Evening star., 1940-11-22
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and the place for dancing all really
run together and are distinguished
simply by what people do in them.
describe these rooms in detail
because I want you to see them
As I saw them, first on the noon
Of q sunny fall day filled with busy
people and then again as I saw
them II hours later. coming in
out Of the black from walking
through shelters-coming in to the
dull light with a.-steel helmet on
my head. with the night guns echo
ing In my ears, blowing the curtains
and seeing the people sleeping in the
corners and meeting the weather.
reddened incendiary bomb spotter
coming down from the roof, with
the liveried elevator man opening
the door for him. Seeing the old
lady who nightly makes q nest for
hersen or steamer rugs and pillows
N the corner where the hors
doeuvre stand rests by day. Sitting
with my taxi driver unselfcon-
sciously drinking beer on the sofa
where at noon I met Lady Diana
Dun Cooper, looking as chic as
page from Vogue and making
jokes with her friends.
NOW at noon when I came first
INTO these rooms there was no sign
OF war or siege except that . good
many OF the men and some of the
women wore uniforms. The lobby
was crowded with people coming
ma going, telephoning, buying pa
pers, stopping to speak to each
other. In the near end of the lobby
groups were ordering cocktails and
drinking them, interrupting each
ether, getting up and sitting down.
Beyond the tables were a crowded
clatter. AS in London In q fash
ionable restaurant five years ago.
SO in London that noon more people
knew each other than do In FASH
ionable restaurants in New York.
Ben stopped at almost every other
table to introduce me to some one,
I was news because I had lust
flown from New York and people
were politely interested. No one
asked me what New York was like,
though few wanted to know now
thought the election was coming out.
London Unchanged.
At lunch the menu seemed as
bountiful as the menu OF any in
ternational hotel, whether in Lon
don or New York or Buenos Aires.
So did the wine list.
sat and looked around me and
could not believe it. 1t was rich.
gay, cosmopolitan London un-
changed.
I am recording what saw and
felt In the order that I saw and
felt it. Later on you will see that
my skepticism-my difficulty in be-
lieving the Dorchester at lunch was
real-was not entirely unsound. But
the Dorchester and the life people
live in it is definite part OF the
picture. As at the Dorchester, so
at other hotels such as the Ritz,
and the Savoy.
The sharp contrast of these hotels
with life in the rest of London does
not lessen with familiarity. The
menus after you come to know them
have perhaps less variety than you
1tst recognized. The service in the
dining rooms is not what it used to
be, because so many good Italian
Walters and maitres d'hotel have
fed or are in concentration camps.
but the English service above stairs
1.-The valeting and the ladies maid
tng--is as conscientious ana as.
thoughtful and Is smoothly self
efacing as ever. AND the whole
is miraculously: as 1t was.
I had come to London to see for
myself what 1t was like There
were hundreds Of questions In my
rnind-things / wanted to see,
people I wanted to talk to. But