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Show HT. il 1 few).-.- r v . fi ' s Diamonds -SItvV arc . letting ,2 In the Diamond Horseshoe of the Metropolitan Opera precious gems are like sand on the beach 0 U ''.-. jr. TV lorseshoe" a it looked opening night 1944, many diamonds aglc f r OST PEOPLE HAVE a more or I less vague idea that the Diamond I I. Horseshoe of the Metropolitan bj4a place where "Society" sits and tt.-s while gazing on one another. But f c"i the "Met" get such a reputation i" Tionds? What have diamonds got d i ' iith music? 1 'Jthe story is one of journalism I .'as gems. ? . York has had performances of opera for well over two hundred At the time the Metropolitan was lj the early 1880's, there was still antial and well-patronized opera down at Union Square the Old y of Music. Here the Belmonts and I and Townsends held boxes and y held them! A box for the season ,000, and some of these determined is" are known to have refused thirty fet amount just for the rental of ill railed space and a few spindly rt the Academy of Music, there weie lly only nine socially desirable boxes, ti after a rebuilding, there were only t a. You couldn't hear the music a !, learer in a box than you could in ! iery; but in our country, grand opera ' lady grown to be much more than f . appearance at the opera, in full Weather with .flash of jewels, was tendance at Court in Europe. Our ad no titles, but they could buy which looked like crowns. They bow to one another even if they Bot curtsy to a reigning prince. And as plenty of money with which f a royal good time, lose days, wealth was literally push- from the ground in the form of fopper and oil. It sang over steel i rustled in stocks and bonds. Mrs. i jostled Mrs. Oldname for a place jsocial gaslight, and an opera house tily nine boxes was ridiculous! im H. Vanderbilt, who had inherit-lety inherit-lety millions from his father, the orfore, Darius Ogden Mills, newly from gold-filled California, William Kller, brother of John D., the oil ' Jay Gould, the stock manipulator, 1 group of others undertook to build 'n opera house. Away up on Broad- ierc the horsecars ended! The sum they pledged was $600,00, and the finished job cost nearly two million but they had an opera house that covered a city block. And glory be, it had enough boxes! They were banked in tiers three deep and more were tucked in on the sides. A hundred and twenty-two all told. The general form of the interior was a horseshoe facing the stage because this was the plan of most of the great opera houses in Europe. On May 24, 1883, sixty-five stockholders in the new enterprise met in the unfinished building and drew lots to see who would sit where. Only the first two tiers of boxes really mattered. No one even remembers who sat in the third tier, it was so far up. A Boston decorator employed to finish the interior was told to devise something elegant, not tawdry or garish. So he painted paint-ed the three tiers of boxes with bright gold paint and hung them with yellow brocade patterned in wine. Large gas chandeliers were covered with gold wire like bird cages. When the Goelets and Astors and Vander-bilts Vander-bilts and Drexels and Morgans all got set in their places on opening night, October 22, 1883, the newspaper estimated the average wealth per box as around nine million. mil-lion. All that money plus the gold paint made it natural to refer to the glittering semi-circle as the Golden Horseshoe. For all its golden glory, however, the initial season at the "Met" was a financial flop, and the next summer the builders came back and hacked down the top row of boxes. The space was converted into what is now the Dress Circle, so-called because be-cause gentlemen were desired to wear J0 0 S JERTAIN "SIGNS of gracious living I I are proper table manners. And it's V J never too early to begin teaching the youngsters the right and wrong ways to conduct themselves at the table. Here, to aid you, is a helpful guide. 1) The first rule of good table manners is to be prompt at meals. 2) Men and boys sliouid remain standing stand-ing until women and girls are seated. 3) Be seated (and rise) from the left side of chair unless it is inconvenient to do so. 4) Sit naturally, but do not lounge at table. Keep elbows at your sides. 5) When picking up your napkin, unfold it halfway. 6) Wait until all persons at the table are served before beginning to eat. Eat slowly and quietly. Never appear greedy. When not eating, keep hands in Jap. If many persons per-sons are being served, wait until those near you are served before beginning to eat 7) If asked to take food, reply quietly, "Yes, if you please," or "No, thank you." Say "Thank you" when served. 