The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1944-02-09
With
The AEF
BY GEORGE TUCKER
Substituting for Kenneth r
DixOn1

ALGlERs, Feb. 4-tR-Delay.
ed Up "A French tbeatr;o,
group of some 4O-odd souls 49,
been stranded here ever since ~
1912 invasion. laughing their bes sse
off. heads
1t is headed by pale-eyed man
named Yvon Cazes who descr lion
himself as the director genera -
the grand spectacle of North 49, "
ca at the Casino music hall -'''
1t is a theater with large NJ.
rors on each side of the sta ,1.'
placed there presumably du~i se,
the lean days before the war tos
customers who enjoyed LOOKING w
themselves in the mirror wbs a.
they became bored with the sbn ,u'
Nothing of the sort happens ="
day. There are Is young won,a
in the show. and the CTS wb a
compose the armies in this ns nt
of the world believe that notbin
so brightens a war as havinp
few chic poules around.
Consequently, every show i
sellout. The military police Il,
ton themselves at the box ott..
night after night to keep the moSs
impulsiye entertainments seeks,,
from injuring themselves.
Since most of the soldiers ram.
understand a word of French il
really doesn't matter what tbs
bill contains just as long as ths
Is jeune files spend reasopahs
amount of time before the font.
lights singing risque songs and
flinging slangy American taunts
at the crowd. The girls are vew
good at the use of Yankee Sian.
epithets, and when one is used
with a French accent the house
never fails to roar.
The star of the show, in The
eyes of the CTS in any case is
Sylvia Claire, a petite brunette
who sneaks away from the Cast.
no once or twice each month and
is heard in recitals at the local
opera house.
When this happens Miss Claires
dual personality comes to the
fore. The catcalls and shouts she
so loves at the Casino are out of
place at the opera, and when
some admirer starts applauding
in the wrong place she freezes
him with a glance.
Miss Claire has by all odds ex.
| perienced more war adventures
than any other member Of the
troupe. During the invasion she
was trapped in Tunis and spent
long months there avoiding Ger.
man officers and brooding On the
fate that played her such tricks,
However, she fell madly in love
with a young Tunisian one day
and now regards her experience
as lucky.
What makes the predicament Of
the troupe so enjoyable is that
they're earning more francs than
ever in their lives. Since their
!. contracts called for transporta'
ton to and from Algiers and since
it is impossible for the manage
ment to fulfill that contract, they
feel pretty gay about the fact
that they can't be fired and have
settled down to a long campaign
3. in the old Casino.
Monsieur Cazes is man who
may be counted on to find the
gloomy side of even so rosy a
picture as the Casino.
'Tt"s' true" he said, that we
i, sell out every performance ana
take in more money than we ever
took in before. But these people
of mine are not satisfied with the
salaries l used to pay. Now Vney
have to have two or three tunes
as much money"
He said he didn't know now
he could continue, since cahV''
cannot be bought at any price ana
all the scenery has to be made ou'
of paper. I asked him why ne
didn't sell since the place "d'
obviously a white elephant =.
He smiled a thin, Wlntry snl ~,
and gave an answer more calloiO
, than expected: al
NNot vet in any case, n0t II