| Contents | thanks her for letter which arrived just in time for New Year; she will not proceed with telling her what she wants from the New Year as Frede will surely know; Christmas celebrations went well, but the real celebrations with the dance party, called 'Schwoof', were from 31/12/1925 till 03/01/1926; the spent New Year's Eve at Malice's [Max and Alice Warburg's]; Max Adolph and Marietta went from there to Elkan family, returned next morning to attend the New Year lunch with Saxls, Bing, aunt Clara [Hertz]; on 02/01/1926 was a lecture by Professor Brandi from Göttingen, attended by Professor [Richard] Salomon and wife and Percy [Ernst] Schramm; on 03/01/1926 was the dance party; Kurt Löwengard and Max Adolph had painted the decorations of animals, friezes, on huge pieces of paper which were draped over the bookcases; orange tissue paper was draped over lamps; the Italian room was revamped as the sitting room with blankets, mattresses, chairs; orange candles; it was a fancy dress party, Marietta was an exotic woman, flowing hair, naked feet, painted brown all over; Max Adolph dressed up the gruff sailor Kuddl Daddl Du; Mary was a Dutch woman, Warburg was a man from the Orient, with apron and turban who read hands, made horoscopes; costumes were beautiful, jazz music, buffet, dances etc.; it is a pity that this was the first time that the Warburgs had such a party, but it was not possible during the war years, the years of Aby Warburg's absence and in 1925 because of [the death of] aunt Anna Merck [on 02/01/1925]; Emülie [Emilie Merck] did not attend; there were 40 guests, not enough men, Lore [Arnheim?], Evchen [Eva von Eckardt], Eva [Hertz?], Hilde [Hildegard Wegehaupt] did not dance enough; the last guests left at 3.30 am; the library was cleaned up within hours and ready for use in the afternoon; Marietta will write soon; did Frede go away over the New Year holidays? |