* 7 Page
K
THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1955.
THE NIGHT CLUB QUEEN BECAME
CARELESS
ATE MEYRICK was passionately devoted to her children. She niso longed for an exciting life-the kind life she could not possibly
lead
wife of
of
the 48 prosperous Brighton doctor.
Int 1019 Bha left the doc- tor, taking the
children six girls and wo boys -with
her.
• She had a police officer in her pay- to keep her out of trouble while she entertained the famous. Then she made the mistake of giving him £10 notes ...
THE GREAT GAMBLERS
She changed one letter in her name, and as Kate Mer- rick became famous as Lon- don's Night Club Queen,
This
by Julian SYMONS
Merrick, as she was familarly known. After this consolation
they would receive their taxi fare home, but sentiment went no further.
Yet although she had the reputation of beging tight with money, everybody liked and respected Ma Merrick. She was even Uked by tho dance hostesses
whe
were
210
BLX PLAYED WITH FIRE (2003)
The other children were ex- pensively educated, Au soon
13
they left school the girls came to help Mo Merrick run the clubs, while the boys rend for the Bar.
airy Florted
M
pald more than £34 weck and had to use their wils DO carn more.
They used them to such effect that adoring old men gave soine of them presents of sable coats. while othere made rich
marriages, The hostesses also found good
the
croentries
£1)
1928: HAR), MERRICK LEAVES PRISON
She was dressed more smartly than usual-with a blue toque hat and a gold silk coat trimmed with fur...
*** brothels.
man who would mact
It was no use. They
ZEO
He had been com- 18 months' hard labour and a
Merrick's
Anc. Mrs £2,000 schience was 16 months' hard
labour.
No deterrent
WHY DO WE LAUGH?
MOS
By W. A. Clarke
·lan in
OST people agree that, Several years ago, Lapino they feel better for Lane, another famous coned- bool ha wrote having a good laugh. And, called "How To Become A whether they realise it or Comedian," doclared: "Then not, their opinion is backed you have to make a science of by that of medical ex- insulting and lujuring yourself, for there is nothing like an perta.
Injury Inugh' to Amiisa Freud, the great psycho- audience."
However, analyst, maintained that all
that jokes at which you laugh comedian we are also laughing uproariously release -Im- at onseivan.
It would appear when laughing At Д
This point was
Wh
pulses that have been re- borne out by a Yale University pressed into the uncon- psychologist,
performed scious.
He regarded laugh- on 15 babies under a year old of experiments to Battery A ter not only as a tonic but find out what made them laugh.
was that in
safety valve, too.
The joke that was found to American medical opinion have most effect goes even further. Ten years which the experimenter, having
go
James Dr
Walsh of got them into a playful mood. Fordham University, stated: would owing them out towards "Few
realise people
that their mother's arms and, just health actually varies accord- before they arrived, yank them ing to the amount of laughter. suddenly back. The joke was So does recovery. People who on the babies, and they loved laugh actually live Imger than it.
has been
those who do not laugh."
Technically, explained
رمن
Tie In
that leughter ls extrcise
the diaphragm, These experiments certainly which is neglected in most exer- the in neatly with the definition elsea except de:p breathing of a joke once made by Max When you lough your diaphragm Eastman, on American author.
down and down and your "A joke,
"is not a he wrote, goes lungs expend,
thing but a process, a trick пите охуеп than usual
the listener's mind, you play on that oxygen
passes into
off towards You start him blood exposed is your
lungs. plausible goal, and then by what you laugh, the rate of sudden twist you exposure to oxygen is a least
dpabled and often trebled,
Little Help
In
and
the
alipalod and rather
pick by the clubs like the There were several clube by Colonel who paid several pounds ticular, it was his job to watch dowsy little woman, always with And what patrons they were
this time. At the "49" you could her Block- a hole in the heel
who drank bad champagne at
a card that would take you a night for
You take the privilege of and report on night clubs and both found guilty. Goddard got Kot ing, expressed through her life high prices in the underground
"Ring Rusor with "Manhattan" in dancing the to and her night clubs the rebel-
(anciers on There room.
wore
Denman Street; and in 1927 Mr half a dozen pretty girls, or the mended 91 times for his work in the 1920's. Toys spirit of
The (nost of WIKKETY later met
stated clubs were no more than noisy disaster), Ivar Kreuger, and the Merrick
something rich old
at every visit a farcica pretence this connection, and had been grander, the "Silver Slipper," in underground rooms, but it was hard-headed Lancastrian
responsible for hundred of raids. that he had no more money, bud Street, which amart to go to
to them.
