1675-34 Fontainebleau z\
MIAMI BEACH: Sat°daY PO�'1'
t,
Evening
SWINGING .
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y the almost super fl uon, t. . •
.111 ' n,the biggest resort sets
J9: .. a.• •
I a glittering stage, .
`E% veryman's fantasy ft/ie • w e
rich,beautiful! life.
By Lewis H. Lapham it
^ l'hotoyraphs by John Latino's '• G
Miami Beach this month,some- `
E , ,time between now and the running - •
[ the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah, • •
iE
;ill tide of the winter tourist season
x high water in a flood of dance —
and neon light.The spectacle on
,,s Avenue is easy to imagine. All
• ds are playing;the glossy auto-
`.;
uto- K
glut the entrances to the big
.Across the immense marble lob- _ Z r'
',touristsebb and flow like the sea.
;tourists come all year, at least
of them,but these next two
like the week between Christmas
Year's, give them their best
'',ties for what the local cab
call"the heavy action."
,_1 the rise of many competing
8, from New England's ski
to Las Vegas casinos, Miami • r
mn7 ;tetnains the premier American
r '� x .psi:
•
i �E S �.�
), W.N. aur-. - 1. _.• ___
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It 4
the gt
"You stay here long enough."another girl, "No
oal quality."
last,is the center of the world.He conceives of his you're wrong:' th
MIAMI BEACH.----------.
EACH guests as"the audience." and it delights him to "and you begin to believe it." here."
watch their search for the good and the beautiful. The guests make very guarded entrances, Tio"You're
wrong."es th
The violins play More than theo greatest love the The nonswingers come in droves,looking,in the ever, remaining suspicious of confidence person
1\ an
wont has ever known; the love tonight.
The movie- words of the song. for the start of something big. Eager to believe almost anything,they lbs havebjust be
goers o drht,temight,PU tte my tonight. movie- roach th war wof th. a is oa ire ambit
I world. Few of them would know a swinger if they seµ• less pretend to be wise to the ways of the to magazine artic
Tdream of a betterandAtheyphonies."onea girln n. p
The feeling m the several bars of the n ,Club
Fontaine- and but they have their hopes.fJames The girls expect t re- so t million approach
elseat the saiddr.one nil
mesh s T-shirt
mbii
! t Gigibleaand Hotel(the BoomooLounge. comparesLa Ronde,Club find a reasonable facsimileunafrom Q Bond Village.a dy president."
i
dr• headed girl whoa
"I thought i found the girl of my ch for an hour.
i
i Gigi the Boom Room) to the sponsible tax accountant Queens cheating said,•,but after twodrinksshe
possible. The per- far end of the bar,or for a girl they thought they guy "OK,"he said to n
mood of a cruise ship on the first night out.Car- The men come looking for Lauren Bacall at the everybody is a net worth."
rival; all bets off;eanything p nig night."a was my 't mind if I lie to,Y
I heavil insk the perfume and suntan on weighs onceuilsaw across the air shaft of an apartment me what other side of the circular bar a man
�i; cigarette smoke building on thewNear ng?h Side. On the
heavily air. Through the "You know something?" a brunette said one inga cardigan sweater opened to rev argument.OK?'
the women watch nwtaith avid ueas. hair on his chest soughthat convince a evl• In a loudly co?"
nHe had been oo her he brSooad was talking I
I choose the Fontainebleau as an example be- night."I never drink gin back in the States." '
rooms) nvei
ris the probablylarathe
lea Miami Beach(1niisg clever.She if she it h instiout nctively recognized s the to
tnsincerity.producers. big-time agents.telling her that ,..he said to roe•s
d confiden
enand the best known(the opo ew York, m could do her : my card game.
scene of the). Many other pot took, however,ver at wouldd three of her situation.dergShe nevertheless last
dr stayed for people who could
do sesomesal may,like you?Not
three hours.ordering a series happen.last drinks.wait- The girl suspected I hotel {shot). other hotels, The redhead tun
do just as well.They are variations on the same ing around to see what would ,..ed her in a deo'
theme:the decor follows similar patterns—bland.Pias}• dams.The girl sail
alabaster statues of mildly erotic nymp ben by i Huntingtoi
lett
Ii garish and I
chandeliers, white leather banquettes, .been at Yale w.
