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THINGS CULTURAL thing from Shakespeare. But usually they preferred melodramas and costume plays. Between 1910 and i921, the members of "The Nu Omicron of Paris", a society inspired by Dr. W. N. Bell, "studied plays by Shakespeare and twice gave semi-public presentation". About 1875, the Paris Musical Society was formed. It organized a brass-band, instrumental trios and quartettes, and a chorus. It regularly gave concerts in the Opera House. When it disbanded about 1901, its brass-band was transformed into the Paris Citizens' Band. Another musical group was organized by Mrs. Walter Adeney, a teacher of music. This group, was particularly active during the First World War, when it played at a number of patriotic meetings. Of course, church choirs, before 1920 as today, were the chief medium for the expression of musical talent. Marcus Adeney, a well-known cellist and writer, spent his early years in Paris. Since his cultural roots lie in England, he is able to view in perspective the cultural life of Paris as it was between i910 and 1920. This is what he writes: During the grim days of World War 1 Paris gained a little, culturally speaking, through technological change. From the movies shown occasionally at the Old Town Hall (circa. 1910) to the Keystone Comedies and Famous Name drama offered by Mrs. Cove at the Gem Theatre was a tremendous step in enter- tainment. There were plenty of music lovers in Paris then, and as each month's "Red Seal" list was posted at Jim Tate's gramophone shop they eagerly debated the virtues of composer and artist. In those days the Victor people believed in the economy of scarcity. They pressed only one side of a disc and sometimes only part of that; and it was impossible to buy anything but the light classics. How many Great Plays, Operas, Art Exhibits did Parisians attend in those not-so-early days? And what chance had young talent to find its place in the world's imagination? Thanks to the Carnegie Foundation, Paris, as far back as I can remember, had an excellent library. It was a window on the great world - so much so that I recall doing a feature article on some phases of Italian art with its sufficient aid. We had been introduced to Great Literature by W. N. Bell, a tight-lipped pedagogue who brought to our slip-shod minds the disciplined mentality and deep enthusiasms of an earlier age. Shakespeare to him was a present- ly living force; classical learning had imparted conviction to his speech, weight to his tread.. And then, of course, life in Paris had its own quality, gained a little, perhaps, from the beauty of unspoiled river valleys, pictu- resque streets, and real antiquities. I know that we who grew up there were, in terms of the arts, unprivileged; but I could never regret that growing up, or prefer to live anywhere else. It is likely, as Mr. Adeney suggests, that technological innovations such as the gramophone and the movies developed in Parisians a greater appreciation of music and the drama. But it is likely, too, that they discouraged the urge towards self-expression in these arts, and turned performers into spectators. 153