Evening star., 1903-08-03
COSTLY ENTERTAINING
Summer Functions Run Up
Into the Thousands.
RECENT EVENTS NOTED
UP-To-DATE LAWN AND WEEKS
END PARTIES.
Country House Gatherings and
Yachting Trips Are
Features.
RECENT EVENTS NOTED

Taking 1t easy? Well. not exactly! Why.
summer is our busiest season. There Is no
dull time in our business. Society wants
to be amused the year around-even in
Lent"
So said the man whose business is It to
provide drawing room novelties for the
very rich. His Office is located on a side
street. close to New York's most fashion
able shopping district and occupies we'll
lighted basement room. The front Is Of
solid plate glass; through which he can see
the carriage of q well-known society wo-
man as soon as it draws up before his door
Here comes Mrs. George J. Gould in
search of some attraction for her guests at
Georgian Court, Mrs Stuyvesant Fish de-
mandng novel feature to spring at her
next dinner party. and the well-knoWn
bachelor host who would offer striking
foreign act when he gathers a few choice
spirits around his board.
Sometimes the patron leaves her carriage
enters the Office and critically scans the
engagement book the agent spreads before
her. but more often she leans from her
brougham and inquiries impatiently, Have
you nothing neWf
Extravagant Summer Entertainment.
The time when summer represented
cessation of social extravagances. period
of rest Is now past said this man the
other dav. with what is known the coun-
try over as the smart set summer stands
for the most extravagant methods OF en-
tertaining. and New York reaps the benefit
OF the innovation.
''Why? Simply because to the newly
made millionaire Newport is the summer
battle ground. There. if he is properly
sponsored by some New York leader, he
conducts the social skirmiSh which pre-
pareS him for the more vigorous campaign
in the city next winter. He may be a ship
builder from Philadelphia. pork packer
from Chicago, a steel magnate from Pitts
burg or a gold king from California. he
may have conquered the social world In
his native state but he will not feel that
he belongs to the truly elect of America
multi-nillionaires until he has won out In
a Newport season. 1t has taken some fam
flies half Il dozen seasons to penetrate the
social circle. Some have failed utterly. but
It is all fish for our baskets. for he who
would entertain at Newport must draw his
supplies from New York. whether it be
food. flowers or fun.
The social season in the city grows
shorter each winter STYLES OF entertaining
In the city are necessarily more conven-
tional. Dinners, dances and the opera,
with occasional vaudeville entertainments
iii the bill IN town. City houses do not lend
themselves readily to bizarre features. But
a country place. with spacious grounds, In
vitcs experiments along social lines. There
is no pastoral simplicity about the modern
garden fete 1t stands for the most ex-
travagant the most ornate, the most lux
rious type of entertaining which modern
hosts can cOntr1Ve.
whenever one of these gorgeous func-
tons Is given. the country is duly inform
ed Of all the glittering details by an enter
prisng press. The social secretary of the
host hostess receives reporters. furnishes
them with typewriter descriptions of deco
fS,Nv,o 1iSfC of
perfunctoriy over the grounds and through
the miniature theater, and dismisses them
courteOusly. But neither the clean. ty
written document nor the brief glimpse of
the social fairyland give to these
writer's any idea of the immense amount
of thought and work which precedes the
brilliant pageant
This is divided between the host some
valuable intimate friend usually a mascu-
line one. denominated by facetious writer's
ID tame cat and the amusement agent
who is called into the conferences and who
secures the talent
The Acme of Summer Entertainment.
THE Pembroke Joneses set the pace for
garden fetes In 1901. and nothing given
since compare with the fairy-ike scene
into which their Newport place. Friedman.
turned on that occasion More origi-
nal programs have been offered more strik-
ing effects secured. but nothing more
quisitely artistic ever greeted societys crit
ical eye. For weeks electricians were en-
plOyed wiring the rose garden until every
bush held almost as many tiny bulbs as
rosebuds. The temporary theater was rose
colored the marques were OF tho same
hue. and the ball room was walled in rose
figured cretonne. with garlands OF natural
blossoms. Where roses did not bloom
hedges were built from stately stalks OF
American beauties. And when the grounds
were thrown open to guests, every rosebush
blaZed into light. the ha 1yoo
seemed to have electric bulbs buried In
their hearts.
THAT function is estimated to have cost
It's hosts fully SOS, COO and 1t consisted of a
dinner with covers for 25O guests. who
swung around from their table to watch
vaudeville performance in the miniature
theater. after which the cotilion was
danced. In this case the floral and cleo
trical decorations were perhaps the heaviest
item OF expense.
when the Cornelius Vanderbilts closed
New York theater and secured the serv-
ices Of a Broadway company for one night
at their Newport villa. great stress was
laid upon the extravaganza of this feature
of the entertainment. In reality, the the
atrical entertainment was one of the small
est items in the account being represented
by just 5000, all told. The theater In
which the play was given for this one night
only was three weeks in building, from
plans drawn by an architect. 1t was lined
in pure white. and the decorations were
Louis XIV garlands in broad satin ribbon
hung with gilded baskets holding real yell
low roses.
Even the Flowers Cost More.
THE old belief that flowers are plentiful
in summer and that garden fete decorates
itself is decorated by Dame Nature ia
far from the real facts. Floral decorations
for summer fetes run far ahead of the
same feature in winter entertainments, be-
cause summer houses and grounds literally
eat up flowers. What would make a mag
ni1cent showing in a town house is lost on
the porches. in the temporary theaters and
ball rooms. the marques and numerous
tents which mark the summer entertain
ment. The summer fete with the very rich
is no longer served au natural, but with
all the aids that modern art can give It,
THE out-of-town hostess pays heavily for
her catering. She is not served by Newport
help. but draws all this from New York.
The railway fares for assistants at such
function was given by the Pembroke
Joneses or the Cornelius Vanderbilts would
easily amount to a thousand dollars As a
rule, the caterer, the theatrical manager