unnatural colors.Many n(the Public rooms retro- began to think t '
bee the lavish sets for the production numbers in i been
the guy w:
Hollywood musicals v the 1930's. ked him what ha
II The early action develops in the Poodle Lounge. i (, '•A bad scene."t a ocks like bar just westaof then,main
elevators. .Heed had taken a
t
looks like any other bar in town, ghtclud after wl
the magical reputation of a place that swings• • room to see the
Almost every evening,at a table in the corner of • the lobby,howe
•
the room,hat o on,Novack,the owner of the hotel,sits ring at a sewn
with his a cigar in his carelesslyteetover
h soul• •,"
to to his pose
sive sport coat manner ofhrown Broadw producer.He "Wgat could I '
dors,in the of a Broadway • was just en,
sits among good-looking blonde girls and heavy' -.ted,like a foreig
set men who speak in hoarse whispers of their win- • d her never to{
rings and losses at the track. Petitioners cortin- • the Eden Roc:
ually present themselves at his table,asking fora Like the Fanta
I room,or a tip on a horse,or an introduction to a e is one
big-nameo talent t bookedos its o one ohis nhe nbs.
To Novack the hotel is beautiful, the tangible a north)is room
proof of his own luxurious dream. Much of the nd for the seen.
building he designed himself. On a tour through
Europe he and his wife ordered freight-car loads peer-mieneLow
of the furniture, the statues and the decorative for dinersini
objects scattered through the corridors.
"We're full of marble," he announced on the able-top fray of lh
evening we were introduced."There must be one • I discotheques i
million dollars of art laying about."
P poodle Lounge gives
oh
•
At sundown the music begins,
the crowd divides into singles and pairs,
and the pursuit of happiness quickens. It would be
r unthinkable just to stay in one's room.
;E:
1
4�1
mg enough,"another gi ,
>elieve it.' "No kidding,"the guy said."I'm a real person.
�`
very guarded entrances •
I'm real quality." I
picious of confidence •, You're wrong," the girl said. "I'm the only
cost anything,they neV> o
real person here."
ise to the ways of the • Nobody believes anybody else. I tell r
h one another wofilwarily. Write magazine articles, and they tell me their
s•" a girl said one nig cousins have just been named ambassador to •
else at the bar. "1 fn
Ethiopia or Mozambique.A thoughtful hipster in •
!enc." a mesh T-shirt one night undertook to demon-
•
I the girl of my dreg strafe the system. Next to him at the bar sat a
ut after two drinks she red-headed girl whom he had been trying to ap-
w•orth." •
proach for an hour.
the circular bar a man "OK,"he said to me,"watch this play...
you
ir that opened to rev. don't mind if l lie to you,do you?Just for the sake
ht to convince a girl of argument,OK?"n telling her that he In a loudly conversational tone, together with
tents, importantabroad and confident ge cure,he then said to me: •
.:.y • "So I was talking to Phil Adams this afternoon, ••.,
/
D could do her some' and he said to me,so what,Eddie?So you lost a v
f being a brassiere sal:'
•
enrrmny card game. So what?What's 550.000 to
a guy like you?Nothing?Right?"
I
The redhead turned around. The hipster en-
her in a detailed conversation about Phil
...dams.The girl said she met him once at a party
'Ven by Huntington Hartford.The hipster said he
'been at Yale with Phil:Twenty minutes later
I began to think that I also knew Phil Adams.
I- . I saw the guy the next clay at the pool, and I
} • r�• ked him what had happened. I r
!• , "A bad scene."he said."a '
i t mistake."
-Y, He had taken the girl to dinner and then to a
,:htclub, after which she agreed to come up to
•
room to see the view of the inland waterway. •
•
'the lobby however,she discovered that he was
'Sing at a second-class hotel, entirely inappro-
•to to his pose as a big spender.
