15,000 Pack Area Near Normandie; Few Get Aboard

No More Than 4,500 Expected to Gain Admission for Last-Minute View

TICKET SALE IS HALTED 2 HOURS AFTER START

About 15,000 New Yorkers today thronged the unfinished pier of the Normandie, at Forty-eighth Street and the North River, and the adjacent streets for a last gasp of wonder at the gargantuan French liner.

No more than 4,500, however, according to police estimates, would get a chance to go aboard the vessel. It was announced that the ticket sale which began at 1 o'clock, would be stopped at 3 and that no one would be admitted after that hour.

Again 200 uniformed patrolmen and detectives, as well as sixty-three private detectives, kept the crowds in line.

For the choice few there remained various functions aboard the ship, starting tonight with an Ambassadorial ball at which Mme. Albert Lebrun, wife of the President of France, will be guest of honor.

There will be other formal affairs until the Normandie sails Friday.

9,200 Pay 50 Cents to Gasp

Yesterday was the public's big day. The liner was open to inspection from 10:30 A. M. to 5 P. M. A total of 9,200 persons paid 50 cents admission each to stare at luxury most of them will never attain.

Last night 700 persons attended a dinner aboard. Ten times that number danced at the "Governor General's Ball" held by Marcel Olivier, president of the line.

As only 600 couples could dance at one time, there were moving pictures in the theatre, and the winter garden, terrace cafe and other public rooms were open for diversion of those waiting their turn at the dance floor. Five orchestras played in various parts of the ship.

Mme. Lebrun at Mount Vernon

Mme Lebrun spent a busy day in Washington today. This morning she visited Mount Vernon, and this afternoon she was to return to the city for the ball on her "God child," as she calls the liner.

While New Yorkers were enjoying the Normandie, the crew was hard at work refurbishing her for the return voyage. A great deal of paint was rubbed off her massive hull by tugs at Southampton and here, and there was much cleaning up to be done after yesterday's inspection.

Most of those who saw her were impressed, but one prominent citizen was unmoved by her record-breaking voyage here. He is Dr. Nikola Tesla, the celebrated inventor.

Power to Be Shot From Shore!

Dr. Tesla predicted that soon enormous ships will cross the ocean at even higher speed by means of high-tension electrical current shot into the stratosphere by shore stations.

Dr. Tesla also considers more remarkable than the Normandie's huge power plant the engines installed on several Navy cruisers years ago on principles which were his invention.

On her return trip, the Normandie, her owners hope, will break the eastbound record held by the Bremen — four days, eleven hours and fifteen minutes from Ambrose Lightship to Cherbourg.