Evening star., 1943-05-23
Red Cross 71uinee Parties S0lue Man SHORTAGE
Lively Programs
Attract Capacity
Cr0wds to Evenfs
Bv Betty Smith.

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Cr0wds to Evenfs
By Betty Smith.
II you think there's a man
shortage In Washington you
ought to go to some of the par
ties given by the Red Cross train
ees at the Embassy Club at
Twentieth street and Columbia
road. No eight girls to man
here-rather it's the reverse
there are often eight men to Z
girl!
And the "a resident trainees
arrange and prepare every detail
of these parties themselves. They
do the marketing, cook and serve
the delicious piping hot buffet
suppers, arrange the decorations
and the entertainment for the
evening. Sometimes it's pretty
professional entertainment, too,
because there's lots of talent
right on the clubs own roster.
And then, too, friends Of the
trainees often come to help en-
tertain at the parties.
During the last blackout party
night-club singer Lois Gilman "a
trainee) played and sang to the
boys and girls-150 of them-un-
til the all-clear signal sounded.
Then, another time Alica Marble
dropped into the club and gave
the trainees an informal talk.
Often there are dances-some-
times for the trainees, sometimes
for the training staff. Sometimes
IN costume. Always the music Is
good and so is the dancing; espe-
cially the popular Congo Line.
If you like to arrange your own
entertainment there are games of
every sort and description from
darts to table tennis.
But don't think that the En-
bassy Club is all play and no
work. The massive old brown.
stone house that was the tempo
rary headquarters for the Czarist
regime during the last war, was
leased by the American Red
Cross as part Of the extensive
training course given the girls
who later will staff the Red Cross
recreation centers for Uncle Sans
fighting men. 1t follows closely on
the heels Of the three weeks
orientation course and serves as
workshop Of experience for
these trainees. It's services are
open to all groups connected with
the Red Cross.
The different groups of trainees
have done all the actual work of
making the Embassy Club a
pleasant and comfortable place
to be. They did the painting,
made curtains and slip covers
and, under the direction of artis-
tic and ingenious Mrs. Malcolm
Aldrich, transformed what was a
pretty pompous and dreary old
house into something gay and
charming.
Over the mantel in the done
over" basement a bright red
moulding frames a plaque of
signatures of all the charter
members Of the Embassy Club.
And one entire door serves as a
guest book and is covered with
signatures OF well-known visitors
to the club.
Miss Jane Stearns is the over
all supervisor for the club and
largely responsible, we surmise,
for its great success. She used
to be assistant employment man
ager for one of the large New
York department stores. She
knows people and likes them and
they like her. On the record of
her past experience in personnel
and her ability and personality
her application to the Red Cross
for work with them was accepted
almost Immediately and she has
been director of the club since
its opening last March 7th.
What is the most fun of any,
thing the trainees do as part Of
the course?" we asked her.
And her reply was that it was
hard to say, but perhaps the most
exciting thing to watch is the
weekly swimming and demon
stration class at the Ambassador
Hotel swimming pool. The
trainees are taught long distance
swimming, how to keep them
selves af1oat in case of disaster,
how to swim through burning oil
Imaginary of course) and a lot
Of the same training that is given
Uncle Sans Navy men.
At the last class four trainees
wearing their casual" suits of
denim and the famous Mae West
life belts jumped into the water
and managed to keep up. They
even take pillowcases and blow
them up into life preservers. And
If you don't think this is hard to
do, just try it out sometime!
Mrs Carr Hoctecc