturity Is
doubtless ascribable to the sharp
separation of the sexes Young peo-
pie do not consort with others of the
opposite gender. A girl, until mar
ried or even past marrying Is never
out of sigh of her chaperon. There
is no demand for athletic young men
who can sail boats.
1t Is only lower down In the social
scale that the young person" exists
Shop girls, who earn their living and
the right to dispose of their eve
nings, go to public dance halls and
meet In a spirit of cameraderie. stu
dents and sons of toilers who have
managed to escape the rigors of fam
lily tradition. At the Bal Butler, for
example. the homesick gentleman
from the states might have seen
saucy girls and snappy boys at IS,
enjoying themselves frankly and
gayly, in love with Ike and youth
But he was right in the main. The
American flapper and the American
prep school boy are a charm to de-
light the eye of any American with
tendency to inconsistencies.
---s.--