The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-08
HEARD IN The RED ROOM.
The Wiseacre Owl of Old
Bohemia Whispers Some
Club Secrets.
BAR BILLS ARE FATAL TO ART.
Seven Members Who Paint Are
Said to Have Been Dropped
From Membership.

1t is whispered by the Bohemian Club
owl that the exalted profession of oil paint
ing is not the "open sesame" to the liquid
refreshments on tap at that institution.
The difference of opinion arising on this
point has caused an eruption, and the owl
further whispers that seven men who
paint-not altogether for pleasure, but for
a living-have been dropped from the
membership lists until certain accounts
centering in the tag department of the
club are iquidated.
To be sure, these little bills have been
long in accommodating, and during the time
occupied in getting them together great
many enjoyable and festive affairs have
been produced. Of course the gentlemen
who enjoyed them were not all artists, but
those who paint certainly had very large
hand in the accumulation.
In times gone by it has been the custom,
in at least some cases. for the directors to
look with admiring eyes and great satisfac-
ton upon the works of art that the gentle
men who create with a brush have pro-
duced, and call small accounts off; but in
these times, when the stringency in the
money market is evident on all hands, that
spirit of generosity does not prevail, and
an artists dollar, when he has the same, is
as good as any other.
OF later years, however, it has been
found to be good scheme to pull the cash
register on one and all, young and old,
irrespective OF various abilities, gifts or
talents, and call upon them to proceed
with the act of balancing accounts.
There are times when a man is engaged
upon picture that will when sold put
him beyond the profaning breath of a col
lector, but then the trouble seems to lie
in the fact that it takes too long to COM
plete the work in great many cases.
In the light OF these things and several
others the directors met recently and
turned those pictures toward the wall that
might move them to relent and bitin o
quit" must be enforced to the letter 1t
was hard struggle, but mastering their
feelings and closing their eyes to the beau
ties of art they succeeded in getting
through with the business and adjourned
to the fresh and invigorating atmosphere
which the true artist loves to depict in his
landscapes. 1t was terrible ordeal, but
the august directors have demonstrated
that they can rise to an occasion and rem
der an impartial judgment without fear
and without favor. Blessed be the names
of the directors and perpetual be their
works.
In the meantime, while the owl con-
tinues to hint at further and more gigantic
moves of club diplomacy, the walls of the
Post-street quarters are gaping for new
works in oil, pastels, crayons and water
colors, but there are no masters to paint
them. Woe stalks abroad, and the dust
will settle on the old gems, while the hang
ing committee will have to resign or be
compelled to report no progress.
There will be no more cartoons of local
events, and the sire's picture, which gen.
orally goes with all state occasions, will
probably have to be painted by some
outside colorist, who does not know the
cause of their creation, and who has never
had the pleasure of signing tag within
the sanctified and hallowed walls of the
| famous clubrooms.
The suddenness with which the blow fell
has caused no end of shocks to those who
had their necks under the directors gull.