Show r I pf How the Police Stopped the Spectacle in Which I Harry Planned to Honor Her Memory m pm p t ga Bevy of Beauties Having Certain Charms Hers v x c cJ J r r I Ic c c 4 1 4 N 1 4 ft r s Ryr G n fix v j n V- V fl i 4 r l n i lJ l j f fJ q J 1 S J iJ i i I jl i j t t f jl The late r p f Gaby Deslys as al she shek shel i k y t looked m in inthe r I the days l 1 J I when n she shei s tit was the he i idol f W wt c i 1 I Inot not only of cd 0 Harry Piker i t n I but of allf allt all f h U t Paris r i nr I it t Iff i tl 41 Th J i fi tr l r df ji fi Jf G it t t t n 1 brie 8 4 t tI I t l r y ye It j 1 rr e DS 1 h h i a a at t I t u ad e tic THEN HEN Gaby Deslys went to her her v death rather than have the sur- sur surgeons Bur sur Burgeons geons scar her lovely ovely neck there was no more sincere mourner of the untimely un- un untImely un untimely timely end of the famous French stage 1 beauty than Harry the we well known n American dancer During the many years the two had bad been associated on the stage the warmest kind of friendship had sprung up be- be between be between tween them In fact when it was seen into what what- d depths of grief Piker was plunged by beautiful Gabys Gaby's death there seemed good ground for the SUspiCIon that the friendship had already ripened into love and that If it she had lived they would some day have walked t to the mar mar- marriage marriage altar The methods the stricken grief-stricken dancer took to show his respect for the memory of the dead beauty and the tho degree to whIch bo ho missed her have been as re- re remarkable re remarkable as they are pathetic On the very day she died he enshrined Sin in a special room in his hilI luxurious ParIs apartment a size life-size portrait of her herIn In front of this picture two votive can dIes such as priests use on the altars of churches are kept burning both night and day I IThe The room is sacred to the memory of Gaby Deslys Besides her portrait It holds many intimate mementoes of her things career things which stir fond thoughts in Harry when he gazes on them To TD this room he lie often orten retires and and kneel kneel- kneelIng kneeling kneeling ing at a sort of altar ha hl has nas constructed before the length full-length painting of her he be communes fc for fc hours at a time wIth his memories of the loveliness that IS gone He became an earnest student of spir- spir r a y ydo I v do 1 t 8 ay IN rinI 1 t tj tIN j w A Ai tf i H a rW M rp j J ti g i 1 F w 1 s 1 i iw i ix f x Ab interesting moment in The After After- 4 j 1 4 W I Si i i t T jy i and av a v reg regular u 1 a rat rat- at- at attendant at attendant at all il j JM 1 the most fa- fa fat j fa-j t fj It I was as whis- whis J I 1 pel ed there t h e r J f had been en an agreement I 1 i between him bim and Gaby that whichever er of them died first should get into in- in into to communication with Ith with J the other if it were ere sere aS a Y possible thing 4 None of the hundreds t l V of mediums whom Pil Pil- Pil v it t ce consulted cons however was as able to an any spirit form e even een e cn en S faintly resembling the tho z s 's 10 lowly lovely ely face and form orm M 0 that t hat had hadl l Hn been Gaby Caby W Deslys Nor wh hk o did any oft of 01 S- S n the t them h e m suc- suc succeed suc succeed ceet in pro pro- producing producing pro producing a message which PIker could feel sure came from the spirit of hIs dead friend The failure of these long and costly efforts ef- ef efforts ef efforts forts to establish communication with his former dancing partner across the gulf of the grave made the burden of Harry Piker's grief still stul heavier At last his friends actually began to be worrIed for fear his own ll life e would be crushed out under the weight of his Ius sorrow sor- sor sorrow sor sorrow row For Far more than two years ears after Gabys Gaby's death Piker lived in seclusion shunning his Ius gay companions of other days and sacrificing the thousands of dollars his popularity as a dancer might have earned him bins on the the Parisian stage Ho He denied himself all pleasures and would see a few of his mo most t intimate friends only at long intervals He lie was worn to toa toa toa a mere shadow of his former smiling vIgorous self His friends decided that something must be bo done to prevent his making a sacrifice of his life and following Gaby Caby to the gran gra gra e e e So So o they chose one of theIr number to search out and try to convince him of the error enor en or of his ways ays The young young man chosen for this urn urn- im and difficult cult task tash was a deep thinker e extremely tactful anda and a keen student of human nature The line of argument he prepared with Ith great pains and presented over and over again In Inthe inthe