WHAT THE AMERICANS LIKE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 145, 2 April 1942, Page 19

WHAT THE AMERICANS LIKE

ce O not wait for somebody to 1) ring you up and tell you that there are men in port. Come to town, take these men to your arms, to your heart, and to your ‘home, and you will be doing the work of a Good Samaritan." This was the plea made by Major J. R. Kirk, M.B.E., speaking at a luncheon held in Wellington recently under the auspices of the British American Co-operation movement, at which he urged that New Zealanders should take the initiative in offering hospitality to visiting members of the American forces. However, before we ‘start making these wide-open gestures with hearts, doors, and arms, let us‘ consider what, apart from Dorothy Lamour, the average young American wants. According to Miss Lorna Akroyd, chairman of the Wellington Spinsters’ Club, he wants to dance, and particularly to jitterbug.’ "Last time the American ships were in," said Miss Akroyd, "we turned on a special Monday night session for the American boys. Usually we’re only open on the week-end. And they certainly appreciated it. They Like Clean. Faces "We found them most appreciative and very polite. They told us that New Zealand girls were pretty cute and that it was a change to see clean faces. (We realised afterward that this meant faces comparatively free from cosmetics.) Most of them: thought New Zealand was slow because you couldn't get drinks

on Sunday and the picture theatres and cabarets weren’t open, but an American doctor whom I met said that he thought it was a marvellous idea having clubs for men of the services. In his part of America they are unheard of; instead the wealthier members of the community contribute to a fund which buys cabaret and theatre tickets and distributes them among men of the services. "And the Americans were certainly a social success as far as we were concerned, I think we’d all learned to jitterbug by the time the show finished at 10.30." Rg * * #3 ] THINK the best kind of hospitality to offer the American boys is good food," said Mrs. Learmont, organiser of the Y.W.C.A. Forces Hospitality Club, in her rich New Jersey accent. Mrs. Learmont, who came to New Zealand from New York only a year and eight months ago, is well qualified to speak on the subject of hospitality for Americans. " The trouble is that they’re used to a different kind of food from what we get here, and they probably won’t feel very happy in a restaurant. That’s why private hospitality is a good idea. "Of course there’s the important question of what to drink. Americans don’t drink tea in the afternoons the way you do here-it’s. always Coco-Cola over there. I’ve been thinking that our club had better get in a case or two for next time the Americans come here,

" Apart from the food they need com~« panionship," went on Mrs. Learmont. "They need girls to talk to. Yes, they’re mostly keen on dancing. And I think Major Kirk’s suggestion that taking them sightseeing is a very good idea. You needn’t use up petrol, however. They’d be tickled to go places in trams. They won’t ever have seen such tram-routes before. ' "We'll be pleased to see them here any week-end, though we can’t turn anything special on for them unless we know beforehand that they’re coming. There were a few round last time a ship was in, and they joined in with the others dancing on Saturday and playing ping-pong and checkers on Sunday. "What do the Americans think of the New Zealand girls?" "Several of them told me that they were much harder to ‘chin the breeze with’ than the Australian girls. Which means that they’re not so easy to get casually’ acquainted with." " And what did your girls think of the Americans?" "They said some mighty nice things to me about them — possibly because they thought I’d be pleased. But my experience is that they get thrilled about them even before they actually meet them." "Don’t you?" I asked. "Yes," came the rich New Jersey accent, "but I married a New Zea-

lander."

M.

B.