"HILL GROVE" RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

     George and Gertrude Lewis were from a wealthy San Francisco society family.  Their wealth and unusual marriage enabled the Lewises to create "Hill Grove", one of the most beautiful and most storied estates in the history of Beverly Hills.  The Lewises had what was known as a modern marriage. They didn't live together most of the time, and they didn't interfere with each others personal... activities.

    When the Lewises built "Hill Grove", Benedict Canyon was still mostly rural and largely empty of residences. Ranch land and a few citrus groves were located on the lower, flat terrain, and patches of chaparral and clusters of live oaks dotted the steep, arid hillsides. Benedict Canyon Drive was a dirt road. 

    Upon its completion, ten-acre "Hill Grove" was a startling sight. Its grand wrought-iron gates, which stood on dusty, unpaved Angelo Drive, opened into a long, paved driveway that wound up the hill to the mansion, passing the swimming pool near the bottom of the property and the expansive, grassy lawns, which required a team of gardeners for constant watering and care. 

   

    For an estate of its architectural distinction, extensive grounds, and prominent location. Hill Grove nonetheless received almost no public notice upon its completion in 1925. Why? George and Gertrude Lewis-in true, blue-blood fashion-did not actively seek publicity for the estate. They didn't need to get press coverage by showing off their home, or to send out publicity stills to newspapers and magazines to increase the adulation of their fans. They weren't a part of the Hollywood hierarchy.

    But they were starstruck. Or at least Gertrude Lewis was.

  "Ever since Hollywood’s golden age of silent movies in the 1920s, cinema fans have flocked to Beverly Hills to see the 'homes of the stars'. One Beverly Hills resident, Gertrude Lewis, did not have to leave her 10-acre 'Hill Grove' to see the most famous actors and actresses.

    They came to her estate, and, no, she was not a powerful producer or director, or the financial backer of films.

    From the early 1920s to the early 1950s, Gertrude Lewis’ sprawling 10-acre 'Hill Grove' estate—and her very grand Tudor mansion—was a favorite shooting location for films, and later some early TV shows. Why did Gertrude Lewis rent out Hill Grove as a movie location so frequently? She  wasn't hard up for cash.

    Gertrude rented the estate for locations, then donated the fee to several charities helping the poor.

    The real reason was that she got to meet each decade’s leading stars and watch the filming of major motion pictures. Gertrude Lewis had plenty of time for this 'hobby'. Her husband, George, who owned Shreve & Co., the famed San Francisco jeweler, lived in the family’s San Francisco house.

    He enjoyed the life of a bon vivant. Herb Caen, the noted San Francisco Chronicle columnist, told some of the stories.

    George Lewis, wrote Caen, 'who owned the most beautiful women in town, was a good man to know: If he took a liking to you, gold baubles floated your way.' Another time, Caen wrote: 'Millionaire George Lewis, silver Champagne bucket at left elbow, ravishing ‘keptive’ at right, presiding over his sycophantic circle at the old Templebar.

    They knew how to keep women in those days: Nob Hill penthouses and open charge accounts, cinq-a-sept and off to Amelio’s for Bill’s peerless martinis.' Gertrude Lewis obviously knew about her husband, and obviously, she did not care.

    She had her Beverly Hills estate, traveled to Europe for a year at a time, and enjoyed meeting all the stars at her estate.

    Was Gertrude also entertaining men-friends at her home away from her husband’s prying eye?

    Like several great Benedict Canyon estates, 'Hill Grove' was demolished and its grounds subdivided in the 1960s.

    Today, 'Hill Grove', which had been such a prominent Beverly Hills landmark for so many years, and which appeared in so many films, has vanished entirely, except for a street named Hill Grove, which was one of the estate’s driveways." Haute Living — Los Angeles

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

  Pictured at the front gate of the estate are Laurel and Hardy and Jacquie Lynn (the child) in a scene from Pack up Your Troubles. 

"Manhunt of Mystery Island"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

    Once the driveway reached the top of the hill, it traversed more flat lawn, passed through brick gateposts, and ended at the motor court with a circular lawn and lily pond in front of the mansion's main entrance.