inthe the end won Harry PIker to taking a anew anew anew new and more sensible view of his sor- sor low sor-low lOW i This friend pointed out that Gaby D Deslys would be the last person Jerson to want him to sacrifice his health and friend friend- friendships friendships ships and his brilliant career on the tho noon of- of ofa of a FW Faun the dancing spec spec- spectacle spectacle spectacle which 31 Harry planned as a tribute to Gaby i Deslys and r which the DO- DO DOlice po- po po lice police stopped topp d before the cur cur- curtain curb curtain b tain rain had been as up more than thana a few seconds w s rt stage through grief for her Her 11 life o oon on this earth was as bound up with th footlights and if she were to return to the flesh there would seem to be little doubt that she would at once seek a the the- theatrical the theatrical engagement Up to the very day of her death she sho was as engrossed with plans for giving the theatergoing public new and more de- de delightful de delightful dances What bett bettor better r tribute the friend urged could Harry l ulcer pay her memory than by taking up her work where she left eft off and staging a series of surpassingly beautiful dancing spectacles spectacles cles cles spectacles that should be the tho finest things of the kind the rr French stage had ever seen Thi This argument made a deep impressIon on the grieving dancer dancer He agreed tha thai If Gaby Caby could look down from her place in heaven nothing would oud please her mOle than to see him dazzling the tho public just sucha such a series of Spectacles as he and she had planned to give together But just as he seemed on the point of doing as hi his friend urged he lIe raised what he claimed was an insuperable objection objection tion to the whole plan It would be all very well he is re- re reported reported re reported ported to have said if I could find n a dancer who approached somewhere near the loveliness that was Gabys Gaby's but that seems to be impossible I 1 ha hate hae ha c e considered the most beautiful ful women in the tho world to-day to but they are without exception so far beneath the lofty standards of pulchritude set by my dead partner that it gives my heart an unbearable wrench t to think of dancing with them or even staging a spectacle for them to appear in To this the tho friend tactfully replied that of course it was out of the question to think of finding any ono one woman who combined in m herself anything like the beauty of face the grace of figure figuro andr and r b t tt tI t I R c t tm m i y I n r a G y Mlle Mile as she theR would have looked in inthe in inthe the arms of the faun faun if the unfeeling po po- po por l pol it lice ce had na allowed her herx herU tl r j x hertl fA VS to Set get that far y a r rL L 46 r b f fr r tk 1 i y yi i k d I r ra a fin Mr J Dr I U c a e A AVII VII t t z the countless charms of personality which Gaby Caby Deslys s 's had bad possessed Why not he ho urged select a num num- number number ber her of women omen each of I whom horn resembles Gaby ilby in m some one feature and nd who will when grouped together on the stage form a composite that will suggest at least faintly her superlative loveliness This suggestion carried the day Within twenty four hours Harry Piker was again agam something like his old ener ener- energetic ener- ener energetic energetic getic self busily starting a world wide world search for the eight ten or a dozen beau beau- beauties beauties ties who should form the composIte suggestIOn of Gaby Deslys's countless charms When he found them he ho planned to present a dancing spectacle that should he be the supreme effort of his life and a fitting tribute to the memory of the beauty whose death grieved him so Ho He intended to make it something theater theater- theatergoers theatergoers theatergoers goers would remember as long as they lived and he earnestly hoped that from the spirit world Gaby Deslys might smile smila 1 o oS od S Ii d a r f w 3 rr 1 P i down on his tribute to her herand herand and catch echoes of tho they thunderous applause he was sure would greet ft It The task of finding so many like Gaby beauties was as ono one that would have quickly quickly discouraged a man actuated by any less ear ear- earnest earnest ear earnest nest purpose than A For a time he considered Meller Heller the reputed re- re reputed rr tt favorite of King Alfonso of Spain Spam but finally decided that her smile was not so much like liko Gabys Gaby's as he had thought He cabled to America for Vera Olcott only to find on her arrival In France that he he had overestimated the resemblance between her manner of dancing and his dead partners partner's His first encouraging success came when he discovered in Mlle Mile Rhana Phana