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Show THREE AMERICAN G.I 'S IN PARIS by Pfc. Steva Smilanich (Continued from last week) 'Probably the main reason is the fact that the tourist trade is Paris' largest industry. Most visitors vis-itors have little alternative but to visit a cafe, night club, cabaret cab-aret or bar. The open mindedness and cosmopolitan touch of the city also add to its popularity as a hub for night life. Our first taste' of Parisian night life proved the point. Our first night tour was an American Express Co. tour that provided us with a variety of entertainment. Riding past the floodlighted Opera area past Concorde, we stopped at a slightly different club located in the Bastille Area. The show place was a quaint hideout, done in dusty beams and hard benches. bench-es. The entertainment was folk-ish folk-ish the type heard in the provinces. pro-vinces. The spectators, mostly tourists were also urged to participate in the singing and dancing. All the er in Paris. Here the entertainment entertain-ment was daring, colorful and extravagant. In various places the show is gaudy, but other scenes counter-balance to provide pro-vide a fast moving colorful show. It was here that Pfc Smilanich made his first stage appearance when the mistress of ceremonies dragged him to the stage as a volunteer from the audience. Unfortunately, Smilanich was sitting on an aisle seat when he was selected. Thus the unprecedented unprec-edented appearance on the stage as a can-can dancer. Last by not least on our search for Paris night life was a visit to Place Pigalle, the Times Square of Paris. The Place is a square bordered with bars and night clubs each of which sports a glaring neon signs advertising shows which are a little hard on the average tourists moral code. Outside the clubs in the Pigalle Pig-alle area are doormen who will urge you to come in, and also on the outside are. a lot of pictures taken of dancers before they put their clothing on. Many tourisU often refer to Pigalle as Pig Alley, Al-ley, a somewhat appropriata name. A near- certainty after visiting , the Place Pigalle is the realiza- . Uon that the V performers are dressed and undressed- to meet the expectations of the tourists who often go home broken but seldom disappointed. A final commentary on Parisian Paris-ian night life, Paris can claim to be the only city in the world with such a multitude of night shows and varied attractions for which it can hold the reputation as the entertainment capltol of the world. Our final attempt to see the remainder of daytime Paris resulted re-sulted in a final day of wonderful wonder-ful sightseeing. After orienting ' our maps of Paris, we calculated the number of subway stops, where to get off and the route back. Our big objective for the day was the Eiffel Tower. (Continued Next Week) people in our crowd consented willingly. Jack Mausen volunteered volun-teered as the guinea pig in the guillotine demonstration. He is still wondering how the blade on the guillotine fell to the bottom bot-tom without beheading him. Our next visit took us to the Montmartre where we heard and viewed Parisian jazz and modern mod-ern ballet styled to Gershwin music. Here the surroundings were very informal and the entertainment en-tertainment charmingly unpro fessional. The place is better equipped for atmosphere rather than comfort. An amazing thing about most cabarets in Paris, is that none of them are lavish in appearance. Instead they are unique and very' original. Cellars, Cel-lars, terraces, literal holes in the wall are all the Parisians need. The atmosphere and the entertainment enter-tainment are the important factors. fac-tors. The final stop on our evening tour took us to the famous Bal Taburin, home of can-can dancing. danc-ing. Here we witnessed a three-hour three-hour musical and dance revue. The costumes are colorful and lively and the show was loud but very entertaining. The portable port-able dance floor, the ballet and can-can, plus the rich and romantic ro-mantic atmosphere made the Bal Taburin the highlight of our Paris by night tour. Unscheduled night tours also took us to the Folies Bergere, a must for any entertainment seek |
