Anne Sharpley Says:
WHOOSH! I Meet The Musical Fountaineers
THEY call themselves The Fountainers. Two
chatty young men from Ireland who operate the coloured musical fountains in a restaurant in what they term "the heart of the Empire" Piccadilly, to us.
They spend their wild, wet lives wooshing coloured Jets of water like a sort of aquatic cinema-organ, while the patrons tuck into their place and chips (3. 9d.).
"They're two absolutely charming boys. Very cultured. You know, the long-hatred, corduroy-trousernd sort," I was told when I said 1 was anxious to meet them.
I went along to the evening performance of The Glaat Musical Fountain. Seven tons of water with great clastle bounces and genteel little thinkerings danced to Teles from the Vienna Woods, turning every
shute of colour known to the boiled sweets Industry as they danced.
The performance ended in a surt of heavenly choir for fire- huses and for a moment there Is the allence that follows all great performances,
Then the delighted audience. whose plaice and chips had been getting cold, started to #pplaul.
"I couldn't hear the applause back there unless I strained," Baid the fountaineer on duty for the night as he came to the bar for a drink. "I strain," he adds. "Where's my usual queue?" he Inquires of the burman. "Ia
explaius rahing outside,"
the barman. "Compellen," mutters the fountaineer, " had a queue. the morning. Sul, can't queues all the time.".
Fan mail
have
"Do you get a lot of mail? I ask. knowing from past experi- that that is the text of Pher question major talents like lo
answer.
"Of course, I even get cards From some curious people in Florida. And ot Christmas!" Christians is clearly such a de- huge of fan-mal as to be in- describable.
"Dyou think you could show
work?" I asked. me your
come back-stage" mean
don't think the other foun- taineer would mind." he saith, giving me a searching lunk: He's a Intanist. makes hira rather synsitive.
“I
"We're trying to restrict this work to Irish. They've all been Irishmen on the fountains so for we think !! make a good national skill."
will
I explained that my grand- mother was Cork woman (no pun intended; and that seemed to be acceptable.
Led through dark passage- ways filed with old champagne eases and a beached chandelier left over from the glorious Ed- wardian youth of the restaurant we etimbed a narrow iron ladder into the "control roon."
Masterpiece
*
Sixteen levers, eight light switches, record-player and foot-pedal confronted 15. Through a glass panel the foun- tains peacefully bubbled ready to spring into action at the swing of a lever.
to
THE CHINA MAIL, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1958.
RITA plays
the
DON IDDON'S DIARY
Quiet American
Aboard the United States.
THIS is the fastest lady in the Atlantic
and I knew her when she was a maiden. That was more than six years ago, when Atlantie the United States shattered the crossing record both ways and won the Blue Riband."
It has been
Today the ship perform as smoothly and effortlessly over and some officers ray she's even faster,
a good voyage, We boarded the skip ut Southampton in perfect wea- her after being held like sheep behind a Customs barrier.
The actress Rita Hayworth, graphy worked out on a plece of paper but I've memorised It our star passenger, was escorted now." A record was put on andke royalty through the off- adjusted
ear-shattering clal line and swept aboard. An
behind me salti volume"the water drowns the Englishman
"Since when did an American sound.
preferential treat- netress rale ment on British soil?" But his she look: wife said: "Shush, dog-tired." Miss Hayworth did.
Wearing that rapt expression to be seen on the face of other virtuosi before beginning to play
•
item is to
he swung into action. Hunds, arins and foet Dailing furiously. the water leaping dementedly- he was a marvellous combina- ton of plumber and ympanist, get some impression of coincidence be tween the water and the music." be shouted over his shoulder as be Biteet his hands with that falling flutter that great planists
Uxe.
The music ended in a glorious gotden Niagara-In-reverse shot with pink. The maestro fell back exhausted.
"There now, and I bet half of them
think it's done by machine," he said as we strula- ed to hear the applause.