'What could I do?" he said, "I told her the
was just enough of a dump to be sophisti-
like a foreign movie,but she said her mother
t^her never to go out with men who didn't stay
t•
hEden Roc."
^ Ike the Fontainebleau,the Eden Roc(300 feet
north)is one of the most expensive hotels in
r
.*thousand rooms(above),the hotel guests prepare to
for the social fray that begins at the cocktail hour.
- -md'he Louis XIV(left)helps create anair ofape. s-
--for diners in the Fontainebleau's Fleur de Lis room.
-toP frug at the Shelborne's 007%Go Go,one of many
discotheques designed to appeal to young"sreiagers."
_�I -t` "4 •g(ave you ever been in lout
'l4 t MIAMI BEACH t l0 her.
J! `i .�l �., 'Can you imagine that? ce%i{ow would you like a put
II Miami Beach. The rooms rent for between S39
• ' :.`As �, 1 wd and $206 a day during the winter season. The The Latin American band pl
• `t - seemingly high rate for the smaller rooms.how- Walking up and down Colli,, decor in cha.cha rhythm. Tw
Nar ' 1 ever.is not so difficult even for a secretary if she argued about a girl in a red eve
"q �'r - and a friend split the cost and improvise meals. This time it's love."one of
People often endure terrible sacrifices to main- Avenue here, tyre it's fifty bucks."
= <' A few minutes before midnigh
rain the necessary facade. the illusion of wealth
g performances that Miami crowd in the lobby.I ran ac
)'' ' being another of the a cowboy.He wore a leather
Datta 1 see the same old faces!'
Beach encourages. The experienced tourists cut
z' back on the fundamentals but tiplavishly. (No• hat and a drooping moustache.
4', V.7;:a carried a bottle of whiskey.
• ,r.:;.' body can be more contemptuous than a waiter or
he
that he insisted was the
• bellman who feels unjustly compensated.They can hotel.whether a bar stool or a divan at the •,i "A Colt A5,"he said."I'm o
II �f spot a man with the stale air of a poor spender as immediately occupied if anybody is so careless (Much later.sometime toast
oodle
I1 /f'V easily as if he were walking in a cloud of fruit flies.) to leave it unwatched.) The short haircuts, swaggered into the town
(f Some people rent their furs or jewelry.Others button-down shirts and the khaki trousers left at the bar looked at hirr
'_ make spectacular exits and entrances followed by the college boys as guys way off the beat, .. stiff
trains of rented suitcases filled with rocks. On from another league.The blonde turned sligh lb said."Everybody else cher
'e® their departure they go to the airport in the hotel the first guy.self-consciously cool,ordered a; Exactly at midnight all the
I
•
limousine,and then,when everybody else has dis- and ginger ale. bars played Auld Lang Syne.
appeared into the terminal,they sneak back into -You twenty-one?"the bartender said. - ktti at one another, or popp
Miami and go home on a bus. The boy produced his draft card. mak' a cigarette ends,and every man I.
an immiately to his le
One other incident occurs to me. i remember look as if this was the first time anybody the
the cashiers a happy Nev
•+- overhearing the customary opening moves in a asked him such an absurd question.The..,, awe set up sustained tremolos o
game between a bald man and a plump girl wear- turned back to the man on her left. The •,
T^" ing a polka-dot jump suit. The man had almost humiliation,however,was not yet finished. '
convinced her of his identity as a high•level adver- he offered to pay for the drink with a credit•
tising executive. Unfortunately a friend of the the bartender looked at him with open d'•:
girl's arrived and ruined his script.She had met "You think you can come in here with a .
him two years before at a resort in the Catskills a busy time like this?"the bartender asked.
and knew him for a mailroom clerk. you out of your mind or soinethin'?"
I1 c .. "We all wear masks."he said easily."Life is a "OK.OK."said the kid."I'll pay for it."