White, who once brought six
"Thauw glass dance
him ou' Mrs It was
because Mri Daimlers full of showgiris for HITMArt
Merrick would sternly, and Italian sernes painted
xay Morrick upenly fouled the law an evening out that cost lum
The old man would be turned which resected drinking after
£400
on the walls.
These clubs, as she often said, out to the street. 11 o'clock at night. The prices
Then he woult search in his were 14 as businesses and not she
fantastic,
for For charged
were
Wallet. "Mrs At her large house in
Merrick, Mrs Whisky
wws 48 a hip, gin 35.
Regent's Park the family ad Merrick, I've found some more The standard drink in her clubs,
here to a far
Jantastic regime m kney. however, was chamisige, which
"Let him in again." said Mrs which they weakfasted at 1.30 she bought at 12 a bottle
and lunched Merrick, In the afterNDON and sold at 35
together at 11 o'clock
ut
night before serious business begin. AITH Chic clubs thenaelves except for that little question of breaking the beersing lows. were run in fairly
orderly
Names changed
off
୯
THE was prosecui- ed, ví course, prosecuted Ume and She simply again.
nudi the fine and started
ogain. When the "Fulles Bergere" was ng struck
the
register. It reopened as the "New" Follies." Closed again, it appeared as "The Broadway." Her most famous club, the "43." at 43, Gerrard Street
was also called "Proc- tors" and "Richmond," but faithful patrons niways called it the "43
There were slage and screen colebrities, Valentino, Sophie Tucker, Tallulah Bankhead, Jack
Buchanan.
There W high society ex-King
the Crown Prince of Sweden, the Duclass of Leinster, Lord and Lady Milford Haven, dozens of others.
Curol.
were
way
Mrs Merrick kept Who's Who and the Army list in her office, "Lord Blank is downstairs, would say to the dance hostesses she simply who were there, as
This was no organised jam- put it, to fleece the mugs.
drug- "Go bling, prosuitution, or and talk to him, Don't all bunch taking, and Mry Merrick tried together. Smile at him. Dance to stop members or Brillan with him.
And don't forget to Chang's dope gung from operat. ush the drinks." push
Ing in the "43," Mrs Merrick loved a lord, and Nevertheics, with the aid of the dance hostesses young peers was extremely proud of the fact that two of her
children
had and Guards officers managed to married into the poeruge. First spend a great deal of money
When this money was gone they Dolly, aged 18, married. 20-year- old Lord de Clifford. Then May, might be asked to leave, or they her mother's right hand, married might be allowed to weep on the
shoulder of Aunt Kate or Ma the Earl of Kinnoull.
You get guarded precision
in the new Tissot
Waterproof
Stainless steel 'sweep-second hand, 18K gold applied 'dial floures
Sama or abons, with 1000 yellow gold top and stain- itas vivel back
It's weatherproof, too..
from all the elements.
made to withstand attack
Here's how its famous Micronized Movement is protected and of course it is anti-magnetic and shock-protected as well.
$160.00
$120.00
hermetically sealed in stainless steel unbreakable armor-crystal
pre-sat tension ring
patented crown
'A good time'
sentence
In
Не was an officer absolutely. trusted by his superiors, and anonymous lettera accusing him of taking bribes were ridiculed An accusation that he
had money in several London safe deposits was investigated, how- ever, and in one of these deposits was found £12,000 in notes.
denominations, and four £10 notes were traced back to Mrs Merrick
Many of the notes were in large
She
IT
were
Wor
However, it is one thing to was the end of her reign. The know that laughter is daring
and 'twenties ficto!
quite another The know why we laugh, OVCT. Bright Young question, medical circles People
offer little help.
Nor turning to politics or Big Game unanimity on the subject
she hunting. When
out found mong came
humourists. but she tried to begin again,
Ted Kavanagh, writer of now the police watched every
she made.
famous comic show, once made There was
*** the following after
generalisationa prosecution.
Lon. The
factor comman Involving a prison
1032, At last, in
warnings that prixon
Con-
ST
а
professional
In
a
AN
a
land him
nowhere at all-or just where
didn't expect to go"
that
he
Analysis will prove
this
I
theory holda good in the case of hundreds of Jokes, But it doesn't go far towards explain- bene- Ing
Which Is to ing why we laugh. On this reasonably
not surprising, for it can quite be suspected that cat nobody really knows!
