Evening star., 1924-09-14

THEY come to dance the fox-trot.
They will hardly get up for a
tango or Boston, says Oscar Mouvet.
But middle-aged men, like Berry
Wall and Harry Lehr, are so strong
for dancing the fox-trot that, refer
ring to one of the two on the night
of the Prince of Wales, oscar added
head off. nobody did
As touchstone of pure rhythm, h"
mentioned the blues" which are the
fox-trot on a different syncopation.
permitting one TO dance without trav-
cling so much. just marking time
This, ! take it. is when They're
breathed but won't stop.
The blues" are the proof of the
whole thing-"marking time" Why.
, the spectators themselves mark time.
seated at their tables. nodding, tap
ping. They are rhythm -ridden-and
| here's purity of heart.
Beginning like all other dancings.
| the Embassy Club has reached the
point to which the others are tending.
If ! see d man who belongs to one
! party trying to dance with a woman
who is not of his party, l have word
with him. says Oscar Mouvet.
/ thing that he does.
Yet Partisan dancings were built
| up on just the opposite.
Today, still, the great afternoon
| teas. like the Claridge and the Her
| mitase, employ paid dancers, and are
bound to tolerate young fellows Of
correct manners, whose first idea is
| to pick up something. The Embassy
| Club" itself still runs A tea dance,
catering entirely to the bourgeoisic,
and very French" says Oscar.
The tea is utterly different from
| the evening" he says. AT the tea
have five or six professional dancers.
The French require it, because the
| man is busy in the afternoon and the
woman goes out somewhere and drops
| into dancing tea. She does not need
| to look foolish and ask for a dancer.
because the professionals see and no
tice who wants TO dance. They dane"
four or five times. and she slips him
| from 10 to so francs. In the after
noon 1t seems perfectly proper to me,
and I stand it. In the evening my
| clientele is entirely different, and
will not stand it,
| A S Oscar Mouvet points out, that
sort of thing is not a career" and
what the young fellows pick up is
growing less and less. In the flush
confusion following the war rich
| marriages were brought off at the
dancings, and "Frenchy" lightness
| fetched all sorts of revenue into the
hands of "adroit boys and even blame
| FOOLS"
! The fox-trot kills it.
| The lads themselves forget to look
| for business, hypnotiZed by jazz and
syncopation. And a new lot, crowd
| ing the dancing teas, neglect to think
| of anything but fox-trot.
| At beautiful Armenonville yester-
| day afternoon there were actually
more men who sought to dance than
girls and women to dance with them.
Seated near the entrance to the
| floor, 1 found it striking. In they
crowded. Apart from the raft OF
| tourists, where do all these French
| young men come from? They are
good hammered, well dressed, slender.
straight, young, elegant, correct, and
without the slightest shade of f1irt.
Il see the same young fellows every
day." says. Billy Henley's drum man.
| They are obviously of good family
for the most part. I do not know if
| their parents give them money TO
come, or know that they are here
But l know the boys by sight. l see
| them come to the Cafe de Paris in
the Winter with their families. They
| come here to dance-yeah, just tp
dance! They pick up nothing. They
are no more gigolos than you and
are. 1t is coming to this-a queer
thing for Paris.-on the dance floor
| there is only dancing. If you call it
dancing-it's the fox-trot."
Jazz has done it.
Tum! tum! Tom-tom!
American jazz music Is making
Paris pure in heart!