PARADISE OF AMERICAN MILLIONAIRES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 196, 4 September 1937, Page 15

PARADISE OF AMERICAN MILLIONAIRES

Absolute Freedom for Men ART IN PRIMITIVE SETTING

I^VEBYONE was preparing me for the strange discoveries I would make during my two days' visit to Bohemian Grove, that celebrated institution surrounded by so much mystery, writes Jules Komains in " Visite aux Americains. 7 ' TLe Bohemian Club, which is a part of the Grove, originated in the days of "Heroic California" now consists entirely of the most elite professional men in California, with the exception of a few visiting artists. Membership in this club is vcry difficult to obtain, and usually entails many years of waiting. About two hundred kilometres north of San Francisco, in a chain of mountains along the Paeiiic, the club owns a forest of gigantic trecs. A camp has been set up there, which trios to unito the most primitive conditions of life with the most modern ol: coniforts. Eacb year between Ihe middle of July and the end of August, the members of the club, about twelve hundred from all the cities and corners of California, come to spend a couple of weeks at the camp. The members can be sure of obsolute freedom. Not only are women exeluded ±Tom the rights of residency, but even visits to tho camp are prohibited. The forest is fortified by natural obstacles and the borders are strictly guarded. These thousand men breaking with family and social bonds, have at their disposal a vast retinue of servants and a great deal of money, for thc club is very rich. A few invitntions are extendcd each summer to emincnt foroigners, whom the membership wish to honour, but never to native Californians. I was "If yoa gct an invituLion to 1 .iUii Grove, by all means go. It is something quite uuique in k Ihe United Stales, and probably in the

whoie world." The wives of San Franciseo members told me: "Aou must be a bit indulgent. You might be a little shocked. " And then with lialf-apolo-getic smiles, which said more than their actual words: "Our men really do not know how to drink. " 1 was prepared for any thing theu, | even some rude jolts to my sensibilities. 1 was expecting a men's orgy, more prolonged and rougher than is to my tasle, so I planned to limit my stay to two days and two nights. The site of Ihe camp is one of the most beautiful iu the world — a forest of giant trees, many of wliich date trom the time of the Crusades; plains, ravines and mountains; two lakes bu-' ried in the gorge. The camps, about one hundred and fifty of them, are situated here and there on the plains, ravines, natural ledges and terraces. Each camp, which comprises only a tew men — there are even some solitary campers — is made up of several tents, plank huts or wooden cabins in bungalow style. There are meeting places for each camp — a platforin or a verandah whcrc tho campers receive Triends from the neigliliouring camps to take •"heir noon and six o 'clock cockfails. The dining room, common to all the 'unipcrs, has an imposing Wagncrian setting — situated among trecs tlic hcight of Notre Dame towers and thc width of its largest pillars; a vault

of black foliage overhead, a long row of tables and benches, innumerable servants in white, about ono hundred torches in the evening. A short distance from the dining room there are several other open air "rooms"; a fireplace with tree trunks for seats; a huge organ; a theatre auditorium where the audience is on the level ground and the stage is elevated; and another modelled after the ancient theatre. where tlio stage is in the pil and the audience is ranged in a semicirele in front of it. The life of thess thousand men shows complete lack of restraint. One university professor walked around stark naked. Others wore shorts. Most were satislied to show their independence from all feminine censure by leaving their hair uncombed and wearing torn, unbuttoned shorts, loose hangmg vests and unpressed linen trousers. I drank with the members of the club — numerous and excellent whiskies, ehampagne. I enjoyed their eonvei---ations, sometimes very gay and some ;imes serious, when music, literatim and political situations were intelligently discussed. I only saw three men drunk: oue was stretched out on the ground and said absolutcly nothing; the secoudj a.. coloncl, politely exeused himself for his eondition; the third, a painter, expressed his pleasure at meet-

ing me and prooeeded to discuss Diego ltivera and the art of fresco. At cocktail hour sounds of an orchcstra drifted iowards us through. the trees. It was a little amateur orehestra, but it did not play what you might expect. At one of the camps, I heard a trio by Handel, in which a young banker from San Francisco, in shirt sieeves, gave an able violin performance. That evening around the camplire there was a concert with Jan Kubelik (a guest at the camp like niyself) and a famous Chicago pianist who played Debussy. The second evening of my visit a performance was given in the "Ancient" theatre. It was a parody of the negvo plays of recent American repertories. All the artists were made up as negroes, with the proper ciiaracterisation, appearance and accents. A jazz orchestra of fifty, dressed in magnificent red uniforms, played "swing music" for us. The presentation' was in such good tasto, so ingenious and successful, that 1 could not refrain f'rom praising it heartily to my neighbour, marvelling that this was the work of amateurs. He told me that in nearly all the great American universities there is now a Department of Dramatic Art, where students may take courses for thci own pleasure, in the most modern aspects of the art of the theatre. That evening, returning to my camp and still jiearing the sounds of thc great organ through the trees, I thouglit of this nation, from which a group of about a thousand men from one provmce only could find within thcmselves enough resourcefulness and laste to amuse themsclves in this wav. T do not wish to make comparisons, but I am surprised that the French people can speak of Amencaus with such disdainful levity,