Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-18
THE
LYONS
DEN
By LEONARD LYONS

ROME.-1'm writing this
column in the lounge at the
Rome airport while waiting
for Pan AIMS Flight 119 to
New York. I've come down
from Florence. after taking
"the cure" at Montecatini,
the ancient spa in Tuscany.
Montecatini, In the valley of
Nievole below the foothills Of
the Apennines, has become a
busting city, thriving on its
promise Of health.
I drank the waters and
took the thermal baths and
underwater messages - in
rituals reminiscent Of Fell
lini's "81a." The only cool,
unruffled cure-taker there,
after his mud bath, was Peter
Levathes, former head Of pro-
duction at Goth Century-Fox.
ITO me this isn't o hot
spot" Levathes said about
the 120-degree mud bath.
ITS practically a decompres-
sion chamber after Q year as
studio head while Cleopatra
was being filmed"
The dining rooms Of the
Hotel Grand Ia Pace, which
has been catering to Europe's
royalty for 200 years, were
occupied by an assorted, in
teresting group. Anita LOOs,
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, has
just arrived there. And Lord
Jeffrey Amherst, too. He was
a New York newspaperman 35
years ago, working under
Alexander WOoIlcOtt for the
New York World.
Lord Amherst covered the
Broadway beat until he took
a sabbatical leave Just be-
fore the Wall street crash Of
90. When his sabbatical
ended, he didn't apply for his
old job, because of the heavy
unemployment. Most Of the
people I knew are all gone
now" he sighed. IF I were
to show up in New York
today, I'd feel like Enoch
Arden"
It was Amherst, inciden-
tally, who sponsored Noel
COward's admission to mem
bership in London's most ex-
elusive Atheneum Club. On
the day Coward was to pre-
sent himself, plus sponsor.
before the staid membership
committee, Lord Amherst ap-
peared on time - but I'M
shaven, his tattooed arms ex-
posed because he was carry
ing his jacket, with a copy
Of Variety in his pocket.
One matron, from San
Francisco, said: II really
don't need a spa, with my
children off to camp. After
all, with no kids to rush home
to-that's what I call a va
cation"
Florence Walton, the
dancer who starred in the
Ziegfeld Follies, also Is at La
Pace. She told about the day
Sargent painted her portrait
and of the time Ziegfeld said
he had a dance partner for
her, the great Maurice. who'd
just arrived from Paris. They
rehearsed for an hour and
then teamed as Maurice e.
Walton. A few months later
they married.
After they moved to Paris,
Maurice told her one night,
I'm taking you to see a team
of American acrobats." The
team was Irene and Vernon
Castle. But they're not &C
robats - they're magnificent
dancers" she told Maurice.
And they're not competition
for us. -"
- -
From Montecatini we took
the short excursions to the
historic places nearby - to
Pisa and Florence, the places
where BOtticelli, CelIini and
Calico lived and died. We
visited the gardens Of Col
lodi, where Pinocchio was
written, and then to Lucca.
with its 14th century sites.
Bernard BerensOn has said:
Here time doesn't gnaw. but
careSses."
Puccini was born and died
In Lucca. Beyond Lucca, past
the miles Of swank shops
long the Lido de Camoire and
the beach Of Viareggio. we
climbed the hills to a Rem
aissance villa for a reunion
with Jacques Lipchitz. He'd
just come from the nearby
foundry, where he's working
on his statue Of Duluth, for
the University Of Minnesota
at Duluth.
His wife is visiting relatives
in Zurich, and Lipchitz speaks
to the household staff In
Spanish, hoping they'll I'M
derstand. But in the foun-
dry, where I spend most Of
my time" said the sculptor.
II have no language barrier.
Ny works do not talk back
to me-"