Evening star., 1942-12-13
Gridiron Club Honors Cliff Berrynon

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cartoonist, was the guest of honor
of the Gridiron Club last night at
an informal dinner, for members
only, in the small ballroom of the
Willard Hotel.
Lewis Wood of the Washington
Bureau of The New York Times
was reelected president of the club
at the annual meeting yesterday
afternoon. Also reelected were:
Vice president, Charles o. Gridley
of the Chicago Sun; secretary,
j. Harry Cunningham: treasurer,
Charles G. Ross of the St. Louis
Post Dispatch; historian. Ernest G.
Walker; members of the Executive
Committee; Walker S. Buel, Cleve-
land Plain. Dealer; Raymond z.
Henle, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and
Lyle c. Wilson, United Press As
sociations
This is the first time since World
War days that president of the
Gridiron Club has been called on
to serve for more than one year.
Since the. outbreak of the present
war the club has ceased giving pub
lie dinners.
Marquis Childs Initiated.
Marquis w. Childs of the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch was elected to men,
bership yesterday and initiated at
the dinner with Edward T. Folliard.
Washington Post; Richard L. Hark-
ness. Philadelphia Inquirer; Dewey
L. Fleming, Baltimore Sun and j.
Roscoe Drummond, Christian Sci
ence Monitor, all of whom had been
elected previously.
What the members did at the din
ner last night is pure surmise, not
verified by any Star reporter. While
reporters are never present" at
Gridiron Club dinners, the club
usually makes public in advance
the program and the details of its
show. The club neglected to do
even that last night and no details
about what went on behind the
closed doors of the dining room
were made available to the public.
Attended Clubs First Dinner.
But there was enough to know
that Mr.. Bergman sat at the head
table, occupying the place that by
tradition is reserved for the Presi-
dent of the United States.
And sitting there, he must have
recalled that first dinner of the club
which he attended as member So
years ago this month. He was cele-
brating two things that night. He
had just joined The Star staff, full
filling an ambition he had held for
many years. And he had within
the preceding two weeks been
elected to membership in the club,
after an apprenticeship of nine years
of friendly labor for the club in il
lustrating its menu cards.
On his initiation that evening he
was escorted to the platform by two
members dressed as Teddy Bears
the woolly little creature which Mr.
Bergman had created from pen and
ink a few years before and various
reproductions of which had become
the rage all over the country. The
bear, incidentally, had been inspired
by the man who sat at the head
table that night-President Theo-
dore Roosevelt, whose gallant re-
fusal to shoot a small bear on a
hunting trip in Mississippi had sug-
gested the Teddy Bear cartoon.
The Two Teddy Bears"
The two Teddy Bears who es-
corted Mr. Bergman to the stage
that night were the late Rudolph
Kaufman, managing editor of The
Star and John Adams Corwin of the
Chicago Herald. They left Mr.
Bergman on the platform alone,
where he made chalk-talk, reveal
ing to the members and guests his
prediction as to the next President
of the United States. (Mr. Berry,
man was a poor prophet. That night
he drew Theodore Roosevelt in
stead of William Howard Taft)
Famed Limericks.
Later in the evening an incident
occurred which made this dinner a
famous one in the annals of the
Gridiron Club. The menus con-
tanned collection of limericks,
written by the late Richard v.
Oulahan, for so many years the dis
tinguished Washington correspond
ent of the New York Times. The
limericks were illustrated by Mr..
Bergman and when President
Roosevelt was looking through the
menu he came to verse and pic
ture recalling his brush, not long
before, with Senator Joseph B.
Foraker of Ohio over the incident
at Brownsville, Tex, when some
colored troopers stationed near there
had shot up the town." Mr.. Roose-
welt dishonorably discharged the
whole unit from the Army because
none of the soldiers would testify
against the few ringleaders. Senator
Foraker had sought to block the
discharge of the unit by Senate ac-
ton
When Mr.. Roosevelt noticed the
limerick he marked the place and
put his menu down. The time
finally came for him to make the
speech of the evening-by custom
the final speech. The President
referring to the limerick, Lit into
Senator Foraker, who was guest,
and gave him verbal going over
which had the diners sitting up
straight in their chairs. And when
he concluded. Samuel G. Blythe,
who was president of the club, made
what he afterward said was the big
mistake of his life and, rising, said:
IF the Senator from Ohio wishes
to reply, now is the time for him
to do it."
Guests Enjoy Polemics.
The Senator replied, at length
and at white heat, while the guests
and members enjoyed one of the
finest llnrecorded eYhihitions of