European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse A touch of americana harrods is All dressed up for Christmas and americans can feel right at Home there this in London harrods has just your cup of Teaby Jill Robinson the new York times an american living in London learns these things a that Over Here you re the one with the accent. A that hauling Over such totems of Home As Jalapeno Jelly and Maple syrup Only saddles you with a suitcase of clothes Good enough to eat. A and finally that the Best Way to Deal with homesickness is heavy shopping a and that Means harrods. Americans in London have recently been astonished to hear a Banjo playing on top of old Smoky As they slumped through the aisles of gloves and Bro lies. Harrods Marble floor has become a pathway of rough Gray planks a a pathway through a Forest of hanging baskets Santa be shawls and Patchwork quilts leading to an old fashioned no kidding general store. The air is Crisp with the scent of Pine and cinnamon apples. Popcorn crackles from an old fashioned Wagon in the Corner. There Are baskets of Blue Corn sour Cream Chili chips shelves of Shaker dolls and Cowboy pottery sets. Necklaces of Bright Corn kernels and Star spangled suspenders hang from Quot old Quot barn rafters. One startled american woman in a Taco fresh outfit turned to an East Indian swathed in a Violet Sari and said Quot i have a feeling we re not in London Quot perhaps Quot the veiled woman replied Quot we Are in Quot no a am Welcome to Kansas Quot the marshal from Dodge City said bowing As he handed round genuine wooden Nickels while Jack Kellogg from hat Man Jack in Wichita set a Fine fresh pressed Green Felt hat on the head of a beaming visitor from Nebraska who said he would t ordinarily buy such a hat but Quot there s a new spirit Back he winked and turned his Lapel to reveal a Clinton Button. From top to Bottom right now harrods is All american. Reversing the tracks of the Santa be Trail the promotion began in the fall in the wild West with native americans demonstrating Navajo dances moved on across the Middle West and is now celebrating a new England Holiday season delighting shoppers with gilded Evergreen boughs Maple Candy Long underwear patterned like cow skin and stars and stripes sweaters that harrods had quickly knitted up in Europe when the american version did t show up. Best Sellers have been the slims tall wooden dolls from Kansas and the Marlboro classics a line of men s rough Wear. Europeans seemed to love the rustic hanging shelves and the napkins cushions and toys decorated with the stars and stripes. But the americans have been carrying out the foods in the general store Santa be seasons Green Chili Jelly lost Trail Root Beer Rabbit Creek Pioneer beef Stew mix and Calico bags of oat flakes which lounged on the shelves like plump families hanging around the front porch. In the Long Gray Winter Twilight americans Drift past the w windows of new England houses and scenes All from the Way they imagine it was Back then and the Way it s sure to be soon for Home is a Patchwork of the past and the new world one wants to be part of. Like icons in children s fairy tales that lose their Power when brought out into Ordinary Daylight these things that make the heart beat faster do not quite hold their Luster when they get into Chelsea kitchens. Of course everyone in London eats at Mcdonald s and Kentucky Fried Chicken and dresses in outfits from the Gap but that s More of an International style a a ready to eat fast fashion a than anything purely american. It s a style that is so much a part of the whole world it does t bring Back Home any More than a a Toyota brings Home visions of Cherry blossoms when Fine is away from Osaka. The final event of the new England Christmas was a Yankee variation on harrods annual Christmas Parade. The Small faces were All jammed along the Brompton Road As a giant Jelly belly in an Uncle Sam hat minutemen beating Drums a Daniel Boone on stilts some cowboys and Apache chieftains marched by All looking a bit weather worn As if they had just flown in from Kansas. Then Small cheers erupted As fatties Christmas bumped along in a coach wearing a Ben Franklin grunge look. Macy s this want but to the children standing along the Road eyes wide it was a wonder. Their hands reached out for the Quot Christmas in Boston Quot buttons and the tiny bags of Jelly bellies. Quot do you know where Boston is Quot .1 5-year-old was asked. Before tie could answer his a year old brother said Quot it s up North Over there where the colonials threw out the after the Parade the Christmas shoppers swept into the Central Hall s log Cabin to the sound of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas the americans All misty eyed Over the touch of real Home. Even the natives were affected. Heather Chasen an actress held up a silk Bandanna printed with stars and stripes. Quot perfect my dear Quot she said to a Friend As she knotted it with Noel Coward flair around her neck. Quot do they Call these neckerchief Darling Quot Quot no Quot her Friend said Quot i think they Call them Quot gorgeous Quot she said. Quot the ambition of my life is to Fie in a Cowboy film toting guns Riding in a Western. Anri Here we Are Quot decked out for Christmas. They recall images moments Williamsburg Vest a wig and Rouge Cheeks a sort of det Viher 10, 1092 stripes Magazine 3
