The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-26

the club founders had hoped to get, they found they still had some $3,- 400 in the treasury.
 When party leaders suggested the money be turned into the Democra- tic National Committee to keep the party machine running till 1948, the club leaders said nothing doing. They had been told that they were going to throw lot Of weight around, and by golly they were go- ing to make a splurge If they had to pay for it themselves. So the 29l member 1000 Club decided to give themselves a banquet and to see what a real 1000 Club would look like if they had one, they decided to invite every celebrity and near celebrity they could rope, tie or otherwise lay hands on, to the num- Der of 1000. No tricks would be sold, the food would be free, and they would build up lot of good will THE CHECK: $6,155
 By actual count there were Ill tickets put out. The breast of guinea hen dinner cost $5 a plate, or $5,- 555, plus $375 for the Presidential banquet room and $175 for the Con- gressional banquet room adjoining. Sum total, $6,155.
 The programs were the size of news magazine, though not so thick At that. these menu ''cards" were l6 pages plus a four-page bristleboard cover. Printed in blue and gold (the club colors?) and bound by red white -and-blue cord, they must have cost at least half a buck apiece and that line, This book was print ed in compliance with wartime regulations on paper conservation was conspicuously absent.
 That wasn't the only thing con- spicuously absent about this pro- gram. A whole raft of the "Distin- guShed Guests" whose names and stations were printed in the pro gram were also conspicuously ap- sent. Nine columns of membership list revealed only about dozen names of national prominence.
 Mrs. Roosevelt was there and General and Mrs. Marshall. The new Vice President was there and on his very first day and night ill office got broken in on his long four years of being distinguished guest and maker of brief remarks at banquetS. Henry Wallace for a change, had his first night off and how he must have enjoyed 1t.
 But the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court stayed away en masse, the Navy was represented by the mere Commandant of the Coast Guard and Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard, bless his Hoosier heart, was the only cabinet member so loyal or SO innocent that he did mt join those who stayed away.
 George Jessel presided as master of ceremonies and said he enjoyed the dinner because he had been to the White House for lunch and never had so few chickens got mixed up with so much celery. Mrs. Roose- welt topped that one later by say ing she was glad to know there had been any chicken at all in that salad because by the time she and Mrs. Truman sat down for a bite after the thousands of invited plate luIlCllCOll BuEoJo Ildil lCl SIlC COulu- mt find anything but celery.
 NO SINATRA
 Frank Sinatra was another cele- brity who was supposed to be there but wasn't. Weather-not dogs - kept him from flying in but it was no loss because the 372nd Infantry glee club sang war songs and the Star-Spangled Banner much better than Frankie could ever have done If somebody had started a sWoon at that 5000 guinea -hen-in-t -the-rough atmosphere, there's no telling what might have happened.
 There still remains the little mat ter of finances. If the 1000 Club had only a $3,400 surplus to begin with and this affair cost approximately double that, somewhere, somehow, somebody must have dug down to foot the difference. Sic transit gloria 1000 Club and requiescat in pace 291 suckers.