# Revolution And The Lizzie

By David Friend, 1969

When I accompanied News cartoonist Dave Goldstein into the Elizabethan Club last week, he remarked, "You know, for three years I've been walking past this little old white house and I never had the slightest idea what it was. I always thought it was a secret society or something." Goldstein was coming along to get a few inspirations for News illustrations. We sat down at an octagonal table beneath the imposing portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the Tea Room. I began to help myself to a cup of that delightfully delicate Elizabethan Club special blend. - It was still a bit weak, so I decided to make pleasant conversation (the only kind permitted in the Club) while the tea steeped for a few extra minutes.

## Deviled Ham Salad

The other members of the club were busy discussing the pros and cons of the new Wednesday sandwich, deviled ham salad, which has recently superceded the traditional brown bread and cheese. The startling substitution was master-minded by several of the Club's older members who, true to Yale's tradition, effected the reform without the consultation of the other Club members.

While I paused briefly to pour tea, we began discussing the feasibility of confrontation politics within the Elizabethan Club -- two nearby members chatted happily about the cherubic voices of the English boys. I explained quietly that much more revolutionary reforms than the sandwiches were brewing in the Club.

It all began at the annual business meeting last year when two members of the class of 1968 sponsored a proposal to admit women to the Elizabethan Club as members. After a few hours of normal tedium, the President finally presented the proposal before the membership. The admission of women had previously been considered by the Board of Governors, a supreme body with classically conservative propensities. They dismissed the proposal, however, since amendment of the Constitution required the approval of the membership. The Board of Governors called the meeting on a Thursday night, thereby eliminating from the meeting many of the undergraduate members who had to attend their Senior Societies. When the proposal was presented, the discussion centered about remarks such as, "Everyone knows the Elizabethan Club is a men's club, so how can we even discuss the admission of women," or "I have heard no constructive reasons why women should be admitted to our haven of retreat." Subsequently the proposal was tabled and a committee was set up to poll the entire membership, since it was the opinion of the President that the quorum present was not representative enough to make such sweeping changes. It was decided that the committee would circulate a poll at the end of the school year, or at least within six months.

Now, eight months later, it has come to the attention of certain members that the promised poll has been neglected.

My cartoonist friend mentioned the

possibility of doing a cartoon of Matthew, the Club's Negro steward, refusing Queen Elizabeth entrance to the clubhouse. I promptly informed him that this was no joking matter, and that the Club had been seriously divided over the issue. Robert Kimball, Chairman of the Committee on Admissions, and two undergraduates have circulated a petition to hold a general meeting to discuss the problem of admitting women, but several old members who feel quite attached to the Club (and have also done quite a bit to keep it running) feel thoroughly threatened by the petition. It is expected that when the petition for a general meeting is presented to the Board of

regular cocktail parties which died about the time when women were first admitted to the Graduate School and the Club had to hastily revise its constitution to exclude these new members of the university community. Another suggestion that seems plausible is the institution of Saturday evening dinners, an attraction which has worked to everyone's delight at Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club, and at the Elizabethan Club's Crimson croquet rival, the Signet Society.

All the action at the "Lizzy Club" is likely to result in many sweeping changes over the next few years. The number of reforms and ways one might update the

Governors on January 6, they will attempt to forestall the meeting until March, the time of the usual annual business meeting. This prospect appears unsatisfactory to those who support the petition, and it is expected that a general meeting will be called in February with or without the approval of the Board of Governors. The thought of such a confrontation has soured many a cup of tea recently.

## Very Exciting

As one might expect, such political excitement is likely to stir even the most lethargic and apathetic people. Consequently, life at the Club has taken on some of the gregarious involvement seen at the Sorbonne early this summer. A circle of spectators watching members in heated debate are generating refreshing ideas for revitalizing the institution. For instance, one member suggested that the Club reinstitute

Club's functions are staggering. There is a new and extraordinary determination on the part of the young members to put the Lizzy back on the map, and who knows, maybe in a few years we'll be able to watch the annual Croquet tournament with Harvard's Signet Society on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and have special programs on NET from the Clubhouse featuring poetry readings, evenings with guest literati, or chamber music recitals.

Whatever the outcome of the present crisis, the Elizabethan Club is becoming more conspicuous in the University community. I know of at least one non-member now who knows what it is, and he was very impressed. You won't see members quarreling on the streets, you won't see blood running from the mouth of Shakespeare's statue, and you won't see a new portrait of the Queen in contemporary garb, but revolution is in the air, even at the Lizzy.

COCHRAN'S MARRIAGE TO
POLISH ACTRESS ILLEGAL

Paris, Sept. 27—Some of the details of the shattered romance of Alexander Smith Cochran, the wealthy New York yachtsman, and Mme. Ganna Walska, his Polish bride, have been secured in advance of legal action, but from sources regarded as authentic.

It is still a matter of speculation
in the American colony here whether
Mme. Walska will institute an ac-
tion before Mr. Cochran files papers.
The decision seems to be in the
hands of the lawyers—Samuel
Untermyer in New York, acting for
Mr. Cochran, and Dudley Field
Malone, Mme. Walska's attorney,
who has sailed for New York.

This much is known, however. It
is Mr. Cochran's intention to chal-
lenge the legality of his marriage to
the Polish singer on the ground that
she was never legally divorced from
her first husband, Capt. Archadie
d'Eingorn of the Russian army, that
he was still alive at the time of her
marriage to Mr. Cochran. Friends
of Cochran have said that the Rus-
sian officer is alive yet.

