The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-03-27


ARLY spring means carnival II
X Nice, capital of the French
L. Riviera. To this region crowd
thousands of visitors to take
part in the annual playtime.
But to enjoy it one need not become
a participant in this somewhat siren
uous though good-natured hurly-burly.
Even as a spectacle, the carnival is
amusing. What the French can't think
of-in the way of great cars topping
the roofs; mounted groups impersonat-
ing anything from a knightly tourney
to set Of chess men; ludicrous fig
ures Of carrots, cocottes, Catherin-
cites, and menocled men about town
the Italians, to whom Nice belonged
when the first carnivals were held,
add In the way Of human interest.
The carnival occupies scores Of
artists and hundreds of workmen for
months. Miles Of silks and satins are
dyed In the official colors of the year.
The business as we'll as the appear
ance of the center of the city is trans
formed for weeks. Tourists accus-
toned to the best are forced to humble
themselves before naughty concierges
and reception clerks who but month
before were obseQuious.
Carnival spreads his fame up Fifth
avenue, and along Cockspur street, so
that winter sailings show a marked in
crease and place in the Train Bleu
is worth fight. For it big comite
des fetes CANDLES peace of mind
against unsettled and unsettling
weather which mocks at prearranged
schedules. Far into the night the COM
mitttee plans how to prevent two per-
sons from occupying the same chair at
the same time and still keep from re-
funding money once lured into its
Golfers.
All that is stagecraft and manage
ment, as lifeless and dull to the out
slider as the back-stage gridiron or a
rack of numbered and lettered tickets.
What makes carnival is not the
elaborate plans Of professionals, but
the touseled-haired amateurs, their
arms around girl companions, galvan-
lied into motion by the blare of third
rate bands and adding to the formal
skeleton of scheduled pleasures the
meat and substance of vulgar, but in
offensive, fun.
All Innocent Fun.
Strange as it may seem, the frivoli-
ties at carnival time on the Riviera
are as innocuous as Needles Eye"
and post Office" at donation party
in the little white church.
For vapid dummy, Old King Car
nival is merry old soul. But it is
the free guests and spontaneous jollity
that furnish spectacle worth seeing
and an experience that makes bois-
ferrous jewellers of staid visitors.
However unconventional it may be.
the Riviera has its hidebound, brass
tackled, three-ply conventions. At bac-
carat, win or lose. one must look
bored. "What does it matter?' is the
expression to wear while sums for
which men have murdered or mar
ried, stolen OF shaved, are tossed neg
ligently back and forth.
King Carnival knows no such re-
strictions. "Do as you please" is his
motto. In the proclamation which he
issues to his subjects, including the
fnpon fhnrn fc
the fact that liberty does not mean
license" or that true freedom is
freedom to do right"
Yet there are conventions, even amid
confetti showers. The masker must
disguise voice as well as face, and
preferably assume the costume of the
opposite sex. This leads to some
coarseness. But when some uninitiated
town lad discovers his Junoesque
curves slipping. his safety-pin, safety
first efforts are so sincere that one
forgives embarrassment, of which he
so evidently has the major portion.
1t is forbidden for French soldiers
in uniform to Join in the fun. The in
evitable ocedrs. A dutiful officer is
on hand al d with military honor and
dizziness refuses to wink the eve. He
asserts himself and the majesty of
the regulations. As by magic, a mot
ley crowd appears. His tight military
collar is no proof against a flood of
confetti. One spirited maid presses
a kiss on his cheek. Another pushes
his kept over his eyes.
Like a bear surrounded by mosqui-
toes, the officer. stunned by such shock
ing anarchy. sinks away. while the
Blue Devils" whom his Intellectual
protest never reached, continue their
sinful, happy way.