Evening star., 1940-08-04

Americas Play Voyage Gives
Cruise Preview, Minus Perfume
New Queen of U. S. Passenger Ships
To Gerry Romance Next Time Out


pean service provided by the United
States Liners Manhattan and WASH
ington with boat that provides the
acme of luxury in service, appoint
ments and safety. Her keel was laid
in August, 1888, and she was chris
tened by Mrs. Franklin D. Roose-
velt in August of 1899. Since then,
certain things have happened in
Europe, and the America on Satur-
day, August 10. instead of sailing
for Europe, will enter the cruise
trade to neutral ports in the West
Indies, On her play voyage" from
Newport News, however, there were
those who observed the unusual
amount of fiat and open deck space
and ruminated on how many weeks
it might take to convert the luxury
liner into an aircraft carrier.
Streamlined Luxury.
They found no suggestion of such
a fate in the appointments of the
ship, however. The design is dis
tinctive, streamlined throughout,
from the hull-shape which was de-
cided upon after so ship models had
been tried out in 5000 test runs in
the shipyard's model tanks, to the
widely spaced duet of smokestacks
(one~a dummy, both equipped with
winged sampan tops to protect the
sports deck from SCOT Inside, the
decoration is modernistic in line,
color, fabric and ornament. 1t is
the joint effort of firm of archi-
tectS who were men and decorators
who were women. Exploring a
dressing table in one suite, a Senator
pulled open drawer to discover it
was provided with a bottle rack to
keep milady's cosmetics from spill
ing. The Senator's exclamation, he
later, was off the record.
The de luxe public rooms are con-
centrated on the promenade deck.
Forward is the largest. the smoking
room, done in ebonized beechwood
with inlaid designs of two shades
Of beige and furnished with leather
chairs of blue and red. Proceeding
aft, you pass through foyer and
into the lounge, two decks high in
the center, with mezzanine galleries
on either side. It's decor is of
different shades of beige. Proceed
ing on, the library and writing room
IS on the portside and the shopping
center on the starboard Both give
On the H-shaped bar, which in turn
1aS entrances to a ballroom done
n white. silver and red
The thing you remember best
S the modernism in treatment
1t is achieved through
.he use of bleached woods, extensive
Use of aluminium and nickel and
gold bronze. as well as by the almost
indirect lighting. The
dining room, on A deck, is white
and cream-colored with murals of
metal leaf on an ivory background.
A feature is the lamp on each table.
It is constructed of three tiers of
bronze discs that cast the light
ioWn from central bulb. Being
only 10 inches high, the lamps do
not interfere with the view across
the table.
For Adult and Child Play.
Other distinctive features COM
nented on by the guests on the
play voyage" we're: The
fact that the ship has, in addition
10 the usual sports facilities, a hand
oall court, three playrooms for chill
1ren, equipped with dolls, rubber
blocks and hobby horses; dog ken
nels on the sun deck. (There are
"a cabins" each with a folding bed,
clean blankets and water dish and
each cabin front has a doghead
medallion done by S. Edwin Megar-
gee, the noted painter of dog SUBJ
jects. In addition there is an exer-
else runway for the dogs with a
sandboX equipped with a tree
stump. An inside swimming pool,
10 by 33 feet, is located amidships
on c deck. 1t is done in iridescent
blue tile with an ornamental rail
Of silver and gold. Adjoining is
gymnasium, fully equipped.
In this environment, then, the
862 men disported themselves on
the 40-hour trip. Most. unable to
the temperature within
the sun-baked ship, slept out on
deck the first night on cushions
from the deck-chairs. There they
lay, stretched out in various stages
Of dress and undress. Overhead the
moon glimmered across the quiet
ocean, dimly lighting up the forms
Of the sleepers. A writer for the
New Yorker magazine surveyed the
scene from the sun-deck.
Refugee ship" he muttered.
Soon, however, the ship had got
ten its instruments adjusted and
was gliding more swiftly through the
water. 1t was just before dawn and
the air was fresher than it had been
since the ship sailed. The great
metal hull was cooling off with mo-
ton after weeks of lying at dock
beneath a summer sun. An ocean
breeze fluttered across the deck. One
of the men lying on the deck stirred
in his sleep, reached fitfully for his
covers. There were none, of course.
He only found the shoe he had re-
earlier. His hand in this,
he grew quiet, sleeping soundly
again. In a nearby deck-chair a
member of Congress from Texas
watched and chuckled.
The Inner and Outer Man.
With food, drink, cards, sport,
reading and conversation, the S62
men beguiled away the hours. Movies
were shown and there was a ma
gician who moved from group to
group, doing card tricks and a feat
of mind-reading. On the promenade
deck, port side, pianologist did
songs in the Dwight Fiske tradition.
A conventional ocean traveller, how
ever, would have caught his breath
to come suddenly aboard the Amer
lea during this preview cruise Ocean
dress is often informal. On this all
male voyage, however, it was often
reduced to its barest foundations.
1t was different when Monday