Ons of the girl Interpreters to the Bolshoi ballet when they were in London arquired one of Ulanova's rare autograplis. Now the girl interpreter wants to sell jer prize and advertised it in a certain Personal Column. There were no replies.
A rush
I juned her in her cubin and Lathed to her and her husband Jumes Frill
the producer, the and partner in successful Hecht-Lan
Com- Caster-Hill Production
writer, highly
pany. Rita had no make-up except a light smear of grense. which Is, apparently, the new of fashion, and only a touch lipstick.
She said: "I Wish I could have stayed : London longer. It was supposed to be a holiday In Europe. but turned hectic rush."
out
IN A BOATLOAD OF
MONEY AND GLAMOUR
Idden and Rita Hayworth aboard the United Slates
more
frlends
has been sitting at the
Bame table Not so the other star passen- friends; and she probably
(and enemies) as myself and the Chief Purser. ger, the great party-giver Miss Elsa Maxwell,
But, unfortunately, he cancelled who has domi than anyone in the world,
his passage and a great groan of nated the captain's table and,
Miss Maxwell is drawing big disappointment went
through tele the liner. regular inevitably, the ship.
15 75. money for her and Miss Maxwell, who
for her Still, not vision appearances,
wo have William Clay which is Ford, the youngest member of beret newspaper column,
from the multi-millonnire Ford
The woman
been who hud married to Orson Welles, Aly Kham, Dick Haymes, and some one whose name I forget,
but lost weight, maybe even Rita has forgotten, has vas all for the selled-down- enough. Blithe in bitte
in widely syndicated, and She has at lunch and resplendent marriage-for-ever te.
she the royalties from her books. not made many public uppear. elaborate dress at night,
the world hus held forth 051 ances during the voyage.
Occasionally she has walked crises, La Belle France, the dear the decks swathed in teddy Duchess of Windsor, the wicked bear coat and scarf and minus Walter Winchell, the columnist all make-up except the grease, with whom she's feuding, and once she glided through the and lounge in a modest bar
But on grey and green dress,
行
Was
the whole the Hils have to themselves,
When he was in London
bock that roaring few weeks Irishman Brendon Behan refused admission to a certain rather conventional bar in Fleet Street because he was teless.
The reason was that he can't get a shirt big enough to fasten round his splendid gullet, "Is Bridget Bardot's bigger than waist,"
He's in London this weekend (heaven help us!) and he will appear, in the, at the same bar. hasn't much of ተነ that he opinion of in any case.
And he'll be wearing a shirt
that fasteng, that he's borrowed from his agent. Behan must be the only man to get the
off his agent's back,
shirt
It was one of those recep- tious for one of those age- less film stars, "How does he keep so young,"
everyone was and asing. Somebody supplied
T
"One of the spray levers was Janse nuit once I swung I the Wrong way and drenched half the customers," he said added. Jittle regretfully thought: "It's been Axed now." "I think I'll do you my mas- terpiece from the Bartered Bridge. I got
all the
charro-
the answer. "If you didn't give a damn for anybody but your- self for 50 years you'd look like that too,"
London Express Service}.
REVENDENJENA
CALENDARS
for 1959
-decolour pictures –– attractive design --- ā
Variety of different mountings
Orders (minimum of fifty) taken now at
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, LTD.
Printing Department
1-3, Wyndham Street, Phone 20002.
For Delivery In December.
No ardors accepted after Sopt. 30th
Non-starter
motor
family; John Perona,
reports from mid-Atlantic
Φ
run liners In the world
the
and
Incidentally, ex-Governor Leh-
also one of the mafest, I like man, one of the high command sir-conditioning in every of the Democratic Party, fore- cabin and all public rooms, 1 carta huge Democratic victorles
and thinks admire the functional lines, the in November aluminium
Republicans have
deck
rally,
the Eisenhower
dazzling green and blue marine lost public confidence,
decor, the lounges, bar,
night-club.