Mme. Walska's second husband
was Dr. Joseph Fraenkel, a promi-
nent New York physician, whom she
met and married in New York in
1915, while she was appearing as
"Ma'mselle Nitouche" at the Century
theater. He died in April, 1920.

The legal action between Mr.
Cochran and his wife, however, will
revolve around Mme. Walska's first
marriage and subsequent separation
from Capt. d'Eingorn, to whom she
was married in Poland when she was
17. Her argument, it is said, will
be that she obtained an ecclesiasti-
cal divorce on the grounds of
drunkenness in April, 1914, through
the Synod of the Holy Russian
church. No such grounds for a de-
cree exist, the only grounds that do
exist for a ecclesiastical divorce in
the Russian church are the same as
the statutory grounds for divorce in
New York State.

The story is that Mme. Walska
at the time of her first marriage was
none other than plain Hannah Puaoz,
member of an obscure and humble
family of Sieldec. She is said to
have one brother, Leon Puaoz. Capt.
d'Eingorn, instead of being a baron
in his own right, is now said to have
been "the descendant of a baron."

The Cochran were married here
in September, 1920, following a
romantic courtship when both were
eastbound passengers aboard the
Cunarder Aquitania. In April of
of this year they separated, Mr.
Cochran going to London and his
wife to Dieppe, where she joined a
party of which Harold McCormick of
the Chicago Opera company and his
daughter also were members.

The masquerade dance which was
to have been given by the Ladies
guild of Christ church, Bethany in the
town hall tomorrow night has been
postponed until Wednesday, Oc-
tober 5.

There will be an entertainment fol-
lowed by dancing at the Woodbridge
fair this evening.

The Ladies' Aid society of the
Bethany Congregational church will
meet at the home of Mrs. Sherman P.
Woodward on Thursday. Every one
is cordially invited.

Mr. Cliffords school for dancing
will reopen Tuesday, October 25, ad-
vanced last Wednesday 26, intermed-
iate Thursday 27th. A younger class
for little children will meet Wednes-
days from 3 to 4. Hours for other
classes 4:15 to 5:45.—Advertisement.

# $82,000 GIFT TO EMPLOYES.

## Alex. Smith Carpet Co. Makes Fifth Profit-Sharing Distribution.

The Alexander Smith Carpet Company made its fifth profit-sharing distribution among its employes yesterday. It paid out $82,000 to 3,500 employes, according to their length of service. Those who had worked for the firm for ten years received 10 per cent. of their earnings in the past six months, and those who had been employed for from five to ten years, 5 per cent. on their earnings for the same period.

The first profit-sharing distribution was made by the carpet company on Sept. 1, 1911, and since then the share of the profits distributed amongst its employes has been $342,000. In Sep-

tember, 1911, 1,500 employes shared in $50,000; on March 1, 1912, 2,500 employes received $65,000; on Sept. 1, 1912, 3,100 employes shared in $70,000, and last March there were 3,300 recipients of $70,000. *nyTimes 3 Sep 13 4*

GANNA WALSKA AGREES TO
DIVORCE COCHRAN 15
4 May 22

Mme. Ganna Walska

Ganna Walska and her husband, Alexander Smith-Cochran, "richest American bachelor," have agreed upon a divorce. Details of property rights have been settled by their attorneys. Divorce proceedings will be instituted in Paris, where both maintain legal residences. Dudley Field Malone, attorney for Mme. Walska, and Mr. Untermeyer, attorney for Cochran, have sailed for France to conclude the case.

3 DEFENDERS
ARE CERTAIN

Cornelius Vanderbilt, G. M.
Pynchon and A. S. Cochran to Head Syndicates to
Build Yachts For Honor
of Racing Lipton Boat.

New York, Aug. 16.—That three syndicates have been formed to build boats that will aspire to defend the America's cup next year was an important development that came out during the recent cruise of the New York Yacht club. The syndicates are headed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, George M. Pynchon and A. S. Cochran.

Mr. Vanderbilt is a former commodore of the club and owns the 75 footer Aurora. Mr. Pynchon is one of the cleverest Corinthian skippers in the club and owns the 57 footer Istalena. Mr. Cochran raced the 90 foot schooner Westward with much success both here and abroad. It is expected that N. G. Herrshoff will design and build the Vanderbilt and Pynchon yachts but that Mr. Cochran will seek a new cup yacht designer, probably William Gardner.

Several other members of the club have expressed a desire to enter the trial races, including Addison G. Hanan, owner and designer of the 31 rater Josephine and it is believed that Boston, Philadelphia and perhaps Chicago will have representatives in these races.

If Philadelphia has a boat, it is expected that she will be built by a syndicate headed by Commodore E. Walnark, of the Philadelphia-Corl Yacht club who has raced the Irolita, persistently if not against the Elena for

LONDON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1911.

THE HUTH SALE.
---
SHAKESPEARE AND BACON.

By a curious and unpremeditated coincidence the chief interest in the Huth sale at Messrs. Sotheby's on Friday centred around the two names of Shakespeare and Bacon.

That with regard to Shakespeare was the announcement by Mr. Quaritch that he was the purchaser of the Huth Shakespeare folios, quartos, and poems for Mr. Alexander Smith Cochrane, the yachtsman, and that henceforth these precious volumes will find a permanent home in the Elizabethan Club library at Yale University, which has already a rich Elizabethan and pre-Elizabethan collection of rare books. While there are many Shakespeare collectors in the United States, the acquisition of the Huth series at once places Yale University on a level with, if not above, all other collections, public or private, in America.