Evening star., 1949-01-11

diversion. Mr.. Downey, as almost
every one knows, is a man of rare
wit and compelling charm.
He is one. of those few perform
ers who can hold an audience en-
thralled as long as he wants to- He
can sit there for hours on end
humping rather vaguely at the
piano, singing all manner of bal
lads, lifting and sweet and sad.
When Mr.. Downey comes out on
night club floor to entertain, the
length Of his stay there is governed
only by his stamina, which is con-
siderable. His audiences seem
never to tire of him, but are always
cheering more Justify at the end of
an hour than they were after the
second song.
Mr.. Downey's Embassy Room ar
rival is scheduled for next Mon
day night New music arrives at the
same time, this by Henry King
and his orchestra.
y X X
The current tenant of the En-
bassy Rooms bandstand, inciden-
tally, has every right to show con-
tinuing surprise that the place is
there at all. The last time Joseph
Study was in town, he was leading
the orchestrya at the Carlton Hotels
Congo Room. One Sunday after
'hooll, Mr.. Study noted that the
area was becoming denser by the
minute with the sight and smell
of smoke and the sound of sirens
The sirens were converging on the
source of the smoke, the steel
framework of building under con-
struction across the street. The
Embassy Room came as a COM
plete surprise to a man who last
saw the Statler Hotel at that mo-
ment when it was becoming one
of the few hotels in history to
burn down before 1t was built.
A lot of other people probably
will be surprised to learn what is
emerging from the tired corpus de-
lecti of the Club Cairo, which started
off so bravely a couple of years
ago. Where the Carlo used to be
(east side of the ground floor of the
Cairo HoteD there will arise this
week a hopeful new rendezvous to
be named the Sale de Champagne.
The sale even now is undergoing
both physical and spiritual reno
vation. It's to be done in gray
monks cloth, the only rough stuff
to be permitted on the premises,
hung with the work of Washing
ton artists, and dedicated to the
consumption of fine wines and
brandieS.
This dedication to the by-produce
of the grape will be nourished In
drawing room atmosphere; the
customers will not sit stiffly Cor
stiff at tables, but will languish
upon comfortable couches, chester
fields, love seats, etc. The dedlca-
tation to wines and brandies also
will be nourished by the fact that
no other liquids will be sold. The
bourbon and -branch-w water special
lists and the martini fanciers can go
plumb to some other place, for all
the Sale de Champagne manage
ment cares.
Entertainment at the new rendez-
vous will be supplied by "a fine
pianist" and by a covey Of Sing
ing models" as the management
prefers to call them, models, or no,
they'll sing when the notion strikes
them and serve the champagne
when the notion strikes you. The
room, patterned after one OF the
same name and ownership in New
York, will open Friday night.
We are prompted to only one
thought by all these plush plans. A
man feels awfully silly pronouncing
champagne in French and no one
is going to remind him of it sooner
than a Washington cab driver.
After a year and a half of spas
modic weekend operation, the
Hamilton Hotels Rainbow Room
returns to the After Dark fold this
week, to beSopen nightly, except
Sundays. Music this time is being
supplied by Paul Kain, who came
out of the West several years back
and stopped being rowing mu-
sician to establish himself as one
of the better known band men
about town. The official reopen
ing of the Rainbow Room is set for
Thursday night, but Mr.. Kain al
ready is on hand there to play for
dancers who can't wait for the
opening.
X X X y
Marjory Hendricks, who deVotes
most of the year to catering to the
more highly developed Washing
ton food tastes, has closed her Nor
mandy Farm for the months OF
January and February, action on
theory that the place might become
snowbound any minute. Her vaca-
ton will be a sort of cooks tour and
at the moment she is toying with