Evening star., 1948-03-07
| lust Between
Yourselves
BY Philip H. Love-.

The White House correspondents
annual stag dinner in honor of the
President Of the United States is
always gala event. Nearly every
body who is anybody Is there, the
food is excellent, and the entertain.
ment is topnotch. Consequently. the
demand for tickets far exceeds the
supply, even though the price has
spiraled in recent years from s7.5e
each to 50 to $12 to $14.
Each member of the White House
Correspondents Association is en-
titled to two tickets, one for himself
and the other for his guest. The
name, address and occupation Of
the guest must be submitted far
enough in advance to permit thor
ough checking by the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation.
The President sits at the center Of
a long table, with officers Of the
association and the most eminent
guests on either side. These guests
include the Chief Justice Of the
United States, the associate justices
Of the Supreme Court, members OF
the cabinet, top-ranking officers Of
the Army, Navy and Air Force, OUT
standing Senators and Representa-
tives, and occasionally distinguished
visitors from abroad. A second head
table," set in front of the first one,
but on lower level, is shared by
other prominent guests. The rank
and-file of the associations mem
bers, with their guests, are seated
according to the promptness with
which they ordered their tickets.
And, of course, Secret Service men
and plainclothes policemen are
everywhere.
Sometimes, the President makes q
speech; more often, he doesn't. At
the 194l dinner, President Roosevelt
delivered one of the most important
addresses of his career-the one In
which, although we were not at war,
he called for total mobilization for
total victory" Usually, however, the
presidential talk, If any, Is in con-
siderably lighter vein.
Most members of the association
choose friends or relatives outside
the journalistic profession as their
guests, the theory being that such
people will get an extraordinary
thrill out of an evening spent among
so many celebrities.
Before last years dinner, news
paperman was asked by his guest
what he should wear. BLACK tie"
was the answer.
The guest showed up wearing q
black tie, all right-only it was a
four in-hand, and his suit was gray.
1t is interesting to watch the re-
actions of the President and other
distinguished guests to the enter.
tainment which follows the dinner.
President Roosevelt always seemed
to be having the time of his life.
cooking his head to listen to his
favorite tunes. clapping vigorously
for the singers, dancers and instru-
mentalists, and laughing uproari-
ously at the comedians, even when
their jokes we're on him.
President Truman also appears to
get a great kick out of the show.
The big hit of one of the dinners was
Sugar Chile" Robinson, the cute
little Negro boy who plays the piano
with his elbows and fists as well as
his fingers. In the midst Of some
terrific boogie-woogie, he turned
toward Mr.. Truman without missing
beat and called: "How'm I doin',
Mr.. Pres-i-dent?"
Pine, fine" the President re-
sponded-and then led a round Of
applause so loud that, if you hadn't
been able to see that Sugar Chile
was still humping away at the
piano, you'd have sworn the music
| had StnpneH