York a Tribute to the Waldorf-Astoria

THE UNOFFICIAL PALACE OF NEW YORK A TRIBUTE TO THE WALDORF-ASTORIA

EDITED BY/'~, FRANK CROWNINSHIELD

PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK· MCMXXXIX Copyright 1939, Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation, New York

DESIGN AND DECORATIONS BY WARREN CHAPPELL THIS BOOK IS PRESENTED TO THE FRIENDS OF THE WALDORF-ASTORIA, OLD AND NEW, HOPING IT MAY ADD SOMETHING TO THEIR APPRECIATION AND REGARD FOR A GREAT HOUSEHOLD PLEDGED TO THEIR SERVICE.

LUCIUS BOO!vIER, President AUGUSTUS NULLE, Secretary-Treasurer FRANK A. READY, Manager fl The Unofficial, Pal,ace of New York

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The Wal.dorf-Astoria From an etching br Chester Price

FOREWORD

THE UNOFFICIAL PALACE OF

NEW YORK BY FRANK CROWNINSHIELD

JUST AS THE WORLD'S FAIR commemorates a landmark in American history, so this book is, with a proper degree of modesty, designed to mark an anniversary in the life of The Waldorf-_Astoria. For it v1as pre­ cisely ten years ago that ground was first broken for the new hotel, and forty-seven years ago that work was begun on its progenitor, the origi­ nal Waldo~ at 34th Street. It may be wondered why, in this souvenir-record of the Waldorf, so varied a list of contributors was needed to indicate its piace in the mosruc· of A men·can 1•r_rre. Th_ ..... e answer 1s· s1mp.a.e.· 1 ~... ue wr.•• a.1u01..1 1..1 ...r 1s• so complex and many-sided an institution, and ministers to so great a variety of social needs, that it seemed best to think of it-much as a diamond-cutter might-as a phenomenon of sixteen facets, each pre­ senting a new surface to the beholder. Again, readers may wonder at the title: The Unofficial Palace of •• Vll FOREWORD

New York. It is only with the thought of clarifying it, and of explaining the hotel's long and intimate relationship to fashionable or "palatial" society in America, that this introduction can he justified. There is, first of all to remember, the rapidly growing tendency among well-to-do and fastidious people, to rid themselves of their Fifth, or Park Avenue houses and apartments, and move to residential hotels -a tendency for which the Waldorf has been so largely responsible. Such people more and more desire to make easily terminable leases; to live and entertain privately, and, though in a public hotel, to he pro­ tected hy every factor making for privacy-private entrance halls, serv­ ice rooms, even a special driveway !-and to he able to enlarge or dimin­ ish their suites at will. This movement toward the hotel as a home has resulted from the mounting tide of taxes; diminished incomes; a grow­ ing aversion to making household investments, and, finally, the annoy­ ances and responsibilities of housekeeping. Another facet to emphasize is the widespread and increasing use of the Waldorf for civic purposes; that is to say, for public or semipublic entertaining, whether by City, State, Federal, or Foreign governments. Again, there is the development of the Waldorf's "group" gather­ ings, a phenomenon which h~ grown to extraordinary proportions since the World War. Leaders in different walks of American life­ harJcers, physicians, scientists, steel manufacturers, publishers, life­ insurance nresidents.. lawvers.. and others-fore-ather at the Waldorf ..L .. ., .. """" w1t11• 1 a v1.ew• to wscuss1ng1• • tc1e1r1 • conn11on proruen1s,1 1 cona1t1ons,1• • ana1 IIl.i:e.r-• ests. Many of these groups have never, in their history, met anywhere save at the Waldorf, while new and similarly minded groups are added to the roster from year to year. Mention must also be made of the increase in the international char-

••• Vlll BY FRANK CROWNINSHIELD acter of the hotel, due to the constant arrival there, from the far comers of the earth, of so many foreign visitors, European statesmen, diplo­ mats, and minor potentates, and the resultant medley of unfamiliar costumes and languages, which vaguely recall the old days at the Savoy in London, the Grand Hotel in Rome, or Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo. And, finally, there is the fact-which has often been pointed out­ that the Waldorf is a unique institution in the fabric of metropolitan life and that, because of its traditional position, it a little resembles the Metropolitan Opera, since, though they are both operated for profit, they minister in so important a way to the city's social needs. While all these points may help to explain the title of the hook, an­ other and major reason for its selection was the fact that the.hotel had so long been New York's principal arena of fashion. However, before further developing that point, a few dates had better he recalled. The original Waldorf first opened its doors in March, 1893-in the face of what was then, a little innocently, thought to he a serious finan­ cial panic-,vhile it was four years later that the Astoria was com­ pleted and joined to the Waldon. A third vital date-which marked the end of an epoch-is the autumn of 1929, when ( thirty-six years after the birth of the old hotel) its great buildings were demolished in order to make way for the Empire State Building. During all those thirty-six years The Waldorf-Astoria played a wholly unique role in the activities NP-w C!I'\~;~"" nf..,_._ - • '-' 11 Vnrlr.-.,....,A...._ IJV'-'.L"'l,,1 • The last dates to high-light are November, 1929, when the projec­ tors of the new Waldorf-Astoria-during what we now know was a panic, indeed, and with a courage perhaps unparalleled in the annals of American building-completed their plans to erect its present tower­ ing structure on Park Avenue; and also October, 1931, when the new

• IX FOREWORD

Waldorf made its initial how to the world as a functioning hotel. It is amusing to look hack to the early nineties and remember that, before the creation of the old Waldorf had been decided on-at the beginning of 1891-there was, in all America, no such thing as a motorcar, a golf course, a radio, an airplane, a wireless telegraph, a moving-picture theater, a fashionable cabaret, or a game of bridge. Nor were cocktails ever seen in private houses; nor did women ever smoke ( indeed, Lady Essex had almost been ostracized in London for trying to introduce the custom there as late as 1899). Divorces were un­ known. Tiffany's was on Union Square. Park Avenue was a grimy, noisy, and unfashionable street. There were only eight theaters that could he patronized by well-bred people. Cotillions, the lancers, and even an occasional quadrille were features of most of the smart halls. But-and this is the really significant matter to remember-the best hotels of that period, those with which the Waldorf was so soon to

do battle (, the Camhrid2e'-" .. ,, the Albemarle.. , the Fifth Avenue ... the Vic- toria, the Holland House, the Brunswick, the Buckingham and the Windsor-which burnt down on Saint Patrick's Day, 1899, with a loss of nearly fifty lives) were nev~r thought of as social centers at all. They were merely convenient and orderly places in which to eat and find lodgings. There was never a question of giving fashionable dinner pa..rties in any of them; nor were suppers ever orrleredj dances ~r­ ranged, or receptions held in them. But the promoters of the original Waldorf somehow guessed that the nineties were ushering in a wholly new social era; that an extraor­ dinary growth would take place in the ranks of society; that a quicker tempo would infect the life of the city; that the two smart clubs in New York-the Knickerbocker, at 32d Street, and the Union, at 21st Street

X BY FRANK CROWNINSHIELD

-would soon he challenged by three or four rivals. The Opera, too, was suddenly to take on an added social importance, with the appear­ ance there of such miraculous figures as Melba, Calve, Eames, Schal­ chi, Nordica, Plangon, LaSalle, and the two De Reszkes. Footmen, in knee-breeches, were soon to appear on the scene, along with gold dinner-plates, tigers in livery, golf links, coaching parades, and a goodly group of new theaters, jewelers, art galleries, private cars, and country clubs. Furthermore, the rich were already springing up, in the East and West alike, like mushrooms after a rain. By the end of 1896, or just before the Astoria had opened, the Waldorf had become the smartest hotel in America. The most impor­ tant people in New York dined and wined there. It housed a great vari­ ety of distinguished visitors, dignitaries, foreign artists, and assorted moguls. It had also become the accepted scene of a great variety of concerts, dances, suppers, and theatrical entertainments. To accomplish all that, the Waldorf had been forced to break down many prejudices against hotels in general, particularly as desirable places for lunching, dining, dancing, and entertaining. But all of those prejudices it had, one by one, successfully overcome. Even as early as 1894 the leaders of society gathered daily in its famous Palm Room for luncheon, a remarkable coup for any hotel at that time. That Palm Room-so zealously., watched over hv.. Oscar~ forty-four years younger tl1en than now-vvas l1ahitually patronized by the great hostesses of the day, aided and abetted by such popular and attractive bachelors as Elisha Dyer, Harry Lehr, Worthington White­ house, Center Hitchcock, Woodbury Kane, Richard Peters, Jaines Cutting, Joseph S. Stevens, and Edward Bulkeley, all of whom con­ spired to make it the most fashionable gathering place in the city.

• XI FOREWORD

But the social advances of the Waldorf were to reach even further limits. Ladies of the austerest order-Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Ogden Mills, Mrs. J. J. Astor, Mrs. Ogden Goelet, Mrs. Oliver H.P. Belmont, and, very particularly, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish ( who was be­ ginning to knock what was left of Ward McAllister's ceremonials into a cocked hat, and to discard the fopperies and flummeries which Mrs. William Astor had so carefully designed and nurtured) began giving somewhat imposing dinners there. Such ladies at first appeared in hats and severe dresses-usually before going on to the theater. But, as time went on, they were dressed in low neck, without hats, and with even, here and there, a modest tiara in palpable view. The Waldorf's relationship to fashionable society was :finally com­ pleted when hostesses who had no ballrooms in their own houses began holding their cotillions there rather than at Delmonico's, or at the old Madison Square Garden. The vogue for giving elaborate dances at the Waldorf reached its height on February 19, 1897, when Mrs. Bradley Martin gave her memorable tLTid widely criticized fancy-dress hall in a suite of rooms there, some of which were actually in the still incompleted Astoria. It was that memorable dance, with its elaborate cotillion favors, its quadrille d'honneur, its spectacular costumes, its great display of jewels, its three hands of music, its general air of pomp and festival, its supper of terrapin and canvasback duck, and its breakfast prepared k the roseate light of dawn, which so set the moralists, preachers, and social commentators by the ears that they did not stop discoursing upon it for years. It was by such steps and in such ways that the Waldorf, during the nineties, became the scene against which smart society lunched, mixed

•• Xl1 BY FRANK CROWNINSHIELD tea, dined, danced, gave concerts, launched costume halls, and ordered supper ·after the Opera. It was by somewhat similar. devices, too, that it continued to harbor so great a variety of visiting royalties and nota­ bles-Li Hung Chang, the King of Siam, a bevy of Indian Rajahs, a brace of Crown Princes or Prime Ministers, a few African diamond miners, and, occasionally, a mere President of the United States. It might here he explained that the old prejudice against hotels as suitable places for entertaining was not confined to America, for it had long existed in the capitals of Europe as well. But when the Wal­ dorf- had so successfully overcome it, its example was finally imitated by some of the great hotels abroad. There were several causes to account for the extraordinary position of the Waldorf in the social fabric of the nineties. One of them was the spread of a more democratic spirit in the ranks of society itself. Another was the great increase in the legion of the rich; a third was the fact that it had managed, as a hotel, to set wholly new standards of luxury as regarded rooms, comfort of living, service, wines:- and cuisine. In certain superficial respects the new and more elaborate Waldorf­ Astoria differs from its original progenitor. Its bulk is greater, its rooms larger, its foyers longer, and its retinue of servants more numerous. It is, if anything, a little more palatial. But the social cachet of its ancestor continues to animate it without any sign of abatement. In 1ts• 11osp1ta.u.1e'L • 1..1 sp1nt,• • too; 1n• t.ue1, rar~'L- an_~ 1mportance• o_f its. V1s1tors;. . and in the esstntial elegance of its ciientele and decorative setting, it continues to be, as was the original Waldorf before it, The Unofficial Palace of New York. Though an even more elaborate and luxurious institution than its prototype on Fifth Avenue, at 33rd Street, it still manages, and a little miraculously, to remain redolent of old tradi-

••• Xll1 FOREWORD tions, old families, old courtesies, old laces, old friends, and old wines. The high lights in the history of the new hotel will be found admir­ ably outlined in a chapter of this volume. That outline is from the hand of Lucius Boomer, the tutelary figure who, since 1918, has so discerningly presided over the destinies, not only of the old hotel, hut of the new. His account, after reviewing the various stages and phases of residential living in New York, recalls his purposes in envi­ sioning the new Waldorf: and his determination to make it mean, in the life of today, what the oid hotel had meant to the people of its time. It would, palpably, he an exaggeration to say that Mr. Boomer, when devising the new unofficial palace of New York, had accurately foreseen the present, ten-year depression; but it is certain that even if he had seen the horror coming, he could hardly have planned a hotel better qualified to meet the multiple and perplexing problems of gracious living which the "thirties" were to bring in their train .

• XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS

•• FOREWORD • • • . . • • • • • • • • • . . . • • Vll BY FRANK CROWNINSHIELD Mr. Crowmnshield is beJt known as an editor, lecturer, writer of light essays, and critic of modern art. He was the Editor of Vanity Fair during this magazine's enti.re existence of twenty-three years.

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME • • • • • • • • • • • • • I BY HERBERT HOOVER President of the United States, 1928-1932.

THE ROMANCE OF p ARK AVENUE • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 BY PETER GRIMM Jfr. Grur;m, is President of 11'illiam A. White & Sons. He u:as formerly President of the Real Estate Board of New York. In 1935-1936 he was Assistant to the Secretary of the United States Treasury. At present he u a member of the Art Com­ mission of the City of New York.

THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD • • • • • • • • • • • • . . 11 BY LUCIUS BOOMER Mr. Boomer, President of The Waldoif-Astoria, has been en- ., - . ., ., .. .. ., .. • .. • ... , , • 7 .,_ gagea m tne twtet ana r~iauram ousmess au OJ f1,l,S aauu life. Is a member of ilte SocieLy of ltfayf lc)Wer Descendart.Zs, Colonial Wars, Sons of the Revolution, and Society of the Cincinnati.

.ARcwTECTURE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . 19 BY KENNETH M. MURCHISON Mr. Murchison of New York was, until, his dea1,h in the early part of this year, a well-known architect of clubhouses, ho-

xv tels, apartmem houses, and railway stations. He edited an architectural journal, served as President of the Architec­ tural League in New York, and headed the Beaux Arts So­ ciety. He was for many years the moti,va,ti,ng spirit bel,,i,nd the Beaux Arts Balls in New York.

As HISTORY PASSES BY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 28 BY LOWELL THOMAS Mr. Thomas is an ace radio and fil,m commentator, author and world traveler.

FURNISHING AND DECORATION • • • • • • • • • • • • . 33 BY FRANCIS H. LENYGON Mr. Lenygon i,s the author of several well-known works on furniture and decorat.iona He has long practiced interior architecture and decoration and has himself designed furni­ ture. He also lectures, on 1iis chosen subjects, in colleges and museums. The English firm with which he is connected as a partner recently completed the redecoration of various suites in Buckingham Palace, in London, and in the royal, resi­ dence at Sandringham. .

WoMEN AND THE WALDORF • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 49 BY HELEN WORDEN Miss Worden-of the New York World-Telegram, i.s the only woman feature writer on the City Desk. Her stories.of New York City are famous. She has written four books on the town. Her latest, Here Is New York, an informal gidde to the city, is tJ,,,e only book of 'its ldnd endorsed b-y the World's Fair. She also conducts a .widely followed column for the Scripps-Howard newspapers.

WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES • • • • • • • • • • • • BY CLYDE R. PLACE Mr. Place is an engi,neer and consultant of w.em.a.ti-0ru1l rep­ utation, whose designs have been incorporated in buildings of all types throughout the world.

FOOD AND WINE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 68 BY G. SELMER FOUGNER Mr. Fougner is a noted writer on epicurean topics; conductor of the daily "Along the Wine Traif' column in the New York

• XVI Sun. He is also known as the Wuie and Food Commentator of Scribner's Magazine.

MY COLLECTION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 77 BY OSCAR The name "Oscar of the Waldorf' has been synonymous with hotel hospitality and unexcelled cuisine for nearly fifty years. Oscar Tschirky has been "Host" of the Waldorf si,nce the o-pening of the original hotel on Fifth Avenue, March 13, 1893, and is still going strong.

THE SERT ROOM • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 90 THE MURALS OF JOSE MARIA SERT BY ROYAL CORTISSOZ Mr. Cortissoz is the most widely renowned of American art critics, is the author of many volumes concerning the various schools of pai,nti,ng and the principal, masters of the world'& art. He is also a lecturer, a biographer, an editor, and the master of a scholarly and engaging prose style.

DECORATING A DINING ROOM BY EDWARD ALDEN JEWELL Mr. Jewell is a writer and editor, and author of The Charmed Circle. He is also a lecturer on vari.ous phases of art, an authority on contemporary American painting, and Art Critic of the New York Times.

DI1VI1VG IN THE SERT ROOM BY CHARLES HA..~SON TOWNE Mr. Towne has been for thirty years a figure of renown in the literary, dramatic and social worlds of New York. H£$ versatility is so great that he has been recognized as a -poet, • .,. • • ,1 • rwve,,ist,7 eaiwr, cr,,t;,c, ;;,,7,u, essay;,st.

FIVE DECADES OF Music . . . • • • • • • • • • • • . 95 BY ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY Mr. Bagby is best known as the origi,nator of the now famous Monday-morning concerts at the Waldoif. At these concerts the greatest operatic stars of the world have ap-peared over a period of more than forty years. He is a pianist in his own right and was a pupil of Liszt in Weimar; is a lecturer on

•• XVII musical subjects, the friend and patron of musicians, and a popular figure in the social life of Europe and America.

MoRE ABoUT Music . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 103 BY MJTJ,TC.ENT FENWICK Mrs. Fenwick 'is the daughter of Ogden Hammond, formerly our American Ambassador to Spain. She has devoted herself to ed-iting and writing and 'is now an active member on the editorial staff of Vogue.

CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 112 BY B. C. FORBES Mr. Forbes came to New York in 1904 and started work with­ out pay for the New York Journal of Commerce. Within two years he became its financial, editor. In 1911 he became business and financi,al ed,i,tor of the New York American. In 1917 Mr. Forbes founded his now famous Forbes Magazi,ne.

HOTEL PILGRIM • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 127 BY ELSA MAXWELL Miss Maxwell has for two decades been a popula,r and gen­ erative figure in the soc-ial life of three capilals-New York, Paris, and London. During the more recent past she has turned her attention to writing and lecturing, in both of which fields she has been si.gn.ally successful.

"HERE'S How" . . . . • • • • • • • ...... 139 BY mVIN S. COBB Mr. Cobb is one of America~s outstanding humorists. He has not only achieved great popularity as a writer of humor but has also won fame as a novelist, lecturer, and toastmaster extraordinary. He has, during the past few years, devoted his time to moving pictures !md the radio.

PERSONALITlES : . - . . • • • ...... BY JAMES REl\llNGTON McCARTHY Mr. }rfcCarthy i,s a newspaper-feature writer, author of New Pioneers and Special Agent, and coauthor of Peacock Alley.

CHRONOLOGY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . . . 165 COMPILED BY TED SAUCIER

••• XVlll Ill Ill. ' '

. .. . . -- ' ·.,,~ -~

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Mr. Herbert Hoover addressing the National Republican Club at its fifty-thud Annual Lincoln Day Dinner in The Waldorf­ Astoria, February 13, 1939.

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME-

SEVEN YEARS AGO, on the opening of the new Waldorf-Astoria, Sep­ tember 30, 1931, I sent the following radio message from the White House: "The erection of this great structure at this time has been a contribution to the maintenance of employment and an exhibition of courage and confidence to the whole nation. This occasion is really but the moving day of an old insdtution, untk all of its traditional hospitality and service, into a new and better structure. I wish to congratulate the man­ agenient on the corisummation of its plan for the mammoth new home perpetuating The Waldorf-Astoria!' Since the broadcasting of that message, the Waldorf has, in a signal way, upheld the best traditions of hotel keeping and become, for a host of Americans, "a home away from home:' But it is a good deal more than a mere roof under which to eat and sleep. It is a community center as well, a place in which the heads of great cooperative activities in science, art, business, and labor assemble for service to the country, a meeting ground where individuals gather, their more serious engagements. The Waldorf-Astoria, while serving well in such capacities, has like­ wise become a prime exponent of the ancient art of hospitality. THE ROMANCE OF PARK AVENUE

BY PETER GRIMM

ONCE UPON A TIME, many years ago-you see, this is one of Grimm's fairy tales, but it is really going to be a true fairy tale- In the year 1834, just a hit more than one hundred years ago-yes, the tale begins in those vanished days, so long ago, when New York City was a happy, tranquil place in which to work and live. There were no paved streets, no honking automobiles, no telephones, no canned music, and no radios. What a grand time it must have been in which to pass the years. It was in such a setting that the first Astor House was built. Philip Hone, whose chatty diary covers that interesting period, tells us that on Monday, April 14, 1834, John Jacob Astor, who is the Prince in this fairy tale of ours, and who was the first great .t\__stor, had recently returned from abroad. He has come back in time to witness "the pull­ ing down of the block of houses next to that on which I live-the whole block-front, Barclay to Vesey Street on Broadway-where he is going to erect a New York palais royal, which will cost him five or six hundred thousand dollars."

2 BY PETER GRIMM

About two weeks later, on May 1, 1834, the same Philip Hone ( who had once been Mayor of the city and was one of its leading social fig­ ures) tells us that ground for the "great hotel" was broken and that although "the dust and rubbish will he almost intolerable" he was cer­ tain "the edifice will be an ornament to the city and Jor centuries to come will serve as a monument to its wealthy proprietor!' Contrary to expectation, the centuries through which the Astor House would serve simmered down to a mere two or three generations, as the southerly half was tom down to make way for the subway and the northerly half lived an inglorious life as a reconstructed business building until 1925. The period that followed saw the movement uptown of the social and shopping center of New York, but until then this section was still one of great charm and tranquillity. Those were the days which saw the advent of ways of luxurious living, in what was still a rather provincial city. They saw, in addition, the coming of the renowned Delmon­ ico, whose cooking soon became famous, and who developed, among other strange, new dishes, Lobster a la Newburg, which amazed the inhabitants of that time. One of the Astors of an even later period-the days of the eighties -was William Waldorf Astor, who had his home at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, which, in 1891, came down to make way for the grand caravansary, the Waldorf Hotel, the successor to the ''edifice;; which John Jacoh Astor had built in 1834. Another Astor-a cousin, John J acoh IV-had his home on the comer of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, and, following the success of the new Waldorf Hotel, he, too, gave up his home and on its site built the Astoria Hotel. These two Astors were great-grandsons of the first Astor and grand-

3 THE ROMANCE OF PARK AVENUE sons of William Backhouse Astor, who had two sons, John Jacob Astor Ill, who was the father of William Waldorf Astor, the builder of the old Waldorf Hotel, and William Astor, the father of John Jacob Astor IV, who built the old Astoria Hotel. The story of their personal difficulties, one with the other, and of their eccentric actions, has given rise to an amusing story. There seems to he little question that John J acoh Astor IV was consumed with jealousy over the success of his cousin's Waldorf Hotel. It was per­ haps that jealousy which drove him to build a hotel on the site of his own_ home. But he took the utmost precautions to make it a complete and separate unit down to every detail. There were many difficulties about all this and needless expenses occasioned, hut the two hotels were joined from the very beginning. And so there came into existence the institution now known the world over as The Waldorf-Astoria. It was in the days of the first Astor that the great Cornelius Van­ derbilt, better known as the Commodore, whose statue now stands on the viaduct at 42nd Street, in front of the Grand Central Tenninal, moved and had his splendid being. It was through his genius and in­ credible organizing ability that the New York Central Railway System was welded into a gigantic transportation company. The traditions of this Vanderbilt were later carried on by his son, William Ho Vander­ bilt. In those later days the Speedway, which bordered along the Har- and where those who had no horses, hut loved to see them run, stood and watched them. A little before the time that plans for the building of the Waldorf and the Astoria Hotels were being laid, William H. Vanderbilt almost daily drove his famous trotting mare, Maud S., whose running records adorn so many pages of our sport annuals.

4 BY PETER GRIMM

In those halcyon days, Park Avenue ( then known as Fourth Avenue, for it looked like anything hut a park) was only a slit through which the p11ffing, smoking locomotives of the New York Central Railroad

In 1913 Park Ai:enue (then Fourth Az:enue-aboi;e) u:as called "railroad alley·~ and u.:as lined with breu;eries and .factories. Belou·, Park At·enue of today.

ran into the city. Along that street there were factories, breweries, and other unsightly buildings, which together made one of the blighted areas of the city. Where St. Bartholomew's Church, an architectural 5 THE ROMANCE OF PARK AVENUE adornment of our time, now stands, there stood the Schaefer Brewery, while the Woman's Hospital, an ancient edifice, occupied the block ( 49th to 50th Streets on Park Avenue) which was later to become the New York Central powerhouse and the Railroad Branch of the Y. M. C. A. Columbia College was then situated on Madison Avenue from 49th to 50th Street, hut its campus hack yard kept it from dan­ gerous touch with "railroad alley:' as Park Avenue was sometimes derisively· called. Beer saloons and less attractive gathering places abounded in the district, all of which formed a section that the well­ to-do residents of those times carefully avoided. The crowded years that followed have wrought a miracle-the cre­ ation of the Grand Central Zone which we know today. One looking at this railroad district in 1915 would have seen, to he sure, the present beautiful Grand Central Terminal (for it was completed in 1913); hut, to the north of it, for many blocks, there were open railroad yards with locomotives, freight cars~ and coaches on a ,velter of exposed railroad tracks. As one gazes upon the completed Grand Central improvement today and contemplates its well-integr~ted and carefully conceived beauty, one cannot help trunking, in grateful memory, of those who wrought that miracle. The conclusion is inevitable that so majestic and beau­ tiful a conception conlrl hardly have been the work of one man. For many men joined together, with their minds and hands, in developing what is now known as the Grand Central District. The record of the years spent in developing the plan was one of vision and imagina­ tion on the part of the best-trained minds. In 1908 we were looking down upon the open railroad yards, which, nevertheless, were a great improvement over the slit through which

6 BY PETER GRIMM the puffing steam locomotives formerly ran. In 1939 we may gaze down from an airplane and see a veritable city of Camelot-a great collec­ tion of buildings rising, one higher than the other, with the New York Central Building at one end and The Waldorf-Astoria at the other as the rn·o dominating structures of the district. The fabulous romance of what the New York Central Railroad Com­ pany did by its creation of this improvement is almost incredible. Today this district is indeed the huh and center of our city life, not only for our own citizens, hut for all who come to New York to play, or work, or just to see. Today, every single unsightly building in the district has gone, to make way for the new buildings we now look upon. And, what is more, where formerly we saw the open railroad yards, there, too, in miraculous fashion, new buildings have sprung up, seemingly stand­ ing on air. If a person walking along Park Avenue is particularly observant and peers down through the gratings that border the build­ ing line; he will behold the explanation of this miracle-nothing less than the thin, reedlike columns of steel on which these immense, towering structures stand. It was not until 1930 that the New York Central powerhouse and the Railroad Branch of the Y. M. C. A., which occupied the block on Park Avenue to Lexington Avenue from 49th io 50th Street, made way for

+ho flO,u w~ lrln.,.fe A Qf-n'M4'.> C!'n~~occn-r +n +ho n.,.nntl 'hnctoll'"'U' that l,~,1 Qfnntl I..LLV .Li.V WW WW ~'-LV.&..&. .._~loV.&..&.'-4, ~-'-''-''-'eJeJV.&. loV ~'-' J:'.A. V...,'-A .A..A.'VaJ ..'-'.A..A. J .. ~- ~ .. VV'\,,A. at 34th Street and fc--ifth Avenue. In the brief span of a decade since that time, the Grand Central District has reached its development and glory. Today the district abounds in shops that delight the eye; in clubs, from small ones, like the Leash, to large ones that occupy in their entirety huge structures, like the Yale Club and the Racquet and Tennis Club. There are also

7 THE ROMANCE OF PARK AVENUE a score or more of hotels and de luxe apartment houses in which the more fortunate live (I hope) delightful lives, for certainly the various means for living so are at hand. But, dominating the district, typifying and symbolizing in itself the life round it, there stands our present-day Waldorf-Astoria. With its twin castellated towers rising, from a base covering the entire block, 625 feet into the air, and its 1800 rooms ready for its transient guests, this beautiful, graceful structure is a truly wonderful caravansary. The architects and the management together brought to their plans for this new Waldorf-Astoria every conceivable means that talent and experience could conjure up to provide comfort and pleasure for those who visit the hotel. A fairy tale, did I say? Yes, indeed, it is. But, as long as it is a fabu­ lous story, I will ask you to go hack with me to the year 1834, and sit down and talk to old John J acoh Astor about it all. Let us tell him, first~ that his "palais royal" which was to endure "for centuries" lasted a scant eighty years. And, while he is pooh-poohing that, let us tell him that his name is being perpetuated in an extraor­ dinary hotel that has risen more than 600 feet in the air; one that stands on great, steel stilts, over hidden railroad tracks on which rail­ road cars are propelled by a strange and unseen power. T.et ns tell l.1m that the site of that hotel covers an oblong area 200 feet wide hy 405 feet long and ihat it contains 1800 rooms and a great many apartments besides; that it also houses shops and homes and a gigantic household and several ballrooms, one of which is four stories high with three balconies and an elaborate stage. Let us tell him that, in this amazing "palais royal:' there are clubs and study halls, meeting rooms, business offices, and Stock Exchange houses. He may wonder

8 BY PETER GRIMM about the functions of some of these, but the mention of the Stock Exchange he will probably understand, for that institution was organ­ ized in his own time-under the famous buttonwood tree at 60 Wall Street, in 1792. Had we only been able to sit with the ancient John Jacob Astor, when he was planning his old Astor House in 1834, and to tell him what, in one hundred years, its successor would be like, that great realist would probably have turned upon us with a look of scorn and said "Fairy tale!" Well, hardly-because in The Waldorf-Astoria of today that fairy tale has come true.