Things are
ferent
and
a good deal ́dif- than during my last the United Crossing aboard
States,
when we attended Press conference every
held by
New type
the
Most of the people aboard
u have been on holiday and reculí They day fruen serious discussionz.
polite, Commodore Manning, are soft-spoken,
enthusingtje radioed
telephoned thou critical of Europe, or sands of words, and generally about Britain, but onxious that lived in unbroken confusion and we improve our roads, ruilways, near-chaos. This me it has bathrooms, or actually waÅL- been all serene and the ser- rooms, and mend our class dis- vice, at least as far as I am tinetions. concerned, has been perfect, You may have heard in Past the complaint that ste- Quiet wards aboard American senger ships are lethargic, off
and, and disinterested. I have found her efficient, painstak- ing, and prompt,
A Jeeves'
410 Could this be the age of the
American? They
Bro thinn
д
pas much shyer and subdued
tweeds, they used to be. Many are tem- porarily anglicised in blue blazers, szuede shoes, suck-
enk Ing purposefully at pipes, talking in volens which have tinge of English eccent
more bloemed They character on gala night, by the chempagne
put
flowed
in when smi miniature
La
who rung New York's swankles!
Whether by chance or night-club, El Morocco; ex- Governor Herbert Lehman, dit etion of the publicity chief several mon who helped direct, the Franklin in London, Derek Smythe, my Stars and Slipes in their but- and state-room steward, J. Arts, has tonholes, which is undoubtedly triumphs; There has been disappoint Roosevelt
of patriotic, but mirlarimily dubious, far as the litter assorted rich business men and turned out to be à Jeeves How does Miss, Maxwell make ment 30
the Atlantic, an imperturbable It ly not a heavy-drinking, Parede s concerned. Mc glamour girls, a living?
who has party-throwing ship. There 'The
ls loaded with personal manservant ship the film star, It's untrue she travels free Rosano Brazzi,
free except whea was supposed to board the salp money, but is carrying it well provided ice cubes, aspirins for a sienn almosphere of propriety crowd the about it, and every day the in- kept and lives
and would have It is one of the sleekest, best the flowers which
nend she's staying at the home of at Le Havre
zand struclions in cabin and for myself,
the paper
handral's "Never let go of the wiches and cold beer on run, advice, guidance, and - when proceeding up and down hold Always formation.
companionsDYS, Lines on to safety ropes, handrails, as and secured furniture *when
WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT?
MAN REPRIEVED AFTER
NOW that the death penalty is given in England only for certain kinds of murder, it hardly seems believable that less than two centuries ago there were 160 capital offences on the statute book.
and
com-
HE
WAS HANGED
He lived on as "half-hanged Smith'
The United States
atrick as far nover miss
public relations are concerned, crossing open lobbles or going and through public coms Ladies When I entered Cabin 84
miniature bar, the are advised to wear low-hed saw he
the shoes Avold holding on salmon, caviare, molted
Oko
hors d'oeuvre platter, I said to bathroom door or other doors. the steward: What an I going Do not allow children to run or to do with all thk? No one's play, unattended, ote."
seeing me off."
he
He said not to worrY, And
***
the
More shops
right because
of South- place was soon full ampton ship news reporters,
If I have any suggestions to most of them old friends. They make to the people who run this cald: "Where's the Rolls admirably run ship, it is to bullá Royce?"
And 1 told them I more shops on the promenade had reluctantly turned it in pe deck, create a Fifth Avenue
afoat, put
clocks in the mate- to of fre The wholesale execution
a house. The
bad to selentists. Apparently he had fore leaving London, oldest began to associate with
I then, this is light stuff mums, make the air-conditioned to be hanged was A aracters.
a great pain at Arst, then saw a blaze of light. This was followed you must understand that none, kennels avilable, for inspectlen sheep-stealers, forges, coiners, persun
man of over 70, in 1914. other Shoplifters
except possibly Miss Maxwell, so that dog-lovers, such as my- On December 5, 1705, he was by unconsciousness.
