Viewing page 23 of 266

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

25

Cap Horn had some favorite spots, one of which was a cosy little restaurant named the [[underlined]]Club Madrillon[[/underlined]], moderately, not frigidly, air-conditioned. You had to watch this or you could get a severe cold going from Washington's 90° heat and high humidity into some of the refrigerated places. The Madrillon also supplied quill toothpicks, indicating it had class, and I would stock up modestly whenever I went there. [[underlined]]Harvey's[[/underlined]] was famed for its food and patronized by many of the great including J. Edgar Hoover, who appeared to be a steady customer because he was there every time we were. He always was accompanied by several men, some of whom were bodyguards so it was said. The [[underlined]]Mayflower Hotel[[/underlined]] was a favorite hangout for all sorts of important people and others, like us, who weren't quite so important. There was a men's bar where you could get a small group around a table back in a dimly-lighted corner, comfortable in ample chairs upholstered in black leather, and have a great letdown from the pressures of the day. The Mayflower also had a large cocktail lounge with music and dancing that was very popular,where it was exciting just to sit and watch the crowd. One of my most vivid memories of the war is of sitting in that lounge at a small table beside the dance floor. Marshall Raymond was with me and it was in the fall of 1942 when things weren't going too well in the Pacific. There were a few officers in the crowd who were back from the Pacific and they were dancing. And then the orchestra struck up "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." Suddenly the atmosphere of the place seemed transformed from a poorly-disguised grimness to ^[[the]] bouyancy of bright hope. It was a thrilling moment in which you knew that we would win. The Mayflower dining room was excellent too and I was to participate in a couple of memorable meals in it later on. A very superior restaurant in 1942 was the [[underlined]]New Orleans[[/underlined]]. It was darkly and richly appointed and soft in candle light. They specialized in Creole food but not exclusively. The situation in the basement seemed to accentuate the good features, the ceiling a bit lower, many comfortable booths, the candle light warmer. Also there was a negro baritone accompanied by a piano who was superb. And there would be a little dancing now and then on a very small floor. It was in the New Orleans that I med Adeline Macloskie one evening purely by chance; it was the first time I'd seen her in 16 years. She was working in the Chinese embassy and was with Mary Lo Traphagen. Across the street from the Mayflower Hotel was a fine French restaurant named [[underlined]]L'Escargot[[/underlined]] where you could eat outdoors in a lovely garden if you wished. In the dark days of 1940 when the Germans were overrunning France and we were still on the sidelines, John St.Lawrence and I had dinner in L'Escargot one night when we were in Washington on the gun mount job. It was in June and out there in the garden, we might have been in Paris itself. Yet Paris was about to fall. But out there in the garden, surrounded by the fresh colors of spring and the sound of German guns absent,