A. E. F. Folkways

Sir Frank Beaurepaire and his lady strolled along, the blacked-out, soldier-crowded streets of Melbourne one evening last week to get a breath of air. They got it, but in gasps. "What we saw," spluttered the wowserish Lord Mayor of Melbourne, "is offensive to many decent-minded citizens." Next night His Lordship & Lady stalked out again, confirmed their dire observations of the uninhibited amorousness of U.S. soldiers and Australian girls.

"This conduct must stop," thundered Sir Frank after welfare workers brought him further word that Spencer Street, a business thoroughfare little used at night, was "full of soldiers and girls kissing in wrestling holds, in the middle of the pavement, prolonged and unashamed." Every doorway, snoopers tut-tutted, was packed with necking couples.

Australian bluenoses were quick to join the Lord Mayor in a mighty anti-necking crusade, urging everything from a girls' curfew to folk games as "a healthy, happy alternative." More sympathetic U.S. correspondents diagnosed the need as fewer, not more, restrictions. Melbourne takes in its sidewalks after 8 p.m. Only a handful of one-armed eating joints stay open. No drinks are sold. There is no place to spend the evening with a girl in the way of U.S. youth. Sundays are even worse. One vaudeville house and one movie, after soldier protests, were allowed to keep running, but both have enormous queues. Result: U.S. soldiers patronize "sly grog shops" (speakeasies), are victimized by cabbies who know a place where . . . and take their folk games where they find them.

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