page_title: Claude Philippe
section_title: Social events
hierarchical_section_title: Claude Philippe / Career / Social events
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Elsa Maxwell and Marilyn Monroe at the April in Paris Ball held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in 1957.
context_page_description: Claudius Charles Philippe, also known as Philippe of the Waldorf or The Host of the Waldorf, was a British-born French-American restaurateur, catering director, hotelier and businessman, who was the hotel banquet manager of the prestigious Waldorf Astoria New York hotel in the 1940s and 1950s. From 1961 until 1963 he worked as executive vice president of Loews Hotels, and was responsible for the planning and building of six new New York hotels.
  Philippe is best remembered for founding the April in Paris Ball at the Waldorf Astoria in 1951, which he ran with Elsa Maxwell until his sacking from the hotel in 1959. The balls were major events in the US socialite calendar, and raised millions of dollars for American and French charities over the 28 years of its existence. His Lucullus Circle dinners also attracted some of the wealthiest businessmen of the day to feast on six to eight course meals. During his career at the Waldorf Astoria it has been estimated that Philippe was responsible for his clients spending $150 million alone on banquets, which led him to be referred to as "one of the truly great men this industry has ever produced" by George Lang.
context_section_description: In 1951 Philippe founded the April in Paris Ball at the Waldorf. It was initially held annually in April 1952, but according to Ann Vaccaro, former executive director of the ball, it was changed to October because "Mr. Philippe decided that because there are so many balls in the spring he would make it in October". After being changed to October, it often marked the start of the US fall social season; the balls were major events in the socialite calendar, and raised millions of dollars for American and French charities over the 28 years of its existence. It was staged in the Grand Ballroom at the Waldorf for eight years before moving to the Hotel Astor in 1960, the Seventh Regiment Armory in 1961, and other venues. The ball was designed to cater for "very, very high-class people" according to Vaccaro. Raffle tickets cost US$100 per person and offered opulent prizes such as a US$5000 bracelet and other jewels, expensive furs, perfumes and even cars. It attracted many of the most famous people of the day, including Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich. By the mid 1970s his balls were charging $185 per person; the 1974 ball netted roughly $175,000. During his career at the Waldorf Astoria it has been estimated that Philippe was responsible for his clients spending $150 million alone on banquets.
  Philippe was also noted for his Lucullus Circle dinners and women-only luncheons, which were both very popular. The Lucullus Circle dinners, inaugurated in 1951, brought about a "new golden age of gastronomy", attracting some of the wealthiest businessmen in the world at the time to feast on some "six to eight food courses and two wines with each course". Philippe "enjoyed acting like a cross between a benevolent dictator and a kindly father" at the dinners according to George Lang. The ninth dinner featured a menu of "heroic proportions", 17 inches (430 mm) high and 12 inches (300 mm) wide, with over eight pages.  On May 10, 1965 Claude Philippe threw a party for Chevalier off his usual site, this time in the Oscar's Delmonico wine caves. 
  By 1972, however the dinners had begun to lose their appeal. New York Magazine noted that the dinners were still appreciated for their "enormous stocks of wine" but that it no longer seemed to "have the appeal of the other groups". They nonetheless continued. After Philippe's death, his wife, Helga, took over planning the gentlemen's dinners, as well as coordinating the wines and greeting the attendees; she was the only woman present at these events.
  In 2013, entertainer Harry Belafonte recalled being signed to perform at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1959 by Philippe.  When it was discovered that Belafonte was an African-American, Philippe was relieved from his post of long-standing and the hotel tried, but failed, to cancel Belafonte's performances.
caption: Marilyn Monroe with organizer Elsa Maxwell at the 1957 April in Paris Ball
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