Pompeii on Fifth Avenue

The U.S.'s latest, most preposterous beauty shop is a designer's powder-puffed version of what Pompeii would have looked like if Revlon had been running things before Vesuvius decided to end it all. Devised by President Charles Revson. the L. B. Mayer of the cosmetics business, the House of Revlon opened last week in the Gotham Hotel on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, "dedicated to the arts of beauty" and to the sales of the firm's products. It is also dedicated to the proposition that all women can be re-created equal.

Upon arriving, the giddy client repairs to (he dressing room, where her street clothes are shorn from her apprehensive body, and is given a pink Balmain-designed gown and gold plastic slippers. Then she can take it all off again for a dip in the sunken Roman bath (bubble, spa or sea water), dry herself on prewarmed towels, and get a massage ($10). Then, any one of the eleven well-coifed hairdressers, costumed in black suits with red linings, will perform a variety of hairdos, right on up to a $35 permanent, after which comes a sprawl in the drying room, so well soundproofed that the customers can scarcely make out any of the gossip.

After that, there is the colonnaded "Touch of Genius Poinpeiian Plaza.'' containing a long pool with floating flowers for foot-soaking purposes (the water is "antisepticized"). The room is also fitted with alcoves where the customer can stretch out on a red velvet chaise for a pedicure ($6.50) and the hour-long Touch of Genius manicure ($5,), while perfume spumes from the pool, music from the soft-speakers, and water from an ornate fountain. She can have her lunch brought in while all this is going on. but only women who are particularly adept can eat during a manicure. Director John Bernard prefers his clients not to take the pedicure and the manicure simultaneously, because he fears that it is not very relaxing.

Despite all the soft comforts, one customer has found dangers: strolling past the taupe-gold-champagne Rotunda Reception Hall toward the Pompeiian Plaza, she became so enthralled by the decor that she tumbled smack into the Pompeiian pool. Fortunately, she had not yet changed into her Pompeiian gown and Pompeiian slippers. But she got antisepticized anyway.

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