9 I I I 111..

Lucius Boomer, a portraa by Paul Trebilcock THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD

BY LUCIUS BOOMER

THE OLD wALDORF, at 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue, opened its doors in 1893. The old Astoria, which was combined with it and adjoined it, at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, opened in 1897. At the end of 1912 I had opened the Hotel McAlpin, on 34th Street near Sixth Avenue, then the largest hotel in the n~orld. There I n~as for­ tunate enough to attract the attention of General (later, Senator) T. Colp.man duPont, who was developing an interest in hotels which later led to the formation of a holding company of which he made me the President. It was in that way that I became responsible for the operation of such hotels as the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia, the Willard in ...... ,-yo,..wasnmgton, - tne·" 01a,,~" wmasor m• 1Y1ontrea.L;,~ . , 01r'I., noteis m• rrancey:, aurmg, • the war; and, to use a somewhat hackneyed phrase, of others too numerous to mention.• After the death, in 1916, of George C. Boldt, who had been the pro­ prietor of the old Waldorf-Astoria for twenty-three years, and while that hotel was still flourishing, General duPont said to me one day: "Boomer, I will buy The Waldorf-Astoria if you will run it!' I accepted

11 THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD the offer, and continued as President until 1929, when we had finally closed our doors. After the long and complicated transaction involved in selling ( to the promoters of the Empire State Building) the land on which The Waldorf-Astoria had stood, I went to Florida for a holiday. When I had been there only a short time, I was surprised to hear that New York wanted me on our party line, for I had never before received a message from New York in this way. The call proved to he from Mr. Louis Horowitz, Chairman of the Board of the Tnompson-Starrett Company. Mr. Horowitz was an old friend of mine. I had operated hotels in which his company had been interested, including the Hotel 1\-lcAlpin, which they had built. He told me that certain hanking firms represented on his Board of Directors would provide all the funds needed for an entirely new Waldorf-Astoria if I would head the company that was to own and operate it and allow the new corporation to use the name Waldorf-Astoria. (I must here, par­ enthetically, explain that, as a final gesture of good will in my direction, the Directors of the original Waldorf-Astoria had generously voted me the ownership of its name.) To me, it seemed a flattering coincidence that General duPont's offer, made in 1916, to take over the old Waldorf, if I would consent to run it, was now being almost liter::1l!y repeated thirteen years later by ~1:r. Horow~tz when he proposed building a new Waldorf on exactly the same condition. Mr. Horowitz, the next day, confirmed his tele­ phone message by a telegram. At first I was much disinclined to accept Mr. Horowitz's suggestion, because it did not seem possible to me that there could ever he another Waldorf-Astoria. In talking the matter over with my wife, she said, "Why not a new Waldorf-Astoria-the old 12 BY LUCIUS BOOMER

Waldorf-Astoria in a new dress?" I then replied that if the new hotel could he so planned that it would mean, in the life of our time, what the original Waldorf-Astoria had meant to the people of its day I was heart and soul for accepting his offer. And so it was that the new Waldorf­ Astoria, "intended to preserve and carry on the traditions and prestige of the old hotel:' came, if not into being, at least into view. All of us who were interested in the new enterprise-and this soon included my key associates in the old hotel-felt that we were engaged not merely in building a new hotel, in the usual sense of the te~ but in erecting a building in which to house the spirit of an old and pop­ ular institution. The time-honored, hospitable traditions of the Wal­ dorf had so fired our ambitions and imaginations that we were deter­ mined to make the new establishment as varied, amazing, and modernized-£rom the viewpoint of the present generation-as the old Waldorf had been to the gay world of the nineties. We felt, also, that we needed a location that was comparable-as regards convenience and character-to that at 34th Street, before it had become a business district rather than a residential one. One of the important assets in the new hotel was our great good for­ tune in retaining, not only the principal executives of the old establish­ ment, hut nearly four hundred members of its working personnel. We were also fortunate in securing Charles Hayden, one of the wisest and best-liked figures in the financial life of New York, as Chairman of our Board-a position which he continued to hold until his untimely death. We were greatly aided, too, in having so distinguished and important a Board of Directors. Many of them, in accepting membership, did so very largely in order to emphasize their conviction that The Waldorf-Astoria was one of the 13 THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD city's great institutions, which, though privately owned and operated for profit, was still, like the Metropolitan Opera House, a semipublic establishment that was really indispensable in the life of New York. Even on September 30, 1931, the day of the official opening preview of the new hotel, it seemed certain soon to become what the New York Times had once called the older hotel, "the unofficial palace of New York!' The outstanding feature of that opening was a short hut widely broadcast speech of approval and welcome by Herbert Hoover, then the President of the United States. Leaders of society, industry, poli­ tics, religion, literature, finance, and journalism, all viewed the new "palace" with admiration and wonder. While the architectural and decorative splendors of the building were generally applauded, there remained a severer test ahead of us. Would the hotel carry on the traditional principles of the older enter­ prise, so as to perpetuate the spirit of hospitality and friendliness which had always given it such charm and character? The answer was that the new Waldorf did meet that test-and, I think, met it gloriously. Indeed it had, within a short time, achieved an even greater international fame .than had the older institution. But, more important than that, it became recognized (because of the spirit of good will which so soon made it accepted as "a home away from home") not only as a place for the entertainment of distinguished guests of the city, state, or nation, hut as the residence of many New Yorkers and hundreds of distinguished visitors. My thought had always been that, being a home, it must he operated as a home. Its personnel, from the top executive down, do not think of themselves as employees of a corporation or of a group of direc­ tors; they cultivate the feeling, and the habit of thought, that they 14 Ill llf I

The o/,d Wal.dorf-.A.storia su:perim:posed on the new. Pictured by Lloyd Morgan.. THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD are all really integral forces in an old and honored institution. The hotel's success in that direction had not been the result of luck or happy accident. It had resulted from careful planning-planning that included many radical departures from old and outmoded formulas of hotel management. From the very beginning, I had held to the belief that we were entering into a new era of hotel keeping in America. As I foresaw the temper and conditions of the times, we had arrived at some wholly new convictions as to the best methods of living for cultivated, progressive, and well-to-do fami1ies. In looking back at the residential iife of New York, a little historically, it will be remembered that-at the beginning-private and detached houses were the only available residences for well-to-do New Yorkers­ and practically nothing else. Then there came the famous brownstone fronts, which were sometimes "two-family" affairs; then the day of "flats'' arrived. Later, flats gradually went up in the social scale, as it were, and became "apartments:' Next~ because of their economic ad... vantages, real or fancied, cooperative apartments enjoyed their days of favor. There then followed the vogue of duplex apartments, with large rooms for entertaining purposes ~d many facilities of living which had previously been unknown or, at least, not generally available. And, finally, there developed the apartment-hotel, giving people an even greater freedom anil fle~ibility in their home arrangements. Such hotels have seemingly shown us a new and better way of living. They certainly have many advantages from the viewpoint of comfort and privacy. They make a strong appeal to those who must frequently he in New York hut who are burdened, while here, hy their business and social activities to the limit of their patience and strength. And so, at the new Waldorf-Astoria, one of the major purposes of 16 BY LUCIUS BOOMER our planning was to provide suites for permanent, or semipermanent, guests. These were distinguished from the rooms dedicated to occa­ sional or transient visitors, and implied, therefore, ~any very special arrangements. As privacy was a paramount requisite, I suggested a radical innovation-the great two-hundred-foot driveway that bisects the hotel from north to south, and by means of which private auto­ mobiles are able to draw up almost at the doors of the elevators. There were several other important factors in our hitherto untried, and therefore seemingly unorthodox, plans for the new building. Nat­ urally, we wanted the living accommodations to he of the highest order. But we went beyond that. We saw to it that such accommodations were comparable with those in the great private establishments on Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Sutton Place, and that even transient vis­ itors should he accorded comforts and conveniences of service that, in hotels at least, were elsewhere unknown. Still another factor in our scheme v,~a.5 the pro·vision for a number of restaurants, of varying types, that would carry on the traditions of the different restaurants at the old Waldor£ Another happily realized improvement resulted from our special arrangements for talcing care of elaborate private or public functions-halls, banquets, expositions, concerts, theatrical performances-all of them in self-contained spaces that included halls, theater, restaurants, cloakrooms, dance floors, etc. The great number of gatherings of this type in New York soon made The Waldorf-Astoria the social and civic center which it is today. And lastly, I felt that we should provide, largely by means of ar­ ranging for rooms en suite, the most correct and attractive accommoda­ tions for private social affairs. In this way our patrons, whether perma­ nent or transient, could avail themselves not only of the usual living 17 THE GREATEST HOUSEHOLD facilities of an ultramodern hotel but, in addition, of accommodations and services that might readily enable them to expand and supplement their own living quarters, and so arrange_ for the occasional entertain­ ment of their friends on an elaborate scale. Many guests who came to us seeking only the usual type of hotel living accommodations were greatly surprised to encounter these added and unusual features. Underlying the many improvements and innovations which we had carried in our minds, there was one fundamental precept upon which all our plans and actions were based-SERVICE. The sort of service that would make the hotel a symbol for welcome, hospitality, and en­ tertainment. Service that would result from our ability to do all the little things not only unobtrusively, but well. Service that would meet the requirements of the most critical judges of good living and help to create for them new comforts and refinements of living. All the features in that arnbl.tious program, the new Waldorf-Astoria has endeavored to carry out-~ith what measure of success I leave its world-wide fame and public favor to attest. That it has been a success, and why it has been a success, the book in your hand is intended to show. It is not merely an account of how a national institution was created, nor a summary of its practical accom­ plishments. It is a book about a household, and a tribute to the spirit ,. , •. , •. , r • ,, • , • , r , ,. r. ,. • ,. .. 01 nosp1tanty ana meno nness wmcn, 1or neariy nny years, nas :mtused and animated The Waldorf-Astoria.

18 ARCHITECTURE

BY KENNETH M. MURCHISON*

Tm: W ALDORF.. AsTORIA is a city within a city. As a landmark in New York, it is easily identified, from a distance, by its great twin towers, which rise forty-seven stories ( 625 feet) in the air. At closer view the structure-covering one of the largest blocks in the city-is character­ ized by strong, simple, vertical lines. Even at night it retains its distinguished appearance, when its fa~de is aglow with reflected lights, and when a subdued, golden luster seems to envelop every comer of the building. Inside its Park Avenue doors a wide stairway leads to the main foyer, where the floor is covered by a mammoth rug called-because of its central and symbolic medallion-"The Wheel of Life!' The desi~uer of this rug, and the artist of the series of paintings forming the frieze along the walls, is the French painter Louis Rigal. The "Wheel of Life" medallion has been reproduced in a mosaic in the Foyer floor by the house of F oscato. The reproduction required

*The author of this article was never able to read it in proofs, his regrettable and unex­ pected death having occurred as the book was going to press. 19 ARCHITECTURE a year's time and the use of 148,000 µtt1e pieces of marble set into cement, one by one. And surrounding the main motif is a great field of golden Sienna marble. Like the Sert murals, this mosaic is one of the wonders of the Waldorf and a unique work of art. The Terrace Court, so popular as a tea and cocktail lounge, is situated just above the Park Avenue entrance, between the dignified Empire Room (reminiscent in character, as well as in title, of its predecessor at the old Waldorf) and the Sert Room-so called in honor of the Spanish muralist Jose Maria Sert. His painting, "The Marriage of Quiteria!' portrays scenes from a wedding feast in Old Spain. Consisting of fifteen separate panels in tones of brown on a silver background, it is, of all the fine murals in the Waldorf's possession, perhaps the most outstanding. By way of contrast, Tony Sarg, using a brush on the walls, a knife on the green, rubber-topped tables, and his imagination on both, has supplied the intimate Oasis Cafe with a most amusing assortment of frolicsome animals. Almost as informal in atmosphere is the new Lounge Cafe, where Xavier Cugat, the orchestra leader of rumba fame, has decorated the walls with caricatures of well-known people. Together with "The Oasis" this room, on the 50th Street side of the building, comprises a part of the suite connected with the North Lounge-a thoroughly comfortable place, carpeted in blue-green and furnished with deep lounging chairs which are particularly appreciated by men. The adjoining Peacock Alley appeals more to the feminine taste. World-renowned in the old Waldorf: it is here rejuvenated, with French­ walnut burl paneling, rouge French marble, and illuminated showcases along the sides. The main lobby, air-cooled, doorless, and open on all four sides, 20 Ill Ill Ill Ill Leonard Scluiltze of the firm of Scluiltze & Weaver, was the ardutect of The Waldorf-Astoria. Portrau by Yictor White. ARCHITECTURE occupies the center of the first floor. Although surrounded by the usual necessary offices, its central space is attractively furnished for lounging purposes, and the whole derives a soft tone from the indirect lights. A remarkable feature of this lobby is the Persian Garden rug, probably the largest hand-tufted carpet ever woven in a single piece, as it con­ tains 12,600,000 knots-a fact that can he verified by anyone wishing, out of scientific curiosity, to take the time to check up on it. The private dining rooms, on the fourth floor, are of interest either separately or together. For, as an example, while nine of these rooms on the Park Avenue side may be combined to form a single, harmonious banquet hall, each room still differs from the others in size and style. The Grand Ballroom, most elaborate of all the entertainment rooms, is on the third floor, and is so arranged that more than 2000 people can be served there at a banquet. Running around three sides of the room are two tiers of balconies and boxes for diners or spectators; while~ :rrranged as an auditorium, it seats, comfortably, great audiences which enjoy its perfect lighting and acoustics. Although its elevated platform may be quickly removed, when the space is desired, for such functions as a motor show or a bazaar, its complete theatrical equip­ ment-ropes, borders, dimmers, :floodlights, and other such parapher­ nalia-makes it capable of handling any kind of stage production. In addition to the full-sized movie-tone and technicoior apparatus ( and facilities for radio transmission and reception), there is installed, in the Grand Ballroom, a modern and magnificent pipe organ which is one of the finest in the world. Near by are several self-contained, yet flexible, salons of consider­ able size: the Astor Gallery, the Jade Room, and the Basildon Room with its murals by Angelika Kauffmann, well-known eighteenth-cen- 22 BY KENNETH M. MURCHISON tury Swiss painter. Throughout, these rooms are becomingly lighted hy gold and crystal chandeliers, and the general effect is one of formal, classic dignity lightened by a modernized treatment. When used in connection with the ballroom, they constitute the largest entertain­ ment suite in the United States-accommodating, as they do, some six thousand or m~re guests. On the eighteenth floor, extending along the front length of the hotel, is the huge Starlight Roo£ It is truly starlit, for the entire central ceiling can he rolled hack by means of electrical machinery. The trop­ ical background, painted on mirrored glass-plants, flowers, red fla­ mingos, and desert scenes-is suggestive of tropical Florida; and, on summer nights, the Roof is one of the most sought-after gathering places in New York. This completes, then, a brief outline of those sections of The Wal­ dorf-Astoria that are most in public view. But what of the living ac­ commodations? What of those portions devoted to that unseen service which, in the case of the Waldorf, is little short of perfection? What of the construction of the various banks of elevators? And even if it is true that the steel truss over the Grand Ballroom is three stories high, how can it he true that it is possible to store one~s private rail­ road car under the hotel, during one's visit there?

WP~VP'r_ tl,p ~l"r.h1tPr.h: of Tl,p W!=altlnrt-A~tnn!=I nnt ~~hnlt?P.._,"" ..... ,.,,..,~~"'""' ._..~nrl ... ~ ...... ,_ ...... _, --'""" _....,. ___ .....,. ___ -- - _...._ .. __ ...__...._ __ ---"----: r-- in an incalculable amount of study on its plans. Though backed by years of experience in hotel designing, they were faced with a new problem almost beyond solving: a combination of transient hotel, apartment house, theater, shops, restaurants, etc.-all to he supported on steel stilts somehow wedged in between the railroad tracks of the New York Central Railroad.

23 ARCHITECTURE

These tracks, now a source of gratification to happy possessors of private railroad cars, were, during the designing period, a bugbear to the architects. R.unning diagonally across the property~ they were con­ stantly in the way; wherever the location seemed best for the shaft of an elevator, there, invariably, would he a railroad track which could not he shifted. Next, the architects had to estimate how much of the vast space to allocate to the entertainment floors and how much to the nonincome­ producing areas, such as Peacock Alley and the lobbies; to determine the exact number of transient bedrooms and of apartments to he oc­ cupied on leasehold. After the size and number of the residential suites had been settled upon, the architects realized that the occupants of the luxurious Tower apartments would hardly he willing to pass through the crowded spaces of a transient hotel in order to reach their quarters. So they included, in their blueprints, a private entrance, on Fiftieth Street, with a con­ cierge's office which would serve the Tower apartments only, and lead directly to the apartment elevators. Mr. Lucius Boomer, the President of The Waldorf-Astoria, had the ingenious idea of a driveway bisecting the building from 49th Street to 50th Street, with turn-arounds and a certain amount of park­ ing space. Consequently, Waidorf~Astoria patrons can arrive~ under cover, in all weathers, transfer themselves and their luggage to the nearest elevators, east and west, with a minimum of either inconven- 1ence• or trme.• Perhaps the most important factor to he considered in hotel plan­ ning is an efficient service layout, for inadequate service can easily ruin a hotel, as far as popularity and, subsequently, income are concerned.

24 I SUBUR!AN liVEL " l HEATING LIGHTING N.Y.CENTAAL TRA0

Ill IllI I

'"'°.,...,,,..... , .. ,-,.c,('_,,...,...,.,. ·"'A•uu.n co,fti.e .

,. {, ": ~ .c; .. ,'~i

\--' .;:-, : ' ~ff-7:·_.--_~- :.;,..-

An isometric drawing of the Waldorf, showi,ng the interior of the hotel. ARCHITECTURE

When a hotel guest orders his dinner, he expects to get it, and with no appreciable waste of time. It probably would not interest bim in the slightest to he informed that the kitchen is not located ( as is usual) in the basement, because that space, in this instance, is so often occu­ pied by the Twentieth Century and the Empire State Express, rushing to and from the West. Nevertheless, at the Waldorf, his dinner will arrive without delay, because the architects solved their last basement problem by placing the main kitchen on the second floor. From there, octopuslike tentacles, in the form of service pantries, were extended in all directions, thus providing contact with the Sert Room, the Empire Room, and the Norse Grill on the main floor, and with the Grand Ballroom, the Jade Room, the Astor Gallery, and innumerable private dining rooms on the third and fourth floors. But, since speed seems of such importance in modem life, what about room service for the guest on the twenty-first floor who is al­ ways in a hurry, and who refuses to wait more than five minutes for his cracked ice? For this purpose there is a special room service bar on the nineteenth floor. Also, on the eighteenth floor, there is a com­ plete room service department. From here, hundreds of breakfasts alone are served to the various guestrooms and apartments above and below. It also serves the Canadian Club, the Junior League National Headquarters and the enorm.ous roof garden which is situated near by. Again, how is satisfaction provided for the woman guest who sighs for her home cooking, but who is convinced that men chefs never can learn that sort of cooking? To take care of this, and similar services, the architects planned a Home Kitchen, situated approximately in the middle of the nineteenth floor, where all the cooking is done by women. 26 BY KENNETH M. MURCHISOiV

A third kitchen has recently been installed for the express purpose of serving the Waldorf Bar, on the ground floor, at the Park Avenue and 49th Street end of the hotel. (This is one of the few bars in New York reserved exclusively for men, yet it is generally filled to capacity!) A great many improvements in the matter of comfortable living have been introduced in the guestroom section, where quietness is stressed and the partitions have been built as soundproof as possible. Each sleeping room is separated from its corridor by a vestibule; each has two telephone outlets. The closets are especially large, and the rooms themselves are of such a size that twelve hundred Waldorf­ Astoria guests occupy an area which, in the ordinary hotel, would gen­ erally be intended to accommodate two thousand. Nothing in this "city within a city" seems to have been forgotten; nothing overlooked. There is always something to admire. At every turn something new and beautiful is revealed. No garish decoration offends; no crowding is visible-not even at one of the great conven­ tions or concerts for which the Waldorf has become renowned. Yes, The Waldorf-Astoria seems veritably to he one of the seven present wonders of the world.

27 AS HISTORY PASSES BY

BY LOWELL THOMAS

DURING THE YEARS that my family has made its home in its lofty Towers, we have watched the great and near-great of the world stroll­ ing through the corridors, or sitting in the dining rooms of the new Waldorf-Astoria. Presidents, maharajahs, ambassadors, opera stars, capitalists, men of science, moguls of business, kings, and queens! There you ~ill see them all. Recently I've been looking through pages of reminiscence, a record that recalls a few of the events and some of the news and history that I have encountered during these seven years. It suggests a whole pano­ rama of headlines, and takes me hack to many a news broadcast I spoke on the air. Briefly-I've been glancing through the list of great social functions at the Waldor£ When one thinks back to last fall, when a second world war was so narrowly averted, it is a moody thing to read, and recall how on Octo­ ber 27, 1931, General John J. Pershing gave a luncheon in the Jade Room to Marshal Petain of France, with a brilliant company of French and American high officials in attendance. That was in the new Wal-

28 BY WWELL THOMAS dorf's first year, and in its seventh year, now completed, we find on the guest list General Pershing, recovered from his long illness and convalescence, stopping at the Waldorf to attend the wedding of his son Warren. For weeks, this past autumn, the news reverberated with the Czecho­ slovak tragedy. And just three years ago a festive dinner was held by the Czechoslovakian Societies of New York. They gathered in the Sert Room to celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of President Masaryk, creator of Czech liberty, father of the Czech Republic. And now, so shortly afterward, Czechoslovakia is a mere wreck of a nation, the lifework of President Masaryk undone. In January of this year there was a Starlight Roof entertainment for William E. Dodd, retiring Ambassador to Germany. Upon quitting his Berlin post Ambassador Dodd spoke up with warning predictions of Nazi ambition. Hitler, he said, was preparing for warlike aggression. Dodd was right. In swift succession followed the seizure of Austria and the partition of Czechoslovakia. The most distinguished of refugees from Germany was a Sert Room guest of honor-Professor Albert Einstein. A dinner was given for bim, to aid him in the project dearest to his heart-the care and education of children of German refugees. In 1931, when the new Waldorf-Astoria was jnst heginping its ca- :reer, .rung"tT• nrtaJaampoK • 11 • 1 01r .:,1ame-.• ana., ms" • (lueen" .tiamoai- ., - J::Sarm- · were guests at the great hostelry. Since then Siamese affairs of state have changed utterly with the abdication of Prajadhipok, the succession of the hoy king, and a virtual dictatorship in Bangkok. Japanese ambi­ tions are suspected there. In the swift stances of history, Canton fell to the Japanese last fall,

29 AS HISTORY R4SSES BY and I see in the Waldorf list how the Japan Society gave a dinner to His Excellency Hirosi Saito, Japanese Ambassador to the United States. And the China Society gave a luncheon celebrating the glory of China. Both of these I attended. Shortly afterward-the Japanese invasion of China. In February of 1933 a new aclroinistration was about to take over the White House-the New Deal. On February the eighth a tribute dinner with fifteen hundred guests was given to Mrs. Franklin D. Roo­ sevelt in the Grand Ballroom. Five days later the National Republican Club gave a Grand Ballroom banquet to President and Mrs. Hoover. At another reception given to Mrs. Roosevelt I see the distinguished guests listed: Governor and Mrs. Herbert Lehman, Senator and Mrs. Royal S. Copeland and Senator and Mrs. Robert Wagner. Republican social functions and Democratic-I could extend the list for a whole page, banquets and entertainments at The Waldorf-Astoria that mark the progress of American politics. Interested in sky voyaging? Then scan a few of the Waldorf events down the years. In 1932, at a dinner on the Starlight Roof: Amelia Earhart was awarded the medal for the most distinguished flying ex­ ploit by an American. Melancholy reminiscence of a lost plane some­ where on the vast Pacific, the tragic mystery of Amelia Earhart. In 1933 the Swiss Society, assembled in the Astor Gallery, was addressed by Professor Auguste Picard. His subject was "Voy~ges in the Strato­ sphere!' Those were the days when Picard's record-breaking balloon ascension into the stratosphere was the topic of the day. In that same year the Italian-American Society gave a reception and supper dance. And who were the guests? General Balho and his fellow Italian flyers, who had just made their memorable mass-formation flight across the

30 BY WWELL THOMAS

Atlantic. In 1934 an Irishman was a trans-Atlantic star of the year­ Colonel James Fitzmaurice. He was a guest of honor at a dinner party in the Perroquet Suite. The toastmaster in high, humorous style was Eddie Dowling, and among the guests were Secretary of War Dem, Mayor La Guardia, and Heywood Broun. Remember that most spec­ tacular of airship disasters at Lakehurst, New Jersey-the terrible and unforgettable spectacle of a sky giant in flames? On May 10, 1936, a testimonial dinner was given to celebrate the arrival of the Hinden­ burg on her maiden voyage across the ocean. Dr. Hugo Eckener, most famous of Zeppelin commanders, was the guest of honor. Science notes: Guest of honor, Charles Hayden, entertained by the 'frustees of the American Museum of Natural History. After dining~ the party went to the museum and attended a preview of the Hayden Planetarium. Remember the era of technocracy, that flash of ultra­ modern economics which was a popular rage for a while? In the Jade Room a droll and comic banquet was held, sponsored by the Society of Stoopnocracy. Stoop for Stoopnagle, the humorous colonel on the radio. As a comic parody on the technocratical fad, Stoop founded Stoopnocracy-modeling it on that jolly British brotherhood, Ye An­ cient Order of Froth Blowers. Each year more th~YI a thousand celebrities, members of the Dutch 'freat Club, and their friends, banquet in the Grand Ra llroom at the \Valdor£ Around eve.ry tah1e sit the hest-kno~"TI authors and artists of the day, and with them ambassadors, captains of industry, governors, generals and admirals, senators and explorers. But, the greatest ex­ ploration night in all my experience was when fifteen hundred mem­ bers of the Explorers Club headed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson wined and dined the crew of the first airplane to fly across the top of the 31 A.$ HISTORY PASSES BY world from Moscow to the United States, hy way of the North Pole. And so, in this same vein I could go on and on, enumerating the unusual functions that I myself have attended at The Waldorf-Astoria, occasions when I have heard Presidents speak; the night I presided at the Welcome Home Banquet for Explorer Lincoln Ellsworth who had just returned from his flight across the Antarctic Continent; the banquet of the newspaper publishers at which Henry Ford made his one and only speech-twenty-eight words in length, I believe it was. Perhaps the best way of saying what I've been trying to say about Waldorf gatherings as historical markers would he to print the whole official list of them right here-but that would take a whole hook! I wonder if any other hotel in all the world has played the host to so many celebrities? I wonder whether any other hotel has been the scene of so many historic functions?

