FATAL EVENING DRESS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10059, 2 June 1910, Page 4

FATAL EVENING DRESS.

After having spent something like a quarter of a million sterling upon the furnishings and general appoint* ments of the ill-starred Cafe de 1 'Opera, in New York, and now having £IOO,OOO of debts outstanding, ! the promoters of the venture are beginning to realise that though the American citizen can , be led to the restaurant, he cannot be to eat. Some 700 waiters clamouring outside the closed doors of the gorgeous dining palace recently afforded the first intimation that the attempt to teach old dogs new tricks had i failed disastrously. When the cafe was opened in December of last year, the American Press fairly excelled itself in its vivid descriptions of the glittering splendour of the mag nificent establishment- M. Henri Pruger, formerly of the Savoy Hotel, London, was appointed general manager at the princely salary of £lO,000 a year, bat in spite of everything the Cafe de I'Opera could not be' made to establish a place for itself in tjifs popularly of New Yorkers The real secret of the whole difficulty appears to lie in the fact that our American coußins are beginning to resent the multiplicity of English innovations that are being gradu- 1

ally forced upon them. The failure of the costly restaurant enterprise is attributed in one respect to the endeavour of the management to force on the New York public the London custom of donning evening dress for dinner. Americans do not love the habiliments of extreme pro- ' priety. They prefer to attend the, theatre in informal attire, and re- j fuse to take supper afterwards at a restaurant where evening dress ia de rigueur. It offended the national pride of New Yorkers to be treated j only to English disheß served in the English way. and as a result they satisfied their curiosity by viewing the glories of the restaurant once, thenceforth leaving it severely alone. It is reported that the restaurant will be re-opened in the near future under revised rules, which will relieve its free arid independent patrons from the tyranny of London customs.