Page 113 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

married British officials made sure that all the British who were in the
Shaikh’s service were invited to luncheon by someone on Christmas Day.
We usually had between twenty and thirty people. In the evening we
dined out, so it was a non-stop social day.
On New Year’s Eve we had a party. The first year there were a dozen
people—the entire British and American community in Bahrain—
latterly, for many years, we had eighty-four of our friends, in fancy dress,
to a sit-down dinner at one long table, followed by a pantomime and
then a dance which went on till the early hours of the morning. Eighty-
four was the maximum that we could seat at the table. Even in Bahrain,
where entertaining was easy, a dinner party of such size required a great
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deal of organization. We had a four-course dinner—soup, fish, turkey,
sometimes gazelle, plum pudding and mince-pies. Marjorie borrowed ser­
vants and cooks from some of our friends. The servants were glad to come,
for to be asked to help at our New Year party gave them a certain cachet.
They worked under our excellent butler, Musa, who after eighteen years’
service with us was so proficient that the dinner was always piping hot
and there were no pauses between courses.’
We dined in the long veranda, which was closed in for the occasion.
The band outside on the terrace played old-fashioned popular songs. The
guests, mellowed by before-dinner drinks, having shed their inhibitions
when they put on fancy dress, sang lustily during the meal with more
enthusiasm, perhaps, than musical ability. Fancy dress was absolutely
de rigueur. Only once did a couple come in evening dress. ‘We never
dress up,* they said. They looked as much out of place as if they had
appeared in fancy dress at a formal dinner.
The pantomime was played on a stage at the end of the Veranda Bab al Bahrain. Government offices
Room, the audience sat on rugs and cushions on the floor. It was in three Walter Sanders—courtesy 'Life' Magazine. © 1952 Time Inc.
acts, produced and written by myself. It was very topical and rather rude .
but nobody minded being burlesqued. We put on all the old favourites,
i
Aladdin, The Forty Thieves, The Babes in the Wood and many others.
Marjorie and I and about a dozen of our friends took part in it, and I , •'
painted the scenery. Nothing was too elaborate or ambitious to attempt. M ■ an i
I remember a very successful scene in an aeroplane, and another on board M
a ship, in which a mermaid emerged from the sea singing a comic song. ^ a!B ® m m
What I most enjoyed painting was Oriental bazaars, in Bahrain, Baghdad : -a, •f ::
or Pekin. Double doors behind the stage made it possible to get some nia saa
•• ^ ;
depth in street scenes and interiors. The costumes were excellent, the*
bazaar provided a wide choice of gay materials which were ideal for
theatrical costumes. All the bazaar knew about our party-, which they
*, 208 m

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