Bohemian Paris of To-day: Second EditionMorrow, W. C.
History
Bohemian Paris of To-day: Second Edition
Morrow, W. C.
Bohemianism; Paris (France) -- Social life and customs
The Moulin Rouge resembles very much the Bul-lier; but at the Moulin
the cocottes are much more dashing and gaudy than over in the Quartier,
because the inspector at the door of the Moulin maintains a more
exacting standard on the score of the toilettes of the women whom he
admits free of charge. Women, women, women! There seemed no end of them;
and each was arrayed to the full limit of her means. And there were
French dandies in long-white melton coats that were very tight at the
waist, and that bore large brown-velvet collars; their hair, parted
behind, was brushed toward their ears; they strolled about the place in
numbers, twirling their moustaches and ogling the girls. And there
were French army officers, Martinique negroes, longhaired students and
Montmartre poets, artists, actors, and many three-days-in-Paris English
tourists wearing knickerbockers and golf-caps, and always smoking
bulldog pipes. There were also two parties of American men with their
wives and daughters, and they enjoyed the spectacle with the natural
fulness and responsiveness of their soil. For the Moulin is really now
but a great show place; it has been discovered by the outside world,
and, unlike the other quaint places mentioned in this paper, has
suffered the change that such contact inevitably imparts. It is no
longer the queer old Moulin, genuinely, spontaneously Bohemian. But the
stranger would hardly realize that; and so to Mr. Thompkins it seemed
the brilliant and showy side of Bohemian Paris. By reason of its change
in character it has less interest than the real Bohemian Paris that the
real Bohemians know, enjoy, and jealously guard.
Many light-footed young women were amusing circles of on-lookers with
spirited dancing and reckless high-kicking; and, being adepts in their
peculiar art, were so flashing and illusory that an attempt to analyze
their movements brought only bewilderment. No bones seemed to hamper
their swiftness and elasticity. The flash of a black stocking would
instantly dissolve into a fleecy cloud of lace, and the whirling air
was a cyclone; and there upon the floor sat the dancer in the "split,"
looking up with a merry laugh, flushed cheeks, and sparkling eyes,
twinkling from the shadow of a twisted toque; then over her would sweep
a whirlwind of other dancers, and identities would become inextricably
confused.
An odd-looking man, with a sad face and marvellously long, thin legs in
tights, did incredible things with those members; he was merely a
long spring without bones, joints, or hinges. His cadaverous face and
glittering black eyes, above which rose a top-hat that never moved from
place, completed the oddity of his appearance. He is always there in the
thickest of the dancing, and his salary is three francs a night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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