Wayne Manor - "Batman & Robin"

RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

Wayne Manor - "Batman & Robin"

RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

ENTRANCE COURT
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"

RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

Larrabee Mansion - "Sabrina" (1954 film)
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

Larrabee Mansion - Sabrina (1954 film)

RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

Larrabee Mansion - Sabrina (1954 film)
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"

RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

    The Lewis mansion was an extravagant and skilled-essay in the Gothic Revival: stone-trimmed archways; large, leaded glass windows; slate roofs; castle-like crenellations at some rooflines; and picturesquely clustered red brick chimneys. Extensive stone and brick terraces around the house provided spaces for walking, or for gazing over Benedict Canyon.

TERRACE
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

LIVING ROOM
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

DINING ROOM
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

VIEW INTO LIBRARY
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

LIBRARY
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

"HILL GROVE"
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

BEDROOM
RESIDENCE OF MR. GEORGE LEWIS, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA
 ALBERT FARR, ARCHITECT.   J. FRANCIS WARD, ASSOCIATE

        Soon after "Hill Grove" was completed, it played a leading role in Clara Bow's Kid Boots for Paramount in 1926. 

Kids Boots (1926)

Betty Co-Ed (1946)

    "Hill Grove" also appeared in Republic's King of the Newsboys (1938), starring Lew Ayres and Helen Mack; The Crooked Road (1940); You Belong to Me (1941), starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda; and Night and Day (1946), a completely fabricated Warner Bros, bio-pic of composer Cole Porter starring Cary Grant as the apparently heterosexual composer and Alexis Smith. The estate appeared in Monogram's 1932 film Police Court. 

    George Lewis sold Shreve & Co. in 1948. According to Herb Caen, "George Lewis had to retire from running Shreve's jewelry store, because he doled out so much of the stock to pretty ladies. Square-cut, pear-shaped, they all looked alike to George"

"LA COLLINA", ESTATE of BENJAMIN R. MEYER, ESQ., BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA

Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills

"IN SOME FORTUITOUS INSTANCES, an estate becomes legendary not only for its fine architecture and handsome grounds but also because it reflects a major turning point in a community's history, in larger architectural or landscape trends, or in the owners' goals for these showplace properties.

'La Collina' is one of those skillfully designed estates that represented those turning points. The national architectural press and Los Angeles media applauded 'La Collina' upon its 1924 completion. Flattering articles praised its owner, banker Benjamin R. Meyer, young architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, and landscape architect Paul G. Thiene for their vision." 

Houses of Los Angeles Volume 2

"La Collina", was Kaufmann's  first major residential project with the architectural firm of Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate.  Planning for the house began in 1920 and it was built from 1923 to 1924. The garden was one of the earliest  hillside gardens in the Mediterranean style of the 1920's.

   

Los Angeles Times - May 27, 1923 "A year will be required to finish the house which Ben R. Meyer, president of the Union Bank and Trust Company, is building in Beverly Hills - To insure a magnificent setting for his new home, Mr. Meyer purchased several acres of ground before he started work on the house." 

    They lived at their estate well cared for by a butler, two cooks, two maids, a masseur, three groomsmen, and three gardeners. Through his wife, Rachel Cohn Meyer (1872-1970), Meyer became a member of Los Angeles Jewish community and was responsible for many of the city's successful early philanthropies. He and his wife had no children. Rachel Meyers father, Kaspare Cohn (1839-1916) founded the Kaspare Cohn Commercial & Savings Bank, which became Union Bank & Trust Company after Meyer, as president assumed control shortly before Cohn's death. Similarly, Kaspare Cohn founded and financed the Kaspare Cohn Hospital, of which Meyer was an officer of the board. It became the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

PLOT PLAN

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

     WHILE "La Collina", the Beverly Hills Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Esq., consists of slightly over seven and three-quarters acres, the frontage of this property is only 260 feet, while the total depth is about 1319 feet. As the property is so very narrow and long, the problem to be solved is interesting. In addition the grounds rise very rapidly, the Northerly line being 215 feet above the entrance at the South line of the property.

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

     The main approach is dignified with high walls along the street turning in with a graceful curve to deeply recessed, wrought iron gates guarded to the right by a two story gate lodge. At the beginning the main entrance drive with its long, sweeping curves is bordered on either side by an orchard and approaching the house winds its way through a strong mass planting.