32 FURNISHING AND DECORATION

FRANCIS H. LENYGON

WHEN, RECENTLY, I was asked by a traveler how The Waldorf-Astoria compared with certain European and other American hotels, my an­ swer was that it could not he compared, that it represented a unique and superlative achievement possible only under the circumstances ""hich inspired its ~reation. Like a great city, New York or London or Paris or Stockholm, The Waldorf-Astoria is the concrete expression of its own tradition. The guiding spirit behind the new Waldorf-Astoria is Lucius Boomer, who preserved and carried on the tradition and prestige of the old hotel, and at the same time visualized and supervised the building of a hotel completely modem in standards and equipment. His problems were numerous; to achieve success, he called in collaboration specialists of note from various fields. The architects selected were Schultze and Weaver; the builders, Thompson Starrett Co., Inc. To insure variety, the list of decorators was long, including L. Alavoine & Co. of Paris and New York; Sir Charles Allom of White, Allom & Co., London and New York; Barton, 33 FURNISHING AND DECORATION

Price and Willson, Inc., New York; Jacques Bodart, Inc., New York; Mr. R. T. H. Halsey, Maison Jansen, Paris; Mr. Francis Lenygon of Lenygon & Morant, Inc., London and New York; Nordiska Kompaniet of Stockholm, Sweden; Mrs. Charles H. Sabin, New York; Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., of New York; and Mr. A. Rutledge-Smith, Consulting Decorator of the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation. In attempting to convey an impression of the enterprise, which in­ volved so many advisers, immeasurable effort, and an investment of millions of dollars, one gropes for a beginning, and tritely turns to an entrance. There are many entrances to the hotel, all leading through broad corridors into lounges and restaurants, thus distributing the great number of people in circulation, and, a:t the same time, creating a dignified atmosphere in the midst of activity. One's first introduction to the hotel should he through the Park Avenue entrance, where one goes up a wide staircase leading to the Main Foyer, flanked by the handsome Sert Room on the left and the lively Empire Room on the right. Light is diffused over the foyer through a rose-colored marble ceil­ ing, supplemented by indirect lighting from eight tall Grecian silver vases with gilt mounts. Biscuit-colored walls carry up to a frieze de­ signed and painted by the French artist, Louis Riga!, depicting Music, Dancing, and Pleasures of the Table. Large uncurtained windows on the we.st are screened ,vith fine metal g~ales. G.rowing plants in large jardinieres add life and color. Benches of Egyptian design are covered with double cushions of bright green and gold silk. The space above the Park Avenue entrance is, structurally, a part of the foyer. Its elevated floor spaces, however, make it a part of the terraces that provide entrances to the Sert and Empire Rooms. As the

34 BY FRANCIS B. LENYGON

"Terrace Court:' it has developed into a popular rendezvous at teatime. To the right and left there are two well-decorated cubicles: the one on the southwest corner, near the Empire Room, lined with green and silver mirrors etched in Persian design, includes a soft-drink bar; that on the northwest comer, near the Sert Room, is a gay cocktail room, with pointed red silk valances over beige satin-curtained walls-the cur­ tains effectively held hack over a mirrored glass door by huge bunches of cherries. 'Iliple corridors lead from the Main Foyer to the famous Peacock Alley, another symbolic tradition brought from the old Waldorf-Astoria. Here small groups of comfortable chairs and sofas, arranged close to the wall, are separated by luminous-metal reflector lamps. The walls are lined with flush paneling of light French walnut divided by terra­ cotta marble pilasters surmounted by capitals and cornice of nickel bronze. Large, square, engraved glass tables repeat the use of nickel and bronze metal in their supporting framew-ork. Carrara-marble stat­ ues, growing plants, and cut flowers are distributed at intervals. The

light- wood of the walls is recalled in the walnut and svcamoreJ c..on- temporary furniture designed for this and adjoining sections. Large sofas and comfortable chairs are covered in either beige or jade-colored materials. Low smoking tables and tables for occasional service sug- gsst tuat1.. t.ue1- room 'Luas uses, as weu11 as 1nemg • a p1ace, to. see and, .be, seen. Another attractive feature is a series of display cabinets, framed in curly maple and indirectly lighted. Each presents a pictorial arrange­ ment of the wares of an exhibiting firm. At the north end is a portrait of the famous "Oscar of the Waldorf,' by Paul Trebilcock; at the south end, a portrait by the same artist of Albert Morris Bagby, whose Musi­ cal Mornings are closely associated with the tradition of the Waldorf.

35 Ill Ill' .

"The Wheel of Life" T'l£g, in the Park Avenue foyer. Desi,gned by Louis Rigal. BY FRANCIS H. LENYGON Continuing eastward through the central portion of Peacock Alley, one enters the eighty-foot Main Lobby. Sturdy black and gold marble columns and pilasters carry the expansive, decorated ceiling. The walls are entirely covered with carefully selected hurl of Oregon maple, com­ bined with constructive and ornamental designs of a nickel and brass metal. The :floor of the Main Lobby is covered with an adaptation of a seventeenth-century Kinnan carpet featuring a Persian garden with trees, flowering plants, garden plots, canals, fish, Oriental waterfowl, water lilies, and aquatic plants in naturalistic colors. This is, perhaps, the largest hand-tufted rug ever woven in a single piece. The furniture is especially well arranged for its purpose, and, while no hotel lobby could, or should, boast of an atmosphere of privacy, here it is possible to sit alone, or in small groups, without the feeling of being part of any assembly. To achieve this semblance of privacy in the midst of a public thoroughfare, subdivisions of space are made by placing high settees hack to hack, with further screening made possible by means of wood and metal stands, heightened with flowering plants. The furniture is contemporary in design, of light ,valnut handed -with metal, and covered in either dark green or beige leather. This pleas­ ing, unobtrusive furniture is distributed according to color, in alter­ nating broad rows of green and beige running lengthwise of the room -ihe four comers forming squares, all in green. Nickel and bronze lamps indirectly radiate soft light for comfortable reading. Partly surrounding the Main Lobby are other lounges and galleries paneled with various kinds of polished woods decorated in restrained style with marble and metal. Beyond the lounges are a succession of restaurants and cafes lead­ ing to the extreme northeast corner of the building, where the Norse 37 FURNISHING AND DECORATION

Grill is situated. Here the decorations are carried out in the Scandi­ navian manner. The planked walls are chestnut wood, stone arches are combined with wooden beams, and all the moldings are carved and gaily colored. Flanking the stone mantelpiece, an interesting map shows the location of golf, tennis, and yacht clubs, of polo fields and other scenes of sporting activities around New York. Attempting to describe the physical features of the Grand Ballroom is like describing the feast before the food arrives. Any ballroom must necessarily rely upon gaily dressed people, and the activity of glamor­ ous occasions, for its full effectiveness. Tiers of balconies and boxes are set close together on three sides of the room, and, through mechan­ ical operation, they may he used either for dining or for spectators. The walls are light gray; the metalwork, gold and silver; the hang­ ings, deep coral. Lighting is indirect from the ceiling, with moonlight spots from the central portion. In the four corners of the room there are small chambers with color wheels for thro-wing spotlights onto the dance floor. There is a fully equipped stage at the north end, flanked by two silver and gold grilles, set with shafts of etched glass and silver applique. These screens conc~al organ pipes and other modern equip­ ment, such as movie-tone, technicolor, and radio apparatus. The Silver Gallery provides a fine approach to the ballroom at one end and to the Basildon ~nd Jade Rooms at the other. The ,valls of tl1is long gallery are covered with mirrors set in semicircular headed panels; harewood, of soft gray satin finish, forms dividing piers. The ceiling, coved to receive the mirrored panels, is decorated with a series of paintings representing the months of the year. They were formerly in the old Astor Gallery and were the work of an artist whose signature, "Simmons:' appears on them. Crystal chandeliers suggest a fountain

38 Ill Ill

A bedroom in the Towers of the Waldo,:/. Designed by Daniel Dug&an., f amo11S Arsentme decorator. FURNISHING AND DECORATION or cascade iridescent with light. Narrow, fluted, wood benches covered in green and gold silk are placed at intervals. The ends of the gallery are curtained with rose and silver arabesque-design silk. When Mr. Boomer conceived this superhotel, he was thoroughly familiar with all the uses associated with hotels in general; hut his ideal incorporated expanding such uses, and his plan took into considera­ tion a public other than that which was already hotel-conscious. He thought of those who were accustomed to great establishments, but who no longer found it practical to entertain on a grand scale in their homes, or no longer had homes suitable for gracious entertaining, wed­ dings, coming-out parties, anniversaries, and receptions; and he re­ membered organizations and societies with no clubrooms of their own. In consequence, he planned a number of suites so flexible in combina­ tion as to make them suitable for groups of almost any size. Perhaps the most important room in these suites for special enter­ tainment is the Basildon Room. In the early days of planning the ne,A: Waldorf-Astoria, Basildon Park, Berkshire, England, was about to he dismantled. This house was built in 1776 by John Carr, a contempo­ rary of Robert Adam. Following a visit from Mr. Boomer, negotiations were begun, which ended in the purchase of the beautifully painted and decorated main salon. The ,valls are paneled with carved moldings and low relief medallions in the lar!!er snaces= .A 11 ornament is nicked - .L J.- 01-1t in various shades of gray, gold, pink, maroon, and touches of emer­ ald green. On the walls opposite the windows are balancing recessed mirrors. These spaces and the windows are hung with rose-colored satin curtains, bordered in rose and beige. Another feature of the room is the ceiling painted by the eighteenth-century celebrity, Angelika Kauff­ mann. These decorative panels are set in a broad framework of finely

40 BY FRANCIS H. LENYGON modeled plaster, colored to harmonize with the walls. The floor is cov­ ered with a large rug, made to scale from an original eighteenth-century needlework rug designed hy Robert Adam. The original mantelpiece, of carved white Carrara marble on a Cornish-gray marble background, is a distinguishing feature. The ar­ chitectural moldings and shelf are supported on Ionic coJuron~; and the finely sculptured center panel hears the unmistakable handwriting of the great modeler, Flaxman, who did so much excellent work during the middle of the eighteenth centl.1-ry= There are many distinguished mantels in the hotel; the collection is outstanding. Those of English design were certified hy Mr. Ralph Edwards of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and those in the French style were bought under the supervision of Mr. Fran~ois Boucher of the Carnavalet Musee, Paris. Coincident with l\Jlr. Boomer's discovery of the Basildon Room, the v.nter had already discovered the furniture from this room, which had been dismantled several years before the house came into the market. This furniture, consisting of settees and chairs in ivory and gold, had been made for the room at the time it was built, but it cannot be de­ scribed in terms of any one of the better-known designers of the period. Like much of our contemporary design, it combines what the designer wanted with what was most familiar to him. Always interested in fur­ niture which is not so easily identified with an individual hut to the trained eye is unmistakably of the period, we purchased the set con­ sisting of two sofas and six chairs, and these were reproduced for the room in which they should feel very much at home. The Jade Room adjoins the Basildon Room and, if required, may he used in conjunction with it. All such combinations are coordinated 41 ~-:?,:.,· ~a~~~~-~:~(. Ill ' Ill

An eighteenth-century French lwing room. Planned and furnished by Jacques Bodart. BY FRANCIS H. LENYGON with adequate serving pantries, dressing rooms, and coatrooms. The decorations of the Jade Room follow no particular epoch, and for effect depend upon simple, architectural treatment, and the jade-green color. Its size is about seventy-eight feet by forty-eight feet. Flanking a cen­ tral oblong space, representing about one-third of the floor width, there are arched recesses, formed by Italian vert Mentalto marble pilasters and piers with gilt capitals. Four windows on the north wall are effec­ tively ornamented ""1ith grilles, the upper grilles talcing the place of valances, from which hang yellow satin curtains. The Astor Gallery, opposite, is similar in size and plan to the Jade Room. Its design represents a simplified treatment of the Louis Seize style. Panels on the walls depict Rhythm and the Dance. The room is painted French-gray with ivory-colored pilasters. Ornaments and light­ ing fixtures are gold-color, the curtains and rugs blue-green. Having provided for entertaining on a more ample scale on the third floor, Mr. Boomer turned his attention to smaller and less formal affairs on the fourth floor. The result is a group of charming suites and single rooms. The Jansen Suite takes its name from the Paris firm commissioned to design and furnish the rooms, which have been inspired by the Empire style. The foyer, with its black and white marble floor and Greek

Doric cornice~ suggests a private home5 antl the s~lon provides a p!eas-= ant setting for a discriminating hostess. The walls include etched mir­ rors framed in silver and gun metal. Walnut doors give body and dignity to the room. Interest also centers on a distinguished Empire mantel of black and gold marble. Adjoining the Jansen Suite are two private dining rooms, the Crane Rooms, each with its own foyer, each with painted panels depicting 43 Ill.. I I

The oval f uyer of the drawing room in the Presidential Suite of the Waldorf. 'l'his suite was a"anged 'by Mr. R. T. H. Halsey. BY FRANCIS H. LENYGON tropical scenes-with decorative cranes in the immediate foreground. Continuing north on the 50th Street side of the building, the Perro­ quet Suites follow. Each of these three suites is self-contained and pro­ vided with a separate entrance. The center dining room is equipped with a self-player organ concealed behind ornamental-grille panels. The walls are painted with tropical foliage and brilliant birds. The Carpenter Suite was designed and furnished by the late Mrs. John Alden Carpenter. Glass and old Chinese wallpaper are the fea­ tured materials, and the furniture is American Colonial in spirit. Along the Park Avenue side of this floor there is a succession of smaller private dining rooms, available singly or in any combination. The extreme southwest comer is occupied by the Pillement Suite. These rooms take their name from the eighteenth-century decorator who specialized in rooms of French Chinois character. The furniture is both Louis Quinze and Louis Seize style, and the colors are, for the most part, green and yellow. All the public rooms are on the first four floors, with one notable exception-the Starlight Roo£ One enters this sparkling restaurant through a foyer of mirrors and red lacquer. The room, with its terraces, occupies the entire length of the block above Park Avenue. The "Star­ light Roof" is movable, operated hy electrical machinery, so that the room may he used either closed or open to the sky. Mr. Victor White has carried out a gay and harmonious form of wall decoration. Sil­ houette mosaics, representing tropical plants, flowers, and birds, are worked in gold and silver on a background of huff plaster. Huge, dull­ gold mirrors are painted with green foliage and red flamingos. However much attention was given to the public rooms, no details of comfort or style were overlooked when considering even a single 45 FURNISHING AND DECORATION bedroom. Each room is protected by the privacy of an entrance vesti­ bule, all are soundproof, and supplied with a spacious bathroom and large closets, some having specially built-in sets of drawers and cup­ boards. Suites, in addition, include a well-equipped combination bath­ room and dressing room, having triple-fitted closets with mirror doors, illuminated, magnifying dressing mirrors, and other luxury items that give joy to the heart of women guests. The Tower Residence Apartments are numerous, and varied in their appointments. Floors alternate in modified French and English styles of decoration, while some of the terraced suites have been decorated and furnished in contemporary style. The Presidential Suite is quite suitably a sort of repository for Fed­ eral Americana facsimiles. Both the French and English suites at the Waldorf have spacious salons or living rooms, which are ·furnished according to the best eighieenth-century traditions, and augmented hy the more modem ideals of comfort and utility. In a Georgian suite there is an oval foyer and an octagonal living room, the decoration carried out in pastel shades-cafe au lait, pale yellow, and gray-blue. Well-designed doors, with finely chased ormolu hardware, are indicative of the architectural and decorative quality of these rooms. Dining rooms are carried out in the prevailing spirit of the living room they adjoin. Some of them easily accommodate twelve armchairs of generous proportions, and have a sideboard or console tables, china cabinets or built-in cabinets, finely carved mantels, and carved gilt sconces. In each suite the furnishings and decoration, whether French or English, express both individuality and absolute correctness of detail.

46 I Ill I I 11 II Another d,ghteenth-century French living room. Planned and furnished by Jacques Boda.rt. FURNISHING AND DECORATION

In less than a volume it would hardly he possible to indicate the entire scope, or to enumerate the variety of The Waldorf-Astoria's achievement in furnishing and decoration. However, it is fair to say that the Waldorf's attempt to set a new standard of taste in the field of hotel decoration has met with a signal order of success. Certainly the experiment of employing, in the vari­ ous parts of the building, the best taste of other countries-particu­ larly, as regards the suites, that of the French and English in their periods of greatest glory-has resulted in a varied hut completely har­ monious edifice.

48 WOMEN AND THE WALDORF

BY HELEN WORDEN

BY DEFINITION, a hotel is a house for entertaining travelers. The definition does not say in what style they should he entertained. But because travelers are usually optimists they hope for the best. The Waldorf-Astoria is among the few hotels I know in which travelers, particularly the women among them, are justified in their optimism. But, granted that Waldorf visitors will find delectable food, restful beds, and harmonious living rooms there-what else may they expect? Well, over a period of years I've been sampling the Waldorf food­ and liking it. In the summer I've spent happy evenings on the Star­ light Roof; and I've counted a winter slightly dull in which I haven't

Grand Ballroom. However, I found that I didn't really know my Waldor£ Not until I began gathering floor-by-floor details of it did I discover that my affection for the new hotel had been laid on founda­ tion memories of the old. The old Waldorf had a thousand rooms. The new building has two thousand. In point of cubic area, it is the largest hotel in the world. 49 WOMEN AND THE WALDORF

Enough has already been written about the more obvious sides of the Waldor£ I want to introduce-you to its other aspect-a hotel having all the intimacy and friendliness of a small town, despite its being, actually, a small city within the biggest city in the United States. In it you may find anything you want, at any hour of the day or night; there you can stay, and at the same time visit France, England, Sweden, Italy, and, above all, modem New York City, which the whole world is clamoring to see. No place in America can equal New York as an amusement or fashion center. The best in musical comedies, plays, vaudeville, motion pic­ tures, recitals, and concerts; the dance and ballet, grand opera, sports, night clubs-events of all kinds-are all to be enjoyed here. The Waldorf-Astoria is the pivotal point from which to enjoy them all; in fact, a number of these events take place in the hotel itsel£ As a single example: since 1893 Albert Morris Bagby has been giving ~ionday-morning concerts, first in the old, then in the new, Waldor£ Melba, Caruso, Mary Garden, Geraldine Farrar, Rosa Pon­ selle, Richard Crooks, Lucrezia Bori, Madame Flagstad, Josef Hof­ mann, and Jascha Heifetz are only a few of the many famous singers and musicians who have appeared on his programs. The Moller orchestral organ also furnishes a special form of enter­ iainment; and there is wonderful organ music which is ~mplil;ed in several of the public rooms, every day. I speak of these concerts because I have considered the varied aspects of the hotel from the point of view of a woman who is alone in New York. She may he fond of music, hut she may not realize that she can hear plenty of it right in the Waldor£ I have also had in mind the wife who may accompany her husband on a business trip-the

50 BY HELEN WORDEN woman who dreads staying by herself in what she fears will be impersonal surroundings. H she wants to see the latest in clothes (what woman doesn't?) there are the smart specialty shops in the hotel itself, as well as those on near-by Park Avenue, Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and along the cross streets up to 57th-all within walking distance. Of the many shops, one features handmade lingerie; another sells rare furs; another caters to those who appreciate the last thing in jewels, etc. A florist who deals only in rare flowers also has a shop in the hotel. These shops are all easy to find, hut, if you miss any, call Miss Eva McAdoo in the About the City Bureau. No woman need ever fear lack of friendliness in New York while she and the About the City Bureau exist at the Waldor£ They are to be found in Peacock Alley. As the title implies, the Bureau will supply you with free information about New York: the addresses of unusual shops; news of the current exhi­ bitions at art museums and galleries; the reviews of plays, concerts and lecture programs; the time when great ocean liners may be in­ spected; the names of ladies' maids, of governesses and chaperones; and a list of professional shoppers-as well as maps of the city and planned sightseeing tours, including Radio City and every other important point of interest. The Bureau has an extraordinary way of meeting curious situations. A few weeks ago a recently registered visitor from Oklahoma frantically phoned Miss McAdoo's office at half-past seven, one evening. "My husband and I have just arrived:' the woman wailed, "hut our lug­ gage was lost on the way to New York. We are to be the guests of honor at a dinner tonight. We have nothing to wear, and the shops are closed. What on earth shall we do?" 51 WOMEN AND THE WALDORF

Instead of saying she didn't know what she could do, Miss McAdoo put in a hurry call for a man who supplies customers with really good clothes for just such emergencies. Within fifteen minutes he and a tailor and dressmaker were in the hotel with a choice of evening gowns for the wife and a dress suit for the husband. Besides solving crises such as these, Miss McA.doo will help you with your sightseeing. You may he sure that whatever she suggests she really knows about, hersel£ Ask for the pamphlets on New York. Among the Art Galleries tells you not only how to :find the fascinating, less well-known, little picture places, but also gives you their histories. Another pamphlet, called Tripping around New York, will guide you to the city's greatest churches. In a third New York booklet, which is furnished by the About the City Bureau, there is mention of a favo­ rite haunt of mine-"The Old Merchant's House:' at 29 East 4th Street. It is not a museum, but the actual home of an old New Yorker, Seabury Treadwell. I speak of this house to show you the different phases of New York life to ,vhich l\fiss l\1cAdoo can introduce you. I doubt if a better equipped person could he found for the About the City Bureau. The late William McAdoo, Eva's father, was first a Member of Congress, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under President Grover Cleve­ land, and, after that., Police Commissioner of New York during Mayor George McClellan's administration. When his term as Police Commis­ sioner ended, William McAdoo became a Chief Magistrate-a post he held until his death. This unusual acquaintance with New York's places, people, and conditions, which the Judge passed on to his daughter, makes her help and advice invaluable to visitors who do not feel at home in the city. 52 BY HELEN WORDEN

However, the About the City Bureau is only one of the many features which will appeal to yisitors, particularly the women. The bedrooms are especially designed for feminine comfort. They have the luxury of many mirrors and closets, bathtubs and showers that are separate, and marvelous dressing rooms with a great number of vanity tables all well lighted. A fresh rose, in a silver vase, comes each morning with one's break­ fast, and pastel-colored linen is used on the tables. I drew cool lettuce­ green with a bright-red rosebud for contrast. Now for that international exploring which the Waldorf makes possible. Suppose you are stopping in the Swedish suite designed hy Carl Malmsten, the Scandinavian decorator. If you are, you can ask Oscar to order a Swedish dinner for you: Smorgasbord, perhaps, with an entree of Kalv Kickling, followed by a Kottbuller, and finished off with Platter ( Swedish pancakes). Dignified Oscar, who wears the service button given only to em­ ployees of the old Waldof4 has been with the hotel for forty-five years. He is the official Host of the Waldorf. He can plan a dinner for you in any language. But, suppose you prefer a dinner in your ou;n language. Instead of the exotic masterpiece of a French chef, you may pine for count..-ry ham and eggs, or· Ver1nont cakes and maple syrup. Hit was ior that reason I put a home kitchen in the Waldorf:' Mr. Boomer told me. "There are times when we all long for everyday food!' So, for instance, if you wake up feeling hungry for chicken with dumplings, or cherry pie, you simply call the American kitchen and tell them you want just that for your dinner. Like a go9d housekeeper, the management is eager to take you 53 WOMEN AND THE WALDORF behind the scenes. Call the desk, if you want to make a tour of the hotel. Perhaps you would like to see it as I did, in two insta1lments. I divided the tour because it takes four hours to see the hotel from roof to subcellars. By doing it leisurely, I found it more impressive, though comparable to exploring a big ocean liner. Mr. Boomer was my guide on the first trip. It began in the Towers, where the huge radio antenna of the Waldorf has its roots. The hotel was the first in America to build a special all-wave radio receiving system. Incidentally, this system is the largest in any hotel in the world. When you go to the Towers, you will see the three strands of the antenna spun, spider-fashion, between the two towers more than six hundred feet above the street level. Also, from the Towers, you can see all New York. Perhaps you will recognize some of the landmarks: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Radio City, the Medical Center­ and, of more recent origin, the Toborough Bridge, which leads to the new World's Fair grounds. From the Towers, I was taken through the upholstery shop where the furniture is kept in condition. Our next stop was the enormous kitchen on the eighteenth floor that serves all guestrooms, as well as the Starlight Roof, and the private restaurants of the Canadian Club and Junior League- Headquarters.- White-canued.l..:. chefs and linen- aproned bus boys were scurrying about with kettles and saucepans, from which floated tantalizing odors of specially prepared roasts and sauces. The food in this kitchen is handled by French chefs and eaten chiefly by Americans. The visiting foreigners seem to prefer sampling our native cooking. The home kitchen is on the nineteenth floor. When I looked in, 54 BY HELEN WORDEN there, one of the cooks-a cheerful-faced woman from the Middle West -was rolling out a crust for an apple pie. I saw the kitchens on the other floors on another day. There is one for the Sert Room on the second floor, and another on the third floor for special parties in the Grand Ballroom. Being a woman, I like to watch the domestic wheels go round. You may enjoy, as I did, getting a first glimpse of tables set for special par­ ties. The arrangements represented the last word in banqueting. H you call the Banquet Department, they will be glad to show you whatever tables they are preparing for that day. Perhaps it will be a supper for a movie star, served in a private dining room, or a dinner for some foreign diplomat in the Grand Ballroom, on the third floor. Lunching or dining at the Waldorf need never be monotonous. On one evening you may feel like dressing up and going to the Sert Room with its crimson and silver murals by Jose Maria Sert.... ~other night the restful infonna]ity of the Empire Room may appeal to you more. Again, visitors can lunch or dine in the Lounge Cafe, at small, inti­ mate tables for two, where no one dresses. Even less formal is the Lounge Restaurant and the colorful Norse Grill. During the seven years that the Waldorf has been in its new home, T_, ve l_naa _l occa~1on• to go to many sma,,11 parties• m• its• pnvate• uinang..J• • rooms; a Beaux-Arts dinner in the Jansen Suite; an Elsa Maxwell barnyard dance in the Jade Room, and a reception for Marlene Dietrich in the Basildon Room. I thought I had seen them all; hut when I was taken on the tour of the hotel, I found I'd missed seven. No two were the same. Mr. Boomer explained that these private dining rooms, like the bed­ rooms, were principally designed to please women. One, which particu­ larly appealed to me, was the Carpenter Suite, decorated by the wife of 55 WOMEN .A.ND THE JY.A.LDORF

John Alden Carpenter, the composer. It had been done in smart shades of citron yellow, scarlet, and black. You'll also find many places in the hotel for tea and cocktails. I, personally, like to sit on the Park Avenue terrace, overlooking the main entrance, when I take tea. The Cocktail Lounge and Tony Sarg's Oasis seem more suited for cocktails. The only spot I haven't tried is the Men's Bar.

