PARIS AND HER PEOPLE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 March 1932, Page 6

PARIS AND HER PEOPLE

THE FRENCH PUNCH AND JUDY RELICS OF THE TIGER. PARIS, Dec. 20. Punch and Judy are occupying a very prominent place in Parisian affairs just now. To-morrow and on tlie subsequent days senators will sit in solemn deliberation to select one of these shows to occuppy the traditional site in the Luxembourg Gardens. For many" years officialdom has allowed a Gilignol, or Punch and Judy show, .to establish in a permanent little booth instate garden of the Luxembourg. About a year ago Parisians began to notice'that the Punch and Judv box in these gardens, in which the Palace of the Senators stands, was in a very delapidated condition. When the senators came back from their summer holidays they found that the old lady who last held the license had packed up her overworked puppets affid gone.

The most famous of all marionettes might have been lost to the Luxembourg altogether had it not been for the efforts of M. Justin Godart, president of the Association of Friends of the Quignol, and also of the Marionette’s Association. The Luzembourg Gardens, though are they open to the public, are really those of Marie cle Medici’s Palace, and as such remain under the Senate’s direct control. And so M. Godart has arranged for the three “Questeur” Senators to watch the performances of the several claimants to the right of entertaining the children and their nurses and all lovers of Punch. ■

It had been hoped that the competition would be international in character, but M. Godart will not countenance the idea of Englad’s Punch or Italy’s , Pulcinella competing with Guignol on his very own soil. The Luxembourg Punch and Judy must be French now and always. , A CLEMENCEAU SHRINE. memenceau worshippers have long deplored the fact that their 1 hero is buried in so inaccessible a spot. His tomb is in a small wood near Colombier, in the Vendee, far from the beaten track and almost hidden by long grass and wild flowers. It has lately been threatened by the sea, for the waves dash up high over the shingle and the rocks, and the Ministry of Fine Arts has voted £IOOO for its preservation and protection. The Tiger, of course, wished his grave to be remote and unmarked. Now however, there is an easier opportunity for paying tribute to the statesman’s memory. The modest apartment in the Kuo. Franklin, where be lived and died, lias been converted into a museum by the enterprising owner. The house had been left in its comfortless austerity exactly as it was in Clemenceau’s time. There is the wooden bed on which lie slept without either bolster or pillow, the hat which covered his head when lie visited the trenches and the bonnet which lie always wore at home. A bunch of keys on the dining-room mantelpiece constitute a very interesting relic. They are labelled with the words, “Death to Tyrants! Liberty”’ Form erly they turned in the locks of the Bastille.

Already thousands of Parisians have visited the new museum, and the proprietor looks like making his fortune.

The famous New Year Fair, instituted hefore the French Revolution, ends to-morrrow. Every sort of article is displayed beneath the glare of the naphtha flares, wonderful met-, liiiniral toys, pens, sweets, table decorations, cooking utensils, visiting cards (printed while you wait.) There are some' queer prohibitions however, relics of olden times. Perfumes are barred, and the sale of umbrellas is strictly forbidden. A police regulation of 1862 says that “an umbrella must not be offered for sale 011 public streets,” and that is file sole reason. No article may cost more than 40 francs, and all knitted and crocheted goods, whether caps, socks, jumpers, gloves or scarves, must be the work of the stallholder* NUDIST FASHIONS.

The Nudist colony at Yilleiines is tin; unwitting cause of the new fashions. The ‘'nudist” ball gown, with no back from shoulders to waist, is in high favour, anR the bathing suits ini' next summer arc all “coming in*’ backless. The bathing girl of 1932 is to expose as much ol her cliainiing person as she dares. Costumes with no backs, And very little else, will be the rage, and. suits of risque transparency and a startling flesh colour will constitute the new alternatives. ON THE RIVIERA. The Villa San Mauro, which Sir Henry and Lady Mulleneux Grayson have lent, to Princess Beatrice, the King’s aunt, for the winter, stands on the hills just outside the town ol Sm 11 Remo, not far Irom the French frontier. San Remo is a town of ferrates and lovely villas set in beautifully planned gardens, and the San Mnnro has one of these beautiful gardens. with a summer house and a line terrace commanding a view over the Mediterranean. On this terrace the Princess spends a good deal of hei time in sketching and in needlework. Princess Beatrice <s 74, and suffered n ( : 1 11 a few mouths back. She is ittsci pubic to biOiiJiial trouble and

is obliged to spend a good part of tire winter abroad. She reads most of the important memoirs that appeal, and devours every new work about Queen Victoria, and of those works she is on the the keenest critics.

In the Esterel Mountains, to the west of Cannes, efforts are being made to revive wild boar hunting, an exciting sport much :n vogue years ago. Farmers welcome the idea since the boars are increasing in number and doing considerable damage to theircrops. Mr Frank Jay Gould’s new winter sports hotel at Beuil opens to-day. Beuil is one of the most beautiful spots in the Alps Maritimes, is 5000 feet above sea level, and the skislopes in the immediate vicinity rise to a further 1000 feet. If the snow is good through the season it may develop Beuil into a. new fashionable resort.

THE STAGE IN STOCKHOLM. In these days of depression it is encouraging to find anything flourishing, and Stockholm’s theatrical profession is in that happy condition. Stockholm whose population is 600,000, boasts no fewer than 18 theatres and about 100 cinemas. Three more were opened last autumn by Mr Goesta Jfikman, a prominent • and popular young actor, famed for his daring decorations, and they all seem to be doing well. There were 50 “first nights” last autumn, and practically all the available Swedish actors and actresses have got jobs. Prince Sigvard, son of the Crown Prince, has tor some years past been dpvoting himself to the theatre. He wants' to be an actor, but even democratic Stockholm will not allow that. However, he designs scenery, and now he has made his debut in a stage production. For “CyrquO de Bergerac,” to which the city is looking forward with much interest, he has not only designed the scenes, but has spent months in the theatre supervising the scene painters. Already he has shown considerable talent in amateur theatricals, but his cherished ambition is for a career on the professional stage.