1748, Land In be
Chesterfield claimed that he had discovered the SECTO! of laughter, and scathingly expressed his dia- approval of the whole business. IN November 1928
tried at the Old move was
"Having mentioned laughing,” Mrs Merrick Bulley with Goddard, before Mr prosecution
all he wrote, "I must particularly came out smiling Justice Avory. At the trial the each
humour
and zence of warn you against it; From a six montly' whole elaborate aystem of bribery once.
When you
could heartily wish that you charitable she prison
had used was brought out,
magistrate said that superiority.
someofle receive a custard ple may be often seem to smile, but Holloway
the lelephone
seemed no deterrent to
in his face, when You
heart to laugh, while see never often She was dressed more smartly fle
här to "o enabled her to avoid her, and asked
by im- you live, Frequent and loud thun usual, in a blue toque hat, trouble, the ex-CD officer dis public and honourable under dignity discomforted
pudence, you Jaugh because Jaughter is the
of characteristic taking" never again to be gold silk coat trimmed with Bulsed
newspaper seller
feel
folly
Bers; it is the and ill manners; it nected with a night club.
She you brown fur, and
watch grey shoes and who kept
for polico
superiority."
manner in which the mob ex- stockings. Some of her children
dren agents
the "43," the gave the undertaking, and kept
W. C. Fields, the famous press
ress their silly Joy at silly were at the
American groet her. variety of people who had to be it for the few months she had gate to She had had quite a good time kept quiet.
w live. In prison, she told them, and
Kate Merrick died in Jamiary there had been plenty to read.
20d protector, and for years he had 1033. She reckoned that from That night there was a party done his work cleverly, turning the time when stre started at "43" to celebrate her return, in an occasional bad report on businces in 1920 some 300,000 for her personal magnetism was her clubs and even once leading had passed through her hands. such that takings dropped badly a raid on them himself.
The net value of her estate was when she was away. Every-
Years of thing seemed set fair for the gay him careless, and both he and
success had made £18. life to begin again.
Mry Merrick had abandoned elementary precautions in using notes that could be easily traced in the box Mrs Merrick did what she could. She spoke in a breaking voice, she wept, cha said Goddard was no friend of
But this was a false promise. Within a forught she was arrested again. This Ume she was charged with the corruption by bribery of Station-sergeant Goddard.
as a
outside
Goddard had been her chier
WORLD COPYRIGHT RESERVED
NEXT SATURDAY:
Стес
oi
True Humour
things, arid they Call it bel used to maintain; "The funniest merry. In my mind there is thing- a comedian can do is nothing so liberal and, so hi not do it." In support of this bred as audible Inughter. How view he used to instance what low and unbecoming
a thing funniest act. In this he spent disagreeable noise that it makes, was generally regarded as bis laughter is, not to mention the 18 minutes making ready tu and the shocking distortion of hit a golf ball and finally
the face that it occasions." retired without ever hitting li. Lamentable Br not, it certainly seems that audiences laugh at the comedian rather Fifty years later Thomas han with him. Vic Oliver, the Carlyle, the historian, attempoed famous English comedian, has to reveal the secret behind related that he first became a taughter in this essay on Richter. comedian through
piano Not only did the assessment go hum, a lot nearer to actual definition a serious musician, then Lord Chesterfield's it was wae playing in a concert also not distorted with bitter- hall in Boston.
stoo!
Goddard was a member of the hers, she accused the police of The financier who paid vast when police force specially appointed planting champagne and then to do plain clothes work. In par- raiding the club.
sums to the nobility.
breaking under
WE SHOULD MAKE THE RAF THE
XHICH is the Senior
W service today?
Royal Navy?
The
the
SENIOR SERVICE
some
By W. A. WATERTON
It depends whether label of seniority is to be reserved for the most vener-
tons of aleci and high English long bow onwards. To- able branch of the fighting explosive 20 or 30 miles beyond day it means the R.A.F. Forces, or whether It is to its position. It can attack only be assigned to the Service ports and
coastal installations.
H-bomb anywhere in the world.
which is the key to the One heavy bomber can drop an whole strategic and defen- sive situation. `.
If the key Service is to carry the title, the right of seniority has undoubtedly passed to the Royal Air Force.
With spood and hitting power goos tange and the shrinking of me. No parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire are more than
a few flying hours distant.
.
