Monday, Sep. 15, 1947

At the Bazaar

"In appreciation of services rendered to our cause at the Security Council," read the front-page advertisement in Cairo's Al Assas (The Foundation), "our premises present, for ten days only, at less than cost price, Paris El Khoury silk at $2.41 per meter and Gromyko satin at $1.99 per meter!"

Last week, Egypt's demand that Britain evacuate the Nile Valley was still pending in U.N.'s Security Council. But on the strength of early speeches, super-nationalist Egyptians thought that their chief support would come from Syria's El Khoury and Russia's Gromyko.

Cairo housewives hurried to Hanafi Farag's dry-goods store in Cairo's crowded bazaar, the Muski. El Khoury silk, marked down from $2.90, turned out to be mostly large, splashy flower designs in reds, greens and blues, and was of Egyptian manufacture. It went fast, for dresses. Gromyko satin, marked down from $2.41, came in solid pastels. Somewhat unfortunately (for political verisimilitude), Gromyko satin had been made in Franco Spain. But it was selling well, too, chiefly for nighties, housecoats, slips and panties.

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