Pageant

French mademoiselles, Teutonic fraus, even Kansas schoolgirls have long yearned for a part in Grand Opera's brilliant pageant. American music lovers worship its colorful texture.

Last week at Atlantic City, Mrs. Homer Samuels (Amelita Galli-Curci), world famed olive-skinned prima donna, now a good American, cried, "Fudge!" Said she:

"Why do you want the opera season lengthened, it is long enough now. Too long, I should say. Why bother the poor people with so much opera? Americans are not opera-loving. They like musical Comedies, and I don't blame them.

"I would rather go to a musical comedy than an opera. I like the gayety of the light shows. It is so much fun. Americans attend symphony concerts, for which I admire them. Symphonies are art. Opera is not the highest form of art. It is just a billboard with a lot of colors. It is just a show. It is just a show with a little more aristocracy about it."