Best Defence
This was clear by the end of the war. Neither armies пот navies could function, or even exist, without air power. Events since have rediforood these If the main nerve-centres of lessons. Long-range offerves Britain and ita Commonwealth and
outer defence, too, have associates are to be saved from
ls as deed as the sailors who fought with Nelson,
The Navy still has a most im- portant role in years to come- In getting heavy stores through
10
True humour," wrote Carlyle, "springs more from the head than from the beart; it is not contempt; ita essence is love; t lagues not in laughter, but in still smiles which is far deeper. It is a part of inverse sublimity. as it were, exalting,
into our affectione what is below us, while sublimity draws down
into our affections what is above us." However, although Carlyle is more adroit in this comment, it
to battle areas, and in bringing plain that even be did not raw materials and foodstuffs regard Laughter too highly. into Britain. Instead of facing "True rumour] issues not in the facts and preparing the laughter," Tho Inference
this Navy
important, obvious, now Bocondary role, some admirals hope to whittle down the responsibil ities which sightly belong to the R.A.F. in the age of air power.
Even in trooping, the Navy's onerous, ancient task of delivering an army to the theatre of war can now be discharged more cheaply and far more swiftly by trans- port aircraft,
to
To build and operate air- planes capable of moving two divisions of troops at a time a cheaper proposition than build
the requisite tonnage of shipping and afford it ade- quate protection against attack from the air, or the sea, or from under the ses.
but
4
Out Of Touch
+
But Daren't
Carlyle's judgment should not be dismissed too Hghtly. Freud maintained that all jokes at which a
person'
laughs
uproariously release Impulses that have been repressed into the unconscious. Hence, mary of One retired rear-admiral has the best folos are those which called for exclusive Admiralty release our suppressed desire to control of all sea and air forces tulee a crede at sortamad. In jokes employed in naval operations, we can do this, and speak This means coastal command of truths, which we would like to the R.A.F.
It is an assumption of naval do say in real life, but superiority which is virtually
No leg an authority than
or
been taken over by bombers and muclear pulverisation thọ surest it so important to recognise tho out of touch with realities today, Charlie Chaplin - supports this
fighters.
But, it may be asked, why is
If it were realised it could hope les Ja tho
R.A.F.'s senior status? Even if deterrent which the heavy, long-range call attention to it by
11 is a fact, there is no need to lead to a complete distortion of law. Several yours ago be was
Britain's strategic change
outlook and asked what it was in his pic A modern bomber goes as far bomber alone can deliver...
tures that made people laugh. In an hour as a fleet does in a
in the traditional order of the planning. Besides, Britain can-ure
not afford two rate air He replied: "It is telling them day's hard
Services steaming, The The best defence 'is
Larves with a power-
their
Bendant, idance, when I walk right up
thio plain truth dkrings bomber is under enemy attack: ful offensive. The most important
Such an altitude takes insuffl- duplications, for minutes, the fleet for hours, branch of any defensivo system cient account of the inmenso it would be impossible for this and slap a grando dame who is the one which deals with the activity and power of inter- to happen if the Royal Ale gavo me, a contemptuous look. At the end of a perilous deadliest form of attack, or It Service Jealousy, Some of the Force was established in the H's the night way to babaye, voyage" if it has not been deci- (golf bila the enemy, the hardest. men who Jun the Navy aru minds of the people as well de They can't admit it, but they [mated- ̈ by air and undersen This is history'a verdict from naturally reluctant to acknow- in the facts or modern war as laugh boome their know. It's
attack, the fleet sean discharge Hannibal's - elephants and the lodge that their ancient primary The Senior Service,
true!"
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN
MANDRAKE
REFUSED TO
BELİEVE YOU TYNO WERK →→DEAD.
BUTMANDRAKE- · WHERE ARE WE?
· LOTHAR AND I
HAVEN'T TIME-
| SLIGHTEST IDEA)
YOU'RE IN A SPACE SKIP-~ 'A MILE UNDER WATER AT THE OCEAN BOTTOMĒJDA
"THAT GUMMY STUFF THEY SPRAYED ON THE BOAT PROTECTED YOU FROM THE PRESSURE="
By Lee Falk and Phil Davis
BUT WHO ARE
**THESE="THINGS). THIS MAY BE
1-DON'T KNOW.
WANT WITH US!
AN INVASION OF THE EARTH?
TALK
WHAT DO THEY
Suisse Pour
Treasured Watches for 100 Years
l'Industrie Horlogère.
Geneva, Switzerland.
ABOUT
MAGIC!
Have you
Admi