Evening star., 1954-08-01

dCI dS though the W0Ole
French nation was my hostess
who had invited me to dinner.
When you think of yourself as
a guest In someone's home
it's easy to avoid doing the
things that so dismay and dis
tress the French about Ameri-
cans"
There was a certain gram
deur in Wolfe's task, and he
set about 1t with every evi-
dence Of nobility. Who but a
great man, having assumed
the responsibility Of proving
TO the French that Americans
are not without culture, would
dare to attempt to be the per-
feet guest Of the entire French
nation, tosappear polite at the
fountainhead of la politesse,
cultured In the very center Of
culture? After concert.
when the handshaking was
over, Wolfe would steer the
talk around to small town
Americans and how like his
French hosts they were. 'Ac-
tually, it wasn't hard to get
/ the subject going. Most of
these people never met an
American before except for q
few soldiers. Their curiosity
about every phase of American
life and living was wonderful
to see =. and often hard to
: satisfy. For instance, no mat
ter what I said, they never
would believe that grown-up
Americans actually drink milk.
They always asked but
they never believed my an
swer.'" The French too, it
seems, are a tactful people.
TypieolIy American
Now comes the part of
Wolfe'S sober tale of truth
that would be the despair of
a novelist. Hardest answer for
the French audience to swal-
low was that there are enough
people in America who will
sit still for Bach and Beetho-
ven to fill q concert hall. Isn't
it true that only lie jazz hot
means anything to Americans?
Don't Americans just stay at
home and watch crime plays
on television? Would they ac-
tually go out to hear serious
music? These were the ques-
tions I was always asked. To
give them real proof that
Americans are neither bar
barians nor bebop addicts, I
always talked about audiences
in Washington, D. c., the ma
tion's capital, probably because
it struck me as being so typi-
cally American. And when
told my backstage inquisitors
in Toulouse that my Wash
ington hearers enjoyed and
applauded such music as
Hindemith's Sonata No. 2 and
Beethoven's Sonata in A fiat,
Opus ITO, they were both sur
prised and very much pleased"
A vivid scene, painted in the
boldest of strokes. and a tri-
umph for America. But per-
haps the natives of Toulouse
were confused, and thought
Wolfe was talking about some-
thing else, maybe his liver. Any
Frenchman is always excited
and pleased when you talk
about his liver or your own.
I was in Toulouse once with
two friends, Elizabeth Miller,
Of Roseburg, Oreg., and a
French scientist named Rivi-
ere. The three of us were out
to corner the market in shark
liver oil. because Riviere was
Of the opinion that the next
big fortunes were going to be
in that commodity. He was a
nice fellow, but on the wrong
track, because those were the
days when anybody still had a
free field with uranium or
DDT. In any event, I used to
tell the Toulouse people I met
about our plans, but could
never remember the French
word for shark" They knew
I was talking about somebody's
liver, however, and were wildly
excited, Offering many ex-
tremely valuable suggestions
on the subject. I don't know
what they thought about Hin
demith or Beethoven sonatas,
or even about Americans.
New Insight
To get back to Mr.. Wolfe.
"The French small town citi-
zen Is just as homeloving and
conservative as his American
counterpart. And he wants to
be assured that there are 'seri-
ous' family men like himself,
whose solid good sense and
good taste match his own, on
the other side of the Atlantic.
I'm sure it gave them a new
insight into the American
character to find out that
Handel and Haydn haven't
been run out Of town by Hop
along"
"Wolfe's program OF being
the perfect guest backf1red
just once" Mrs. Molyneaux's
letter continues, and the young
artist takes over: MY host
ess at dinner one evening apol-
ogized for the lack of q maid.
explaining that hers had been
called away suddenly. When
we finished our excellent meal,
I stood up to help her clear
the table and volunteered to
wash the dishes. In q small
town In France today there is
a woman who is still in
state of shock and a
husband who hates Americans