Comforting Picture

In the past five years 2,000,000 people have been lured to smart little Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe cabaret by its nostalgic floor shows about the Gay Nineties and the Naughty Naughts. Last week Rose said good-by to all that, leaped into the future. "Come to New York," large ads advised Washington's brain-trusters, "and see our Post-War Preview, which concerns itself not with the fuss, but with the fun of the future. We have some important figures to submit. We'd like to show you a world with not too much milk, perhaps, but overflowing with honeys."

Overflowing with honeys, indeed, is Billy Rose's Post-War Preview -- a thing of shapes to come. It is the most enticing of postwar vistas, the most alcoholic of Beverage Plans. And it is simplicity itself. No futuristic dream, Rose's postwar world is merely the good old days. Beginning with a riotous "Night of Unconditional Surrender," it shows a restored Gay Paree of foamy-petticoated cancan dancers; a restored lustige Wien waltzing to Lehar and Strauss; a melodious potpourri of old Jerome Kern tunes. Last comes a Victory Ball attended by Roosevelt, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek and Stalin. Making up in jubilation for what it lacks in taste, Rose's version of the Four Freedoms is four galumphing female heavyweights.

Post-War Preview boasts nothing in the way of performers, singers or dancers, owes all to its showgirls, its shimmer and its savvy. But it is a nice theater ticket to get with the dinner check."

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