In Limehouse

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 526, 1 December 1928, Page 23

In Limehouse

Dolores Del Rio Sees London Slums STAR IN PLAIN DISGUISE During her visit to London, Dolores Del Rio visited East End in search of underworld types. She bought and wore a plain frock, wool stockings, stout shoes, and cloche hat, all in black. With a reporter from one of the London papers, the Mexican actress entered a public-house frequented by Chinese and white women. The landlord is a black man. The bar was hung with Chinese lanterns and nearly all the men were Chinese. Miss Del Rio was particularly interested in a group of five Chinese and three young white women who were drinking together at a table. "Gee, I don't like that, somehow,” said Miss Dolores Del Rio Del Rio. First White Woman She went on to the only Chinese temple in London. The street was thronged with white women and children and Chinese, who appeared greatly interested in the slim figure in black, despite her attempt to avoid recognition. Miss Del Rio was the first white woman not belonging to the Chinese community to visit the temple. She also visited a Chinese restaurant and kitGhen. In a public-house in West. India Dock Road she saw a group of old women with mugs of beer. She exclaimed: “Just look at that woman with her eye stitched up—just as happy as the rest of them.” The last place Miss Del Rio visited was the public-house in West India Dock Road known all over the world as “Charlie Brown’s.” In the public bar a cosmopolitan crowd of men, women and girls were dancing to a pianoforte accompaniment. Chats With Dancers Miss Del Rio chatted with some of the dancers and at closing time she went to the drawing-room upstairs, crowded with more curios, and signed the autograph book which contains the names of people of the underworld together with those of world-famous celebrities. ■ Miss Del Rio during the evening also visited a beer-house where the Chinese customers were playing fan-tan. “This is one of the most wonderful nights I have ever known,” she said. “What an orderly place Limehouse is! It is a parlour compared with some parts of Chicago, where I spoke to men who had been * ndemned to death. “I have always wanted to see the underworld of London. I have seen the slums of Mexico City, but this is the first I have visited in Europe.”