56 WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES

BY CLYDE R. PLACE

STEAM AND ELECTRICITY, as servants of our everyday life, are seldom appreciated by the modem man. We could, of course, exist without them, hut, were they unknown, the construction and daily operation of a modern hotel like The Waldorf-Astoria would he impossible. In the case of the Waldorf, a difficult problem was faced by the engi­ neers in designing the varied, vast, hut necessary equipment, inasmuch as more space was needed in the basement of the hotel than was actually available. This basement extends under only a small part of the Wal­ dorf. The rest of the hotel is perched on stilts, between which are the

1-,. •J .J 1 .r 1 1\.T ,:; 1 ,-. , .._ •"I .. - - £ .uusy ra.1...roau tracKS 01 tne 1,ew 1orK L.enira! .ttallroad• .Hut the ioun- dations of the hotel are so well built that guests seldom realize that thousands of passengers daily travel back and forth beneath them. But, in spite of all difficulties, the proper place was found for every piece of equipment needed for the operation of the hotel. This was made possible only by the use of "templates:' or small drawings of the machines, each of which was fitted by the designer into a drawing of the building-as a giant jigsaw puzzle would he pieced together. 57 WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES To many homeowners the word "steam" brings to mind the drudgery of tending a furnace and hauling heavy cans of ashes. In large, modem buildings, however, steam may he had for heating with no more trouble than turning a valve wheel. In the Waldorf even that simple act is un­ necessary-the steam is provided from a central source and regulated so as to produce exactly the right amount of heat for comfort. Strange to say, steam is not produced in the hotel itsel£ It comes from the steam-generating plants of the New York Steam Corporation miles away. Although one plant could furnish all the steam needed for a building of this size, four plants are used to supply the heat in order to insure a steady supply at all times and under all conditions. Miles of street piping-and many more miles within the building-carry this steam to different points. In one year the Waldorf uses enough steam to heat an average house for more than 800 years; and steam is also used for a purpose exactly the opposite of heating-cooling. Steam engines drive large ammonia compressors for the refrigeration of food-storage boxes, for making ice, and for drinking water. If this equipment were used for making ice only, it would produce more than 1000 of the large 300-pound cakes a day. More than 60 refrigerators are served with chilled brine from this sys­ tem-refrigerators varying in size from those of the f~mi!iar domestic type to gigantic compartments into which foodstuffs to he preserved are carried in trucks. The ice product of the plant, in the summertime often exceeding 30 tons a day, is used for many things. A large ~ount of it is made into cubes and shaved ice for beverages and room service, and much more is utilized for making ice cream, for preserving fish and other foods that are literally "kept on ice:' and not infrequently for the remarkable 58 IllI

Illo I

77,,e Ri&ht Honorable Anthony Eden, former British Forei,gn Secretary, addressi,ng the National Association of Manufactur­ ers at the Waldorf-, December 9, 1938. Photopaph Courtesy of the Western Electric Co. WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES ice sculptures which are produced in the hotel's pastry kitchens. Talk of the use of refrigeration naturally brings to mind the air­ cooling and conditioning system of the Waldorf: where both a large Carrier air-conditioning plant and also a recently completed huge installation hy Frigidaire, maintain comfortable temperatures in the public and private rooms regardless of prevailing conditions outside. As in the case of steam, it is difficult to imagine the extent to which electricity is used at the Waldon. Indirect lighting, for example, uses mucl1 more electricity than direct lighting, hut in the Waldorf the cost is not considered when indirect lighting produces such agreeable effects as it does, let us say, in the Sert Room and the Empire Room. In many minds the word "electricity" is synonymous with "lighting!' but as much electricity is used for power as for lighting. Let me mention a few of the many ways in which electricity is used for other service than lighting in the operation of the Waldor£ It is required for the operation of the elevators, for delivering fresh air into the building and pumping stale air out, for pumping water to the rooms, for compressing air for the pneumatic-tube system, and for ~xhausting air for the vacuum-cleaning system. Taken together, the amount of electricity used for light and power during a year in the Waldorf reaches figures not easy to comprehend. For instance, mere than 6000 six-room houses could he operated for a year on the electricity used in the Waldorf in the same period. To interpret this differently, an average month's usage would have kept a 100-watt lamp burning from the time of the Crusades to the present day. Of all the many uses of electricity for power, probably none is as obvious to a hotel guest as that used for elevator service. Sixteen eleva­ tors-more than are really needed to provide the type of service ex-

60 BY CLYDE R. PLACE pected in a modem hotel-are reserved for the guests; these are of the latest type, where the starting and stopping of the car and the opening and closing of the gates are full automatic operations-really initiated hy the guest when he pushes a button on a floor landing to summon a car. There are fifteen additional elevators serving the demands for employee and freight carriage, and in this group we find an elevator unusual in a hotel-a car large enough to take a loaded track or a luxurious limou­ sine to the public rooms on the third floor, for this single elevator, 20 feet long and 8 feet wide and carrying more than 8000 pounds, is the medium that makes possible the great automobile exhibit of the General Motors Corporation held annually in The Waldorf-Astoria. In one year these 31 cars travel more than 250,000 miles, or far enough, if traveled by one car only, to transport passengers from the earth to the moon and to start hack on the return trip again. Or, to keep down to earth, one car could travel around the earth at the Equator nearly nine times, and in doing so keep moving at the rate of 700 feet a minute. Another use of power is for pumping ,vater. Normally, the pressure in the water system in the streets suffices to serve buildings three or four stories high. In the Waldorf: however, the water must be delivered 44 stories high, and for that reason electrically driven pumping equipment is needed. An even flow to the various water-using fixtures is assured hv - ~ large storage tanks or reservoirs at strategic points throughout the building, for, obviously, the large number of guests to he served in the hotel requires extraordinary facilities for the distribution of water. There are about 12,000 faucets in the hotel, which, if opened at one time, would deliver a miniature Niagara. The amount of water used in The Waldorf-Astoria in a single year would make a lake six feet deep, more than one-hall a mile long, and one-quarter of a mile wide, 61 WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES formed by a water consumption that very frequently, on a summer's day, actually exceeds 750,000 gallons in a twenty-four-hour period. Any outstanding use of electric service in the Waldorf is found in the communications system, including, as it does, telephones, telauto­ graphs, radio, and public-address systems. Everyone, of course, is aware of the necessity for a large telephone system in a building the size of

the Waldorf but few realize its real magnitude. We have hut to picture how difficult it would he if it were necessary to communicate with friends or with the main office by messenger. With about 2700 tele­ phone instruments in the hotel, operating through a main switchboard large enough for a good-sized city and requiring the attention of 28 operators, millions of calls are handled throughout the year. And, in addition to this, an interior dial system, automatic in operation, inter- 62 BY CLYDE R. PLACE connects every department and so relieves the main switchboard of a vast amount of internal telephone traffic that if not handled in this manner would require an even larger main switchboard and an in­ creased number of switchboard operators. The telephone operators are especially trained in hotel service and they handle this great volume of work with remarkable speed and accu­ racy. Supervision is close and constant, as indeed it must he, for every call should he answered by the operators within three seconds after the receiver is lifted off the hook. Furthermore, despite the speed with which the girls work, they must always give the same cheerful, person­ alized service for which The Waldorf-Astoria is famous. "Morning calls" to awaken the guests at a specified time are one service with which we are all familiar; here more than 70,000 of such calls are made in a year, and each guest is called hy name. Incoming messages for guests who are not in their rooms are also handled by this department, the number aggregating 220,000 such messages in a year. An important section of the telephone system is that having to do with room service, and a separate installation is necessary to provide the required facilities. Located in the room-service kitchen, a subsidiary switchboard of the central-station type enables five operators to simultaneously receive food orders~ which are instantly written out and passed over to room-service captains, thus making it possible to order directly from the room-service operator without wait­ ing for the proverbial "waiter with a menu!' Is it any wonder that the volume of telephone calls and special services rendered by telephone to the Waldorf's guests require equipment that is extensive enough to serve a modem city with a population of more than 50,000? The radio-system of the Waldorf and its coupled facility, the puhlic- 63 Ill Ill ' '

Radio antenna system strung between the Waldorf's twin towers. This is part of the largest all•wave radi.o receiving system in the world. BY CLYDE R. PLACE address or speech-amplification equipment, is also highly specialized. Radio broadcasts from any one of five major systems may be had in­ stantly, and, in addition, a special program of broadcast music-without announcements or other diversion-is always available; or special-event programs, originating in the hotel itse~ may be heard in both the pri­ vate rooms and the public rooms. For example, a wedding party or a function may he entertained with broadcast music or variety programs, with special music or a program suitable for the occasion. Not long ago the management installed specially designed short­ wave radio receiving equipment and at certain times of the day ( or at any time on special request) guests may hear programs broadcast di­ rectly from London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo, Melbourne, or any other of the important foreign stations on the air at the time. The pro­ gram of broadcasting stations all over the world are examined daily by the Waldorf staff and the most interesting are included in a scheduled program and listed in The Waldorf-Astoria Dauy Bulletin-a paper deliv­ ered to patrons. When you visualize radio receiving instruments in hotel guestrooms, the natural thought is, "What about guests in ad­ joining rooms?" This question was given considerable study in the planning of the radio equipment; with the result that, although patrons ca...'1 regulate the volume up to a certain point, the maximum volume is limited to a sound level that precludes the possibility of annoyance in an adjacent room. Radio, as an entertainment feature, would hardly be complete with­ out its partner, the motion picture; and when motion pictures, with or without sound accompaniment, are required, the Waldorf can supply the most mo4em-type equipment, equal in every respect to that used by the largest moving-picture theaters in New York. The fixed motion- 65 WHEELS BEHIND THE SCENES picture equipment is installed in the Grand Ballroom, where it operates with a sound screen of the largest size and where special settings can he arranged in con junction with the picture. Colored pictures, as could he expected, are a part of the equipment. In addition, there are available portable machines handling both colored and sound films for use anywhere throughout the hotel in con­ nection with lectures and entertainment for private parties. Complete moving-picture equipment, fixed and portable, in a hotel is unusual enough, but more unusual is the fact that a camera is kept available for taking, let us say, pictures, both "movies" and "stills:' of weddings, private parties, and exhibits. Pictures have been taken hy the Waldorf's technicians that illustrate the work of many divisions of the hotel staff; so successful are these that they have been in wide demand by other hotels, and from time to time are lent for educational purposes. Too seldom seen, hut important parts of the interior-communications system in the Waldorf: are the teletype machines and the pneumatic tubes. The teletype system, with its sending stations in the telephone department and front office, and-its receiving stations, located wherever instant information is necessary, enable the transmission of a typed mes­ sage to a desired point, announcing the arrival of a guest or the receipt of a paging call as tl1e case may he. And the pneumatic-tube system;; jnst as far-flung, provides for the forwarding of written messages, the speedy disposition of ordinary mail, and the practically instantaneous han­ dling of charges from all sections of the building to the bookkeepers located in the front office, as well as routine house orders to the several operating departments, and 2500 such transmissions are just an ordi­ nary day's performance of the pneumatic-tube equipment. So far we have mentioned more or less familiar services, but there 66 BY CLYDE R. PLACE are others of a truly domestic character, though they belong in the field of mechanical operations. One of these is the guests' laundry, where an installation of the most modern type provides for speedy handling of the patrons' laundering needs. Another is the valet service, where night and day operation fulfills the demands of a fastidious patronage-de­ mands that may range from the routine pressing of a rumpled garment to the dry cleaning of the most expensive feminine apparel. And, finally, "cleaning;' that most domestic of all services, is one of the most important of The Waldorf-Astoria's mechanized services. Not only are an unusual number of the sma]l electric vacuum cleaners, so familiar to all, in daily use, hut far down in the subbasement regions are located the giant sweeping machines that, operating through a cen­ tral system, enable "mass cleaning" operations to he carried on with speed and efficiency. These great machines~ driven by electric motors, are connected through an extensive system of piping to more than I 000 outlets distributed throughout the building, with special provision for speedy accomplishment in and around the public rooms. When neces­ sary, more than 20 vacuum-cleaning operators, with their lines of hose and special tools for varied services, may operate simultaneously, and frequently do, for in no other way could vast ca..t>eted araas like the Grand Ballroom a11d its adjacent foyers he properly cleaned in the lim­ ited time that very often elapses between the cessation of one function, and the departure of its guests, and the coming of another. Apparently, a discussion of the unusual services offered by The Waldorf-Astoria takes us far from steam and electrical energy, hut all the conveniences and services we have described in this article are made possible only ~y the use of steam or electricity-the two most ubiquitous and thorough of the servants of modern civilization.

67 FOOD AND WINE

BY G. SELMER FOUGNER

AN ANCIENT WRITER, seeking to describe the art of dining, once coined the word "aristology:' which was derived from ariston-the Greek for dinner. He called the men who study that art "aristologists!' Although 5 the deriv~tion is not quite the same, the word "aristocrat ' has an anal­ ogy that is obvious. Hence it is quite fitting that the art of dining should have been so well developed at The Waldorf-Astoria, which has long been an aristocrat among the hotels of the world. With so many years of distinguished tradition at its hack, the Wal-­ dorf has found it possible to maintain its ancient standards in the arts of the tahle. In fact, it can he said that the order of food and wine which was established at the old Waldorf has been surpassed by that at the new. Just as the various countries of the world have made their contri­ butions to the pleasures of the table, so The Waldorf-Astoria satisfies connoisseurs from all parts of the globe in the matter of good food and old wines. Some of the facts, statistics, and curiosities regarding, in one way or another, the cuisine of the Waldorf deserve to he put down. Let me 68 BY G. SELMER FOUGNER attempt to recite a few of them, without too much regard for the cor­ rectness of their order. A good beginning is the Waldorf's wine cellar. Few people realize that this cellar, instead of being romantically deep down in the earth and covered with cobwebs, is five stories up in the air. It is in one of the courts and is hung from the sixth-floor beams on specially strength­ ened steel because of the weight and in order to reduce vibration which would damage some of the old wines. The "cellar:' which has a depend­ able temperature maintained by modem air conditioning, contains a fabulous store of wines. Champagne holds first place in importance; with various other assorted white wines-French, Italian, Alsatian, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Austrian-in second place. Connoisseurs will find the selection of Chateau-hottled Clarets and Estate-bottled Burgundies a worthy one. There are also, in that amazing storeroom, more than thirty­ five varieties of notable cognacs, more than forty brands of Scotch, twenty of rye and Bourbon, fifteen of gin, and thirteen each of port and sherry. Beer also figures prominently, with an average of a thousand bottles served every day to patrons and five hundred to cooks, to whom it is served as part of their daily r:.tion as "¥:anted. Beer on draft, :imported and domestic, is senred from five bars situated in different parts of the house. Thirty-four bartenders are employed to keep all these various drinks flowing. The kitchens and dining rooms of The Waldorf-Astoria are national melting pots, with practically every country represented among the employees. M~st of the cooks are French-the butchers, the sauce and pastry cooks, and the garde-mangers. Other cooks are Italian. The

69 FOOD AND WINE steady and sturdy men who keep the copper pots gleaming are also Italian. The bakers are Austrian. Spaniards, Portuguese, and Filipinos take care of the china and the silver. Eight dishwashing machines and fourteen silver-polishing machines are constantly kept humming. Four­ teen women prepare the hundreds of bushels of vegetables used every day. Machines, a little miraculously, peel the potatoes, hut the other vegetables are treated hy hand. There are eighty-six cooks at the Waldorf: twenty-four commis, a relief chef, and a night chef. Each master cook has an undercook, or commis, who has a chance to learn the science of fine cooking while working as an assistant. Every year the kitchens graduate a corps of chefs who have completed a three-year course in cooking. Last year the Waldorf prepared more than one mil1ion meals for pa­ trons. These were served in restaurants, private apartments, banquet halls, and private dining rooms. They comprised single meals and ban­ quets for as many as three thousand. There are nine public restaurants of various sorts, and two club restaurants also operated by the hotel. In addition, there are special dining rooms for the staff and a cafeteria for rank-and-file employees. Altogether, the Waldorf serves some half million meals a year to the staff alone, which makes a total of more than one anu.J a 1ia111 1r numon•11• meals, prepared... The Waldorf requires an average of eight hundred employees for receiving, storing, preparation, service, distribution, washing, clean­ ing, and supervision in the departments handling catering operations. Most of the delicacies that appear on the menu come from the local markets-hut certain exotic ones have to he imported. English sole, English mutton, and Scotch grouse; olive oil, lemons, and cheese from Italy; pate de foie gras and truffles from France; caviar from Russia 70 CJnenu

SMOKED SNAKE RIVER SnJRGEON CANAPE OP WHITEFISH LAKE PEND D'OREILLB APERITIFS

PUREE OP TWIN FALLS BEANS

CALDWELL CELERY

SILVER CREEK RAINBOW TROUT CHATEAU DE Ml1TELWIHR, TRAMINER1929

CHOICBOF: PRIMITIVB AREA VENISON SAWTOOTH RANGE LAMB ROAST MOUNTAIN TURKEY SUN VALLEY PEAS CHAMBERTIN 1929

HOT ROLLS-WEISER FLOUR

SWEET CIDER SHERBET FROM IDAHO SPITZBNBERGS

JEROME COUNTY PHEASANT RED CURRANT JELLY LANSON 1928

BAKED IDAHO RUSSETS WITH GOLDEN GEM STATE B0IIER

BOISE VALLEY HEARTS OF LE1TUCB

PAYE'ITE VALLEY APPLE Pm WTIH POCATELLO CHEESE WENDELL HONEY ICE CREAM LONE PINE IDAHO-BRANDIED PEARS

DEMITASSE PRUNIER FINE CHAMPAGNE LIQUEURS

The Idaho Dinner, gi,ven by WUliam M. Jeffers, December 8, 1938. ~\f ~\ ~ J ~ Dinner of the Aluminum Association, in celebrali,on, of the in­ ~ ~__ ___. dustry's fifti,eth birthday and i 1i honor of Mr. A. V. Davis, at ~ the Waldorf, November 10, 1938. ~ ~::-;:: -----

-,,.- MENU

Cocktails A Variety of Appetizers

Amontillado Consomme Marinette Cheese Straws

Chateau La Faurie Terrapin Baltimore Style Peyraguey 1922 Carolina Com Bread

Chatearr Gnrnmf f~iignon oi Beef Henry fv Larose Sar~et 1929 New Garden Peas

.Musigny 1930 Gray Legged Partridge Comte DeYoiige Currant Jelly Minnesota Wild Rice

nutuillll"·------Qa',~uJ~ u.

.Moet & Chandon Hot Souffie Praline Imperial Crown 1926 Fruits Rafraichis Gabriel Chocolate Leaves

Courvoisier Brandy Coffee BY G. SELMER FOUGNER and hors d'oeuvres from Holland and the Scandinavian countries. The Waldorf's women patrons have a fancy for chicken hash, pre­ ceded by a puree of peas or a consornrne. The men call most frequently for curry of chicken or Irish stew. Even though the Waldorf's charcoal­ grilled steaks have a devoted following, chicken leads beef in popular­ ity. I~amh takes the second ribbon; mutton, the third. And then comes game in season-pheasant, grouse, partridge, quail; and plover. The most successful soup at the Waldorf is green turtle. Practically no dinner party seems complete '\\ithout it. At the height of the turtle season, twelve or fourteen large turtles at a time are delivered to the kitchen. Bou/,a soup-a mixture of green peas and green turtle, covered with cream and glaced under the salamander-makes innumerable pub­ lic appearances. Fried filet of sole, accompanied liberally hy sauce tar­ tare, is the most popular fish course. Mixed green salad heads the salad list. Four hundred gallons of French dressing are consumed a month~ Peas and string beans are the favorite vegetables, ousted only by asparagus, when in season, at which time fifty crates a day are used-served either with butter, Hollandaise sauce, mousseline, or cold vinaigrette. Ice cream, that great American dish, is the number one dessert. Running in close competition with it are fresh fruit compotes and fresh fruit a]a Macedoine. A valuable ally of the Waldorf's guests-especially the indolent ones -is the hidden agency called Room Service, which, besides providing meals at regular hours, will even whip up a lobster thermidor at five o'clock in the morning. It will also, at any time, serve a private party, in a small suite. Sixty people in such a suite is its present record. Possibly breakfast is the worthiest achievement of the mysterious 73 FOOD A.ND WINE

Room Service. At certain periods a thousand guests a day want break­ fast in their rooms. (In the way of fruit, such people like oranges, grape­ fruit, baked apples, and prunes-in the order named.) Coffee-all the most avid coffee drinkers can handle-comes in thermos containers. For the ladies there is a delicate attention-a single red rose in a silver vase. And let it be said that the time between the tiling of the order and its arrival is usually under seven minutes-a very cheering thought, particularly on an empty stomach. Seventy-five waiters and ten cap­ tains of waiters see to all this. The cuisine of Room Service is essentially French-but there is a home kitchen for homesick out-of-towners, where American women cooks prepare simple American food as it is prepared at home. Such things as plain soups, chicken fricassee, apple pie, and cheese cake seem to please the long-term residents, as well as the transient guests. Diets are carefully carried out (at least hy the Waldorf's kitchen, though not always by the guests) as prescribed by the Waldorf's med­ ical department. Twelve hundred employees ate fed daily with such repasts as soup, entree, roast meats, fish, fresh vegetables, pudding or fruit. Some em­ ployees take all three meals; those with late hours of work have their dinner and supper, in the special cafeteria for employees. Housekeepers, bookkeepers, and executives use the officers' dining room. There is even a courier's room, where a la carte meals are served to private maids and visiting butlers. A radio with an amplifier amuses them there daily. There are also flowers and diverting decorations. A final word as to the Waldorf's role in American gastronomy. It was at The Waldorf-Astoria that the society of Les Amis d'Escoffier was first established. This was a grand and natural tribute to the Waldorf,

74 MENU

Stuffed Tomato EscofE.er with Crahmeat • Petite Marmite Henri IV • Hearts of Celery R~pe and Green Olives Salted Almonds • Lale Trout Bonne Femme Fleurons Dares • Intermission of T wen~ Minute.I • Double Breast of Baby Chicken with Red Plums Date Sauce Olivette Potatoes Fr-esh Asparagus Tips Polonaise • Spring Salad California Dressing • Bi"bescot Praline Ne"1' W~ldc~f with F res1 Strawberries Chocolate Leaves Macaroons • Demi Tasse

Twenty-seventh Annual Banquet of the American Bankers Association, at the Waldorf, February 17, 1938. FOOD AND WINE because members of the Society were soon acclaimed the foremost group of gourmets in the country. Milestones of glory in the epicurean history of New York City, the dinners of state which have been held at the new Waldorf during the past few years have rivaled the finest in the world-dinners to visiting royalty, to foreign diplomats and statesmen, to great leaders in social and industrial life, to the nation's foremost civic groups. A collection of the menus for such dinners in the new Waldorf is a record of gastronom­ ical treats of the very first order. There is a golden rule of eating: "Content thy stomach, and thy stomach will content thee"; kno~ng it to he true, this world-wide seeker after gastronomical adventures would add to it: "Dine and wine at the Waldorf, and both will be content:'

76 MY COLLECTION

BY OSCAR

ALMOST ALL OF us have souvenirs of one kind or another: they may he photograph albums, autographed photographs, autographed hooks, theater programs, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, carefully and honestly entered diaries-even, if none of these, our precious memories. I have, I think, all of them. But what I cherish most is my collection of menu cards-the menus of dinners served from the time the first Waldorf opened its doors to the present day. For they provide me with memories. They are reminiscent not only of sumptuous and glorious dinners ( with rare wines and many el~horate courses), hut of equally glorious fiiends 3.11d l1istorical occasions. There are, in my collection, about two thousand such menus-one of the largest collections of its kind, I've been told, in the world. To me, each one tells a story. Indeed, I think of these menus as a history of the past forty-five years, particularly as it concerns The Waldorf-Astoria, the progress of New York society, and the evolution of American cuisine. I am not t¥nking now of some of the more famous banquets and suppers-such as the one that marked the opening of the hotel in 1893; 77 MY COLLECTION or the dinner for Li Hung Chang, Viceroy of China; or the farewell dinner given by the Bradley Martins just before they left America. These have been discussed in print often enough. But my menus tell of many other dinners, long forgotten by me until I began exploring them. Glancing through them, I was amazed at the memories they brought back to my mind. Here, for instance, is a menu of a dinner for the Honorable Clarence Lexow, on the night of December 11, 1894. Lexow, as old-timers will recall, was the Thomas Dewey of his day; his investigation of graft and crime stirred New York. What particularly fascinates me about this menu is its reminder of the numerous courses we used to serve at public banquets. Today's average banquet is a "snack" in comparison. Also, there was the great variety of wines. We in America, perhaps because of the banal influence of the Prohibition era, have lost an appreciation of ,\ine l\ith meals-and that's a vecy great pity. Can you imagine an average banquet today during the course of which we are served Chateau Cerons; Amontillado Pasado; Saint-Estephe, 1888; Moet and Chandon, White Seal; Moet and Chandon, Brut Imperial; as well as an assortment of liqueurs? Yet, paradoxically enough, those very wines were served during a dinner given by an organization called

R f"'l 1-." .4 • ., - ,I - -- - p- """11ne ... '"e r.... orm '-'.1UJJ on Aprit ~q,, llJY7. ·1'h e speak er was a d.__1st1n- • guished gentleman kno,vn as Grover Cleveland! Yes, they were lusty eaters-and drinkers-in those days. And this reminds me of a constant shift and change in our customs of dining and eating. What I mean is that I can separate my menus into five distinct periods, and each period will show, I think, a change in our tastes. For purposes of convenience and illustration, I've chosen five menus, each of which is representative of the nineties, the early nineteen-hundreds,

78 ... :...;~ ... ,,.,,,, ,,~ ,",!Y . '

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Illt I ,}~ tlt:u~~l116et ~A~C..- MY COLLECTION the war period, the Prohibition era, and the present, or New Deal, age. The dinner most representative of the lavish nineties, I think, was that given by Randolph Guggenheimer, then president of the Muni­ cipal Council, in February, 1899. It was served at a cost to the guests of two hundred and fifty dollars a plate. Nightingales sang in a grove of rose trees, grape arbors surrounded the banquet room, and a rare vintage of brandy, bottled before the French Revolution, was opened. Forty guests were present. Compare this with a menu for the nineteen-hundreds. I select one for a dinner given by the Ohio Society of New York in honor of William Howard Taft, then Secretary of War, on the night of March 5, 1904. But these menus, among my souvenirs, speak of something more significant than fine wines and food alone. They echo famous names and personalities. There are a few of the nineteen-hundreds that come to mind. T1neytell of a dinner on the night of February 12, 1901, given hy the National Republican Club to Senator Mark Hanna, the robust political genius of his day; the one hundred and eighteenth anniversary banquet of the German Society, the night of March 8, 1902, in honor of H.R.H. Prince Henry of Prussia, which took place at a moment when the relations between Germany and the United States were strained; the first important dinner in America fo:r that famous sports­ man, Sir Thomas Lipton, by the Pilgrims Society of the United States, the night of September 4, 1903; a dinner on October 13, 1904, to His Grace, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury; on June 9, 1905, to the brilliant Joseph H. Choate, just returning to America after his re­ tirement as Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Another, on February 14, 1906, when the guest of honor was a promising young president of Princeton University-Dr. Woodrow 80 MENU

Oyster Gockail

~

Slierry Lemardelais a Ia Pri.11ces!!le · Green Turtle, Bolivar

~ RauenduJer Berg Basket of Lobster

~ Colomhine of Gluclen, California Stvle ,I

~ Cl.ampagne Roast .Mountain Slieep with Puree of Claestnuts Jelly Brussels Sprouts, Saute New Asparagus wit1. Cream Sauce -n f ancy Sherbet

~ DiamonJ Back Terrapin -n

D 11 n 1 n11aay Uuck Orange and Grapefruit SalaJ

~ Port Wine f resli Strawberries anJ Raspberries Vanilla.Mousse Bonbons fruits Li

Dinner given by Randolph Guggenheimer on February 11, 1899. Dinner in honor of William Haward Taft, gi:ven 'by the Ohio Society of New York on March 5, 1904.

MENU

,.. COCKTAIL AUX HUITRES

GRAVES SUPERIEUR POTAGE , ' CONSOMME DE VOLAILLE, PRINTANIERE TORTUE VERTE CLAIRE

HORS D'OEUVRE ,. RADIS OLIVES CELERI AMANDES SALEES

POISSON COQUILLES DE BASS A' LA VIRCHOW ,. CONCOMBRES MARINES

MEDOC SUPERIEUR ENTREE COURONNE DE RIS DEVEAU AVEC CHAMPIGNONS FRAIS

CHAMPAGNE PIECE DE RESISTANCE MIGNON$ DE FILET DE BOEUF A' LA CARDINALICE ,. POMMES DE TERRE SAUTEES EN QUARTIERS PETITS POIS A' LA FRANCAISE ;I FONDS D'ARTICHAUTS FRAIS ALA DUBARRY

SORBET DE F Al"\;TAISit;

GIBIER PLUVIERS D'HERBES ROTIS ,. GELEE DE GROSEILLES SALADE CHIFFONADE

ENTREMETS DE DOUCEUR GLACES A LA GRENADINE PETITS FOURS FRUITS ,. CIGARS CAFE

APOLLINARIS THE W ALDORF·ASTORIA LE 5 MARS, 1904 BY OSCAR Wilson; and, a few nights later, a dinner to the Right Honorable Earl Grey, then Governor General of Canada. Again, on April 18, 1910, a dinner in honor of Britain's Field Marshal, Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, whose tragic and mysterious disappearance during the World War is still a matter for conjecture. In the same year, dinners to Charles Evans Hughes, now Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, then Governor of Ne-v1 York State, and to an ex-President named Theodore Roosevelt, who had just returned from a long and spec­ tacular hunting trip in Africa. As I run my eye over these menus, the years move on, and other great men and great events rush through memory-the prewar days: a dinner for H.R.H. Prince Mehemed Ali Pasha of Egypt, on July 20, 1912; in the same year, dinners for New York's Mayor, William J. Gaynor, for Seth Low, and for Andrew Carnegie. The war years touched Europe, hut American dinners went on as sumptuously as ever-America was as yet untouched by the great con­ flagration-for instance, a dinner for a prominent inventor, named Thomas Edison on June 15, 1916, when after-dinner speakers were beginning to cry: "America Awake-Prepare!"

1nen the war enveloped the American people 1 and, frcm 1917 to 1919, I find the outstanding menus in my collection few and far be­ tween. Once in a while, of course, there was a great dinner, such as that given on June 22, 1917, for Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wire­ less. But here is a dinner that provides us with a typical menu of the war years. It was given the night of January 12, 1918, in honor of the courageous Myron T. Herrick, America's Ambassador to France, who determinedly stayed in Paris even when the French Government and all foreign ambassadors moved out for safety's sake. 83 MY COLLECTION

But with the passing of the war there came dinners that sounded the American note of triumph. In the year 1919 America (and the Wal­ dorf) entertained some of the outstanding men of the generation. These included General John J. Pershing, leader of America's victori­ ous forces in France; King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians; Belgium's gallant war prelate, His Eminence Desideratus Cardinal Mercier; the jaunty Right Honorable First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty, Earl Beatty; the Prince of Wales, later to he the King of England, and now the Duke of Wmdsor; the Crown Prince of Siam, the Crown Prince of Abyssinia ( or what then was Abyssinia), Crown Prince Carol (now King) of Rumania; President Diaz of Mexico; Lloyd George, England's wartime premier; and Lord BaHour. Then America settled down to begin an era of onrushing prosperity. But it was also the era of Prohibition. I glance into menus, from 1921 on: menus for dinners to such figures as Charles ~1:. Sch·w·ah ( on November 10, 1921); a rising young bandmaster, Paul Whiteman ( August 14, 1923); to Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover­ and I find one thing strangely missing: a wine list. Drinking with meals had become a furtive practice everywhere. It was a pitiful blow to the art of public banqueting. Another significant change was evident in this era, as my menus show. The banquets became less sumptuous-more, shall I say, utili­ tarian? Certainly, the courses had been pared down. For instance, a dinner in February, 1924, for President Coolidge. (Note the "Apollinaris" and "White Rock" hut no mention what­ ever of any wines or liquors.) It would be impossible for me to dwell on all the outstanding dinners of the past forty-five years that are represented in these menus. I could

84 Dinner for Myron T. Herrick, former Ambassador to France, January 12, 1918.

MENU

,. HUITRES OE HAUTE MER GRAVES SAUTERNE

* 4)

POTAGE FAUSSE TORTUE AU MADERE LOUIS ROEDERER BROWN LABEL CELERI RADIS OLIVES

*

MEOAILLON DE KINGFISH A' LA MORNAY CHARLES HEIDSIECK

EXTRA DRY CONCOMBRES A' LA FRANCAISE ;>

, RIS DE VEAU BRAISE AVEC CHAMPIGNONS CHARLES H El OSI ECK

BRUT t 905 PETIT POIS-SAUTES AU BEURRE

SOAB£T PRUN ELLE

POITRINE DE VOLAILLE. SAUCE DIABLEE

COEURS DE LAITUE. A LA RUSSE

PALL MALL CIGARETTES GLACES FANTAISIE GATEAUX ASSORTIS

CIGARS

CAROLI NA PERFECTO CAFE Duiner for President Coolidge, gi.ven. at the Waldorf in February, 1924.

