FROM FOOTSTEPS TO DANCE STEPS.

Shannon News, 2 October 1928, Page 2

FROM FOOTSTEPS TO DANCE STEPS.

PEDESTRIANS EVOLVING INTO NEW TYPE OF HUMANITY.

"Pedestrians in New York are of a special breed, produced by years of evolution," said Mr M. A. Eliott, in his address to the Levin Lunch Club yesterday. "You can at once pick out the New Yorker from the by his conduct in crossing, the streets. The New Yorker is developing flatter ears and a narrower, .face than ovddtiary .men,, 50..a5... tp be. able to see further back on each side. The New Yorker is distinguishable by the manner in which lie' barges coolly right out into the middle of traffic, pausing and-ad-vancing skilfully and delicately, like a dancer amidst" the rushing cars. "Unlike-London,-New York taxi and bus drivers have no gift of vituperation. They sit like dummies at the wheel aiul'.drive furiously on. "The stranger to New York stand.; for minutes on the kerb of Fifth Avenue and any of the streets in the Thirties and Forties, waiting for the racket to let up. It does not let up. So he selects a New Yorker, draws alongside, of him, and crosses the street, making the' same starts and stops that the New Yorker makes. Instead of a mere 180 degree vision, you develop in New York almost a 360 degree vision.

"Traffic, more than anything else, is the reason for all the dance steps coming out of New York. The fox trot originated in New York business girls five minutes late for work, standing on the side of the street waiting for a chance to cross and expressing their anguish with their limbs."