Evening star., 1941-02-23
Navy Relief Body's
Phantom Ball 10 Have
Tangible Tickets
Defense Reasons Prevent
Dance, but Benefits
Will Be Forthcoming

FOR reasons OF natlOnal Qe1enSe
the Navy Relief Society will hold q
phantom ball" this year.
This is defense-the closing o1
the gates of the Navy Yard and its
sail loft, the only hall in Wash
ington large enough to hold all who
would come to the Navy Relief Ball
This, too, is defense-the protec-
ton of the Navy'S own. The Navy
Relief Ball, for more than 35 years
has been the one annual appeal fol
the funds to pay hospital bills, buy
coal and food and clothing for needy
families of the men of the Navy and
Marine Corps.
This year the Navy Relief Bal
would have been held day after to-
morrow. on Shrove Tuesday. 1t will
not be held, but tickets will be sold
as usual. Programs have gone out
to subscribers describing the set
ting of the ball, for it has ever been
decorated ingeniously. Only one
thing will be different. Instead OF
going to the sail loft on Tuesday
evening, the guests will draw on
memory to fill the darkened hall
with lights, to people it with friends
to hear the music of the Marine
Band and the Navy Band alternately
playing for the dancers.
Began In 1904.
The memories of some will 60 back
to 1904 when the District Auxiliary
of the Navy Relief Society, three
wears after its founding by Admiral
George Dewey, conceived the idea
of an annua, ball. From 1904 to l94O
the ball was held every year, except
for the war years, 1917 and 1918.
Perhaps ones memories will dwell
on the ball at the Hotel Washington
on Thanksgiving night of 1922. Mrs.
Warren G. Harding headed the list
of patronesses that year.
That was the year The Star society
editor slyly pointed out:
The lure is strong for debutantes
as the beaux in general will be
drawn from the uniformed ranks
of society, including the foreign
naval attaches of embassies and
legations"
Remember the ball held at the
Willard in 1923? President Hard
ing's death had brought Calvin
Coolidge to the Presidency and Mrs.
Coolidge was patroness.
Women Will Remember Gowns.
The women, perhaps, will re-
member the gowns. Mrs Theodore
Roosevelt, jr.. wife of the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy created STIR
that year with a costume of green
taffeta. fashioned after the gowns
of 1880 with a hoop skirt and a
dainty lace tucker" about the neck
The 1880 ball was the first affair
of its kind Mrs. Herbert Hoover
had attended outside the Executive
Mansion since she became mistress
of the White House
Remember how excited the girls
were because young Allan Hoover
had come down from Harvard to
escort his mother to the ball?
New faces came into the receiving
line. Senator Swanson became
Secretary of the Navy and Henry
Lotrobe Roosevelt his assistant.
Changes came in the decorations
Tt jog your memory, there was
1886 when Mrs Joseph M. P.
Wright decorated the hall as
corner of Venice. That was the
year the "Har-Bar" came in where
one could sit and sip.
Changed in 1888.
The most drastic change of all,
of course. came in 1888 when it
was decided the ball had outgroWn
any hotel ballroom and would be
held in the sail loft at the Navy
Yard And the traditional Thanks
giving date was changed to Shrove
Tuesday.
The great hall was transformed
into a village street You danced
past a playing fountain surrounded
by laurel and fashioned lamp
posts. At one end of the hall was
the food bar under a red and
white awning with that mural by
Mrs Wright of St. George and the
dragon. Flowers bloomed in the
window boxes of little shop where
soft drinks were sold.
Outside, marin es parked the cars,
and glad to do it, too.
Then 1939-"Spring ANYWHERE
In the sail loft. Debutantes cir
culated among the guests with
cigarettes and flowers and some
were arrayed as dairy maids, dis
pensing milk from the spring house.
That was just year ago but one.
You can remember the flower
decked cottages lining the patio
where you rested between dances
with long, cool drink.
Last Years Ball
Who doesn't remember last years
ball when Old Charleston inspired
Mrs. Charles c. Hartigan and Mrs.
Oscar Badger to create a setting on
the grounds of a white -porticoed
Southern mansion.
Rear Admiral and Mrs. George
Pettengill met Mrs. Franklin Roose-
welt and escorted her to the box of
Secretary of the Navy and Mrs
Edison. The Presidents wife wore
a gown of plum -colored crepe with
gold braid about the waistline and
forming the straps over her
shoulders.
And the phantom BALI? There
memory must give way to imagina-
ton.
Picture scene from old Salem
ancient sailing craft at anchor. rows
of waterfront houses, peopled with
desperate looking characters selling
flowers and soft drinks.
Imagine the flourish of trumpets
as Mrs. Roosevelt arrives and the
commandant of the Navy Yard anc
Mrs. Pettengill move to meet her
The Secretary of the Navy and the
Chief of Naval Operations escort