Canape of Anchovies

Cream of Celery with Toasties Celery Olives

Aisuilette of Striped Bass JoinviUe Potatoes a Ia Hollandaise

Asparagus Tips au sratin

Breast of Chicl<:en a la Rose Waldorf Salad, mayonnaise I Venetian ice Cream I Assorted Cakes Coffee

Apollinaris White Rode BY OSCAR name many of the societies and organizations which, for so many years, have made The Waldorf-Astoria their home. But, inevitably, there would he omissions. Then, too, I have given only a hint of the great per­ sonalities that brought color and glamour to the banquets and to the hotel itsel£ For the year 1938, incidentally, I recall many fine dinners, including that given the night of July 6 by the New Sweden Tercentenary Com­ mittee of New York, in honor of Their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sweden; that very unusual Chinese din­ ner given by the Crowell Publishing Company in November, when The Waldorf-Astoria chefs found themselves preparing such dishes as Sharks' Fins Soup, Roast Mandarin Duck, Bamboo Salad with Toasted Almonds, and Blue Rose Head Rice. The master of ceremonies at that dinner was Mr. William Poy Lee, national president of the Chinese American Citizens' Alliance of America. But the year was crowned in December with one of the most impor­ tant dinners of all, that of the National Association of Manufacturers, when the main speaker was the Right Honorable Anthony Eden, Brit­ ain's former Foreign Minister, who made a speech which developed into a ringing defense of democracy. I would he hypocritical, however,. if I did not climax: this discus­ sion of my menu collection with reference to a dinner given in honor of the golden wedding anniversary of-well, I might as well use the right names-Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Tschirky. It took place on the night of October 7, 1937, and it was the proudest moment of my life. Twelve hundred men and women gathered to honor us. Among so many others, there were Mayor LaGuardia and Dr. Victor Ne£: Consul General of Switzerland, the country of my birth. Messages were re- 87 BUFFET RUSSE London Club Amontillado Fino Tio Pepe y

CLEAR GREEN TURTLE Imperial Amontillado T

OLIVES PECANS CELERY

T

BROOK TROUT, GOURMET Wurzburger Sylvaner Riesling 1955 Cucumbers, Sour Cream

T

, ,. MIGNON OF BEEF, BEARNAISE Chateau Latour 1925 New Peas with Lettuce

y

KIRSCH SHERBET

y

GRAY LEGGED PARTRIDGE Musigny, Comte de Vogiie 1950 Wild Rice Currant Jelly

Waldorf Salad

T

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY DESSERT

WEDDING CAKE

FRUIT Courvoisier, 50 years old Liquors Cigars Cigarettes COFFEE

Dinner in honor of the Bolden wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Tschirky, October 7, 1937. BY OSCAR ceived from the President of the United States and his entire cabinet. Sponsored by sixteen organizations and a distinguished Dinner Committee under the leadership of Crosby Gaige, Chairman represent­ ing the Wme and Food Society. But, from a professional standpoint, that dinner seemed extremely significant to me. (Bear in mind that I had nothing to do with the prepa­ ration of the meal. For once, Oscar was being waited upon!) But from my years of experience in composing menus for Waldorf banquets, I had found that certain dishes were outstandingly popular. This menu was a combination of such favorites. The wines were selected by the Banquet Committee and managed to harmonize perfectly with the dishes they accompanied. This dinner, so brilliantly planned, helped to revive the halcyon days, long past, when elaborate banquets were the rule rather than the exception. From that day I became convinced that the age of leisurely dining was inevitably returning. I still fervently hope so.

89 THE SERT ROOM

THREE VIEWPOINTS

,. THE MURALS OF JOSE MARIA SERT BY ROYAL CORTISSOZ The great decorative tour de force in The Waldorf-Astoria is, of course, the series of huge panels painted for one of the dining rooms by Jose Maria Sert. We can imagine the frame of mind in which this distinguished Span= ish artist tackled so vast a commission. Realizing that he had to deco­ rate a dining room, a place of cheerful relaxation, he saw that the idea of joie de vivre offered, unmistakably, his keynote. Turning for his inspira­ tion to Don Quixote, he hit upon oue episode after another, pitched in the note of pure, picturesque comedy. The subject gave him many ro­ mantic forms and, especially, constant movement. We need not enumerate the scenes delineated. It is enough to say that Sert selected those which would yield him the maximum of farcical -even acrobatic-humor. Then he proceeded to paint them, almost in monochrome, using black and silver, in the main, with a sufficient in­ fusion of rose to heighten the brilliance of the ensemble. 90 BY EDWARD A.LDEN JEWELL

In these panels Sert triumphs once more as a decorative painter, for they are composed with equal freedom and organic symmetry. When the windows are covered with their mirrors, the tonal scheme of the brave, flashing room takes on its last touch of splendor.

DECORATING A DINING ROOM BY EDWARD ALDEN JEWELL

(Reprinted, with permission, from The New York Times.)

The fame of Jose Maria Sert has long been established throughout Europe and the United States. Examples of his work are to be found in the Royal Palaces and public buildings of Spain; in France-where he lives-and in other European countries. His fifteen paneis-fi)ling all the wall space in this large dining room -are fourteen feet high and vary, in width, from six to twenty-two feet. Installed in a setting that perfectly carries out their color motifs, the panels appear to the best possible advantage. The artist displays. an appreciation of the decorative requirements involved, and has brought to his task a distinguished style that not only consorts with the theme hut sedulously keeps within hounds~ Not once does the _painter step outside of his role of decorator; never does he break into the room's handsomely conceived unity with a flourish of personal virtuosity. Seiior Sert has been happy, too, in the choice of his theme-the marriage of Quiteria, in Cervantes' novel-with its attendant orgy of country-side entertainment. In the romance, Don Quixote and Sancho were overtaken, while journeying on the road, by some students and farmers hound for the 91 "The Marriage of Quiterio.: 011e oJ a famous group of murals done for the Sert Room by Jose Maria Sert. BY EDWARD ALDEN JEWELL wedding of Quiteria, and, with promise of high exploits ahead, it took no great persuasion to induce the romantic Don to make that event his destination. It is with the various aspects of such a rural jollification that the painter has chiefly concerned himself: His dramatization of Cervantes' account suggests a profound knowledge of Spain's holiday moods and pastimes. In successive panels he shows us the strong men performing their acrobatics; the tight-rope walkers, the charlatans, the musicians, etc. These scenes, robust and hilarious, are all pervaded by a spirit of contagious and rustic enjoyment. The large panel on the east wall, as a single example, is a riot of pictorial elements schooled into coherence by the sweeping curves of a double stair. At the opposite end of the room, Senor Sert has appropri­ ately placed two narrow panels. In one we have a lusty pyramid of tum­ blers-their muscles straining and their attention held alert by the effort required to maintain the pyramid's balance. In the other panel, a group of revelers lie stretched on the ground, exhausted and deep in slumber. Senor Sert has, without any loss of interest, kept his entire theme general in feeling. The scheme of color employed approaches the mon- to the indefinable hue of shadows, all laid upon a background of silver that becomes itself interfused with the colored masses. Dull gold encases the windows, while the ceiling is silver, diffusing the light thrown upon it from a vast gridlike fixture of steel, overlaid with silver. These murals are not, of course, a literal representation of incidents exactly described in Cervantes' story. Rather, one Spanish artist has inspired another to imaginative representation of an immortal story.

93 THE SERT ROOM DINING IN THE SERT ROOM BY CHARLES HANSON TOWNE

The Sert Room is a sparkling jewel that attracts unending attention to The Waldorf-Astoria. All visitors to New York seem to gravitate toward its mellowed and golden-yellow beauty. An innovation is that it has two floor levels, for dancing. Again, a handsome railing of nickel, bronze, and silver curves gracefully about the dais, on which the tables, lighted with soft lamps, are placed. The chairs, to conform to the shade of the carpet, are up­ holstered in Burgundy. It is a room of warmth and richness, which seems to have every modem equipment that ingenuity could devise to make it one of the most beautiful showplaces in the city. In such surroundings good food tastes better, and old wines-imported from distant caves-can he more thoroughly enjoyed. A radiant rendezvous for an evening of dining and dancing.

94 FIVE DECADES OF MUSIC

BY ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY

MoRE GREAT MUSIC has been heard in The Waldorf-Astoria-both the old and the new-than in any other hotel in the world. For nearly half a century almost every distinguished artist in America has ap­ peared there, since the day that marked the turning point in my series of concerts, or Musical Mornings, more than forty-five years ago, when Mademoiselle Nellie Melba came to sing for my subscribers shortly after her spectacular operatic debut. The roster of lVIelha's successors, both vocal and instrumental, reads like a musical roll of honor, and there is scarcely a single important artist who has come to this country and failed to join the list. Caruso, for instance, appeared at the Waldorf during eighteen winters; it was a memor~ hle occasion every time he sang. I first met Mademoiselle Melba at dinner at Mrs. Paran Stevens' in New York. I had just moved the scene of my recitals to the Waldorf, and naturally wanted, more than anything else, to persuade her to sing at one of them. After dinner I told her how thrilled I had been by her performances in opera, and asked if I might call on her the next day. 95 _----_-- _-- ~:..·:~:: / :;~:.~:;1?fE_l_t

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. ,,..,..· ,.;- ... ···~.. · ---·~- :· ·:::' --~~

... ;_. . , - _,. --• """:.. ··.

, .:..J'':

Ill Ill ' '

Albert Morris Bagby. BY ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY

She agreed; and when I mentioned my hope of engaging her, she said she would gladly appear. My announcement of this coming event was greeted with skepticism hut on the day of the scheduled concert the ballroom was filled to capacity. Then came a harsh blow: Mademoiselle Melba developed a cold and could not possibly sing. She was a good and loyal friend, however. She caine to the concert and sat in a box, and after I had introduced the substitute soloist to the audience I turned to her box and said, "You will sing for us next Monday, won't you?" "Indeed I will," she an­ swered enthusiastically. The following week she did sing, and as only she could. From that day on, the success of the Musical Mornings was assured. The Abbey, Schoeffel, and Grau Opera Company was then at the Metropolitan, and there was a profusion of great singers in the city: Lillian Nordica, Emma Eames, Emma Calve, Edouard de Reszke, Victor Maurel, and Pol Plan~on. They all sang for my con­ certs, at the Waldor£ In those days operatic stars had fewer contractual obligations than they have today, and it was not uncommon for them to sing for my subscribers in the morning and then appear at the Metropolitan Opera on the same night. The history of the Musical Mornings has been closely tied up with the history of the Waldorf ever since the hotel on 34th Street was opened in 1893. I happeued to attend the opening ceremonies of the hotel, and was so impressed by the new building that I decided to move my concerts there. Such a move was not only expedient, hut neces­ sary: my apartment on 57th Street could hold, at the most, a hundred and twenty-five guests, and the demand for tickets to my lecture­ recitals far exceeded that. 97 MR. BAGBY'S MUSICAL MORNINGS

THE WALDORF, MONDAY, JANUARY £2nd

11:15 O'CLOCK. 1'1A.DA.1'1B 1'1BLBA,

AND MISS MARTINA. YODNSTONE. MR. ORTON BRADLEY - - • .AT THE PIANO

PBOGBA.1'I1'.IE.

1. Sonata, G major, Op., 18 . - - Rubinstein for violin and piano. 2. Air du Rossignol de L'Allegro ed ii Penseroso Haendel Flute obllgato by MR. HUGO WITTGENSTEIN. 3. a Romanze - Wieniawski b Hungarian Idyll - . - 4. a L-;.Anneau d~Argent Chaminade b Chant Venitien - H. Bemberg s. Ballade et Polonaise - Vieuxtemps 6. Valse: Se seran Rose Lu1qi, .A rditi

One of the first programs of Mr. Bagby's Musical Mornings, January 22, 1894 BY ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY

In those days I gave a short lecture with each concert; hut; 18.ter, I realized that music can speak for itself better than any commentator, and I abandoned this practice. Now I make it· a policy to have as little talking as possible; I even ask my artists not to introduce their encores, because the intrusion of the spoken word can too easily break the spell cast on an audience hy a beautiful singing voice. When I first went to the Waldorf the concerts were held in what was called the Prince of Wales Suite, not because the Prince (Edward VII) had ever stayed there, hut because the furniture was some he had used on a visit to this country in 1859. Prince or no prince, the rooms were a decided advantage over my old quarters, since they could accom­ modate one hundred and sixty visitors. But they also proved too ~mall. I soon had to rent the ballroom, which, with a connecting anteroom, could seat four hundred. At the first concert there every seat was taken, and an equally large crowd had to he turned away. In 1898, when the Astoria opened, I moved to its larger ballroom. Since then interest in the concerts has increased annually; now there are more than fifteen hundred faithful subscribers who fill the spacious ballroom of the new Waldorf-Astoria, where the Musical Mornings have been held ever since the hotel opened its doors eight years ago. When I planned the first recital in 1891, I intended calling it, for want of a better name, "Matinee musicale." I was discussing this, one day, i.·r~th ~fiss Louise l\fcA11ister, the daughter of Ward McA 11ister, and she disapproved strongly of the choice. "Not 'matinee musicale:" she said. "That isn't English. Why not 'musical morning'?" I took her advice immediately. Incidentally, !\ifiss McAllister once told me an interesting story about her father which, as far as I know, has never been accurately recorded. It was about the origin of the title "The 99 FIVE DECADES OF MUSIC

Four Hundred;' which he is credited with having given New York society. This is how it came about: Late one afternoon a reporter called to see Mr. McAllister and to ask him if it was true that the city was going to buy a pier on the North River-I think it was Pier No. 2-helonging to Mrs. McAllister. As he was leaving, the reporter said, ''Oh, hy the way, Mr. McAllister, how many people do you expect at the next Patriarchs' Ball?" "Well:' said Mr. McAllister, "I suppose about as many as the ballroom at Del­ monico's will hold!' (The halls were later held at the Waldorf, of course.) The reporter then asked how many that would he, and Mr. McAllister called through an open door to the library, where his wife and daughter were sitting, and asked them. "About four hundred;' Mrs. McAllister called hack. "Thank you:' said the reporter, and left. The next morning, I remember reading that Ward McAllister had said there were only Jour hundred people in society in New York. And all because a reporter wanted to know if Mrs. McAllister was going to sell a pier to the city! I have never held a Musical Morning in a public hall because that would destroy its intimate, personal nature. What we have at The Waldorf-Astoria-an ideal site because of its splendid dining rooms, which many of the audience use after each concert-is a private society, or, as the Germans say, a ''Gesch"lossene Gesellschaft!' It grows each - Vear con- • like au endless chain: subscribers tell their friends about the certs, and they in turn tell others. In choosing my programs I always try to give my audiences what they want, and not what somebody else might think they ought to have. The songs the artists sing are the best in music, hut they are also often of the popular variety, in the better sense of the word. These numbers, while not necessarily elevating in 100 BY ALBERT MORRIS BAGBY themselves, fill a great need. They go straight to the heart, and they are the music that people enjoy and remember. Whatever their historical significance may he, the Musical Morn­ ings will at least have given birth to one lasting contribution to music, of which I am proud, and which has been made possible by the gen­ erosity of my friends and the friends of music. That is the Bagby Music Lovers' Foundation Inc., which was organized at the time of my three hundredth Musical Morning, in January, 1925. The aim of the Foundation is to give pensions to aged artists in financial straits-not as charity, hut as a reward for unforgettable ser­ vices to music. It used to hurt me to see people who had done so much for the world left stranded at the end of their professional careers, with no place to tum to for help. The Foundation has helped to alleviate this unfortunate situation. Each year, for the past few winters, I have organized a gala concert in the Grand Ballroom at the end of my regular series of eight recitals, and each year the response has been increasingly encouraging. In 1938, for instance, such artists as Kirsten Flagstad, Lotte Lehmann, Susanne Fisher, Irene Jessner, Giovanni Martinelli, Mario Chamlee, Richard Bonelli, Emanuel List, Ezio Pinza, and Beveridge Webster volunteered their services on this occasion. Mr. Lucius Boomer . 1 1" C ~ TVT 1 1 (" & • , ~.. d- h grac1ous .. y gave us tu.e use 0.1 .L11e wa.iaon-astona J:>allroom, an t e public was munificent. As a result of this and similar concerts in other years, we have succeeded in building up a fund large enough at the moment, to care for eleven needy artists. In the past, we have helped Minnie Hauk, Antonio Scotti, Cosima Wagner, and my old friend Arthur Friedheim, who studied the piano with Liszt, as I did. We are now supporting a famous star of forty years ago who has been almost 101 FIYE DECADES OF MUSIC forgotten by the public and would otherwise he in serious financial difficulties. For having been able to play a part both in the develop­ ment of musical appreciation in America and in this other charitable and necessary work, I am deeply grateful.

102 IMORE ABOUT MUSIC

BY MILLICENT FENWICK

MANY CONCERTS and musical diversions, other than those known as the Bagby Musical Mornings are given regularly at TheWaldorf-Astoria. But before we consider them, a little more justice should he done to Mr. Bagby who, while he has, in the preceding chapter, given us an interesting account of his noonday concerts, has said altogether too little concerning himsel£ There is a good deal that is intriguing about this extraordinary man, who for nearly fifty years has given some of the most distinguished and successful concerts in America. He was one of the nine children of John Courts Bagby of Rushville, Illinois, a judge and member of Congress. At the age of eigl1teen he weni to study music in Germany, where for two years Liszt consented to be his teacher. Liszt, then an old man, and acknowledged to be one of the great geniuses of his time, accepted very few pupils. It was he who taught Mr. Bagby not only the piano hut also Russian whist. He must have made a great impression on the young man, as Mr. Bagby is still a pianist, a great connoisseur of music and an excellent player of contract bridge. 103 MORE A.BOUT MUSIC

Not long after his return to this country, Mr. Bagby read a paper on music at the Town and Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. The audience there was so enthusiastic that he decided to lecture about music as a chosen career. At the beginning a pianist always accom­ panied him, illustrating the points of the lecture with passages from the works under discussion. In time, however, the lecture part of Mr. Baghy's program grew shorter and shorter, as more and more singers were introduced into the body of his talks. It was in that way that the Bagby Musical Mornings, now forty-eight years old, were first con­ ceived and launched. Now, on the third Monday in November of each year, in the Grand Ballroom of The Waldorf-Astoria, the opening concert of the season is given. As the last rustling dies down in the audience, Mr. Bagby, small and white-haired, immaculately dressed, advances to the center of the stage to say a few words about the program. He introduces the artists-and the morning proceeds. Afterward he very often gives a luncheon party in the Sert Room. These lunches, like everything Mr. Bagby does, are arranged with great taste and the most meticulous care. Every detail is worked out before­ hand-the food, the flowers, the seating. The subscribers are delighted when they are asked to these luncheons and must think themselves lucky to have subscribed to the concerts. There are :fifteen hundred members already in Mr. Bagby's hand of subscribers and, every ye~r, the series is heavily oversubscribed. It is interesting that all this success has been achieved without a press agent, as Mr. Bagby deplores the modem attitude toward publicity where music is concerned. Today he occupies a unique position in the world of music. There is scarcely a great artist who, during the past fifty years, has not been his 104 BY MILUCENT FENWICK friend. He is a true cosmopolite and is almost as well known in the musical worlds of Germany and France as in that of America. However, as has already been explained, Mr. Bagby's Musical Mornings are only one of the many musical activities that are given regularly at The Waldorf-Astoria. Here is a typical example. One of the oldest musical societies in New York, the Mendelssohn Glee Club, has given its concerts at the new Waldorf since the hotel was opened in 1931. Before that the club, which was founded in 1866, gave their concerts in the old Waldor£ Their music is serious and erudite rather than popular. Edward MacDowell, the American composer, was once their conductor, and even today most of the members are famous musicians or composers. No one is admitted who is not a member, or has not a card signed hy a member. Another musical organi?.ation that gives its concerts regularly in the Waldorf is the Haariem Philharmonic Society. This society was founded in 1891, when Haarlem was the name-reminiscent of the early Dutch settlers-of the upper part of New York. Like the Mendelssohn Glee Club, this Society also gave its concerts in the old Waldorf:.Astoria until the new hotel was built. In the old hotel the concerts were held in the Astor Room, at eleven in the morning, and were followed by a "breakfast" in the Grand Ballroom. In the new Waldorf: these concerts, like those of the other musical societies, are given in the Gra,,d Ballroom. Most of the great soloists of the musical world have appeared at the concerts of the Haarlem Society, hut those who arrange their programs have always shonu an independent and enterprising spirit in the selec­ tion of artists. Not only are famous artists asked to appear, hut some­ times, also, exceptions are made for those who are as yet unknown. 105 Sketch of Albert Moms Bag'by, by Enrico Caruso. This was mmk at a dinner gwen in honor of Mr. Caruso 'by Mrs. Ogden Goelet in 1906. BY MILUCENT FENWICK As an example, Richard Crooks sang for the Haarlem group in 1907, when he was only seventeen years old. It was also in 1907 that "The Bohemians"-the New York Musicians' Club-was founded. Like the other, and older, organirations, it also followed The Waldorf-A.storia uptown to its new site. Rafael Joseffy, one of the great pianists of the day, and a small group of other dis­ tinguished musicians were the organizers of The Bohemians. As the name implies, it is a club for musicians and was founded not only to give concerts, hut also to provide a meeting place for musicians. Their concerts are given in the evening, in the Grand Ballroom, and the audience is almost entirely professional in character. The University Glee Club is another organi7,3.tion that meets regu­ larly at The Waldorf-Astoria. It is composed of college men, in busi­ ness in New York, who love singing as an avocation. Of a membership of about four hundred-composed of hankers, lawyers, doctors, and businessmen generally-one hundred and seventy-five sing regularly in the club's concerts. The first object of this group is "to encourage male singing of the highest excellence:' and in this respect it has been very successful. The music, under the direction of Dr. Channing Lefebvre, is of a distinctly tJgh standard. Dr. Lefebvre has been, for seventeen years,

• .] 1 • f rn • • 1""1.. 1 • 1\T ~r 'I ~--• the organist ana. cnorr master O.a. .u1mty '-'uurcn m 1~ew Iork. His predecessor, as conductor, was Dr. Marshall Bartholomew, who com­ posed many songs written for male choirs. This Club was founded in 1894, as an outgrowth of the Alumni Glee Club of Columbia University. Many famous men have been mem­ bers of it, among them Bishop Greer, Mr. J.P. Morgan, and Senator Chauncey Depew. The club has a tradition of good fellowship and has 107 MORE A.BOUT MUSIC entertained many European Glee Clubs during their trips to this coun­ try. It has planned concerts and meetings with other groups that are expected here during the New York World's Fair. Perhaps the newest series of concerts given in The Waldorf-Astoria are those of the Philharmonic-Symphony Ensemble, whose first con­ cert was held on January 15, 1939, in the Empire Room. The Ensemble consists of soloists of The Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra and the concerts were arranged by Macklin Marrow and Deems Taylor, the composer. At the first concert-after a dinner in the Empire Room­ Benny Goodman was the soloist, playing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major. These concerts are given on Sunday evenings, and are pleasantly informal, a little like concerts in one's own house. Many other orchestras have a Waldorf record-orchestras that have made important contributions to music of quite a different type. Jazz has been called the folk music of America, and few orchestras have done more for its development than those of Guy Lombardo, Leo Reis­ man, Benny Goodman, and Eddy Duchin. All these, and many more, have played in _the hotel. Paul Draper, who has perfected a style of dancing that may well turn out to he the inspiration for a new American ballet, has danced here to Emil Coleman's music. In the theatrical world, one of the most famous clubs in America is the Lambs, whose "Gambols" have been given in The Walrlorf-.A_storia

• 10~/l Tl. T 1... £ d d • ,n,-y,1 -w ·" • ,tt:- • .. ,1 S!nCe ... .,,v-r• .Lue "'-'anws was .:.OUil e m .lb i 4, ana tnerr .. \;-amhols were always, until 1934, held in theaters or at the Metropolitan Opera House. It is, of course, primarily a club for actors, but many of its members are composers, authors, directors, well-known movie stars or famous people who have no connection at all with the stage. David Belasco and Victor Herbert were members, and so was James 108 MR. BAGBY'S 412tb .musical .morning

Waldorf-Astoria

MONDAY, JANUARY NINTH, 1939, AT ELEVEN O'CLOCK

MADAME KIRSTEN FLAGSTAD • MR.GIOVANNI MARTINELLI

and MR. EMILE BAUME

MR. EDWIN D. McARTHUR at the Piano

1. PRELUDE-CHOltAI.E ING BAOI-BUSONI 5. CEIESTE AibA: ".Aii:>A" VDDI "IN DIR 1ST FJlEUDE" MIL MARTINELLI MR.BAUMB

6." MOT KVELD (Twilight) 11 TR.E 2. GIORNI SON CHE NINA PDGOum BACKER-GllONDABL I, SERENADE SCHuBERT /, EN DROM GJUBG e A SUMMER. NIGHT GolllNG THOMAS c SPRING CAME EDWIN McAllTHUK tl CH'ELLA MI CR.EDA PuCCINI 'THE GIRL OP THE GOLDEN WEST• tl FROM THE LAND OP THE SKY-BLUE WATER. CHAltLES W AKEPIBLD CADMAN MR. MARTINELLI 1 SEA MOODS Mn.DUD TYSON

.. MAD.AME FLAGSTAD 3." uEINsAM IN TR.tmEN TAGmr· (ELSA'S DREAM FR.OM "LOHENGRIN'') i, ;·vu BIST DER. LENZ" (SIEGLINDFS -, ,. A TT 'D"1)7' ~IIT9'1'?.' s-•"'- -- .,... : • .rJUA :rROM ~;DIE WAI.Kt~") , • -· ,...,...., .VV'A.~ U V.L."C.C UU.L1..\..J:, t.oes1'1C WAGNER a Stream) LiszT MADAME FLAGSTAD /J LA CHASSE (The Chase) LiszT-BAUMB (From a Caprice by Paganini)

4. 11 TARANTELLA Mll.BAUMB l,BER.CEUSE c ETUDE IN A MINOR, Op. 2S, No. 11 CHOPIN 8. DUET FR.OM 4th ACT: ••Ai.DA" VBRDI MR.BAUMB MADAME FLAGSTAD AND MR. MARTINELLI

The program of the 412th Musi.cal Morning. MORE ABOUT MUSIC J. Corbett. Among the members today are William Rapp and ex­ Governor Harold Hoffman of New Jersey. The present club house on Forty-fourth Street is called, by its members, "The Fold" and was designed by Stanford White. The Hasty Pudding Club of Harvard University also gives its annual show at The Waldorf-Astoria, at the end of its tour in the Eastern states. Their productions, with some of the collegians dressed as chorus girls and kicking, like a pony ballet, are as successful as they are amusing. This year's show is a farce, called Fair Enough, with a background of the New York World's Fair. The Musician's Emergency Fund's Soirees are a combination of both music and theater. They grew out of a surprise dinner given, in 1936, for Mrs. Vincent Astor, in recognition of her work as Chairman of the Musician's Emergency Fund-a fund which was started in 1932 to help musicians who were in need. All the better-known artists and musicians cooperated with Mrs. Astor in this charitable work, and the dinners, which have become an annual event, have been extremely successful. They are, usually, wholly informal in character. In 1938 the program was more elaborate-a little musical play by Gretchen Damrosch Finletter (the daughter of Walter Damrosch), which was called A Night in the Palace of Prince Esterhazy. In 1939 there was another play, written hy Deems Taylor, called Le Sou-per de Jacques Offenbach, in which Mrs~ Astor and LarrTence Tihhett en­ acted the two leading roles. The annual soiree of the Musician's Emergency Fund is one of the most brilliant social events of the New York season, and is an important factor in furthering the work of the Fund, which, since 1932, has helped more than three thousand musicians. 110 BY MILUCENT FENWICK

Naturally, in so short a chapter, it has been impossible to give more than an outline of the many concerts that are given in The Waldorf. Astoria. Furthermore, only those that are given there regularly have been mentioned at all. Because the Waldorf offers such an ideal place for musical activities of all kinds one of its facets is that it is a real musical center.