has talked heavy polities on this self, can rou how the animals paratively minor offenders start-
In the days of the pirates, changed with housebrealding and
When being revived, Smith vonyge.
are faring. I know the people sentenced to death, He we lo od with the revival of capital sea-going criminals had a special the gallows at Tyburn on Christ- had a painful, pricking sensa My table companions, Me and are doing all right.
who punishment in the Middle Ages, execution dock of their own. It
wae Mrs Leo Vonnunching his circulation
One further suggestion: mas Eve. Fifteen minutes after tion u
went I had fallen into disuse in the
was in the East End of London, he had been hanged, a reprieve restored.
Heinikers Don't insist on dollars (and Ena Afterwards he
ere responsible for "Half-banged beer in America, and Mr A. L goes double for our French 11th century.
near to the famous Wapping Old
arrived. Smith's Jump bedy was by the nume of Stairs. Many notorious privateem
But the macabre ex-Clark, who has just bought a friends at Le Havre), Tho 10th were hanget there, some of them cut down and carried to a neigh Smith".
bouring bouse, where after perience did not reform him. He 190 mph. Mercedes and buildu English pound sterling is good had in chaina, like Captain Kidd in treatment he revived.
continued a life of crime. But factorice near the atomic elle hard money. Otherwise I award escaped 2 second death clove to Las Vegas have talked full marks to the festent lady in
not world affairs,
efficiency, effort and excellence.
By the middle of the
execullens century, reached a peak and an average
1701, I was the englem to allow the bodies to remain hanging
He described his terrible
ex- ho
of 560 persons met their death in three tides hnd overflowed Perience with such detail that his sentence and eventually died in about the coming clection-but the Atlantic and a big E annually at Tyburn. London, them.
near the present Marble Arch.
The Arst recorded execution took place there in 1196.
The British reformers had a difficult task to make the law more merciful. Eves the Shop- Originally the gallows were lifting Act, designed to end the
(UT in- death penalty
theftg portable, but In 1871 was
prtbeles stalled the "Tyburn tree," 1
worth up to five permanent triangular gallows, whings, was rejected The very day it was put up, 1 House of Lorda, although record 24 people were hanged.
Then for two centuries hang- men were given Mile respite. But no hangman worked harder than William Calcraft, who did nearly all London's bang-
Commong passed it 1811, 1813 and 1816.
of
by the
the
in 1810.
Great Pain
Were
Ing from 1828 to 1871 at New- The real changes started with gate, which became the site for the Reform B of 1832. In Ave
offences executions in 1759. From the years capital time of James I, when a certain reduced to 37. By 1861, only Gregory Brandon was London's violence, treason and murder.. public executioner, hangmen have been given the nickname "Gregory."
Children Executed
Michael Basit, who had Lokken part in a bomb outrage. was the last man do to publicly executed in England. His hang- ing took place in May, 1880.
Because of the scrupulous felr_ The biggest crowd to attend nese of the English judicial a public execution was at New system since then, it is unlikely gate in November, 1824, when that many Innocent - men have Henry Fauntleroy was hanged been hanged. Even after for forgery. Fauntleroy had
there
been a grea London banker sentence of death
alwor's a strong chance of ai
and his convicilon was one of neprieve for many maunlerceS. the sensations of the day.
But there soon to be only Neither the young nor the one instance of a man being old, have been spared the rope ropelived after his execution throughout the centuries, In and remaining alive to tell the 1008, Michael Hamard, and his tute. He was John Smith; son of sister, aged soven, and 11, were a farmer at Malton; neen York. hangod at Lynn for felony, and He worked firul es a packer, an into a 1631, a boy of nine then, bocamo a soffor, Allee, hla woa pubilety executed atthechange from the Novy, Smith Chelmsford, / Baron, for wetting antiated in the Guards and
report has been of great interest bed.
“I bet you ten yen, if they wore British trawlers, they'd come in closer than three miles,"
London Supreme auraien
dor