1936 On the Continent

Pigalle on Montmartre approximate more to the genuine article. With the exception of the respectable middle-class Wepler café, where respectable citizens take their families, the majority of the Montmartre cafés have a very mixed clientele—and none but the keen observer will be able to distinguish the right kind from the wrong.
    The old Parisian custom of after-theatre suppers is only maintained to-day by a few cafés, such as Wepler’s, Weber’s, and the Café de la Paix by the Opera, which used to have a resounding reputation but which has now become far less distinguished.
    But the really genuine Parisian café is the small establishment that is called not café but
bistrot
. It has few tables, and most of the patrons stand round the counter, for the price of refreshments consumed standing is only a third or a quarter of the “sitting” prices. The most important features of the genuine Parisian café include the gambling machines and the telegraphic tele-writer.
Parisian Punters
    The endless strip of paper that creeps all day long from the apparatus bears the Havas bulletin with political reports and Bourse quotations and, above all, racing results. The Parisian of the lower middle-class is a passionate punter, but he does not go to the race-courses, and places his bets with the local bookie. And while the races are run, he stands at the counter in his
bistrot
and follows with intense excitement the strip of the tele-writer recording the results. On Sundays, in particular, there is brisk business at the
bistrots
during racing hours.
    The idea that he might pay a visit to the race-course would seem too adventurous to the genuine
bistrot
frequenter.
    It is both fantastic and moving to sec how keen the Parisians are on playthings. And the trade is making constant strenuous efforts to provide ever new toys, for they go out of the fashion very quickly and must be replaced.
    But automatic roulette survives all these modes. Here the player throws a 5-sou piece into the slot and has the chance of receiving back 10 or 15 sous in the form of a free refreshment voucher. Only the most conservative Frenchmen adhere to the good old game of dice, with the aid of which they decide who is to pay for the apéritif.
Fairs
    This passion for games and amusement is also catered for by the great
foires
, one of which is sure to be proceeding in one quarter or another at practically any time of the year. On such occasions the city streets suddenly change into a country fair ground with teeming crowds and countless tents and booths in which you can see or buy the most improbable things, from honey cakes to radio apparatus, and from recently patented tin-openers to framed oil prints. Soothsayers and suburban fakirs erect their tents side by side with rifle ranges. Flower vases and canaries, petrol lighters and gramophone and a hundred other things merge into a chaos of sound and colour. But here too it is the gaming booths that play the principal rôle. There are huge roulette and Japanese billiards sets,
jeu de massacre
and lotteries; there’s something to be won everywhere, yet in the end you lose your last sou. And overtopping all the tumult, there is the blare of giant loudspeakers as they pour out the latest song hit over the whole fair ground, and the people feel like children on holiday.
    In addition to these seasonal fairs there are also permanent markets that you can visit any day in the year, such as the fantastic bazaar for second-hand cars at the Porte de Vincennes. But foreigners should be on their guard—to buy a second-hand car in Paris is a most risky business, as some of the dealers are sly scoundrels, worthy successors of the horse-dealers’ guilds, from which the garage guilds are historically descended. The cars are doped, just as horses used to be doped, in this case with amisleading new coat of paint or with a faked speedometer or by the use of specially heavy motor oil for the test drive, and so on. If you require a second-hand car, your best course is to apply direct to the makers, who usually sell little used test cars or returned cars at reasonable prices after a thorough overhaul.
The “Flea Market”
    A second permanent market is the world-famous Marché de Puce, or “Flea Market,” at the Porte de Clignancourt. There you will find absolutely everything, from rusty nails and second-hand hairpins to complete house furniture, pictures and antiques. A stroll through the “Flea Market” on a Sunday