a dancer whose hose smile and pretty gestures and air of chic were ere almost painfully like those he le cherished s so so fondly in his hb memory She was as promptly engaged and assigned to one of the most important important tant roles in the coming spectacle Next he found in a stage beauty named Zt laika a figure which varied only a scant fraction of aninch an inch mch from the measurements Binch of Gaby Des Deslys's ss body when she was at the height of her fame She also had the knack of wearing fine clothes wIth an air that strongly suggested the man man- manner manner manner ner of the inimitable Gaby Caby Last but not least while on a visit to London he stumbled by the merest chance upon a l pretty young English girl Wynnie Richmond by name name- whose name name whose hose be- be bewitching be bewitching witching blond curls and laughing eyes made everybody who ho saw her exclaim How very like Gaby Deslys With these three beauties who resemble ble certain features of Gaby Caby Deslys in ina ina a a way that amazed Harry he he had a most commendable nu- nu nucleus nu nucleus cleus for his dancing troupe The reo re- remaining re remaining places were ere quickly filled for having done so 50 well with the tho first three he thought he could safely use for the others young women whose points of re- re resemblance resemblance re resemblance semblance were I ere less strong The spectacle he selected for his beau beauties ties to appear with him in was as one of his own devising called The Afternoon of a Faun The faun is 3 an ancient Italian deity of fields and herds that as vas to be shaped like a man except for his pointed ears small email horns and goats goat's tail tall According to the version of the fauns faun's adventures prepared by Harry ho he was having a very festive afternoon and behaving in an ultra-modern ultra manner with ith a stage full of scantily clad and quite up-to-date up beauties In fact some flippant critics might have the described described the goings on as a sublimated petting w 9 Mile Mlle Rhona Rhana a whom Mr selected elected for forY forone Y l yr yr xa one of his hi x k lk dancers a r rr r because her r smile and 4 gestures i and air of chic re- re rey ret re reminded y t minded him err so pain painfully fully of y y lost Gaby F Flost i p r rI I f party In which a score half-score of charm charm- charmIng charming ing maidens were submitted to the tha ca- ca caresses ca caresses of one ono very voluptuous young man The day set for the first showing of I the spectacle arrived At the tho final dress rehearsal late that afternoon Harry PIker was moved almost to tears at t sight of the amazing suggestion of Gaby Deslys's perfection that was given by grouping together the beauties he had so carefully selected J He felt that this tribute to his dead dancing partner was sure to be a tre- tre tremendous tre tremendous that success success that it would run for months in m Paris and then would repeat its triumph in London and New York Y rk t And then came as bitter a disappoint dIsappoint- dIsappointment disappointment disappointment f ment as Harry has known since he saw poor Gaby breathe her last The curtain went up on the first pub pub- public public lic performance of The Afternoon of ofa ofa B a Faun only to be rung down a l few minutes later by order of the police I I Those few seconds were ere enough for forthe forthe forthe the commissary of police and various representatives of his who were scat scat- scattered scattered scattered through the audience to decide that the of the faun and the beau beau- beauties beauties beauties ties who ho surrounded him were altogether too suggestive too immoral too positively positively obscene for the eyes of a B ParIsian audIence In vain valD Harry Paler protested that his effort was all highly artistic and was intended as the earnest tribute of l a grieving man to the memory of a depart depart- departed departed departed ed idol of Paris The police were de determined to stop the show and stop it they did and the beauteous Rhana and were werD dragged off to the police station and later were v 1 ere arraigned in court courton courton courton on a charge of attempting to give an indecent exhibition The case has not noty y et been finally decided but there seems to be no doubt that The Afternoon of a Faun aun will never be permitted in Paris until it has been vigorously dry cleaned Those who think the spirit of Gaby Deslys was actually hovering over the theater that evening are perhaps won wondering dering how she felt when hen she saw the police ring down the curtain Am her Ier grieving former partners partner's ill ill-fa ill fated ed at- at attempt attempt at attempt tempt to pay a unique and wonderful tribute te to her memory rc y 1 |