111 CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY

11 BY B. C. FORBES

To ME, The Waldorf-Astoria has always seemed more than a hotel. It was, over a period of years, a very definite factor in my career. While a young and very poor lad in a remote part of rural Scotland, I heard about the glorious magnificence of The Waldorf-Astoria in far-off New York-and dreamed of the day when I might see it. Years passed. My boyhood dream came true almost thirty-five years ago. I had plenty of time to see the Waldorf-from the outside-as well as much of the rest of New York, while trudging the streets in search of a job on a newspaper. The only way I could secure one was to volunteer to serve for nothing. The idea worked. In a year er hvo I found myself Financial Editor of the staid and dignified New York Journal of Commerce. But as I looked more like sixteen than twenty-six, I felt conscious that, whenever I sought to approach financial or business leaders, they would regard me as a fifteen-dollar-a-week juvenile reporter, unworthy of consideration, to say nothing of confidence. How could I overcome this handicap? 112 BY B. C. FORBES Very fortunately for me, The Waldorf-Astoria then came to my rescue. In those days the Peacock Alley and bar of the old Waldorf-Astoria were the only rendezvous, in the late afternoon and evening, of the nabobs of Wall Street and the whole financial community, as well as of the local and visiting industrial magnates. The solution of my problem came to me quickly. Being a frugal Scot, I had saved some money. I would invest my savings-my weekly earnings would not be quite sufficient-in living at the Waldorf and doing my utmost to rub shoulders with the financial and business great. I moved into the world-renowned hostelry, engaging a modest room on one of the two floors then devoted exclusively to men. As it finally turned out, this was the best investment I have ever made in my life. By living at The Waldorf-Astoria, I was able to get on an intimate footing with many of the most influential men then prominent on Wall Street. Fritz Augustus Heinze, the Copper King, v.·ho 1\-as then in his hey­ day, was one of The Waldorf-Astoria habitues with whom I became close friends. At that time he staged an epochal battle with the Stand­ ard Oil interests for control of the rich copper mines of Butte, Montana. They found and fought. The sequel and settlement of this battle con­ stitute a unique incident in financial-industrial history. The details were given to me, privately, hy one of the gladiaiorial participants, hut no harm can come from revealing them now. After interminable war­ fare and negotiations, John D. Ryan, then head of Standard Oil's vast copper interests, arranged to meet Mr. Heinze in the strictest secrecy. They talked late into the night. Finally, they were only half a million dollars apart. Neither would give in. At last this sporting proposition was made: "Let's toss a coin as to whether you or I give up the half 113 CAPTA/NS OF INDUSTRY million~' Then, for what was perhaps the only time in history, a coin was Hipped for half a million dollars. John W. Gates, high-rolling, spectacular, and astute financier and promoter, lived at the Wal

The Zep-peli.n Hindenburg ( since destroyed) as it passed the twin. towers of the Waldoif on May 20, 1936. CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY iron, steel, ore, and allied concerns into one gigantic combination, Mr. Morgan sent for the youthful, ambitious Mr. Schwab, and after much hemming and hawing confided that he had discovered one fact which might stand in the way of going ahead with the merger. He handed Mr. Schwab his salary contract with Mr. Carnegie, a contract which guaranteed him a million dollars a year, and asked him what he proposed to do about it. "This:' instantly replied Mr. Schwab, reaching out for the piece of paper. He tore it into a hundred bits. Other meetings followed at the Waldorf and in the Morgan office. The upshot was the organization of the United States Steel Corpo­ ration, and the naming of Charles M. Schwab as its first President and Judge Gary as Chairman. JaIDes R. Keene, the shrewdest stock­ market manipulator in America's financial annals, another Waldorf hahitue, was called in by Mr. Morgan to create a market for the bil­ lion and more securities to he floated= Thus was launched United States Steel-a company organized on February 23, 1901. John W. Gates's poker parties at the Waldorf in those days have become almost legendary. Among those who repeatedly took part were Judge Gary; Henry Clay Frick, who likewise lived at the Waldorf at that time; Hermann Frasch, the _Sulphur King; Loyall L. Smith; Herm::.n Sielclc-en; tlte Coffee ¥..ing; and Colonel John Lamhert. The !!limit~~ would start '~modestlyH-at $1000. But soon there were "roodles" at $2000. Wmnings and losses in a single evening would reach anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000. Sometimes a game would last for days-with time out for brief snatches of sleep. A. S. Crockett, in his delightful Peacocks on Parade, tells how, at luncheon one day, Mr. Gates had as his companions L. C. Weir, of the 116 BY B. C. FORBES

Adams Express Company; Edwin Hawley; Loyall L. Smith; Frank Ray; Daniel J. Sully, who had been running a profitable cotton pool for the group; and several other wealthy men. The American auto­ mobile had not yet made any impressive mark, and a little fellow, C. L. Charley, who had obtained the agency of the Mercedes car, a new German invention, had come to New York to hunt American million­ aires as buyers. He wisely decided that the Waldorf lobby was the place to visit. One of Mr. Gates's guests recognized him and asked him to join the party in the Men's Cafe;! Within an hour he signed up every man present at the party for a Mercedes costing more than $10,000 ! At three o'clock one morning the Waldorf was the scene of one of the most colorful episodes in America's financial history. The prin­ cipals were, again, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Gates, with George W. Perkins, a Morgan partner, the go-between. Keen-brained as always, Mr. Gates had spotted the Louisville & Nashville Railway as a most desirable property of great potentialities. He quietly accumulated its stock. Mr. Morgan, on the other hand, fearing that the Louisville & Nashville might jeopardize the interests of the Southern Rail,vay System, then under the aegis of the House of Morgan, sent Mr. Perkins, posthaste, to arouse the unruly Mr. Gates from his bed at the Waldorf, with a flag of truce, in the form of an offer to take over the latter's Louisville t') °'T "t ei,i, • ~ 1~asnVU1e stock. "As you want the stock so badly:' Mr. Gates, according to report, calmly replied, "I'll let you have it at ten million dollars more than it cost me!' Acting under J. P.'s imperative instructions, Mr. Perkins promptly agreed. Two picturesque, large-scale industrialists and entrepreneurs who made the Waldorf the scene of their exploits in the early years of this 117 ..... ---. N·A·M,. .... ~.....

7'he banquet of the National Association of Mamefacturers, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf, December 9, 1938. BY B. C. FORBES century were Daniel G. Reid and William B. Leeds, both of whom rolled up great fortunes, mainly through the American Can Company and the American Tin Plate Company. Each was essentially a "rugged individualist!' There was no SEC in those days to curb their spec­ tacular and historic stock flotations. The historic "Northern Pacific panic" raged publicly around the New York Stock Exchange. But, actually, The Waldorf-Astoria was the scene of the most strategic moves, because it was James R. Keene who supervised the Morgan-Hill end of the battle with Edward H~ Harriman and Jacob H. Schiff's international banking firm-Kuhn, Loeb & Com­ pany-for control of the far-flung Northern Pacific Railway. The Morgan-Hill group felt secure in their control. They repudiated advances by Mr. Harriman that he he granted a potent voice in the affairs of the company. But the latter, one of the most nimble-brained railway developers America has ever produced, secretly laid plans to gain his objective; namely, control of the Northern Pacific through stock ownership. The struggle which ensued rocked the financial foun­ dations of the nation. The stolid, constructive, heavyweight Jim Hill and his all-powerful :financial hacker, J. P. Morgan, underestimated the power, ingenuity, financial resources, and affiliations of their rival. When they suddenly realized that the Harriman-Schiff interests threat­ eued to acquire stock control, ihey ordered Jim Keene to buy and buy. He did! Northern Pacific shares skyrocketed more sensationally than any other stock before or since. On May 9, 1901, Northern Pacific rapidly soared toward $1000 a share, causing pandemonium, panic, and the threat of a general financial wreckage and ruin. Mr. Morgan, usually imperturbable, became acutely alarmed. He 119 CAPT.A.INS OF INDUSTRY demanded of Mr. Hill, "How can you prevent your followers from being stampeded into selling at these fantastic quotations?" "They will stand hy me without hitching:' confidently assured the empire builder of the Northwest. And they did. Report has it that Lord Strathcona, in England, was offered, by cable, a profit of almost $7,000,000 on his shares, and John S. Kennedy, also in Europe, a profit of $5,000,000. But they refused-because they had.promised Mr. Hill not to sell. The final result was that the Morgan-Hill forces recognized that they had met their match, and a truce, an amicable settlement, satisfactory to the unconquerable Mr. Harriman, was promptly arranged-to the infinite relief of the financial world. The Waldorf also was the locale of the behind-the-scenes efforts of James A. Patten to "comer" wheat, in 1902, and of Daniel J. Sully's ill-fated attempt to "comer" cotton, which, incidentally, he once forced up from eight to seventeen cents a pound. Among others who frequented Peacock Alley, the Men's Cafe, and the famous four-sided bar, and who entertained on the grand scale at The Waldorf-Astoria, were George Jay Gould, Chauncey M. Depew, Clarence H. Mackay, Harry Payne Whitney, Perry Belmont, P. A. B. Widener, J. R. Drexel, Edward Stotesbury, John Mack-the Asphalt T(__mg-ana • , m11nomas ~,v~sn, 1 -w wwuol. was so 1uuuent.Iai• n • 1 m• t...01oraao,.. , -w m1n1ng• • history. 'fhe publishing fraternity was represented by such prominent men as Pat Collier, original owner of Collier's Weekly; Frank A. Munsey; John R. McLean, owner of the Cincinnati Enquirer; and Colonel Henry Watterson, the Louisville Courier-Journal's fiery, sui generis editor, who, because of his brilliant and sometimes racy con­ versation, invariably drew around him a group of eager listeners. 120 Ill I I I I

Nelson Rockefeller, Paul Garrett, and Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. at the General Motors Automobile Show 'in the Grand Ballroom of the Wau:lorf, November 10, 1938. CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY

Not surprising is it that these history-making activities brought crowds to the Waldorf: or that the Wall Street news tickers recorded reports-rumors-of what "The Waldorf-Astoria group" was doing in the stock market. It was widely accepted that whether prices on the New York Stock Exchange opened higher or lower was often deter­ mined by the consensus of opinion reached, on the previous evening, among the financiers gathered at the hotel. It was then common to place extensive orders on the London Stock Exchange before the New York Exchange opened. London's quotations were eagerly scanned early every morning for a clue as to what to expect when trading began on the exchange in New York. It was on Presidential election nights, however, that the Waldorf blossomed into fullest bloom. Almost everybody who was anybody gathered there to receive the voting returns. All the half dozen or more Stock Exchange brokerage offices then flourishing in the hotel were cro,vded. ..\s the verdict became established, buying or selling orders galore were cabled to London. Plans for operating as soon as the New York Stock Exchange gong sounded at ten o'clock the next morning were also laid. My fondness for the old Waldorf has carried over to its successor. As formerly, it still stands at the pinnacle of the world's hotels, tower- =- - _1.. ---e .L1-e- -11 T.L- ..1 - 1=_1-.Lr..- 1 -.&.m---1- ___ !.a._ e-c-11 __ .. w--::;,"age tug auuv Lil 1ll au. J.L::; Utill~llL.lll.1 c::lLJ. v:::;p11t.1·t, J.L::; X ·t;.tttiUL ~ • ment, and its influential clientele are more notable than ever. The Waldorf-Astoria remains the focal point, the gathe1ing place, of a multitude of the nation's foremost businessmen-manufacturers, insurance presidents, utility leaders, publishers, advertising agents, steel masters, hankers, actuaries and controllers, meat packers, and a whole string of et ceteras. 122 BY B. C. FORBES

When the Napoleons of finance or the industrial commanders in chief of the United States wish to do honor to a distinguished foreign visitor, they invariably tender him a banquet in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldo~ the most famous of America's banquet halls. There, too, the annual President's Balls, with their arresting spectacles and great array of guests ( savoring, a little, of Who's Who in America}, are held. I still see more of America's outstanding men of affairs at the Waldorf than in all the other metropolitan hotels combined. At a din­ ner given some time ago by Lucius Boomer, creator and mainspring of the modem Waldorf-Astoria, to "friends of the Waldorf:' I counted more of America's foremost men than I had ever before seen assembled at a private function. Finally, the Waldorf is, today, the official headquarters for the annual functions of many of the country's outstanding industries and business organizations. It would he impossible to cite them all, hut a few are worth mentioning. The Actuarial Society of America and the American Institute of Actuaries long have used the Waldorf as their convention headquar­ ters. These two groups have been foremost in the determination of mortalitv., risks in the United States . The Advertising Federation of America and the American Associa­ tion of Advertisine:- kencies- both have been old W~Idorf-Astoria "customers!' These organizations certainly represent the leading ad­ vertising men in the country today. Of nation-wide importance and significance have been the delibera­ tions of the American Bankers Association every year. As an example of one of the famous annual meetings of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the general session of 1938 boasted Tom M. Girdler, E.T. 123 Ill Ill• j •

Fifty-third Annual Lincoln Day Di,uu,r of the N aticnal Republican Club, in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf, February 13, 1939. BY B. C. FORBES

Weir, Chairman of the National Steel Corporation, and General Hugh S. Johnson among the speakers of the day. The annual sessions of the American Newspaper Publishers Asso­ ciation and the Associated Press have been annual fixtures for many years. At these two gatherings, usually held in close succession, Presi­ dents of the United States have taken time from their official duties to speak on matters of nation-wide and world-wide importance and significance. Decisions of wide economic and industrial importance have come out of the gatherings at The Waldorf-Astoria, of the Association of Life Insurance Presidents, the Controllers Institute of America, and the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Newspaper files need only he referred to in order to discover the telling achievements that came from such annual conventions as those held by the Edison Electric Institute, General Motors Corporation, General :Wiotors Acceptance Corporation, Guardian Life Insurance Company, the Institute of American Meat Packers, the International Business Machines Company, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Com­ pany and other groups of similar importance. Again we go hack to the hanks for inspiration in national af­ fairs-the annual conferences of the National Association of Mutual Savings Hanks, for instance, held at The Waldorf-Astoria. And some of the most important industrial policies of the nation have been enunciated at the annual banquets of the National Association of Manufacturers. Other important annual events have been held by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the National Founders Associa­ tion, the National Industrial Conference Board, the Portland Cement 125 CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY

Association, the Propeller Club of America, and many others. There are many others-other organizations and firms and societies -that have proved, through the events which took place during their great conventions, and particularly at their banquets, that history repeats itself and that the Waldorf is more than ever a focal point of current activities of first-rank economic importance.

126 HOTEL PILGRIM

BY ELSA MAXWELL

I HAVE ALWAYS lived in hotels during my gay, gregarious life. For me, a nomad by nature, homeless and unregenerate hy pathological urge, hotels have usurped the place of a family fireside. And yet there was always one element missing-there was no gaiety, the hotels never laughed .. Most hotels have a sedate a_nd somber air. I suppose that is why I, an unconventional creature of contrasts, have chQsen to live in them. The clerk at the reception desk, usually dressed in funereal black, steps forward, rubbing his hands with the manner of an undertaker about to receive (and lay out) the body-the body, of course, being you. Still, I adore hotels! T ~l,;v~-r { n,~nt~ 11v '\ -in f-"~ ~Nn~C!♦ hn'l'la~ • hn+ ;" ~ ~n♦ .ol .off.a- .;_ .&. aJ~ • "'.._ ,~-6.A..,_.._.J / .&.LA, -- --oM.&.~-. ,&..LV~-, &.111.&a. ~ " .&.I.VI.'-'.&, """'" ~ an inside, hall bedroom, with the cold comfort of a feeble radiator and had plumbing, I relax blissfully. Something about that room spells home to me as no cozy cottage could. I was born with a hotel, as well as a party complex, though the party complex manifested itself long after. So it is easy to see that hotels and I were intimate friends from scratch, until, through some damnable design of the God of Chance, 127 HOTEL PILGRIM

I could not pay the hills. Then came a hue and cry more frightening than a fox hunt. Riding to the hank was worse than riding to hound$, the hank was so much more furtive than any fox. Reluctantly, I would move on to another less exigeant hotel, if I could. I can forget rela­ tions, even friends, but never hotels. H I try to, their reproachful ghosts rise to haunt me during the customary hours for haunting. I am still visited in the dark by the shade of the first hotel in which I ever stayed, the Hotel Russell on Russell Square in London (1908). It was a dank, sepulchral place which seemed to imprison me like dungeon gates, but when I first entered the Hotel Russell it was like entering the Garden of Allah. It had shabby Oriental palms and, in the foyer, a noisy little fountain, whose insistent babbling was the only sound in the sabbatical stillness, which, at that time, pervaded middle­ class hotels in the unfashionable quarter of London. I hadn't begun to give parties then, so I left its peace inviolate . ...A.s fortune smiled upon me, I graduated to bigger and bigger hotels on my pilgrimage. But as I grew older, I also grew more critical (spin­ sters sometimes do). Not all hotels pleased me. Comparisons are odi­ ous, hut I made them. I had always read of Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo with a thrill of fascination. Oddly enough, I didn't find a single thrill when I finally

Berlin, and the Danieli in Venice, hut Claridge's in London gave me the first thrill I had felt in a hotel in years. By this time I was quite expert in judging hotels-the service, the food, and the head waiter. In Charles, the maitre d'hotel at Claridge's, I found a kindred spirit. As he escorted me gravely to the best table in the restaurant, his eyes twinkled. I knew he knew that, although I had practically no money, 128 I Ill. Ill

Elsa Marwell, jTom a portrait by Simon Elwes. HOTEL PILGRIM

I was still sufficiently important to be given the best table, while im­ patient, hungry millionaires champed and fumed in vain at the door. I gave my first parties during the years I stayed at Claridge's, aided and abetted by Charles. I remember I introduced the game of mah­ jongg to London in 1923 at Claridge's Hotel. Also in Claridge's, sev­ eral years later, I gave the first murder party ever given in England. But I never had very much fun there. Then I moved to the Ritz Hotel in Paris and met that genius among unofficial ambassadors-the famed Olivier. I admit that at the Ritz in Paris with Olivier as regisseur, my parties in the Place Vendome made history. It was there, for a period of several years, that the great Diaghileff presented his wonderful stars of the ballet every twenty­ fourth of May for my birthday party in the Ritz gardens. I had fun at the Ritz-great fun-hut still something was missing. I was quite snob­ bish about Olivier's article in Vogue several years ago when he spoke of great hosts he had known and included me l\ith King Edv;ard ,TII, Marcel Proust, and the Marquis de Castellane. I grew more outrageous as I evolved a scientific angle to the art of entertaining. These were mad, postwar days when anything went and the Jimit was the sky. But I was developing a definite party technique, and that technique was firmly entangled with a hotel reflex. 1 AC!' 'l"\'l,r? ,:r 0 ~~-r1t:'I .;._~.,..n,,-r-nr1 1-,.,...... ,.._ ...... ,.._ r.1...ll~.1.p. ... !l-11u.l nvu=u1· ~-c w~re J..&..;> ~1 u"~cu..1.~ .1.u".1.c;a..:,c;u, .L1vnc;vc;.1., c;vc;u ._ _,..,.."":, - -r - "' occasionally outdone. I felt a pang when, with a deep how, Olivier regretfully informed me that it was impossible for me to bring live seals through the Ritz corridors to the private ballroom and seat them at the table during my dinner for H. R.H. Prince Christopher of Greece. Charles once reluctantly admitted that it was impossible to hold a cockfight, no matter how private, in the small ballroom at Claridge's.

130 BY ELSA MAXWELL I fixed Charles with reproachful eyes as I murmured, "Charles, you disappoint me!' So I reasoned, if Olivier and Charles were not super­ maitres d'hotels there was no super-maitre d'hotel extant in the tur­ bulent hotel world. Finally I moved into The Waldorf-Astoria Towers, the year it opened, 1931, just after the debut of the depression. The Waldorf-Astoria had packed up its prewar antimacassars, its gilt chairs and lace curtains, its Peacock Alley and red plush portieres, and had moved up to 50th Street and Park Avenue. The only things it brought with it intact were the great and only Oscar and Mr. Bagby's Monday-morning concerts. Its towers glistened high in the skies, whitely, like a twentieth-century Taj Mahal, and I viewed its glistening ramparts in mild alarm as I drove up to the portals of my future spiritual home. I had crossed on the Ile de France with my beloved friend, Lady Mendl, pioneer of decorators ( who had done a suite in the Towers) and those gracious doyens oi Brilliancourt, France, 1\,hs. W. K. Van­ derbilt, and Miss Anne Morgan. "But, Elsie:' I protested, "this hotel is t-00 big! It is only for hutter­ and-egg men who have so much money they pay for eggs as if they were laid by diamond hens at Tompkins'." "I'll arrange everything;' said Elsie firmly; and she did, which is a "I • ,. ~ • "e T ,. ,. • - 1ust one more tmng 1or which 1 am eternally gratetul to the most re- markable woman in the world. What Elsie said about me to Lucius Boomer, Presiding Genius and President of The Waldorf-Astoria I will never know, but from the charming letter of welcome sent me by Mr. Boomer I realized that the President of The Waldorf-Astoria had an unusual sense of humor for so awesome a person. Any hotel president would have to possess a cer- 131 I I Ill I·'I Ii Scene at Elsa Ma%Well's "lxzmyard party" iii the Jade Ballroom of The Waldorf-Astoria, January 16, 1937. BY ELSA MAXWELL tain wit to welcome me under his eaves, for, although diverting, I must be a disturbing guest for a hotel to gamer trustfully to its bosom. I was installed in Apartment C on the forty-first floor of the Towers. It was an English suite, Adam furniture, old prints and chintz. Poised in midair, 'twixt Heaven and Hell (Park Avenue), the view from the apartment was unbelievably beautiful. The diamond necklace of lights curving over Queensborough Bridge sparkled as alluringly as if it encircled the monstrous throat of some gargantuan mistress. It re­ minded me of Noel CoY1ard's song "Room with a View!' In fact, I always hum it when I enter my suite at the Waldorf. Then that dark Svengali specter, "Party Urge:' raised its horrid head. "I wonder if it would be possible to give a party in the Waldorf," I thought dreamily to mysel£ "Oh, no:' I argued, "there is no Olivier and no Charles. Without one of that immortal duo I could never give a party. Besides, a party would be in danger of becoming lost in the labyrinth of this gigantic edifice!' I telephoned to what is known as the "Banquet Department:' and told someone ,vho answered the phone that I had to give a party at once, and who was I to see about it? Before I had put down the phone, like a jack-in-the-box, or "diable-aux-boiteux:' up popped a tiny little man with sparkling dark eyes who murmured, as he bowed from the waist, that he was Captain Willy. I felt like saluting~ and there began a relationship which will last, I fear, to the end of my days. For it is Captain Willy, the small, mysterious, sphinxlike maitre d'hotel, who guides my parties. I have to admit that in Captain Willy I have met my Waterloo, and the only reason for the continuing and ever-growing extravagance of my triannual routs, or costume halls, is the vain, mad endeavor to break down Captain Willy, to beleaguer and invade his 133 HOTEL PILGRIM calm and smiling ":Yes, Miss Maxwell;' which inevitably greets my wild and seemingly impossible demands. I remember quite well when I gave my famous barnyard party. There is only one room in the Waldorf that I dislike, and I dislike it because of its period, which is Empire. When I suggested, casually, turning it into a red and white stick of candy, expecting Captain Willy to object, or at least to murmur that it was quite impossible to do away with Empire chandeliers, mirrors, and decorations, the "Yes, Miss Max­ well" was almost too much to hear. But I gave the red and white party. It was a burlesque hall-a hit of strip tease, Edgar Bergen, and nearly all the vaudeville acts that today make up the famous Hellzapoppin at the Winter Garden. No one in the world could have suspected that under the red and white paper ceiling and walls of that room there really lurked the austere Empire Room. Then there was the time when I couldn't get the Starlight Roof for a party, as it had already been assigned to somebody else .. I grew angry. I had already issued invitations for a hall on a certain date. The idea I had not yet found. "What room can I give my ball in?" I demanded in desperation. "There is the Ja4e Ballroom and the Basildon Room!' I was led into the very modem, green, gold-pillared, Jade Ballroom. You see, I love the Perroquet Suite (the most sympathetic room) for a sma]l nartv. and the Starlie:ht Roof for a lar2:e one. These hvo rooms .a. J; - ...... give everything necessary to form the background and atmosphere for a successful party. Even the idea of the Basildon Room and the Jade Room, being on Lexington Avenue, a side of The Waldorf-Astoria I had never seen before, annoyed me. We went and viewed these great rooms which reminded me, in my prejudiced viewpoint, of the Temple of Karnak near Luxor. I turned 134 .·. ·; -_ ':,;._ ---. ....,, i·: . •. . .. :),.. ,¥., ,...... __ ...... "' ·.:: .tt-::i:,-~- :/_:; .. _:

•"1!1>...; :•:".~ ~'. '."'

At a "MarIJOle Supper Dance" on the Starlight Roof, May 4, 1938. Mi.ss Elsa Muwell (extreme left) presentin& Zeus ciga­ rette holders to (l,eft to Tight) Mi.ss Barbara Cushing, Mrs. William Rhinelander Stewart, Miss Grace Moore, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Jr., and Mrs. Shernum Jenney. HOTEL PILGRIM on Willy, saying to myself, "Here is my chance. This will break him down. I'm going to hear 'no' fall from his lips at last, followed by the sweet word 'impossible! " I said, "Captain Willy, in this Jade Ball­ room I am going to give a farmyard party, a ham dance. I'm going to have trees with real apples on them, even if the apples have to be pinned on. I'm going to cover those enormous chandeliers with hay­ ricks. I'm going to have clotheslines stretched across the ceiling on which the family wash will be hung. I'm going to have a cow that milks champagne on one side and whisky and soda on the other. I'm going to have a beer well. I'm going to have stalls with sheep, real cows, donkeys, geese, chickens, and pigs, and a hi1Jbilly hand"; and, as I stopped for breath, expecting to hear that word I had longed to hear for years, "Yes, Miss Maxwell:' said Captain Willy. "Certainly!' To my surprise, I blurted out, "Impossible. How are you going to get live animals to the third floor of the Waldorf? What about the parquet floors?" "We can have felt shoes made for the anim:tls:' said Captain Willy firmly, and then I seized his hand and wrung it warmly. He was certainly a great colleague, though he broke me down. Well, that barnyard party occurred-and made history on Park Ave­ nue. Captain Willy produced from some traveling circus all the requi­ site animals. Leonard C. Hanna and Cole Porter found a champion hog caller, Tom Be,7mgton, from Cleveland, and I procw.·ed a dozen great hogs who answered Tom's calls in the prescribed way at the right mo­ ment. They did clamber over a few lovely ladies who, as beautiful milk­ maids, were gossiping on a haystack, but after their screams of terror they stuck it out like grenadiers. Mrs. Henry G. Gray, one of my greatest friends, and Mrs. Guy Carey, another dauntless one, led in the square dances. Mr. Bert Lahr came with Beatrice Lillie and sang his famous 136 BY ELSA MAXWELL woodman song, "Chop, Chop:' and I have never, I believe, given a bet­ ter party, or a more intimate-in a ballroom. But it is as much due to the imperturbable, undefeatable Captain Willy as to me that my parties at the Waldorf have taken place and will continue, I hope, to take place in the only hostelry that laughs. When I am away for more than the accustomed summer vacation, quite suddenly I feel a nostalgia for the Waldor£ I returned one Sunday night from Long Island and looked for Henry Woelfle, manager of the Towers, whose blue eyes, gray hair, and neat, compact figure had always welcomed me at any hour. They told me he had been killed two hours before in a motor accident, and I felt as sad as though I had lost a life­ long friend. That's what the Waldorf does to you. Mary, my day maid, I would invite any day with me to the Colony for lunch. She is com­ pletely charming and begui1ing, as only an Irish gentlemaid could be. Though I do not see some of them very often, when I turn on my reading light at night at the head of my bed, the warm feeling of friends about me is more comforting than my comforter. Somewhere above me, in this delightful Tower of Babel is Margaret Emerson, a dear crea~e and an old friend; the beautiful, cool camelia, Claire Booth, and her husband, the fascinating Henry Luce, proprietor of Fortune, Time, and Life; the vague and lovely Marjorie, Mrs. R . .lA...mscott \Vilson; the gaily insouciant, delectable couple, the Jay O'Briens; sturdy Governor "Bill" Vanderbilt and his beautiful Ann, the finest Governor's Lady since Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt; the Frank­ lyn Huttons; the Joe Kennedys-he, our shrewd Irish Ambassador to the Court of St. James, the man who won the friendship of Queen Elizabeth of England; austere Herbert Hoover, statesman, and his distinguished wife; Sam Goldwyn, movie czar, with his clever wife, 137 HOTEL PILGRIM

Frances; elusive Norma Shearer, slipping in and out of a secret door like a frightened ghost; opulent Joan Crawford; the seductive Dietrich, covered in orchids and e:rroine; dynamic David Selznick with his ironic and amusing Irene-these are the friendly spirits that make up the glit­ tering milieu of The Waldorf-Astoria Towers. There is never confusion or haste, yet everything moves swiftly like greased lightning. As Mr. Bagby ends his morning concert at one, the Velvet Ball moves in, the United States Steel or the Manufacturers Association holds congress in some of the larger ballrooms, while the Medical Association and the Surgeons and Doctors' group have lec­ tures, with stereopticon slides, near by. I gave a dinner the other night in the Palm Room, which adjoins the Starlight Roof. We were about fifty, and as we dined deliciously on Dinde aux Marrons, a bespectacled, earnest audience listened atten­ lively to a lecture on ethnology. When, at half-past ten, they left the Starlight Roof, it hec.ame, instantly, the most perfect moving.. picture theater in the world. My elegantly dressed and bejeweled guests relaxed languidly on comfortable divans, or in great easy chairs-sipping cham­ pagne-and watched a new movie that had not yet reached Broadway. How all this is done I never question, hut I suspect that Lucius Boomer of The Waldorf-Astoria is really the reincarnation of the great Houdini,

138 ~~HERE'S HOW!''

