Music: Curtain Up in New York

The mob that choked the Metropolitan Opera's 39th Street entrance came early, and wasn't disappointed. From glossy limousines stepped glossy fine ladies, dragging their tails behind them. The place was fuzzy with ermine, mink, diamonds and dignitaries. There was a shout, "Here comes Lily Pons!" followed by a buzzing ("Yeah? Didn't know she was a blonde"). The Widow Betty Henderson, showoff of cafe society, who got tapped for the front page of all the tabs last year by stretching her 71-year-old leg on a table in the bar, arrived with a raspberry-colored hairdo....

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