GAY BUT SHABBY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 181, 17 November 1941, Page 2

GAY BUT SHABBY

PEOPLE OF LONDON

RELIEF FROM RAIDS

London in autumn 1940 and 1941 —what a difference! A year ago London was bombed nightly from September 7 until the end of November by an average of 200 planes. All but three raids were substantial, and on October 14 400 German aircraft rained flown their bombs on the sprawling city below them.

I Night after night Londoners heard the bark of the antinaircraft guns, the rumble of German aircraft, the whine of bombs. Social life died. People hurried, home from their work to eat their evening meal and be ready to enter their shelters when the sirens sounded. Cinemas and theatres closed. Londoners were taking it. In this autumn of 1941 London is nearer pre-war conditions in many ways than it has been since the war .started. It is a new London, a scarred London, but it has adjusted itself to. its new condition. Anywhere bomb damage can be seen with verv little difficulty, but already the face of London has adopted those scars and added them to her character — just as the bark of an ancient tree mellows the scores on its surface.

Many roads which a year ago were bomb scarred and pitted have been repaired, and already it is forgotten that gangs of labourers spent weeks, and sometimes months, to repair them, their Avork has been done so well. Many buildings have eithei been removed or patched, and the Londoner's eye has become so accustomed to bomb damage l that these defacements are now taken as a matter of course. Undoubtedly the city is shabbier than ever it saw in peace time, but its battledress is a sign of the times.

Theatres and Cinemas

London has not suffered a severe raid since the night of May 10 and the raids after Christmas were intermittent. But the work of clearing and tidyiing still proceeds as a prelude and a preparation to the rebuilding that will eventually follow after the war.

At the beginning of October the leaves are now beginning to turn and to fall —-just as they did a year ago. But there is no nightly scurry home. Cinemas all over the city are crowded dailj r and nightly. Every theatre is either well filled or packed. And there is a variety of entertainment.

Recalling its last Avar successes, "Ghu Chin Chow" is showing at the Palace in Shaftesbury Avenue. Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" is at the Piccadilly. Lupino Lane is still at the Coliseum in "Mb and My Girl." There is intermittent ballet at the Lyric; there is Russian opera and ballet at the Savoy. There is "Applesauce" at the Palladium and "Fun and Games" at the Prince's.