BY IRVIN S. COBB

FROM THE BOTIOMMOST layer of humanity, from beneath a crushing, mountainous weight of gracious but imperious femininity, there came, when the new Waldorf-Astoria was opened, a mufHed voice, giving three ringing cheers. It was the voice of The Forgotten Man, rejoicing! The Waldorf-Astoria had opened a bar-For We'uns Only! The Twentieth Century saw the rise of triumphant and mi1itant womanhood. One by one, woman took from ours, the weaker sex, its last remaining shrines and strongholds-the polling place, the smok­ ingroom, the barbershop. For a fleeting spell there remained to us, of the baffled minority, only one social refuge wherein there was no slithering froufrou of siiken garmen~, no wafted breath oi imported scent. She took from us our trousers ( or things weirdly fashioned in the image of same), she took over our pajamas (only she wore them in public), and our knickers, our riding pants, and our polo shirts. The mustache cup became a museum piece and a sacred memory; the red worsted pulse warmer and the fur-hearing ear muff vanished from our wild life along with the buffalo and the sand-hill crane. On the 139 "HERE'S HOW" Eastern seaboard, the North American side whisker was making its last stand. In sports, in the business field, in politics and the profes­ sions, the sun now shone for her; and we had been shoved so far up­ stage that a near-sighted sojourner from another planet might well have been pardoned for thinking we were but shadowy figures sketchily painted on the backdrop. Still endured, though, a single cozy spot dedicated solely to man­ the hard-drink emporium. There, entrenched behind the free-lunch counter, protected by swinging doors and flanked by mirrored breast­ works, still we stood, our insteps caressing the beloved brass rail, our elbows on the polished mahogany-in satisfied seclusion, enjoying the company of our own kind and, at suitable intervals, raising bumpers for the earnest toast: ''To the ladies! God bless 'em-and curb 'em!" And then, before their relentless, persistent onslaughts, the last fortress cnirnbled and the walls come a-tumhlin' down! Joshua had lost the Battle of Jericho. All during the dismal, thirteen-year nightmare of miscalled Prohi­ bition, women became more an4 more prominent in the speak-easy, and increasingly dominant at the cocktail hour. And then, when the blessed Dawn of Reason came, when Sanity resumed its throne5 wit'h Moderation on the one hand and Decent Regu,,, , . ... _, . - .. . ~ ~ ~ ... - 1ation on tne otJler, women, .havmg got the habit, continued to crowd us, to overpower us, to eclipse us by weight of numbers and superior strength of personality, in the licensed drinking places of the country. So much for history. Now for a New Era, now for the second Great Emancipation Proclamation-which gives blessed hopefulness to a sex, as that other clang of Freedom's Bell gave deliverance to a race. 140 BY IRYIN S. COBB

The Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue opened its great Men's Bar to the end that perfection in the fine art of rational indulgence-drink­ ing by the men, of the men, for the men-shall not perish from off the face of the earth; in short and in fine, a sedate and ordered gentleman's bar of the sort that the fathers of the republic founded and their de­ scendants worthily fostered; a club, really, established in midtown New York for residents who have no club of their own and for visitors who are far from their own clubs; a cheery, agreeable, homey, inviting, simply-luxurious place for the interchange of social intercourse and the social amenities; a male asylum, if you will; a pleasant, convenient corner on a gracious and shimmering thoroughfare, which is exclu­ sively staffed by men, designed for a clientele altogether masculine-a congenial retreat offering to men the drinks that men commonly prefer. And will we continue to patronize it-that Rock in a Weary Land, that Shelter in a Time of Female Storm? Little sisters, just watch us while we rise up, as one turning worm; and go on patronizing it. For we love you and we how down before you and there are times when we cannot hear to he parted from you. But also, dear ones, there are times when we would flock apart to talk the Man-Talk, to hay the moon with the rest of the Man-Pack-in short, to relax and just he our own ignoble and inferior selves.

Volstead days was the old Waldorf-Astoria Bar, standing not far from the spot where Peter Minuit bought from the lnjuns the Island of Manhattan for twenty-four dollars-and, judging by real-estate values since the depression, got most horribly stung by those wily aborigines. More captains of finance, more leaders of statecraft, more giants of industry, more leaders of the arts and the sciences, more notables of 141 "HERE'S HOW'' city life and national life found surcease from care beneath the sign of the famous Bull and the Bear-and the I~arnb-than in any like spot and space on the surface of the civilized globe. Deathless sayings were coined there; bygone wits whetted their tools of repartee there; world­ shaking business deals were consummated across those dotted islands of smooth table-topping. Noted concoctionists were developed behind that bar; and drinks destined to become forevermore the favorite var­ nish for discriminating palates slid, at their birth, across the selfsame bar. The patina on its brass rail was put there by the feet of immortals; the perfection of its atmosphere was celebrated by the tongues of the mighty, to whom all mankind must hearken. Books were written about the old Waldorf-Astoria Bar-yes, and poems. Fables and legends and folk lore were coined concerning its manifold delights. It was more than a mere place for men from all the corners of creation to meet and drink and eat. It was at once a tradition and an institution. But when Prohibition closed its hospitable doors, the institution passed away even as a tale that is told. And when the old Waldorf was finally tom down, the tradition became only a tradition, although a cherished and a fragrant one. So I claim it was fitting that the new Waldorf-Astoria, erected a mile or so north by no'east of the old Waldorf-Astoria, should lead the way in recreating the reincarnation of that original bar. r'JTI_• G 1 , .l .... •. • - t n1s ... ent~emen s n__.a:r 1s. manneu vy expert waiters, expert chets, and expert drink mixers-such craftsmen as you would find in the best club anywhere, here or abroad. As was the case with its progenitor, it specializes in the food that men prefer. You can have the chicken in aspic, if you so desire; but you will prefer the beefsteak and kid­ ney pie-that is, if you are an average he-mammal. 142 BY IRYIN S. COBB And the same Bull and Bear and Lamb will continue to look down on men, just men, nothing but men-precisely and exactly as these three noble symbols looked down on men only, through all those yes­ terdays of glorious memory. Thanks to the enterprise and the thoughtfulness of a group of smart hotel men, headed by a very great hotel man-my friend, Lu Boomer -the gorgeous yesterday lives again in the pleasant today, and will go on living in the equally pleasant tomorrow. And mark you well these prophetically inspired words: Our generation and succeeding genera­ tions will go on and on, talcing joy out of The Waldorf-Astoria's Gentle­ men's Bar, which, in spirit and in essence and in the accomplished deed, will remain even as the old Waldorf-Astoria's Gentlemen's Bar was-a "Who's Who" of American Gentility and American Genius; a "Here's How" of typically American good cheer, good fellowship, and good things for to eat and for to drink!

143 PERSONALITIES

BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY

THE GREAT MODERN HOTEL of today, with all its luxuries and con­ veniences, is only as popular, as efficient, as colorful as its personnel can succeed in making it. No matter how gigantic its proportions or delectable its cuisine, it must remain but a mass of stone and brick and steel unless it possesses an attractive personality. And it must a good deal depend, in gaining its personality, upon the most valuable asset of a hotel-good will. There is nothing accidental ~out the personality of The Waldorf­ Astoria today. 'fradition is a fragile thing. It needs the bright light of inspiration to ~-rry it on. Remove that light, and it fails. The Waldorf tradition never failed, because its management; inspired hy new ideals -ha.sed on the old-imparted these ideals to its empioyees. Both management and employees saw that the good will of the per­ sonnel would result in the good will of present-and potential-patrons. And why? Because The Waldorf-Astoria regards itself as a house­ hold-a household in which widely varied types of skill are united. · There are two thousand employees of The Waldorf-Astoria, and in 144 BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY their daily tasks they move as a unit. Of course, these members of the s~ with their greatly diversified talents and abilities, have been as­ signed to duties for which they are specifically skilled. Their work, as in any well-ordered household, is coordinated. In a brief article it is impossible to do justice to the entire staff-or even to list all its outstanding personalities. But we can, at least, give some attention to those who are frequently on public view, so to speak -who are in daily contact with the hotel's patrons. AUGUSTUS NULLE, who is now Secretary-1reasurer of the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation, joined the staff when he was a lad of eighteen. Stenographically inclined, he was given a position in the old hotel's wholesale wine and cigar department. That was in 1902, the year that Prince Henry, brother of Kaiser Wtlhehn of Germany, came to New York on a semiofficial visit and stayed at the Waldorf: Six months after Nulle's arrival he was transferred to the office of George C. Boldt, the operator of The Waldorf-A.storia, and before long he was appointed Mr. Boldt's private secretary, remaining in that po­ sition until 1907 when he served in the steward's department, finally becoming Chief Steward. After the death of Mr. Boldt the hotel was purchased by the Boomer­ duPont Properties Corporation, and Mr. Nulle was made an assistant T • n 1- 1\T 11 • , , ,. . , • to .1...1uc1us uoomer, t.ue uew operator. 1~11.lle rece1vea mucn crecnt, aunng this time of change, for keeping up the morale of the staff and the inter­ est of old guests. He was rewarded by being promoted to the office of Managing Director. Before the new hotel opened, he was elected a Director of the new corporation and its Secretary and Treasurer. FRANK A. READY, Manager of the hotel, has devoted his life to the hotel business. Thirty-five years ago he started his career in the old 145 !II 111

Augustus Nulle BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY Cooley House in Springfield, Massachusetts. Two years later he went to the Hotel Russwin in New Britain, Connecticut. Dreaming of bigger things, he came to New York and became associated with the old Knick­ erbocker Hotel. There he held various positions in the front office and was ultimately appointed Office Manager. For eleven years Mr. Ready was with the Hotel McAlpin, working through various departments until he was appointed Chief Assistant Manager. He left to accept a position as Chief Assistant Manager at the Hotel Roosevelt. After that he was Manager of the Park Lane for two and a half years, and then Manager of the Barclay. In 1931 he was selected by the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corporation as Resident Manager of the new Waldorf-Astoria. In recognition of his thorough knowledge of front-office manage­ ment, he was selected by the American Hotel Association and the Hotel Association of New York City, in 1925, to give a course in front-office procedure at New York University. Three years ago "Professor'' Ready was chosen to give a similar course at the Hotel 'fraining School at Cor­ nell University. He is, by the way, a former President of the New York ·Charter of Hotel Greeters of America and a former Vice-President of the American Hotel Association. OsCAR. There is hardly any necessity for discussing OSCAR OF THE WALDORF. Ever since the hotel opened-in 1893-hls name has been associated with The Waldorf-Astoria. It is not so well known, how­ ever, that his last name is Tschirky, that he was born in Locle, Swit­ zerland, and that he obtained a position ( at the old Hoffman House) the very day-in 1883-on which he landed in the United States. So intent was he upon becoming an American citizen that he applied for his naturali~tion papers only an hour after his ship docked. 147 PERSONA.UTIES

After leaving the Hoffman House Oscar Tschirky went over to Del­ monico's, then New York's most famous restaurant. He made so many friends there that, when Mr. Boldt (the operator of the Waldorf) asked Oscar for "references:' he was given a "letter" ten pages long and signed by a number of the most famous New Yorkers of the day. Oscar has greeted kings, conquerors, adventurers, and presidents, and has been decorated by three foreign governments. When he and his late wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at the Waldorf, in October, 1937, the President of the United States and his Cabinet sent him their congratulations. (Item: Oscar is widely regarded as a chef: hut he never cooked a meal in his life.) Today, the title given him suits him best-Host of the Waldor£ J. F. CARNEY, Superintendent of the building, has an understand­ able hobby: football. That is because one of his three sons, Arthur, was Captain of the U.S. Navy (Annapolis) football team in 1923. But his chief enthusiasm is engineering.. Born on New York's East Side, Carney's first job was with the John Roach Shipyards at the time the first of the Great White Fleet was being built. He was a machinist. Then he was put in charge of plant-construction installation of isolated electric-generating plants. After that he traveled over the country as an erecting engineer.

Fin~ llv 1n l 000 h~ ~~ttl~ri rin'tATn ;n tho nltl 'J.ln-lrn,~n J.TnnC!o ->c.- "l,;of .- w~J , ~ ..._ _, " '-', ~'-' ..,.._, .. -...,...,_ -" WW .a.A .a.&..& W'-' V.&.- .&..&.V.L.L I I t'-6,.&..1. .&..&.V "-A.a;)v 41,.;:) v~v.L engineer-his first hotel position. .r'rom there he went to the old Sherry's. After nine years he went to the McAlpin Hotel as building superintendent and finally to The Waldorf-Astoria in the same capac­ ity. He is a past President of the National Association of Power Engi­ neers and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Miss NoRA FOLEY. Managing one of the biggest "households" in 148 BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY the world is the job of Miss Foley, Executive Housekeeper of The Waldorf-Astoria. Here, for example, are a few arresting statistics con­ cerning her task: She has charge of 2200 rooms and directs 450 em­ ployees. In the linen closets of her household there are some 54,000 sheets, 30,000 tablecloths, 40,000 napkins, 30,000 face towels, and 7000 oversize woolen blankets. She has, however ominous it may sound, several thousand husbands-and their wives and children-to please. Born in Ireland, she came to the United States as a younggirl. Her first job was that of linen-room clerk, then she became the housekeeper in the old Buckingham Hotel on Fifth Avenue. She has been executive housekeeper in "Boomer-operated" hotels for eighteen years, eleven of which, 1918 to 1929, she spent at the old Waldor£ In 1931· she was invited to Cornell University to conduct a course in hotel housekeeping at the summer school there. GABRIEL LuGOT, Executive Chef, a pupil of the great Escoffier, ""as born in Paris and began serving his apprenticeship at the Res­ taurant Rey Garnier there at the age of sixteen. Later he became Chef de Partie .at the ·Amhassadeurs Restaurant on the Champs Elysees, the famous Cafe de Paris and other fine restaurants in Paris and Deau­ ville. He became Sous Chef at the Chateau de Madrid in Paris and, a short time later, Chef de Cuisine at the Cafe d' Angleterre. He served iu the same capacity in greai hotels in Cannes and Hiarritz. During the World War he served for fifty-four months with the French Army and was wounded in battle. Soon after his arrival in America, in 1925, he went to the Palmer House in Chicago as Banquet Chef and later served as Head Chef at the Eastman Hotel, Hot Springs, Ark.; the Shore Acres Club, Lake Forest, III.; the Deauville Club, Miami, Fla.; and The Brook, Sara- 149 PERSONAL/TIES

toga Springs, New York. Came to the Waldorf-Astoria on October 1, 1931, when he was appointed Sous Chef by Alexandre Gastaud, who was then the Director of the Waldod kitchens. He served in this capacity for a year, then, upon the death of Mr. Gastaud, he was named Executive Chef. JOSEPH P. HOENIG, convention and entertainment manager of the hotel, has solicited and supervised hundreds of the most important con­ ventions, halls, shows, and parties held in this country. Curiously enough, his experience in mechanics has played an important part in his present position. He was horn in New York, in 1897, and at fifteen began working in a power plant-specifically, the chief engineer's office of the Greenhut, Siegel, Cooper Department Store. From there he went to the engineering department of the Hotel McAlpin, shortly after the hotel opened in December, 1912. He later served in that hotel in many capacities, such as office manager and purchasing agent for the me­ chanical departments, not only of the McAlpin hut of all the duPont­ Boomer-operated hotels. When he came to the Waldorf, even before the new hotel opened, it was as entertainment manager, hut his duties were combined with those of convention manager as well. He is a member of the Advertising Club, is married, and has three children, all girls, the eldest sixteen. His hobby is photography. of the hotel, has been associated with the Boomer-hotel interests for nearly twenty-seven years. His career began when he left the Telephone Company in Brooklyn, where he had been wire chief, to become an elec­ trician in the Hotel McAipin. Five years later he was transferred to the telephone department there, and then went over to the old Waldorf: handling telephone work there, as well as in the Willard in Washington, 150 BY JA.MES REMINGTON McCARTHY the Bellevue in Philadelphia, and the Wmclsor in Montreal-all hotels in the Boomer chain. Through his radio experiments he made it possi­ ble for the Waldorf to he the first hotel to broadcast an orchestra (the Rose Room Dinner Music). He has developed many new ideas for radio communications. As if that were not enough he has made educational moving pictures with members of the Waldorf staff as his entire cast. These films have been shown all over the country. He is married and has two daughters. J. A. KLuGHERZ. The cotton brokerage and printing business at­ tracted the attention of J. A. Klugherz, senior Assistant Manager, before hotel work. As a matter of fact, even before that he was a semi­ professional baseball player. In 1916, deciding that the hotel business had more attraction for him, he went to the Hotel McAlpin as a laundry hoy. Then there were swift promotions to bellboy, elevator operator, hell captain, and finally all the positions in the front office ( information clerk, mail clerk, et cetera). In 1928 he was appointed Office ~~ianager. He remained with the McAlpin until August, 1931, when Mr. Boomer selected him as Chief Clerk of the new hotel. He was soon promoted to Office Manager, then to his present position-senior Assistant Manager. Recently he spent three months at the Savoy Hotel in London, studying English hotel methods.

T 'I • • '11 .. T?"'I 'I • • 'I -'-' ,- "'"' 'I • 1n ms spare tune 1v1r. hlugnerz 1s anotner -·protessor;· 1ectunng at Cornell University on front-office procedure. He is married, has a seven­ year-old daughter, and his hobbies are golf and tennis (not baseball). Miss JOSEPHINE F. MISCHE-quiet, charming, pleasant, Supervisor of the front-office cashiers-has been with the new Waldorf since its opening in 1931. A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, she came to New York on a vacation and remained to take a position with the Hotel 151 PERSONA.UTJES Pennsylvania as cashier. Before she came to the Waldorf she was with the Hotel Roosevelt for six years as supervisor of cashiers. However, her first experience as a cashier was at the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company in her home town. F. C. LUEHS. "Pioneer" is the word for Mr. Luehs, the. Waldorf's Steamship Pier Representative, for he pioneered the idea of hotel repre­ sentation for steamship lines-at the pier and in the hotel. He is equipped, by experience and training, for this work. For ten years he was with New Jersey 'lransfer in Hoboken, then in charge of incom­ ing baggage for the North German Lloyd Steamship Lines; and, after that, the Hamburg-American Lines and the Holland America Lines. When the McAlpin Hotel opened, he went to it in the same capacity which he holds at the Waldorf today. He remained there twenty years and was selected by Mr. Boomer as the new Waldorf's Steamship Pier Representative when the .hotel opened in 1931. He is married, and a mero..ber of the Elks Club and of the Chamber of Commerce of Hoboken. IIARRY IIAsSELL, Superintendent of Service, is an Indian-that is, he was born in Saba, Dutch West Indies. He is now an American citizenc He left home to become a sailor on a two-master schooner. Hassell came to America in 1917. Two years later he was hired by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel as inside doorman. In 1924 he went to the Park Lane as bellman, Len'h to TJggett • ' s o...~ uce vU1.1u.1ng1-. ·1 ..J• as e1evator1 operator;• m• .L~~,-. ,.. __ back, .. to the Ritz; in l\'Iarch, 1929, to the Roosevelt, as bellman. In 1931, when the new Waldorf opened, he was engaged as Assistant Captain. From that he rose to Captain, Assistant Superintendent, then to Superintend­ ent of Service. He is married, has one daughter and two sons, and is a postage-stamp and fishing fiend. His motto: of course, Service! FIORAVANTE DELL'AGNESE. The Waldorf has many cosmopolitan 152 BY JAMES REMINGTON. McCARTHY employees. Prominent among them is Mr. Dell'Agnese, Manager of the Foreign Department. An Italian, he was born in Bulgaria; -educated at the Mission College in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he learned several lan­ guages-French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, and Bulgarian. Also English! In 1914 he accompanied the Russian Foreign Minister and Mission on their official visit to Rumania while the Emperor ·was visiting the Rumanian royal family. He was decorated for his services as interpreter by both countries. After the war he· was connected ·with ·the British embassy, for five years, in Madrid, Spain, and six years in.Wash­ ington. He worked in the front office of the Hotel Pierre before coming to The Waldorf-Astoria. TED SAUCIER. Director of Publicity for The Waldorf-Astoria since August, 1929, Ted Saucier was born in British Col11mbia, Cana·da. He was educated at the Mount St. Louis College and studied architecture at McGill University, Montreal. However, architecture appealed to-him less than promotional work. He was among those who popularized hockey in the United States, originating Sunday-night hockey in Mad­ ison Square Garden in 1925. He has been Publicity Director for Fox Theatres Corporation; also directed publicity for a number of lead­ ing corporations, including Park and Tilford. He is the coauthor of Peacock Alley and other hooks and magazine articles;· a member· of .. the "Banshees~' prominent newspaper luncheon club; Manhasset Bay Yacht Club; Sands Point Bath Club; and Atlantic Beach Chili. He is married. Miss EvA T. McAnoo, in charge of the About the City Bureau, is a Virginian hut she spent most of her childhood in Washington. Her father, William McAdoo (not President Wilson's Secretary of the 'Ireasury), was first a member of Congress, then Assistant ·secretary of 153 PERSONALITIES the Navy. Later he became New York's Commissioner of Police and Chief City Magistrate for twenty-five years. Miss McAdoo went to Spence School, engaged in dramatic work, worked for the Emergency Canteen of the Red Cross during the World War and with a Shopping Service with downtown banks. Mr. Boomer engaged her to take charge of an Information and Spe­ cial Service Bureau for the new Waldor£ She has to know about every­ thing-museums, art galleries, available swimming pools, billiard rooms, and riding schools. She has even given advice on long-lost brothers, Arabic typewriters, and the proper perfume for dogs. HENRY STOLL, Executive Steward, has been in the catering business for years. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He began catering for the old Heyse Company; later for other candy companies. He went to Duluth, Minnesota, and operated a candy store. He came to New York and became steward for the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, the Cafe des Beaux Arts, and the Nassau Hotel in Long Beach. He managed a res­ taurant for Lord and Taylor; and, after a brief experience at Sherry's, became traveling supervisor for the Boomer hotels, including the Sav­ arin Restaurants. After that the Park Lane; then, in 1931, the Waldorf: He has two children, a boy and a girl. Miss JANE MEYER, Supervisor of Floor Clerks, was horn in Warsaw, ...n1· A..Jno1s · • ....,"een... 1'.uegan i.u.er pro.1ess1oua.ir. • 1 career 1n• tne, aaven1s1ng, . • • nus1ness.., • Before coming to the Waldorf she worked at the McAipin, where she was originally Mr. Boomer's secretary, and at the New Yorker. She organ­ ized the Michigan League Guest House for the University of Michigan. RENE BLACK, debonair Manager of Floor Service and Restaurant Manager, was music-minded, rather than hotel-minded, in his youth. He studied for eleven years in France, and played with the Metropol- 154 Ill Ill

Frank A. Ready PERSONALITIES itan Opera House Orchestra (French horn). He was for three years at the famous Cafe Martin; then gold mining ("for a few months I was a 'mental millionaire; " he says) ; then the Coronado Hotel Grill, in San Francisco; and his own restaurant in Pasadena. In New York he was Restaurant Manager at Sherry's; later at the Sherry-Netherland. From there, the Casino in Central Park, as Manager from 1929 to 1930. LEONARD M. HOLLAND, Wme Steward, went to sea as a young man, served as chief steward on the President Harding, and was a paymaster . in the Navy during the World War. Manager of Hotel White on Lexing- ton Avenue from 1926 to 1931; of the Hotel Franklin Towers from 1931 to 1933; was Vice-President of Sponsored Imports in 1937; re­ joined the Waldorf in 1938 (wherehehadheenfora time after repeal). Member of Lambs Club, and a bachelor. F. H. GREELY, Manager of the Cigar Department, was horn in Som­ erset County, England. As a boy he went to sea, sailed around Cape Horn; then became a cigar clerk-after his arrival in the United Siaies in 1906. Place: Hotel Astor. After that, cigar clerk in Pabst Restaurant, Park and Tilford's wholesale establishment, Cafe Martin, Hotel Mar­ tinique, Metropolitan Club, and in 1913 the old Waldorf, then Sherry's, and finally the new Waldor£ · :WI1ss MARY MoRAN has been Manager of the Laundry Department

• 1.. WT. 1..l J " • , 51 , . ~ .. .. - smce t.u.e new ,ifuu0.1.1-.n.Stona openea. ne was norn m Ireland, and her hobby, as she says, is "work-and more work!'

And now a brief space must he devoted to those men who have very much to do with carrying on the spirit and personality of the hotel­ THE HEAD WAITERS. "AMBROSE:' of the Empire Room, has a last name, of course: Brogi. 156 BY JAMES REMINCTON McCARTHY He has been with the new Waldorf since it opened. Born in Pisa, Italy, he came to the Waldorf in 1901, under Oscar. Later, the St. Regis, the Knickerbocker Hotel, and the Biltmore-and hack to the Waldor£ "FRANK;' of the Sert Room, is known to the census taker as Frank Ronga. He was horn in Alexandria, Italy. He first went to the Waldorf in 1908 as a waiter; then the Knickerbocker, where he remained ten years as waiter and captain; then the Biltmore as captain; the old Pierre's as captain; and the Sutton Club as manager. He rejoined the Waldorf in 1931. He is married and has a son. His hobby is reading. "RALPH" Schulder, of the Lounge Cafe, comes from Austria. He was Manager of the Crillon Restaurant and the "400" Club in Chicago, owned his own restaurant there for a while, then became maitre d'hotel of the Congress Hotel in 1931. His first position in New York was with The Waldorf-Astoria, in 1933. He has charge, not only of the Lounge Cafe, hut of the Lounge Restaurant and Tony Sarg's Oasis. He directs service for approximately a thousand patrons a day. "ROBERT" James Hanson, of the Norse Grill, has had a varied career that began twenty years after his birth in Dover, England. He was a smithing engineer, then a cashier, then a footman for Sir Godfrey Hope. Served in several English hotels; came to America as valet for Thomas Demmick Leonard; and has been, at various times, butler or valet for

Edgar Scott of Philadelphia7 Pernbroke Jones of New York, Otte H. Kahn, F. Ambrose Clark, and George G. Heye. Was captain of waiters and assistant head waiter at the Vanderbilt Hotel for eleven years; the same at the Roosevelt for two years; and, in 1931, joined the Waldorf staff, as head waiter of the Norse Grill. JOSEPH LEWIS, who is in charge of the Men's Bar, was born in Scot­ land. He came to Canada in 1912, where he was footman for Earl Grey, 157 PERSON A.LIT/ES the Governor-General; waited on the late King George V, when he visited Canada as Prince of Wales. He was footman at Glamis Castle, Scotland, the ancestral home of the present Queen of England. He was steward for Sir Edward Sassoon in London, and was brought to this country hy the late Henry Clay Frick. He was superintendent of service at the Hotel Cleveland before joining the staff of the Waldon.

