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A Broadway swell, parading through the theatre district in violent waistcoats and loud checked suits, young Berry was much annoyed when "a lot of actors and racing men and sharps began imitating me." At Saratoga Springs he introduced the dinner jacket to the U. S., got ordered off the dance floor for not being in evening dress. He decided to go West, got as far as Kentucky, where he admired the women, bought a stable, nearly fought a duel. Back in Manhattan, he sprained his leg dancing the cancan, then went to Montreal on crutches for the Hunt Ball to meet the Governor General. Against doctor's orders, he danced until 5 o'clock in the morning. Berry Wall decided that the way to live long is to have nothing to do with doctors, observed " There are more old drunkards there are old doctors."
Europe was Berry Wall's next fling. At the Four Arts Ball in Paris, he was surprised to see some 2,000 men and women cavorting around "mostly entirely naked." He was even more surprised to meet a duchess to whom he had been introduced several days before. She was naked too. Berry overcame his confusion while he had a drink with her in the bar. Said he: "As I stood there looking down ... I began to realize that it is in respect to certain things that the French differ so from the English." He often threatened to tell about that unforgettable night, but his wife would reprove him with, "No, no, Berry, you mustn't. Naughty!"
The French "broadened" young Wall's viewpoint: the English confirmed it. "My idea was that life was worth enjoying. I liked the struggle, racing, gambling." By 1914 the struggle had taken tougher forms. Berry Wall left his hotel at Aix-les-Bains, the first floor of which he shared with the Aga Khan, hurried off to San Sebastian, Spain. There he stayed cozily during much of World War I. He introduced the fox trot into Spain, found the plage at San Sebastian one of the best in Europe; King Alfonso the most hospitable of monarchs. But an inner voice kept whispering: "You are only marking time in Spain, there is something more important, more vital awaiting you elsewhere." Berry Wall got back to Paris in time to play poker with U. S. Generals Atterbury, Russel, Bliss, duck into air-raid shelters with his rival dude & wit, Henry Symes Lehr, and Mrs. William B. Leeds, later the wife of Prince Christopher of Greece, who never took shelter without her heavy jewel case. He admired his friend Clemenceau's realism. During the Armistice celebration, when people warned him: "Women aren't safe, they are throwing themselves at the men," the Tiger replied: "France has need of children." Says Author Wall: "This may sound cynical, but we have to face truths in this world. . . ." He was not so understanding about Woodrow Wilson, thought him both a pest and a puritan.
After 14 years in Europe, Berry Wall decided to have another look at the U. S. He found the country in a bad way. A shocking practice called "gate crashing" had turned up. People gave invitations "most casually" over the telephone. When at one party a young man slammed a young woman down on a sofa, and Berry Wall interfered, the young man hit him, the young lady slapped him, screamed: "You old busybody, go on back to Paris." He did.