Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-25

The fabulous foibles of night LIE
begin to appear amending. Latest
advices from large room in huge
hostelry speak of an incident con-
nected in a mad, abandoned way
with the rationing of shoes. Prin-
cipal was a middle aged citizen, dig
nified in appearance except for the
fact a fellow named BacchuS may
have been astride his shoulders. This
patron had a ringside table and ap-
parently he was very fond OF dane
ing. During the first part of the
evening he danced, in a fashion
orthodox enough, virtually every
dance. But then little mania
seemed to set in He took his shoes
off, with a slight show of ceremony.
Not only did he remove the foot
wear, he persuaded his companion
to dance with him in that state,
happily exclaiming, Shoe ration
ing; I'm conserving the leather"
Frantically the maitre d., a man of
proper moral code, sprang to his
side, explained and escorted the
shoeless fellow to his table. But no
sooner had maitre d. resumed his
post than the procedure started all
over again, until it reached the point
where the band had to be signaled
to stop playing each time the char
actor got to his unshod feet. Ten
minutes of this chaos was enough
to call for one of those mysterious
telephone messages hastily arranged
by the management. That took
care of that with exquisite finality.
Perhaps it was all reaction to
wartime duress. But, again, believ-
erS in after-dark have always shown
marked originality when giving their
own Interpretation of having Won
derful time"
X
A fig and pouf! for what the Rus
slams may be as Communists; but
as people-plain human beings fight
ing for country or working for home
you know they must be wonder
fll sort through their music. OF
the smattering of Russian entertain
ers to be found along the owl cir
cult in town most, when relaxed and
oblivious of such thing as making
living, will roll out the unofficial
they have retained through
the years since leaving homeland.
Even when trying to make their pro-
fessional impression on patrons,
they sometimes sing and play the
folk songs with a fervor that is
genuine. Customarily, you find this
at the Balalaika (after Dark Eyes"
has been gotten out of every ones.
SYSTEM; occasionally at the Troika
(after Sasha Lucas has finished hon
oring requests for "Estrellita"O, and
frequently in the Anchor Room when
Matt Windsor abandons the piano
and the popular classics" to bring
out the accordion cat which he is
more adept anyway and the Rus
sian folk music. AS Mr.. Windsor
wanders among the tables it is clear
he is in quite another world play
ing the "Polianka," or Meadow
lands" or From Border to Border"
or the waltz from Tschaikowsky'
Eugene Onegin," or Village Mayor"
from Rinsky- equally
folk-derived opera, Ivan the Ter
rible."
All you have to do is stop talking
to hear these vibrant messages from
the Russians-people to people, as
1t were.
y X X
Down in Louisiana there's
bayou. Lest you think that is moth
ing unusual, which 1t assuredly -
we hasten to add allusion is made
to Louisiana, the Georgetown night
spot, rather than to the State famed
for indigo and epicures. Club Louisi-
ana, in short, has new and rather
extravagant mural on one wall of
its entrance-Way 1t is a realistic
scene of a typical Louisiana marsh
land, and, as mural, stands as
something remarkable inasmuch as
it was painted by one of the walters
of Mr. j. T. Richards place.
Bayou, lest you insult Mr.. Rich
ards and every other loyal Louisi-
anan, furthermore is pronounced
"By-oh." And don't you forget it!
X
AS it always has in the past, man
ifestations of new Restaurant
400" policy have once again crept
up on the public. At one time, by
this creeping up" process, it was
OWNED that new entertainment
habitually came into the place every
two weeks. Now, it appears, the 400
is a one-band establishment. At
any rate, Frank Ruiz's rumba out
fit has been holding forth for up
wards of two months.
X
Merry Ireland was not so named
by her parents without a concrete