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    An existing row of olive trees gave the keynote for the location of the house, appearing as if built on a natural, untouched California hillside. In order to give the house the proper support a wall was built following the olive trees and encircling them. At the foot of this wall is a bleached walk. All walks are paved with flagstone and softened with grass joints and clusters of Portulaca, Sweet Allysum, Sedum, etc.

    The leveling of the building site left a bank on the uphill side of approximately 30 feet. Three terraces with steps, walks, pergolas and planting made a very effective background for a site for the house and changed the unsightly hillside into a spot of beauty. 

GATEHOUSE

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    The main entrance had its own Italian-style gatehouse. The driveway wound up the hillside, through several hundred feet of olive groves. Where the driveway neared the house more formal gardens were planted including heavily foliaged trees and blooming shrubs and flowers.

APPROACH

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

APPROACH
Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

FORE COURT

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    The driveway ended in a paved motor court with a central fountain in front of the L-shaped mansion.

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    Kaufmann designed an entrance court in front of an L-shaped stucco villa so that the gardens stepped downhill directly from the living-room terrace to a pool pavilion and rose garden. An enclosed service stairway in the courtyard and an octagonal breakfast room on the garden facade created transitions between the formal central block housing the owners living spaces and the more rustic service wing with an open second-story patio. Known for his enthusiasm and ability to persuade clients to spend lavish sums. Kaufmann selected and designed the furnishings, supplied by the Los Angeles decorating studio Marshall Laird, and he purchased tapestries and Oriental rugs from the city's leading carpet dealer, John Keshishyan. All at substantial expense to Mr. Meyer.

HALL

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

STAIR HALL

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

HALL STAIRWAY

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

LIVING ROOM ENTRANCE

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    The living room, library, and dining room opened onto terraces and formal gardens overlooking Beverly Hills to the south, and the distant Pacific Ocean. Kaufmann placed steps at the entrance to the living room and library to accommodate changes in ceiling height.

    Unlike William Randolph Hearst, who had looted Europe for Spanish and Italian bell towers, ironwork, and doorways, Ben Meyer insisted that "only materials manufactured in California or native to the Southland be used." Los Angeles Times - May 27, 1923

LIVING ROOM

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

BREAKFAST ROOM

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    The breakfast room was set back from the main block to preserve the symmetry of the house facade when it was viewed from the garden below. Kaufrnann commissioned the acclaimed Italian decorative painter Giovanni B. Smeraldi (1868-1947) to paint the Pompeian details of the breakfast room walls and ceiling. Smeraldi’s work can be seen in many historic public buildings in the United States, mainly on the ceilings, and he considered the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel to be his finest work in this country.

DINING ROOM

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

LIBRARY

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

CORNER of LIBRARY

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

"ROAD OVER HILL"
Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills
Dedrick Brandes Stuber (1878-1954)

    Upstairs, the mansion included four bedrooms, a sitting room, and servants' quarters, with a servants' sitting room and covered porch. 

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    "La Collina" was one of the first and most regarded Beverly Hills estates to have a professional landscape architect, who maximized the opportunities presented by the site, and who worked in tandem with the architect to make the property enhance the mansion, and vice versa. Paul G. Thiene and his assistant Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright designed and planted the property before the house was complete. 

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

   In designing the pool the idea of giving the appearance of a reflecting pool of water rather than a swimming pool was carried out. Therefore, a border of Iris and other flowers was planted around the pool, softening the coping and gracefully hanging over the edge of the water. A vine covered pergola at the other end of the gardens complements the pavilion and affords facilities for garden parties. For convenience in such parties a kitchenette was built into the pavilion.

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    An old pepper tree on the hillside was supported by a wall and so a very interesting outlook was created which opens to the swimming pool garden, entrance to which is gained through an intermediate grass terrace thence to the pool garden. Directly ahead of the pool is a pavilion. Back of this are ten dressing rooms.

