The Washington times., 1923-01-30
NIGHT LIFE
IN CLUBS
/. FREE
Men of Good Standing Dancing
With Questionable Girls
i AmaZes PoIiceWoman.

BY F. A. WRAY,
Cosmopolitan News Service staff
Correspondent.

Correspondent.
LONDON, Jan. 3O.-It cost Mrs.
Nina C. Van Wrinkle, director of
women police Of Washington,
D. c., 1915 to find out that in the
] night clubs of London folks some
times dance until breakfast time.
What she saw in the night clubs
and in the hotels of the city
shocked Mrs. Van Wrinkle and
made her believe that London is
more wicked than Washington and
just as wicked, if not more so,
! than New York. What she said
about Londoners shocked them
almost as much as what she saw
shocked her. \
England LIS Surprised.
The sight of London girls. wear
ing beautiful evening dresses,
dancing on Sundays in the large
hotels, and the sight of men whose
names are known throughout King
Georges realm dancing in the night
clubs with girls who are mice look.
ing, but who may not be nice,
were things that shocked Mrs. Van
Wrinkle most noticeably. That these
things should shock Mrs. Van
Wrinkle at all was great shock
to Londoners.
England has always danced on
Sundays since historic times, with
one Cromwellian exception" the
astounded Londoner declared.
Mrs. Van Wrinkle came to Lon
don as one Of the first stops of
European tour, during which she
will study police conditions and
methods, particularly with relation
TO women police. She obtained her
costly information regarding Lon
don's night clubs at the Midnight
Frolics, a resort that Londoners re-
%gard as only mildly naughty. When
|she arrived at the Frolics she was
told that only members could be
admitted
. What do 1 have to do to be a
member" Mrs. Van Wrinkle asked.
You may be admitted to mem
bership on payment of fifteen shill-
ings," she was told. She paid the
fifteen bob" but had she known
more of London she could have
achieved the same results for five
shillings. p
Remains To Observe.
Once admitted to the Frolics,
Mrs. Van Wrinkle stayed from mid
could have remained until break
fast time studying the nature and
practices of the clubs patrons. Her
general conclusions are that Lon
don has adopted the worst features
of American life and has gone
America one better in their de.
velopment.
soon after we entered the Mid.
night Frolics, she said, "a young
woman came to our table and asked
If we were from America. When we
told her we were. she sat down with
us, called several other girls to our
table, and gave us many details of
how such clubs are conducted. The
thing that amazed me most was the
number of men Of prominence and
social standing who frequent these
places. She pointed out to us MANY
men whose names are we'll known in
London who were dancing and
drinking with the girls who are
habitues of the place.
Men of this type in New York
never would be seen in such a place.
don't say that our men are better;
they may be hypocritical, but their
ventures into Bohemia are never SO
openly embarked upon"
Leaving the Midnight Frolics, Mrs.
Van Wrinkle went to PicadiIIy Cir
Gus. where the night life of London
centers.
Il was astounded," she said of
Picadilly. lat the laxity of sex laws
IN London. | saw at least a hundred
girls openly accosting men in the
. heart of the city The police tell
me that they are powerIess to cope
with this situation. as it is inpossi-
BILE for uniformed officer to obtain
sufficient evidenc etc convict when
an arrest is made
Likes Their Dancing
Mrs. Van Wrinkle thinks London's
dancing is not quite SO bad as
that which can be seen in New
York, Washington, and other Amer1-
can cities. The English, she he
/ 4ieves, dance with more decor,,no
albeit the London dances lack. fine
grace and pep" that feature the
.nce halls of America.
I hardly feel qualified to make q
nparison between the morals of
21ndon and New York" the Wash
ington policewoman said, but after
one-night visit to the West End
] can say that New York has less
70 be ashamed Of in its clubs"