Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-11-28
British Debs
Find Wide
Restraint
American Freedom
Offers Question
In Contrast.
(Continued From First Page.)

multi colored feathers she already has
many gowns from Paris but whatever
Is lacking in her wardrobe is usually
filled from such sources as Worth or
Hartnell. Her coiffure, plastically
sculped by a master of that art, is
deity coaxed to perfection: her skin
is made-up to bring out that pale,
translucent quality so famous in
English women; family pearls sparkle
at her throat, the family sapphires
on her wrists, diamonds on her scar
let-tipped fingers and in her shining
blond hair. She has the silver foxes left
her by her grandmother made into
graceful cape; the rainbow-hued
scarves that her father brought back
from India twisted over a white eve
ming dress in the latest manner OF
the Rue de la Paix; in a word, she
has every last-minute note to fill her
chord of harmony in the symphony
OF society. But, more than before.
she is terrified, feeling young-far
younger-than she had felt before
leasing school and trembling with a
sudden realization of being unable
to cope with this tremendous situa-
ton.
At the opening of the season she
nnds that she is on list with at least
800 other girls; that these girls are
divided up among chaperones in the
groups OF people with whom they move
and are most likely to see. In Pa
mela's group, which is composed most
ly OF girls with whom she has been
at school, or known slightly in some
other way, their mothers or aunts will
act as chaperones. Invitations pour
IN to each group from all the others
and on the night of her first ball
Pamela finds herself going to a din
ner with group of six girls, two of
whom she knows, and a chaperone
whom she may never have met.
AS no debutante can 60 to a
dance without first attending a
dinner, the dinners are all method
1cally arranged so that few are left
out. Dinners are made up by the
chaperones from the list of debs and
OF the available young men about
town. No boy brings a girl; the girls
are brought by their chaperones and
meet the boys at dinner. While they
are chatting tensely at table, dance
cards are circulated and it is etiquette
That each boy put each girl at the
dinner on his list for dance; there
are usually IA dances on the list, and,
therefore, dinner parties generally
conform to this number. The situa-
ton adds up to the fact that one
rarely dances outside of ones own
dinner" so to speak In this way IA
boys and girls become fairly well
acquainted in one evening, or so the
chaperones hope, if it is to be a sue
cessful season. This generally de-
pends on the amount of charm Dos
sessed by the lovelies and the CONVEX
sational faculties of the young gentle
men, for in England it is the bows
who make the effort first, and do not.
like so many Of their Western cousins.
sit back and give the girl a shrewd
once-over before condescending to
honor her with their breadbare lines, -"
Stag Line Eliminated
BY Card Dances.
At a dance there naturally is no
stag line. With the card dances. the
orchestra plays three or four tunes
IN rapid succession and then stops
for a 10-minute interval, giving the
boys time to give their partners a
little non-alcoholic refreshment and
move about the rooms in an effort to
find the girl for the next dance. As
the season progresses and Pamela
learns the ms and outs of the pro-
fesslon, she finds that cutting"
dances Is really an easy matter, if one
has the finesse and glib tongue neces-
sary for artful alibis. Cutting a dance
with bore in order to waltz with a
beau is rather dangerous, as one must
keep In every ones good graces in
order not to be talked of as a Eighty
damsel, but it is fun to take chances
for a charming officer of the Argyll
and Sutherland Regiment who wears
his kilt and tartan with a dash, and
murmurs as sparkling a line as any
New Yorker.
In TACT, as the season swings on she
discovers a great many little tricks
with which to foil the guardian angels
when their lorgnettes were not raised:
and at the end of month she has
found that what her older sister said
was true: you can get away with the
crown jewels if you get the guards
mind on something else. IF one was
polite to the patronesses and behaved
with poise and grace one could slip
down by-paths and into exciting
corners without arousing suspicion
provided, of course, one did it with
discrimination.
Queen Charlotte's Ball
Heads English Season.
The high lights of the English sea-
son are, first, the Queen Charlotte's
bay. This ball is akin to the Baltimore
Cotillion, is held at Grosvenor House.
which has the largest dance floor in
London, the tickets are sold in aid
OF charity. The patronesses, as usual,
have their tables and the huge room
Is packed with notableS. At 10 o'clock.
with the arrival of the Duke and
Duchess OF Kent, who are the patron
saints OF the younger generation, the
. orchestra plays tune of the moment
and down the sweeping stairs that
lead from the balcony onto the dance
floor come the debutantes of the year
before, carrying torches" of flame
colored flowers; they walk into two