GARDEN POOL AND HOUSE
Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

GARDEN POOL AND HOUSE
Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills
 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects
Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

CASINO
Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    A tunnel connecting with the pergola on the second terrace leads into the casino, a large room nestling into the hillside with a comfortable terrace in the foreground affording a view of the entire valley. Provisions have been made to connect the second floor of the house with this tunnel.

POOL

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    

ROSE GARDEN

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

    Directly below the pergola is the rose garden. From here one enters through wrought iron gates into the theatre court. The theatre, itself is built directly underneath the pergola and is equipped with a complete projection room. It has a maximum capacity of 65 people. However, it is so arranged that large, comfortable chairs may be placed on the various platforms for smaller parties. Underneath the projection room the heating and ventilating are located as well as a pump to lift the water from the swimming pool to an irrigating reservoir.

ROSE GARDEN

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

Paul G. Thiene, Landscape Architect

      A very complex lighting system has been arranged throughout the entire grounds. Provisions  ave been made in various places for percolator connections. All lamp standards are so arranged so as to be able to plug in streamers. An intercommunicating telephone system is installed in various parts of the grounds.

STABLES

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    A stable group nestled into the canyon above the house will be a picturesque group of buildings. Meyer was an amateur horseman who raced heavy harness ponies.

    The garages are conveniently located behind the hill near the house. The garage court walls will be slightly concealed by planting from the main drive and this cope will afford an interesting spot of architecture.

RIDING RING

Estate of Benjamin R. Meyer, Beverly Hills

 Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate, Architects

    For the domestic water supply a reservoir has been established in the highest part of the property, in the Northeast corner, and camouflaged by a pergola. From this site a view of the surrounding country is obtained.

Winston Churchill, Ben R. Meyer, Captain Monte Foster and a Marlin swordfish caught by Winston Churchill, taken at Catalina Island, 1929 SOURCE

    "La Collina" became a landmark of good taste in architecture and landscape architecture and provided a model for many future estates in 1920's. Awarded Certificate of Honor, American Institute of Architects. When Edward Laurence ("Ned") Doheny Jr. and his wife, Lucy, decided to build their Greystone mansion at the Doheny Ranch, they quickly selected Kaufmann as their architect. Why? "Because he did the Ben Meyer house, and I liked it," said Lucy Doheny years later.

    In 1941 they sold the estate to a investment group. In subsequent decades, the estate was subdivided into building lots for smaller homes. The long driveway became a new street. Although much altered, "La Collinas" main house, featured in the TV series Entourage, and gatehouse remain today as independent private residences. Last sold: June 2004 for $9,690,096.

   wikimapia LOCATION. Bing Maps VIEW.    

MRS. EDWARD B. McLEAN

Mrs. McLean, who was, before her marriage, Miss Evelyn L. Walsh, is one of Washington's most distinguished hostesses. The far-famed Hope diamond now occupies an important place in Mrs. McLean's notable collection of jewels.

THE  FIRST  GOWN 

 Erte's description of this month's cover translated from the French.

   THE eternal story of the first temptation always interested me, and I used to try to decide on which chords of the feminine soul the Prince of Darkness had to play, when disguised as a serpent, in order to make woman fail into the abyss of disobedience to the Creator's laws.

   Once I dreamed of our ancestor, Eve, and this is what I saw: The serpent which became the embodiment of wisdom, thanks to the Evil One, had commanded the birds, who were in his power, to bedeck Eve with flowers. Although almost entirely concealing her form, her neck and arms were left revealed in quite a modern decolletage and when, finally, the birds encircled her head, suggesting an unusual coiffure, Eve began to believe herself a superior being.

   Urged by the Tempter, she wandered to a mirror-like pool where, like Narcissus, she admired herself, and with primitive coquetry, contemplated her beauty, and the words traced over her pliant body by the serpent—"La Premiere Robe".

   So now I see a charming young person—perhaps one of the readers of these very words—gazing in a mirror, an actual mirror. What she sees, I also see: there are flowers covering her gown, but they are artificial, being merely embroidered. Then, there is an artificial bird in her coiffure—quite different from those which the Tempter summoned to the Garden for Eve. But this modern gown has almost exactly the same decolletage as the first gown Eve wore, and always . . . always, there is the same serpent, invisible to most people, with that diabolic glint lurking in its eyes.