It will interest patrons of the present Waldorf to know that the em­ ployees of the original hotel who are now working here are the proud owners of "service buttons:' which many of them always wear as in­ signia of their association with their old home. Surprisingly enough, some four hundred of the old Waldorf employees were so honored. As time went on, new employees of the present Waldorf felt that they, too, should have some visible recognition of their long service, and it was decided that after five years of continuous employment a special button indicating the record date of engagement would he awarded. This award is made yearly after the recording of the necessary qualify­ ing five years. The management believes that these little emblems and the esteem in which they are held ·are a pleasant testimony of the won­ derful esprit de corps of The Waldorf-Astoria. Realizing the impossibility of extensive biographies of many of such old Waldorf employees, who, after all, symbolize and personify the spirit of the hotel, we can give only a few of them here. The follo~ing, well known to Waldorf patrons because of frequent contact, are typical of the Waldorf household. JOHN W. ROGERS, Assistant Manager, in point of service one of the oldest members of the staff, earned his first dollar as a newspaper car­ rier after school in his native 'froy, New York. Went to public school, 158 BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY business school, and La Salle Institute in 'lroy, and recites the virtues of the city like a member of the Chamber of Commerce. His first, and only other, hotel job was with the Windsor Hotel in Saratoga, New York, where he worked, during the summer of 1900, as a bellboy. Came to New York the following year and, after a six weeks' career as a transfer clerk in Siegel & Cooper's department store, entered the employ of the Waldorf as a bellboy. Was promoted, through the years, to guide, hell captain, front-office clerk, safe clerk, mail clerk, superintendent of service, and Assistant Manager. Is married and the father of three chil­ dren; two daughters, twenty-seven and twenty-two, and a son, twenty­ five. Not much interested in sports any more hut still enjoys a good prize fight. Gets his exercise walking. Hobby: pipe collecting. JOSEPH M. FAR.RELL, Assistant Manager, has been happily married for thirty-three years and has three children, a boy of thirty and two girls, twenty-two and nineteen. Is a New Yorker hy birth and choice. One of the real veterans of the s~ he got his first job in 1900-at the Waldorf: Starting as page hoy, he quickly became bellboy and hell captain= Later he went through all the positions of the front office, from assistant mail clerk to office manager and then Assistant Manager. At the closing of the old hotel he went to the Roosevelt for two years, returning for the opening of the new Waldorf: Likes to swim, plays an occasionai round of golf, and gets out to see a prize fight at every op­ portunity. JOHN FRANCIS KiLLA.CKEY, Night Manager, comes from Ireland (Buttevant, pronounced "Boutez-en-Avant"). His father was an officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was educated at the Christian Brothers Schools, Presentation Brothers College, and Queen's Univer­ sity. His first profession was that of teataster, hut he gave that up he- 159 PERSONA.UTIES cause of ill health. His first position in the United States was night comptroller of the Hotel Belmont. After that he became night auditor of the old Waldorf-Astoria, and cashier until it closed. During the in­ terim between the old and the new Waldorf, Kil lackey was a customer's man with Prince and Whitely. Then he helped Sidney Solomon con­ duct the Central Park Casino. He returned to the Waldorf when it re­ opened in October, 1931. Killackey is married (his wife, Marie, is the daughter of one of the first assistant managers of the old Waldorf) and has three children-a daughter seventeen, a son twenty, and a son two and a half years old. Louis S. DERY, General Cashier, was born and educated in Port Henry, New York. His first job was clerking in the Port Henry general store. Left his home town in 1906 to go to work for the General Electric Company in Schenectady, New York. Came to New York one year later and was engaged by the Waldorf as clerk in the package room. Rose steadily through the ra11Jcs, serving as cashier in the bar, cigar clerk in the bar, night-order clerk, hill clerk, cashier, credit manager, and pres­ ently General Cashier. An outdoor man, his hobbies are hiking, hunt­ ing, and fishing. Spends idle moments from the spring through Septem­ ber rooting for the New York Giants' baseball team to a pennant. MRS. BESSIE RousE, Banquet Floor Housekeeper, came here from Ireland following the death of her parents, ai-id weut to live wiih. a sister in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her early training, making shirts in the linen center of North Ireland, assisted her in her first job as tailoress with the American Rubber Company in Cambridge. Acquired first hotel experience as a maid with the Parker House in Boston and later went to the Hotel Touraine. · Became a New Yorker and a Waldorf employee in 1907 and has since 160 BY JAMES REMINGTON McCARTHY served more than twenty-five years in the old and new hotels. Three times, fires have caused her to seek other employment-at the Manoir Richelieu, l.Vlurray Bay, Canada ( where she went from the Waldorf) ; the Hampton Terrace, Augusta, Georgia; and the Nassau, Long Beach. From the Nassau she returned to the Waldorf as housekeeper and re­ mained until 1922, when she left to become head housekeeper of the Vanderbilt. Resigned two years later to he married, and came hack for the opening of the new hotel in 1931. Proud of her thirteen-year-old son, an honor student, studying music in a Boston school. GEORGE DENHOFER, Banquet Head Waiter, would like to find more time to pursue his favorite pastimes-bowling, and pinochle with his friends. Was born in the hotel business, since his parents became hotel proprietors in Bavaria shortly after his birth. Arrived here in October, 1900, after completing his apprenticeship (begun at the age of thir­ teen) and working as a waiter in Bavaria, Switzerland, France, and England. Was engaged hy the Waldorf in 1901 as private butler for a guest. Left when the guest checked out, hut returned and remained for four ye.ars before going to Sherry's. He came hack again in 1926 as floor-service waiter and stayed until the old hotel closed. Was hack again in 1931 to ''open" the new hotel as Banquet Head Waiter. Has probably served in more fine hotels than any other member of the staff. Is mar­ ried, the father of three boys-twenty-one., nineteen~ and seventeen­ and lives in Rego Park, Long Island. He has been a member of the Geneva Club for twenty-seven years. JOSEPH BOLAND, Head Porter. In the Waldorf lobby, the early­ morning employees can tell when it is 5:20 A.M., for Joseph Boland, Head Porter, arrives precisely at that time. Born in County Galway, Ireland, he came to the United States in 1893. His first job was with 161 PERSONALITIES

The Waldorf-Astoria as porter. He left to join the Plaza Hotel staff in 1907, remaining there for twenty-five years. He came back to the Wal­ dorf, when the new hotel opened, as Head Porter. Hobby: collecting watches. FRED TASKER, Head Valet, born in Bishopston, England; came to the United States in 1900; employed by the Waldorf the same year. Served with the hotel until it closed; then with the St. Regis as head valet; "opened" the Governor Clinton, and remained there until the new Waldorf opened, when he returned. He is married and has two children, a hoy (Albert, an usher in the hotel) and a girl, Ann. BARNEY GARLAND has been operating elevators for nearly forty years. Born in County l\'lonahan, Ireland, his early life was spent on a farm. But cows, chickens, plowing, and harvesting eventually meant less to him than the chance to realize his dream of living in the New World. He came to the United States in 1899. His first position was l\ith the old Waldorf-~~toria, as elevator operator. He remained in that capacity until the hotel closed, when he went to the Hotel Roosevelt, returning to the new Waldorf when it opened in 1931. He is married. PATRICK BRADY, Park Avenue doorman, is-so far as the Waldorf is concerned-a product of the famous Bradley-Martin hall of 1897, and is, therefore, one of the few remaining veterans of the first Waldorf-

1 1 1 1 TT 1 .CU:,LVJ.J.ct.A -~-_: .... uv1·un .... _ !_.111 \.I,...o---.L-- UUL)' ,...\.lc:t. ___ \'. an , T-,.eJ..I lwl

And there are many, many more Waldorf employees, but space, alas, does not permit our indulging in any more "Biography!'

163

CHRONOLOGY

COMPILED BY TED SAUCIER

In 1890 William Waldorf Astor and Abner Bartlett conceived a great new hotel to be named the Waldorf (in honor of the village where the first John Jacob Astor was born). They decided to enlist George C. Boldt of Philadelphia as operator. MAR. 13, 1893 Original Waldorf opened by George C. Boldt.

The old 1Faldorf, in 1895. 165 CHRONOLOGY

Mr. Boldt host at a dinner for Henry J. Hardenbergh, architect of the hotel, and some sixty guests including General Thomas T. Eckert (head of the Western Union), Abner Bartlett, Russell Sturgis, Will H. Low ( the painter), Georges Glaenzer ( the decorator), Frederic Crowninshield (painter), Philip Kissam, and John R. Downey (the builder). MAR. 111., 1893 Opening concert for the benefit of St. Mary's Free Hospital for Chil­ dren. DEC. 1, 1893 First Bagby concert in the Waldorf. JAN.1,1894 Registration of John W. Gates. SPRING, 1895 Six red brick private homes in 33d Street, adjoining the Waldorf on the west, were razed and a five-story extension to the hotel erected. The home of Colonel John Jacob Astor, cousin of William Waldorf Astor, was lorn down to make room for the Astoria. AUGUST:1896 Li Hung Chang, \riceroy of China, arrived. FEB. IO, 1897 The Bradley-Martin Ball. SPRF!VG, 1897 The Crown Prince of Siam arrived. JVOV. 1, 1897 The Astoria was opened and the hotel became The \'Valdorf-Astoria.

SEPT. 30, 1899 Parade for Admiral Dewey.., JVOV. 20, 1900 The Waldorf-Astoria v;as made social headquarters for Horse Show 1 ~ eek. ffl/STER,1900 lvleetings between John "'\V. Gates, Colonel John Lambert, l\ilax Pan1, and other financial leaders, in the Men's Cafe and the Gates apart­ l"'l1Cr..t at. the \Valdorf, resulted in the creation of the r nited States Steel Corporation, ·which was officially organized February 26, 1901. DEC. 5, 1900 Visit of the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. FEB., 1902 Visit of Prince Hennr., of Prussia. 1vl A Y 8, 19 0 2 Formal banquet to Prince.Henry. 0 CT., 190 3 Foundations of the Republic of Pana1na laid in Room 1162 by P. Bunau-Varilla. FEB. I 3, 1904 Banquet in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, by the l\'ational Republican Club. This startiing notice, which caused great comment. was po!i-tP.d by the hutel: ~·Ladies without escorts will be serYed in the restaurants at any hour:' 1lfAR. 19, 1909 Yale graduates' dinner to President Taft. APR.18, 1910 Field Marshal ·viscount Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, guest of honor at dinner by Society of Pilgrims. DEC. 30, 1911 New "York Citizens' Peace Banquet-President Taft, guest of honor. J A 1V. 18, 1913 President Taft arrived. J A1V. 27, 1916 President Wilson arrived. DEC. 5, 1916 George C. Boldt, lessee and operator of The Waldorf-Astoria, died.

166 CHRONOLOGY

FEB. 3:, 1918 Boomer-duPont interests (Lucius Boomer, President) took over The Waldorf-Astoria lease as of January 1. MAR. 25:, 1919 Return of the 27th Division. Dinner honoring General Pershing. MAY 1, 1919 Dinner in honor of Lord Reading. JUNE 30, 1919 The famous four-sided bar in the Men's Cafe closed because of Pro­ hibition. JULY 25, 1919 Dinner in honor of Prince Aage of Denmark.

Li Hung Chang, Viceroy of China, arriving at the Wa/,dorf i~ A!!g!!St:- 1896.

SEPT. 8, 1919 General Pershing arrived from France on the Leviathan and regis­ tered at the Waldorf. Interviewed, he stated, "The American dough­ hoy is the greatest soldier in the world:' SEPT. 17, 1919 Dinner in honor of Cardinal Mercier of Belgium. OCT.2,1919 King .Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgiu1n arrived. NOV.18, 1919 Dinner in honor of Edward, Prince of Wales, by Henry P. Davison. NOV.19, 1919 Dinner in honor of Edward, Prince of \\rales, by British Societies. APR. 19, 1921 President H~rding arrived and was guest of honor at a luncheon prior to unveiling of statue of Simon Bolivar in Central Park.

167 CHRONOLOGY

NOV.19, 1921 Arrival of Marshal Foch. Luncheon and dinner in his honor. APR. 25, 1922 Lady Astor, M.P., was guest of honor at the luncheon of the Associ­ ated Press. JAN. 28, 1923 First remote-control broadcast (the Waldorf Sunday night concert). OCT. 5, 1923 David Lloyd George arrived. OCT. 6, 1923 David Lloyd George, wife, and daughter honored at dinner. NOV. 12, 1923 Lucius Boomer was host to 300 leading hotelmen in honor of the European delegates of the International Hotelmen's Alliance. FEB. 12, 1924 President Coolidge arrived. Spoke at Lincoln Day Dinner. APR. 23, 1924 President Coolidge addressed newspaper publishers. SEPT. 13, 1924 Boomer-duPont interests bought The Waldorf-Astoria properties.. OCT. 28, 1924 President Calles of Mexico arrived. Dinner in his honor. NOV. 21, 1924 Dinner commemorating the 100th anniversary of Fifth Avenue. OCT. 9, 1925 Roald Amundsen arrived. NOV. 5, 1925 Dinner to Prince and Princess _Asaka of Japan. JUNE 9, 1926 Luncheon in honor of Crown Prince Gustav Adolph and Crown Princess Louise of Sweden. JAN. 5, 1927 Prince William of Sweden arrived. JUlVE 16, 1927 Dinner in honor of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh by Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce. OCT. 31, 1927 President Quezon of the Philippines arrived. DEC. 21, 1928 Lucius Boomer announced sale of the site of The Waldorf-Astoria and stated that all rights to the use of the name were retained. lllAR. 8, 1929 Lucius Boomer announced that a new Waldorf-Astoria would be built on Park Avenue from 49th to 50th Streets, to he ready for occupancy in the fall of 1931. APR. 22, 1929 President Hoover addressed the Associated Press. MAY 1, 1929 Thirty-eight organizations which had made The Waldorf-Astoria their banquet home Q"athererl at a P-!'eat hnal dinner in the C:rand Ballroon1. - ...., 0 Auction sale of furni~hin!!~ (\f The We!dc!"f~Astc:ria commenced. (.., MAY 2, 19 2 9 The final day of operation, called "Employees' Day:' Every revenue dollar received made part of a fund for the benefit of employees com­ pelled by its closing to leave the service of the hotel. JUNE 1, 19 29 Auction of furnishings completed. Final title closed in sale of the old Waldorf-Astoria. JULY 25, 1929 Plans for the new Waldorf-Astoria filed with Manhattan Bureau of Buildings by Schultze & Weaver, architects. A UC~ 30, 1929 Publicly reported that financing of the new Waldorf-Astoria has been underwritten by a group of bankers. 168 CHRONOLOGY

OCT. 1, 1929 Demolition of the original Waldorf started. OCT. 2, 1929 Details of the financing for the new Waldorf-Astoria publicly an­ nounced. OCT. 18, 1929 Two years before the new V/aldorf-Astoria will be ready for occu­ pancy, the first lease is signed by the Chemical National Bank & Trust Co. for a branch office. OCT. 28, 1929 Substructure of the new Waldorf-Astoria started. DEC. 12, 1929 Board of Directors of the Hotel ~Taldorf-Astoria Corporation an­ nounced: Charles Hayden, Chairman; Lucius Boomer, President; Augustus Nulle, Secretary-Treasurer. FEB. 13, 1930 Announcement that the Canadian Club of New York had leased quar­ ters in the new Waldorf-Astoria for a period of twenty-one years.

Parade in honor o.f Admiral Dewey, on September 30, 1899; at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue

FEB. 18, 1930 At the meeting of the stockholders of the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Cor­ poration, Lucius Boon1er, President, announced the election of the Board of Directors: General W.W. Atterbury, President of the Penn-

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P. Bunau-Varilla, who was an important factor in the founding of the Republic of Panama. 170 CHRONOLOGY

sylvania Railroad; E. W. Beatty, President of the Canadian Pacific Railroad; Lucius Boomer, President of Sherry-Netherland Corpora­ tion, also President of Louis Sherry, Inc.; Robert K. Cassatt of Cas­ satt & Co.; Lewis L. Dunham, President of du Pont & Dunham, Inc.; Francis du Pont, President of Equitable Office Building Corpora­ tion; Samuel L. Fuller of Kissel, Kinnicutt Co.; Robert Goel et; Charles Hayden of Hayden, Stone & Co.; L. J. Horowitz, Chairn1an of Thompson-Starrett Co.; Richard F. Hoyt of Hayden, Stone & Co.; Percy H. Johnston, President of Chemical Bank & Trust Co.; G. Hermann Kinnicutt of Kissel, Kinnicutt & Co.; Ivy Lee; George MacDonald; Stuart McNamara of J\,lcN amara & Seymour; Conde Nast, President of Conde Nast Publications; Maurice Newton of Hallgarten & Co.; Augustus Nulle; John W. Prentiss of Hornblower & Weeks; Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., President of General 1\1:otors Corpo­ ration; Casimir I. Strale1n of Hallgarten & Co.; Harold E. Talbott, Jr.; William H. Wheelock, President of Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Vought & Co., Inc. A VG. 8~ 1930 Order placed for largest centralized radio reception system ever de­ signed. OCT. 22, 1930 ''Topping off" ceremonies held at The Waldorf-Astoria; the Stars and Stripes were unfurled after the topmost steel column of the building was bolted into place. Th .1 · • ,. T • T r - · .. .. ~ ..... e .... ssoc::.3t1on. o::: J un.1or Leagues 01 rtinenca announced. nead- quarters in the new Waldorf-Astoria . .MAR. 21, 1931 Lucius Boomer, President of the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria Corpora­ tion, announced that Frank A. Ready had been appointed lVIanager of the hotel. JULY 2.5~ 1931 King Prajadhipok and Queen Rambai Barni of Siam were guests of honor at the first luncheon to be served in the new Waldorf-Astoria l nearing completion). SEPT. 28. 1931 Charles Hayden, Chairman of the Board, and Lucius Boo111er~ Presi­ Jeui, gave a dinner in the Sert .t{oom in honor of the Directors of lhe Hotel V/aldorf-.A.storia Corporalion, the architects, builders, and distinguished guests. SEPT. 30, 1931 Building co1npleted and fully furnished, exactly on schedule made two vears previouslv. ~ ~ Twenty-five thousand (estimated) attend preview and reception of the new Waldorf-Astoria. President Hoover, in White House~ officially opened The Waldorf­ Astoria by nation-wide broadcast at 6 P. M. Lucius Boo1ner, Hotel PresidenL thanked President Hoover. OCT. 1, 1931 :\"ew "'aldorf-Astoria opened for business.

171 CHRONOLOGY

Charles Hayden, Chairn1an of the Board, was the first to sign the register of the new hotel. The Sphinx Club, which had held 199 dinners in the original Wal­ dorf, and had determined not to hold another until the new hotel was opened, celebrated their 200th dinner in the Grand Ballroom. OCT. 24, 1931 Marshal Petain of France arrived. Dinner in honor of Marshal Petain by the France An1erica Society. OCT. 26, 1931 Dinner in honor of Premier Laval of France. OCT. 27, 1931 General Pershing gaye a luncheon in honor of l\1arshal Petain of France.

. General John J. Pershing reviewing the homecoming troops from a balcony of The Waldorf-Astoria, ~larch 2.5, 1919. f-{ 0 V. 6, 19 31 Peacock Ball sponsored by Society for Improving Conditions of the Poor-the greatest charity event ever held. Miss Ruth VanclPrbilt Twomblv served as Chairman. 1VOV. 30, 1931 A. 1\1. Bagby returned to the \Valdorf with his 349th l\lusical ~Iorn­ ing. On this program appeared Lucrezia Bori, Giovanni Martinelli, and Maurice Marechal. J A1V. 10, 1932 General Motors officially opened the Auto Show on the third floor with a coast-to-coast broadcast, which included Erno Rapee and his Sy1nphony Orchestra, Graham McNamee, Jero111e Kern, and a large chorus. FEB. 11, 1932 Colun1bia University "Around the World Dinner'' to Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler; three anniversaries were celebrated-his 70th birth- 172 CHRONOLOGY

day, his 50th year as alumnus~ and 30th year as Dean of Columbia. JUNE 14, 1932 Opening of the Starlight Roof. NOV. 13, 1932 Miss Amelia Earhart awarded the Zonta Trophy. 1VOV. l6, 1932 Luncheon by the Officers and Directors of the National Horse Show Association for the judges and exhibitors of the 47th annual Horse Show ( the Waldorf again social headquarters for the Horse Show).

King Prajadhipok and Queen Rambai Barni of Siam. Their ,lfajesties were guests of honor at the first luncheon to be sen:ed in the new Waldorf, July 2.5, 1931.

FEB. 8, 19.33 :\iiore than 1500 attended the tribute dinner in honor of Mrs. Frank­ lin D. Roosevelt by Altrusa Club. FEB. 13, 1933 President and Mrs. Herbert Hoover arrived for the Lincoln Society 47th annual dinner. 173 CHRONOLOGY

APR. 8, 1933 Cartier-Claude! wedding breakfast. APR. 25, 1933 Cobina Wright Society Circus Ball, benefit for the Boy Scout F ounda­ tion. APR. 26, 1933 Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, accompanied by his daughter, Miss Ishbel MacDonald, and staff arrived. Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald by the Pil­ grim Society. APR. 28, 1933 Ex-Premier Edouard Herriot arrived. Monsieur Herriot and members of his party were guests of the French Chamber of Commerce of New York at a dinner in the Grand Ball­ room. JULY 21, 1933 Entertainment in honor of General Italo Balbo and the Royal Italian Flyers by the Italy America Society. OCT. 4, 1933 National Conference of Catholic Charities held 19th annual meeting at the \\Taldorf. The banquet was attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani (Apostolic Dele­ gate to the United States), Patrick Cardinal Hayes, and other high church dignitaries and civil officials. OCT. 29, 1933 The 10th anniversary of the Turkish Republic was celebrated with a large dinner. NOV. 13, 1933 The National Horse Show Association celebrated the 50th anniver­ sary of the Horse Show with a supper dance in the Grand Ballroom. DEC. 2, 1933 Announcement was made by Mr. Lucius Boomer~ President of The W~aldorf-Astoria, that Repeal was an accomplished fact. DEC. 6, 1933 "Society of Stoopnocracy" celebrated Repeal with a dinner, ·which included an old menu with many courses and fine old wines. George Gordon Battle was chainnan. DEC. 9, 1933 County Fair Ball for benefit of New York Hospital Social Service given by prominent society group headed by Mrs. William Goadby Loew. JAN. 30, 1934 First President's Birthday Ball in the Grand Ballroom.

MAR. 17, 1934 The Lambs Club celebrated its 60th birthdav. with a Dinner. Gambol.. and Ball. George M. Cohan was Collie: Frank Crum it served as Shepherd. MAY 2, 1934 Banquet to His Excellency, Stephen J. Donahue, D.D ... Bishop Aux­ iliary of New York. " JUNE 1, 1934 United States Fleet Ball, annual ball of the alumni of the United States Naval Academy, open to the public for the first time. SEPT. 13, 1934 Pan America Society Dinner to His Excellency, Dr. Oswaldo Aranha, .Ambassador from Brazil. OCT. 4, 1934 The '\Valdorf flew the first Filipino flag seen in l\"ew York. NOV. 21, 1934 "Curley'~ o·connor, who opened the original \Valdorf Bar, forty-one 174 CHRONOLOGY

years ago, officiated at the opening of the new Waldorf Men's Bar. DEC. 9, 1934 Miss Elsa Maxwell gave a Turkish Ball in honor of Cole Porter. FEB.6:1935 Andre De Laboulaye, Ambassador of France, was guest of honor at the annual dinner of the France America Society in celebration of the part taken in the American Revolution by the Comte de Rocham­ beau and Admiral de Grasse. APR. 17, 1935 Waldorf placed in operation the largest all-wave radio receiving sys­ tem in the world, augmented by short-wave receiving equipment. MAY 13, 1935 Professor Albert Einstein was guest of honor by a group of friends as public tribute. JUNE 3, 1935 Dinner given by the Mayor of the City of New York to Madame Albert Lebrun and official delegation celebrating the arrival of the ne·w S. S. N ormandie. JUlV E 5, 193.5 "Starlight in N ormandie" supper dance and fashion show. JUNE 8, 1935 Luncheon tendered by the Maharajah de Kapurthalah and the Prince Regent, Prince Singh of Kapurthalah. OCT. 1, 1935 Dinner given in the Jade Room by Charles Hayden in honor of the

Trustees of the American Museum of Natural Historv.., , followed bv., a preview of the Hayden Planetarium. APR. 4, 1936 The Ministers to the United States from Norway, Sweden, and Den- 1nark were guests of honor at the 25th anniversary of the An1erican Scandinavian Foundation. I!AY 10, 1936 in honor of the crossing of the new Zeppelin. JUNE 1, 1936 Arrival on maiden trip of R.M. S. Queen Mary. The official party and 160 passengers came to The Waldorf-Astoria. OCT. 1, 1936 First employees of The Waldorf-Astoria Arts & Crafts Exhibition. More than 250 different articles made by employees put on public Yiew. Jonas Lie, President of the National Academy, headed the committee of judges. 1VOV. 4, 1936 His Holiness, Pope Pius XII-then Cardinal Pacelli-attended a re- . • • 1 • 1 • ,,-,1 ~T 1 1 r A. , • cepuon 1n n1s nonor aL 1ne wa1uon-rt:stona .

..-.. ..- ,,.... .-... - ~""",,,,,,.. ~ • • .. 'I 'I , • r ,r,1 Tl 1 • r"'tl 1 1' 4 T"'"' 1 1 T 1 ur..,c..,,. LU, 1.y.;o H\.·ennetn annua1 a1nner 01 .1.ae oo.ne.r.r.aa.n ~1u..u . .1.ur. LU\·~ a.::u J u.nn- son, Managing Director of the Metropolitan Opera, guest of honor. JAN. 3, 19 3 7 Dinner in honor of Lucrezia Bori given by Mrs. Vincent Astor for benefit of the Musicians Emergency Fund. JAJV. 16, 1937 Dinner in honor of Mrs. James A. Corrigan and Mrs. William Ran­ dolph Hearst given by Miss Elsa Maxwell. The guests were asked to come in rustic costumes. (This was the famous barnyard party.) FEB. 20, 1937 Mayor's luncheon to Emanuel Quezon, President of the Common­ wealth of Philippines. ill AY 12, 19_37 Coronation banquet under auspices of the English Speaking Union. 175 CHRONOLOGY

OCT. 7, 1937 Dinner celebrating the golden wedding anniversary of lvlr. and Mrs. Oscar Tschirky-"Oscar of the Waldorf' -held in the Grand Ball­ room. DEC. 21, 1937 Dinner in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Merchants Asso­ ciation of New York. JAN. 31, 1938 One hundred and fifty Friends of Escoffier (selected from a list of 1000) were present at the dinner of Les Amis d'Escoffier.

,: ~ ! ·--~~

His Holiness, Pope Pius Xll-then Cardinal Pacelli-at a reception in his honor, at The Waldorf-Astoria~ on N011Pm/:>~r 4, 1936. Also in the picture ure ihe iate Cardinai Hares and Alfred Talley, President of the Catholic C/11h nf NI!!!' Ynr!.·.

APR. 21, 1938 General Pershing._ arrived at The Waldorf-Astoria to attend the wed- ding of his son, Warren Pershing, to Miss Muriel Bache Richards. MAY 16, 1938 The Catholic Church honored three laymen. Messrs. Alfred E. Smith, John S. Burke, and John T. Smith received decorations from His Holiness, Pope Pius XI. JULY6,1938 Banquet in honor of the Crown Prince and Princess of Swede~. OCT. 17, 1938 An1erican College of Surgeons Convocation. l'lOV. 6, 1938 The Plavers. Club celebrated their 50th anni,·ersarv.. 176 CHRONOLOGY

DEC. 9, 1938 Dinner to Anthony Eden by the National Association of Manufac­ turers. FEB. 13, 1939 Dinner of the National Republican Club-address by former Presi­ dent Hoover.

Mayor F. H. LaGuardia of New York greets Mayors Joseph D. Scholtz of Louisville, Ken­ tucky, and Harold H. Burton of Cleveland, Ohio, at a luncheon given by the Fifth Avenue Association in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf", March 2, 1939. Crover Whalen was toast­ master. The Association u·as host to forty-four mayors, inz:ited to N cu· Yorh for a prei-ieu· of the World's Fair. MAR. 2, 1939 Fifth Avenue Association Luncheon. Forty-four mayors of Eastern and Nlidwestern cities were invited for a preview of the ~ew lork World's Fair. Grover Whalen was toastmaster. APR. 27, 1939 Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Martha of Norway were guests of Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Boomer in their apartment in the Towers of the Waldorf-Astoria during their New York visit . •11 AY 2, 1939 Banquet in honor of Crown Prince Olav and Crown PrinC'ess l\tlartha by Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce. JJJ AY 3, 1939 Banquet to their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Frederik and Crown

Princess Ingrid._ of Denmark . 177 FIVE THOUSAND COPIES OF THIS BOOK HAVE BEEN PRINTED FROM TYPE FOR THE FRIENDS OF THE V?ALDORF-ASTORIA. THE COMPOSITION IS IN BODON! BOOK BY HUXLEY HOUSF, AND THE PRESSWORK AND BINDING ARE THE WORK OF THE HADDON CR_,\.FTSMEN.