The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-16
FROM MANY KINGS DINNERS.
LEHNER SHOWING A FAMOUS
MENU-ALBUM FOR CHARITY.
Hasn't Been Able to Get n white House
Gard, but Means To-Naiicd Two
KaIsers Through Their Ook Lady
smith Card and Pass Through Patrols.

Gard, but Means To-Nsilcd Two
! KaIsers Through Their Cooks Lady
smith Card and Pass Through Patrols.
Two members OF the Geneva Union,
composed Of cooks and walters, mostly
foreign, will never carry a towel nor say
"the gumbo Is very fine tonight, sir, ' any
more. One has had a leg amputated at
the knee, and the other has grown nearly
blind with cataracts, so that he cannot seq
his way between the tables. To raise money
for their support they have had j. c. Lehner,
one of their members, put on exhibition his
album Of menu cards. amous in the profess
sion and but little known outside.
Lehner, whoisnowa waiter Of the Waldorf
Astoria, set UP headquarters on the second
floor of the Monte Carlo restaurant at 12i
West Th~irty-fourth street, and there he
will show the collection for the rest OF the
week. The album, comprising banquet
menus from every civilized country and
covering every year since 1910, is interesting,
but still more interesting ia the way Lehner
got it.
He IL a Viennese. Fifteen years ago he
acquired the hobby. He began with a
series of Viennese banquet menus, As
the habit grew on him he began to travel,
working as waiter, steward and manager
wherever he landed. And everywhere he
set about collecting menus, old and new.
His travels have carried him all over Europe,
America, North and South, and the Far
East. Now he has specimens from thirty
six nations and royal menus from the palace
of every important sovereign on earth
He has none from the White House. The
White House menus are the hardest to get.
He tried for a plain, everyday menu card
and failed. Then, after the White House
wedding, he wrote to Congressman Long
| worth and to President Roosevelt for q
| bill of fare of the wedding breakfast. They
declined; and Lehner's only consolation
is that the Aston Library, which has the
best collection in this country, was turned
down, too. -,
The Emperor Of Austria was another hard
proposition. Lehner was three years after
him. Finally he took his book to the palace
showed it to the chef of the imperial house
hold and got him Interested. The chef
, managed to get him several menus The
! Emperor of Germany was also coy. 1t was
, another chef who arranged this. And, by
! the a the German Emperor is the only
sovereign who does not bow TO the suprem-
acy OF French as the language of epiicures'
Even the Shah of Persia and the Khedive
Oh TlkN " III III NiNIA ~ -
straight high Dutch for William.
The every day menu card Of Buckingham
! Palace il very simple. 1t il a plain little
card, about s inches wide by 4 deep. At
its head Is the royal arms in gilt, Inc Ger
man il Just az simple, but very large, The
menu cards of King Milan Of Servia are
, interesting to the profession y because he
| always made them out himself, being some
thing Of an epicure.
The card which Lehner prizes most is
,lat ~ an Vim nasa t~,plitippl hp unlpt nf lSn1
Its decorations were printed III many colors
from designs by a French painter, and it IS
very elaborate for thai date. He searched
three years to get 1t.
The quantity OF food served at public
banolets and the number Of courses nave
zone down steadily since the sos, The
array Of dishes on some Of those old menus
| reminds one Of the card Of a Broadway
restaurant. On the other hand, the cards
grow constantly more elaborate and artistic.
The American are the largest ana most
elaborate of all. Further, Americans now
give more banquets than any other people
In the world. Lehner has been in this
country only two years. In that time
he has collected only contemporary cards;
vet he has more from America than from
any two other countries, The English
and French lead in artistic excellence.
Theirs excel ours as a Partisan poster
| excels an American show bill. The annual
| consular banquets of Manchester have a
| get OF cOlOT tIllDOSsrsu ltliuS H'Ih AK
gems.
The English part of the collection comes
| mainly from an old chef Of Manchester.
now dead, who willed his collection TO
! Iehner. They make almost a history
of the latter part OF the nineteenth century.
Hardly a great event but is recognized
in some of those public banquets to Eng
| lish ROYALTIES and celebrities.
Among the curiosities are the menu Of
an Anglo-Egyptian banquet given in Cairo,
whereof half Is in English and half in hero
klyphs; another of a banquet to Gen. Sogi
in japan, and another of a banquet held in
Ladysmith during the siege. With the in
~vitation TO another banquet in Ladysmith,
held later in the Boer War, there goes a
card admitting bearer to the streets after
dark without arrest for the town was
under martial law, There are some pretty
little cards from G~reece-where French
is still the language of g~astronomy.
Lehner has a scheme. He wants to make
up a book, a kind OF edition dc luxe, Of
copies of royal and official menus, this to
be sold to the profession all over the world.
Kind Of like Pads and Fancies, ~ he says.
And, by goodness, y he adds, I'm going
to get a White House menu before | leave
this country