Evening star., 1942-04-23
After Dark
News and Comment OF the Night Clubs
BY the Spectator.
TRADE Mar Registered 9

NNt11AA lOA EFE4 AAm&AhEA III AA&As
foreign correspondent feeling-an
unlikely eventuality in all proba-
bility--take yourself 70 the Bala-
laika and tell either Misha or
George that you would ike TO have
q few words with Ivanoff. the dag
ger dancer. The interview done.
you win be convinced you deserve a
I rating for worldly experience at
least on par with william Shirer or
John Gunther.
Tvanoff. you comprehend. speaks
[ no English--that is, not much more
/ than could be inscribed on the fly
/ leaf OF Roget's. Consequently, when
| you find yourself in the midst OF
introductory pleasantries with the
dancer. you are easily persuaded by
his apologize suggestion, Maybe
better we wait for Mr.. Booss He's
talks English and Russian wonder
full. Moi, je parle but French.
/ Spanish. German. Russian" and
he viii raise an inquiring eyebrow.
/ to which you shake your head. real
izing your high school French will
not do
SO you tarry in silence at your
! table until Misha "Booss" hurries
up. A quick glance at the two Of
| you seated there like congenial
I sphinxes satisfies Misha that he
has been unanimously appointed in
/ terpreter. He chuckles and with
gestures and mixed vocabulary sug-
/ gests that all of the party retire to
a quiet corner.
The bureau of information set
up, with Misha in the middle as
| commissar, the interrogation gets
under way.
How long has Mr.. Ivanoff,"
polite smile In his direction, been
| in the show business?" Is query
| No. /.
MiSha digests this and turns to
Ivanoff with a vast linguistic spray
which must be Russian. And the
dancer, in turn, mulls q bit and
sprays right back
Hes danced since almost 1920"
Misha translates apparently. with
Platoff's Don Cossacks Chorus when
first gotten together in Belgrade,
and then he's gone all around the
world with Platoff EGYPT, Java,
Sumatra. Australia, New Zealand" T"
And Ivanof mods his head and re-
peats each name, in French ac-
cents, after Misha.
you understand the Cauffcasian
dagger dancer" Balalaika's labor
ing owner inquiries. This is one
that the Don Cossacks, who live in
the Cauffcasus Mountains which
Hitler is trying to get, dance
to show of. They have big cele-
brations, like cowboys, when they
ride horses and have target prac-
tees and do the dagger dance to
show of how good they are. This
dagger dance Is their stunt they like
the best. It's a hard dance; but
they are hard people. One and two
hundred years ago they used to ride
into Turkey and run of with Turk
ish women and guns and money and
fight to get it."
Several score more words with
Ivanoff.
He says he never did that him.
sell, Misha laughs.
You may wonder out loud to
Misha how long it took Ivanoff to
learn dancing on the knuckles of
his unpadded toes-a dagger dance |
feature-and how in the world he
acclimated his lips and gums to
holding and throwing sharp-pointed |
knives.
lf,Oh, he's been doing 1t since he
was boy. Besides, dancing on his |
toes on hard floors Is like eating
borsch to dancing on toes in hard |
gravel like they do in the Cauff-
caSus."
Holding the knives" continues
Misha, lis just getting used to it.
His gums are tough now, and his
lip muscles are strong. So Is that
muscle in the middle of his hand
where he spins the knife on its
point. But look, it wasn't all easy"
And he gestures Ivanoff to display
his various scars about the mouth,
on fingers and hands, and behind
and under the neck where the
blades are contacted during the
dance "for show-off." You feel
consoled at that point that there
are more lethal weapons, after all, /
than your morning safety razor.
1t is approximately at that point,
too, that the glance of Ivanoff be-
comes vacant. He excuses himself |
abruptly through Misha to you.
You gather your little international |
session has come to a close.
But you won't soon forget it.
So it's the latest spring and sum-
mer fashions at Herbie Sachs Del
Rio. Herbie can't get over it and
neither can certain fashion editor |
affiliated with certain newspaper
The fashion editor, who shall be
known hereafter as Miss Helen
Vogt, in fact burbles on the subject
to the effect that six of Washing
tons most beautiful models will
participate. as well as several score
Of Washington's most beautiful
frocks of every stripe and plaid,
pages of Herbie Sachs most beau
tiful music and reams of Miss Vogts
most descriptive running commen-
tary.
The day is Saturday: and don't
forget your lorgnette, for the love
of mothballs!
Out at the Crossroads, Ralph
Hawkins has devised an instrument
tai combination of two to end all
duets. In the more soulful passages
of some of the more soulful popular
tunes, he achieves what must be the
ultimate in soulful effects with vio-
lin and bass fiddle, both of which
bowed.
1t should be heard in a number
ike Il Don't Wanna Walk Without