8) The knife is for cutting only. When it is not in use, place it across upper edge of plate. Use the fork whenever possible for con-veying con-veying fcod to mouth. The American way of eating is to hold tr.e fork with tines up in the right hand. The European, or continental, con-tinental, way to convey a bit of food just cut is to hold the fork in the left hand, with the fork tines down. Place fork beside knife when not in use. When cutting, hold the knife and fork so that the handle of each rests in the palm, with the hand over the handle and the index finger used as a guide. Be sure both knife and fork are so placed that they will not slide off when the plate is removed or passed. 9) When eating soup, dip the spoon away from you and sip from the side of the spoon. Do not break bread or crackers into soup. 10) A spoon is used to stir a beverage so that the sugar will dissolve readily. The stirring should be done quietly. The spoon may then be used to test the sweetness and temperature of beverage; . then it should be removed from the cup and placed on the saucer before drinking from cup. 1 1 ) In buttering bread, break off a small piece of the bread and hold it low over plate while spreading the butter. 12) Use your fingers when helping yourself your-self to bread, celery, whole pickles, olives or cheese. 13) Except when you are acting as waitress, wait-ress, do not leave the table without being excused. 14) Try to finish eating about the same time as others at the table. 15) At the end cf a single meal at the home of a friend or in a public eating place, do not fold your napkin, but place it loosely beside your plate. If you are to be a guest in a home for more than one meal, watch the hostess to see what she does with her napkin. Do not lift the napkin above the table while folding it formal clothes even if they did have a long tramp upstairs. Therefore, when the. opera opened in 1884, there were only two rows of boxes. After a disastrous fire-in fire-in the summer of 1892, the interior was again changed. Thirty-five millionaires now put up $60,000 each to finance this rebuilding. re-building. In return, they became life owners own-ers of the thirty-five most coveted boxes, those in the lower tier. The HOUSE WAS closed for a year. Then came a gala re-opening in November, 1893. Then thousand new electric lights turned the Golden Horseshoe to a diamond-studded diamond-studded necklace. It is supposed to have been a "rave" reporter who coined the term "Diamond Horseshoe" as applied to the first tier of boxes occupied by the stockholders. stock-holders. Diamonds estimated at $170,000,000 were worn in the house that night, and Mrs. Burton Harrison, a society columnist, drew up a little memo of what you could get for your money. A good tiara, she believed, believ-ed, could be had for $20,000, but she had seen them with great pear-shaped solitaires tipping each of the spikes and these geins . alone were worth $5,000 each. A handsome diamond stomacher could be had lor $75,000. So it came abouf that the be-diamonded first tier ot boxes was dubbed the Diamond Horseshoe, and the second tier, only slightly slight-ly less exclusive, was called the Golden Horseshoe. When the "Met" was again rebuilt in 1940, the boxes of the second tier finally yielded to rows of seats, leaving leav-ing the boxes of the Diamond Horseshoe alone in their glory, and so they scintillate today. Diamonds have blinked at diamonds from both sides of the Metropolitan's footlights. The divas were big investors in gems and collected them for command appearances all over Europe. Mary Garden, when summoned sum-moned to St. Petersburg to sing for the Czar, although the engagement was cancelled can-celled because of political upheavals, still received the gift which the monarch had prepared for her a magnificent set of diamonds dia-monds and crystals made by Carl Fabergc, the court jeweler. When Patti returned to Madrid, her birthplace, for a command performance, she wore so many diamonds that "two policemen never let her out of their sight!" Nellie Melba once wore her whole collection, collec-tion, a half-million dollar's worth, at a gala performance of "Traviata" with a cloth-of-gold gown made by Worth for $2,400. Christine Nilsson, who opened the Metr politan Opera 'way back there in 18S3, had the surprise of her life when she sang the same role, Marguerite in "Faust," at the royal opera in St. Petersburg. Opening Open-ing the jewel casket, usually filled wilh fake glitter, she gave a little gasp not written in the score. There were real diamonds dia-monds and emeralds, a whole set of them, presented by her admirers in Russia, including in-cluding the Czar and Czarina. There are girls getting their first diamonds now the first usually goes on the third finger left hand who will keep the "Mel" glittering in years to come. For the Diamond Dia-mond Horseshoe makes it more than the world's greatest center of opera. It is an American symbol. It couldn't happen anywhere any-where but here. -oiiiuiunist leaaersnip, these men believe in with I are operating. They believe that the tight and heav- You do not understand what you are dealing I an ineir hearts nnH nrhiVVi tVio, e ; a ...itu i j With unless vou linriprstanrf |
