Putnam patriot., 1929-05-09
Monte Carlo
Mnnfo Carlol

MOute 1dftHs Monte Carlol
 What yarns of ''breaking the \ bank" what stories of Oppenheim and score or more of writers, of be- jewelled demi-mondaines and thou sand other pre-war characters of TO- nance the very name recalls There are the legends of NJ Blanc and his family who have derived their great fortune from the gambling in the famous Casino and of the independ- ent Princes of the tiny state of Mon acc who also live by the proceeds of the years returns from the victims of the goddess ef chance. Few places on the civilized globe have furnished more material for the writers of the lighter fiction.
 But gone are those days when ladies came down from Paris for the
 season and swept through the great halls of the Casino magnificently clad and gleaming with the jewels of the rue de la Paix. Gone are the Rus sian Grand Dukes of tradition who threw a fortune on a single turn of the roulette wheel. Gone is much of that beau monde" that was gay, bril- liant, smart, reckless and not infre- quently tragic.
 Nature made Monte Carlo one of the most beautiful spots in the world. The great Rock of Monaco tc the right. crowned with the Palace of the hereditary Princes with the neat lit tie town and comic opera army lies on one side of a tiny harbour while Monte Carlo itself chambers about the twin reek to the other side. In the very center cf the precipitous little city stands the magnet of the towns activities. the combined gamb- ling Casino and opera house. facing lovely gardens that are surrounded by some of the worlds finest and best hotels.
 Below is the blue. blue Mediterra- mean, to the left the green sweep of lovely Cap Martin and usually, above shines the nearly always cen stant sun.
 But Monte Carlc like SO many other places on the globe has chang ed in the decade that has elapsed since the Armistice.
 We motored over from Cannes along the road that parallels the rail- road past the quaint old town of Antibes. then by lovely Cagnes and into Nice along the famous Promen- ade des Anglais turning to climb the middle Corniche road which provides some of the most beautiful views along the Riviera. Arrived in the suuare before the Casino at noon day, when usually the visiting crowd is completely on parade, to our sur prise we found the famous spot all \ most deserted. Here and there were S quaint old ladies.--always to be seen at Monte. There were German tour ists and many Scandinavians. S At one time we lunched in the formerly golden glories of the Hotel de Paris in a great dining room where S only fifteen or twenty of hundreds of J tables were occupied Nowhere was there a vestige of the former gayety I of the place. In contrast to the ncon- a dny luncheon at the Ambassadors at NJ Cannes. the Hotel de Paris was as a S deserted barn. After lunch, a walk A about the town and glimpse from A above of the new summer Casino and -s bathing beach built under the direc ton O. that energetic American, Mis- { Elsa Maxwell and We turned back t6 I the Casino.
 \ Dingy and smelly the Casino lens \ has been. 1t is worse than ever to day. There is a legend that onc' { the windows of the Casino were opened and the fresh air of heaver \ was admitted. Instantly its etiee was noted on the gamblers. TheS {, became brisk and active mentally 4 capable of deciding when they had l won or lost enough. Instantly tho windows were closed and closed thes 1, have been ever since.
 Within the gaming rooms we found , a crowd of moderate size. The same |, old ladies with their blank books , recording the plays, the same old gentlemen with their boards and gmall piles of chips, for chips are the ]. rule at Monte now. Gone are the {. days when the tables glistered with 1 "lauis dor" Here and there we , found a winner, surrounded by 6 parasitic crowd The crcupiers stiil droned their: Make your play. mes
 sieurs eft Madamew The marble still clinked in the revolving wheel. The stale air made the players somno- lent, gave Us a headache. We found
 if ali dull anu disappointing and the
 fresh air and the was..-i;Iig motor were
 q reviving relief.
 
 We dined at Beaulieu in beauti-
 ful villa by the sea, villa of lovely
 gardens with a blue marble lined din-
 ing room that looked out upon the
 narrow harbour of Villefranche iilled
 with the French Mediterranean flotil-
 la. steam up, with it's noses turned sig
 nificantly towards Italy and the ever
 threatening Mussolini. Then we
 drove back over the circuitous read to
 Nice, the lower Corniche. There we
 ran inte the end of the annual Carni-
 val. The streets were filled with vis-
 itors and inhabitants in various and
 eundry costumes and there was a
 parade of gargantuan floats depicting
 those various hideosities that the
 French frequently find amusing but
 that to us simply proved an obstruc- 4fo,, Ca sxeH;n