Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-30
MADR|D'S STREETS
REFLECT NEW YORK
SwirIing CIoaks and MantiIIa'
Hidden Faces Replaced
by Modern Styles.
BY Consolidated Press.


MADRID, August 30.-If you come
to Madrid looking for something
Spanish and lured by the song about
long. long ago In old Madrid, there's
quite a shock awaiting you. Somber,
swirling cloaks and glittering stilettos,
mantillas above shy faces, serenados,
balconadoes and Observation-Disclosures
have all gone by the board. But If
you're homesick for a sight Of New
York. take a walk through the park
in front of the Prado Museum.
It's all there--New York is-except
the tall buildings. With calm defiance
of the DEGREES about long hair, which
the haifdressers formulate every SO
often. the Madrid girls have bobbed
theirs and the faces-cool. aloof, but
not too aloof, and anything but shy
look out from a frame Of neatly
shingled and waved locks just like
your stenographer' or your wife's.
Moreover. if you want to see the
long. full Spanish skirts that whirl-
pool so effectively. around slim ankles.
you've got to hunt up the gypsies.
Madrid girls have skirts twirling
around slim knees at the moment
and not always slim.
I.ipstick Adds Color.
They use lipsticks, too. and deity
place a burning and permanent blush
on the olive of their oval cheeks.
Moreover. the duenna is distinctly In
the discard and smokes for women
are coming in.
The country which discovered
America and has been too tired ever
since to do much but rest up after the
voyage may yet find it's renaissance
in the fact that the girls of it's cap
ital today show a preference. like the
rest of the world. for showing their
knees OF course. it deals a knock
out blow at Old Romance. But it's
fine for the hosiery and ladies' gar
ments trades.
strangely enough. one reason why
the girls of Madrid are strong for the
latest IA shions is the Queen herself.
She is one of the handsOmest and
dressiest queens eXtant and has
proved the fallibility of the old legend
about the Queen of Spain having no
legs. Moreover, she is popular among
her people, setting the styles for wom-
en- quite as definitely as the Prince
of Wales sets them for men.
Thanks largely to the force of her
example. there are only three places
in Madrid today where you can see
long frockS. One Is in the PradO Mu-
colors of it's original Van Dycks, Eel
Grecces. Rembrandts, Rubens and MI
rillos: another is at any court cere-
monial, where the stately satins and
yelvetS outrival in Splendor even the
things on the Prado walls. and the
other is in the gypsy quarter.
Gypsy Colony Small.
Every big Spanish town has its
gypsy quarter. and while Madrid has
perhaps the smallest collection OF all
for gypsies don't care about cap
itals--a good guide, for handful OF
pesetas. will bring YOU at length to
group of s1ualid buildings with an
atmosphere Of heavy Spanish door
WAYS and heavier Spanish onions.
The little courtyard is lighted by
Pickering lamps which shine upon
fat. starry-eyed youngsters; lean. ill
tempered dogs-the proper back
ground of wrinkled cronies. various
picturesque staggering men and four
young girls whose faces show no
beauty and whose long, full. gathered
gowns show an appalling lack of New
England neatness. The evening soup
assails your nostrils, the fieas assail
your ankles and great doubt as to
the lure of a gypsy life begins to
assail YOU. when. with a rush like a
good-natured cyclone, Pepita and
NIanuelo leap into the middle of that
frowsy courtyard with a. machine gun
broadside Of castanets beneath which
the guitars and mandolins thrum a
refrain. And they begin to dance.
If two exuberant young volcanoes
could dance they'd do it like that.
They stop. The guide touches your
arm. A flea more than touches your
ankle. You stumble out over dogs,
soup. old crones, odorous cushions.
back to your up-to date hotel. You've
lived in the primitiv. for half an
hour: you've left it az far behind as
The Pyramids.