The Ogden standard-examiner. [volume], July 02, 1922, The Standard-Examiner Sunday Feature Section, Image 29

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Mr?. Richard T.
Wilson, the
ra fashionable so-
is ciety leader f ," " .,
and one o( tin
patronesses of fflr '
the Midnight
c Club, which entertained t
unawares the other eve-
ning a barber and a man
icure girl I
J A ( CORDING to the stories
A, - that are being chuckled t
Over in all New York':-
r most fashionable clubs and
$ drawing rooms, the members
r of the Midnight Club, that very
exclusive organization which
holds weekly dances after the thea-
n ter of the Hotel Ambassador, were
recently the victims of as surprising
a practical joke as was ever perpe
trated outside the pages of Richard
Harding Davis's "Van Bibber" stories.
,', For several hours tho other evening
tf it is said that Mrs, Richard T. Wilson,
! Mrs. E. N. Breitung and others of the
H smart matrons and debutantes who be-
long to this newly organized dancing
club, entertained unawares a barber
and a manicure girl!
Yes, these two hard working employee!
of a Fifth Avenue hotel barber shop,
their identity completely hidden by cost
ly and scrupulously correct evening at
tire, rubbed shoulders on equal terms
with some of the most exclusive mein
t bers of the smart set They fox trotted
with them, shared their dainty supper
and exchanged with them all the usual
pleasantries of the ballroom.
What is more, the good-looking Italian
razor wielder and the charming blond
lady of the cuticle knife scored a distinct
hit on this their first and probably their
last appearance in the Four Hundred.
Before the merest chance led to the
disclosing of their identity Hair good
looks and faultless clothes, their graceful
fox trotting and pleasing manners are
said to have been much admired. There
was even considerable eagerness on the
part of many of the fashionable club's
members to meet these interesting stran
gers and have them for partners.
In fact, nobody can tell to what dizzy
social heirhts Tony the Barber and
Mazie the Manicure might have ascend
ed if
But thatV getting ahead of the story.
Let's go back to the very beginning and
sec how the barber with the waxed mus
tache and the manicure with the blond
hair came to enjoy the pleasures of the
Oakley Rhe-
m ember of the com- i,
mittee that tries to make ","i'"'u4
the Midnight Club a place where society will be safe from contact with the
. socially undesirable
Mi Jnight Club for one night only
It all started, so the story goes, in an
argument some smart young society men
Were having the other day in the smok
ing room of a fashionable Fifth Avenue
club. The argument had to do with the
question that is older than society itself.
"Ever since Adam, clothes have made
a whole lot of difference," one chap re
marked. "I don't care what the proverb
says, fine feathers will make a pretty
sad bird highly acceptable."
"You're all wrong," another took issue
with him "Aristocracy is something
that's bred in the bone. You can't make
a gentleman out of a horny-handed son
of toil simply by togging him up."
"And a lady is born, not made," an
other declared. "She is a distinct spe
i be . What she wears, be it the most
stylish of gowns, may be charming to
the eye, but it is not material to the ar
gument. A masquerader would be found
out in a short time."
"I'll just make you a bet," olTcred the
r
first speaker, "that we can take a couple
of ringers and run them in at the next
Midnight Club dance and they'll get
away with it. A nice dress, quiet and
correct for the girl; the conventional
evening clothes for the man, a little
coaching in the superficial customs and
chat'er of society, and no one but us will
know the difference."
The bet was taken and the deep, dark
plot against society and its powers of
discrimination was fabricated at once
There Is employed in a New York
hotel and known to ihe plotters a young
man who may be called Tony the Bar
ber, although that is not his name. Tony
is a pleasant person of Italian extrac
tion, the possessor of sparkling black
eyes and a small but snappy mustache.
His profession has long since made it
no essary for him to Kive up eating gar
lic, so there could be no objection on that
score to his appearing in society.
Tony's touch is deft and he is suave.
He is natuially conversational to those
icfcing' one .
startled look at the waiter who had flHI'H ht- i
recognized them and then hurriedly MfcBHBBE2jBK its r rff
ran restrain that im- Edythe HYp' ij'
conspirator was sura and Miss
f.,r Tony to escort butantes feyiij ' 'R UW
to the dance shall often seer fipftv 1M i! 9 Kl
;'"V' 1,0 known here as at the club Bkl 'WmUfii '"Mil ' 'SB
Mazie the Manicure. where the W 'H SEP
for she Is employed barber . Wftt&Br. Bl
in that capacity in anj the if " kmP WL
I the same hotcl The manicure JWmmSmm Wm SSfc
as could be found
l '' I anywhere pretty as
she could be and
with a way with her.
