Evening star., 1945-12-25
BY HARRY MACARTHUR.


Different things make Christmas
happy for different people. Take
the night club owner, for instance
He is happy this Christmas Day
because he knows the ''Snow-blind"
term beginning with Thanksgiving,
when the holidays loom suddenly
ahead and both time and money
are expended on things other than
night clubbing, when smart walters
don dark glasses against the glare
of white tablecloths on empty tables.
The doldrums come to an end about |
this time, definitely being driven
out on New Year eve, when the
whooping and shouting shake the
walls of every bistro and such fes-
tivity goes on that people get back
in the habit of going out at night.
after they recover.
The major phenomenon locally Of
the 1945 "snow-blind" season was
that several of the towns estab-
lished Enthusiastically the Madril- |
lon and Lounge Riviera of Hotel
24o0-never even noticed 1t. More
than once since Thanksgiving, at
these and couple of other places,
the rope has been up at the door
and that Is something that wasn't
even dreamed of in the philosophy
of night spot proprietor few
years ago.
Pete Macias. who leads the
orchestra at the Lounge Riviera,
thinks he knows what has caused
this rush of business at an unex-
pected time. It's overcrowding
Too many Washingtonians (perma-
nent and temporary have barely
enough room for sleeping wherever
they live and they have to 60 out
at night just to find place to sit
down. It's too cold to sit in the
parks, so they go to night clubs.
When people live four in room,
they don't have any space for enter
tanning their friends" Pete was say
ing the other night. 80 they have
to go off to some cabaret or hotel
Might not be as comfortable as your
own living room and you can't sit
around with your shoes of, but if
you haven't even got living room,
I suppose a night club Is the next
y
It may or may not have some
bearing on this, but one night club
owner we know has noted lately a
definite trend toward return to
the urge to dance in the stocking
feet. A few years ago some OF the
young of the town were in the habit
of so cavorting at the late Heigh
Ho Club, but there is slight differ
ence in the present recurrence of an
idea. Whereas the young folk at
the Heigh Ho just took off their
shoes and danced, there now is a
bit of reserve, tinged with polite
ness. Our informant says several
young girls recently have asked de-
murely if it would be all right for
them to shed their shoes before
dancing. So far he's always said
mo-" but he may not be able to
hold back the tide alone.
If the Waldorf Astoria can take
Frank Sinatra into its Wedgewood
Room to prove he is not merely for
the bobby-sox trade. then the Stat
Ter Hotel can have Jean Sablon
here. in its Embassy Room, which
Is where Mr.. Sablon Is as Of last
night. The young French singing
star is known principally by the way
of radio and recordings around
these parts, this being his first local
appearance with the exception of
one-night stand at private
affair one recent summer His voice
is familiar one, though, on all
those radio programs on which rec
ords are played in answer to re-
quests. Susceptible young girls are
known to grow weak when the
Sablon touch is applied, breathlessly
and romantically, to the French
lyrics of song Of love, and the
Stat1er has promised to have an
ample supply of smelling salts on
hand during his local engagement
to handle all cases of bona flde
sYooning.
Mr.. Sablon, as a matter of fact,
does not resemble a fellow who
would go around making girls swoon
any. more than he resembles a Bra
lillian farmer. He is both, however.
The farm. cit has another name in
Portuguese which Mr. S. can pro-
nounce better than we can spelD
was acquired on the singers recent
South American tour, during which
he became a great admirer of Rio