' series of masks." Somewhere else along the bar a man was
'I' The girl in the polka dots turned abruptly away. un a friend:
"You must do very well on Halloween."she said. "I'm so used to playing games.especially
I i i Halloween or New Year's Eve. On New Year's her. it's hard for me to be honest, if you ;,
,• Eve.I saw the same man.a paper hat slanted over what I mean."
his eyes at a cavalier angle. telling a credulous Another man,about 25 years old and still
i girl of his maneuvers in the shipping business. cerned with the vagaries of popular opinion, •
"We charter the tankers to the big oil com• asking a bartender for reassurance. He was
panies."he said,"you know.like renting a car." ployed as an embalmer in a funeral home
I remember New Year's at the Fontainebleau Boston.To the bartender,he said:
._. as a symbolic occasion, everybody trying even "How do you feel about an embalmer?I
harder than usual to have a good time.The trucks is he a bad guy or what?"
with the confetti arrived early in the morning;all The bartender told him it was a job like
afternoon Cuban waiters blew up the necessary other,like being a motorman or a garbage coll..
balloons.At about eight o'clock the lobby began to "Yeah, that's what 1 thought," the guy-
W - lilt with hundreds of people,all of them staring at and then.turning to his friend,he said:
one another, reconnoitering the terrain. The "I came down here to get away from it all.t'
i y v r., women wore elaborate dresses,wigs and feathers. you imagine that?Walking up and down
many of them apparently borrowing their ideas of Avenue here. I see the same old faces. l •
chic from old Lana Turner movies. I couldn't believe it."
In the midst of this crowd the hotel photog• His friend had his own problems. Earlier
. rapher stood under a solitary yellow balloon.The evening he had made advances to a young •'
{ balloon,tied to his camera by a long string.bob- in the coffee shop,failing to realize that the-•-
t (1 bed overhead in the smoke and noise. Patiently man sitting next to her was her husband.
r., """'"—"'` `'" 1°a'' ^" he waited next to the placard advertising his rates. husband hit him in the ribs with his cane.
live dollars or$7.50 a print.depending on the size. "Some New Year's Eve."he said.
1 // S .'7/1!;./ "We mail'em anywhere in the United States. By 10:30 the crowd in the lobby threat-,•''
.l ." • folks."he would say,"right to your hometown.... bulge through the revolving doors.The first
1 �� t .-,
P . f' r. � If you don't like'em,you can send'em back." hats had appeared.also a small,lost dog waI
,n,...p///! ` He said this at discreet intervals,not wanting under a balloon tied to its collar.
to• remind anybody of failure, knowing that no-
On all the sofas and the overstuffed ch•' Nii.o.',..:-.f .'
body came to Florida(or a lousy photograph. at least 100 people over the age of sixty.many
_ I began in the Poodle Lounge.So many people them residents of other hotels, sat whis•
�h' were jammed into the room that a few of them among each other. They had come to see '
" '', remained outside in the lobby, just beyond the sights and to pass judgment.
- swinging glass doors,holding drinks in their hands. "Have you seen the chinchillas?"a woman'
,-40.- At the bar three college boys finally managed to "Did you see the one in the red outfit?... '
I _t get close enough to order drinks.They had care- chase anybody."
ll 0 -• K
fully chosen a momentarily empty space next to "Kinsey needn't have bothered with a
t an outrageous blonde. (All available space in the damn research."an old man said,"all he had
do was to come here and sit." , �►,, M'
• ;#0......• e, . Downstairs in the Boom Boom Room (a ' :;. ^
.IGold lame at the airport,a negliaee•orer-au•imeuil at the decorated in a Polynesian motif and once used 11'
• • hotel pool itopi add erotic color to the tropical scene. a set for the television series.Surfside 6),a bl'.
�r girl fondled the flimsy strings holding her d
�- The ran it"to go home with"and to keep ammitire notes together just above her navel.
nIra yfrom imager).Poollide gin rummy i+babe pastime "It's such a bore to be sentimental,"she R
I
I ar =
. - Yona enrol,.,at the Fontainebleau n fell. ie,as pawl A .11iami-rlulr males sprite bob.+is the Fantaintbt- i_
_TAIMOIMMIMMillaa.
VIIIIMIIMINIMMOMMEMI11111.1
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