Jjp? The man who was
betting on the suc-
cers of the joke affirmed
that the only difference be-
tween Mazie and the girls
y who would be at the club
dance because they were
'W regular members was that
Mazie was in the telephone directory in
stead of "The Social Register," and that
she bought her clothes nearer to Sixth
than Fifth Avenue.
So the barber and the manicure were
provided with evening attire and pre
vailed upon to attend the next dance of
the Midnight Club. Certain considera
tions were slipped to them that made it
very much their while to translate them
selves for one evening into this lofty
social sphere.
The Midnight Club is one of the five
exclusive dance clubs that meet once a
week in one or another of the ornate pri
vate ballrooms of New York's finest
hotels These clubs have been more in
vogue this season than ever. It was
thought that they afforded society 's
dance lovers the opportunity to escape
from the stares and comments of those
outsiders so often encountered in the
public dancing places.
On the committee of the Midnight Club
are Mrs. E. N. Breitung, Mrs. Richard
T. Wilson and Mrs. T. J. Oakley Rhine
lander. Besides the Midnight Club are the
Bachelors', Pall Mall. Miramar and the
Sixty Until this practical joke was
played society thought them all places
Where one could be sure of not meet
ing the people one ought not to know.
One social authority said not long ago
that "the supper club, with its socially
prominent committees, its restricted
membership and the unwritten penalty
for members who introduce undesirable
guests, is a safeguard to society against
its greatest horror, the intrusion of out
siders upon its intimate life."
Nevertheless, when the orchestra
struck up the other evening in the hand
somely decorated ballroom which had
been reserved for the Midnight Club,
Tony the Barber -and Mazie the Mani
cure were among those present.
They were dressed in the height of
fashion, though not beyond it. A little
coaching had made their bearing emi
nently correct from the point of view of
surrounding society. They gave the im
pression of "belonging," although their
manner was rather distant, and aloof, as
if they were guests, the bulk of whose
friends among the membership had not
yet arrived
The plotters stood near by, to see how
their joke worked out and ready to help
in any little emergencies that might
arise through Tony's or Mnzie's lack of
experience with the Four Hundred.
The barber and the manicurist glided
out upon the floor just as if they felt
perfectly at home. Nobody noticed them
except to admire Dancing is a grf-at
democracy nowadays and any little indi
vidualities in style are rather to be
commended than censored and the va
riety of steps that Tony and Mnzio dis
played was nothing if not commendable.
Perhaps Tony's mustache was waxed
just a little more than perfect elegance
might permit. He had an Italian look
about him, but that is nothing out of
the ordinary since the war. Foreiqners,
distinguished and otherwise, are in our
midst, and how was any one to know to
which classification Tony belonged?
Mazie was pretty and attracted atten
tion. A number of young men asked to
be presented to her. But the jokers
jealously refused to introduce any one.
t
Mazie's conversation might have given KrW.
her away. BpL
No practical joke could have pro- Bri
gressed more swimmingly. The young
man who had bet that the thing could Bg?
be done was elated over the prospect of HNc-;
winning so easily. And the one who had B8 ;'
bet it couldn't was getting so much fun ggpfc
out of the situation that he was pre- MpKv
pared to be a cheerful loser. Ht
The joke's end came suddenly, and not Ijmgffi.
through any keen sense of discrimination Hs'
on the part, of the club's smart mem- BKT.
bers. It was a humble waiter who dis Mr '''
covered the identity of Tony the Barber
and Mazie the Manicure a waiter who Bs.v
knew them both, who had gone to school
with Tony over on the East Side and jg
now lived around the corner from him ffijV
in the Bronx. wvf&
The waiter was so astonished to see
his friends fox trotting on the same floor HEfoS
with so many of NewYork's wealthiest Wtitt
and most fashionable that he called the Hnf
hotel manager and pointed them out to Betfc
him the next time they whirled in that Kr
direction. BKh
"It's Tony the Barber," the waiter BK
cried excitedly, "and the girl with him fifij
i- Mazie the Manicure!" IH
Above the blare of the saxophones th h
words must have reached the ears of IIE?
Tony and Mazie. At any rate, they BBl
stopped short in the midst of a rollick- Kjf
ng ja::z measure, took one startled look Bui
at the waiter who had recognized them BD
and then hurriedly fled from the ball- SRI
Of course, such a joke as this was too Hi
good to bo kept a secret and now every- MIH
body in tho smart set is talking about HH
it. And Mrs. Wilson and the other fash- HB
ionable patronesses of these supposedly H
exclusive dance clubs are wondering how H
many other barbers, manicures and simi- Bn
larly undesirable persons they have been B
entertaining unawares. HB
mm