San Francisco Meeting
A bunch of the boys were whoopin' it up at Marquard's in San Francisco when the "official party" arrived. 'T was to be a sad event for retiring president Herb Follett '03 and his administration. They had made good progress in 1932 in spite of cramped world-wide conditions, but humanity is thankless; they wanted a "New Deal." That modest program committee Don Hoffman '36 recognized the clamoring of the mob, and tactfully pulled the date of April 7 for the annual dinner. You all remember April 7, when partial armistice was signed? The "New Deal" was accepted without one "No," but with plenty of Sweet Adelines: president, Roy Frothingham '15; vice-president, Ray Collerd '17; secretary-treasurer, Abe Winslow '20. Now that is over, we can forget party lines. Have a pretzel?
We were greeted by a Yippee-i-aye of singing, playing, and clogging of four Arizona cowboys who had been corralled for the early hours of the evening. Even "Brutus" Cleaves '87, the oldest loyal son present, had to hold himself from doing a jig to that music. Later in the evening a couple of Indian dancers showed up in full regalia and gave us a little of the Dartmouth of 1770. So good was their story in dance and words that Dean Laycock (alias Don Hoffman) matriculated them on the spot.
"Desert Rat" Robie '12 was at the piano much of the time, and somehow the Dartmouth songs were even more spontaneous than ever this evening. Any speeches? Sure, the "Master of the Hounds" Garby '07 gave a good one. Old time V. P. John Post '05 gave his famous dissertation on Mayor ; John Palmer '25, his whale story in good old Eastern seaboard lingo; and of course the parting shot by the toastmaster. Best of all, judging from gallery comment, was the ode to the retiring president by Elmer Robinson '14, ably supported by classmates Gridley and Washburn.
A feature of the evening was the awarding of the free dinner to the member with best attendance at weekly luncheons during the past year. Didn't cost us a cent, as Charlie Ham '71, with high score of 43 out of a possible 45, could not be with us. He is favoring his strength for record attendance this year. The free meal was not awarded to runner-up Ray Collerd '17 with a score of 42, nor Line Wilson '13, 41, nor Don Hoffman '26, with 39. By the way, the weekly attendance last year dropped a little over 1931, from an average of 17.8 to 17.0
The following Dartmouth men, not mentioned above, attended this dinner of dinners: Townsend '94, Smith '97, Perkins '04, Clark '05, Hoyt '07, Evans 'OB, Beebe '09, Reagan '09, Wilkinson '10, Gray '11, Butler '12, Mudgett '18, Stoddard '18, Baldwin '19, Kimball '20, Winslow '20, Wallick, Tuck '23, Townsend '23, Nigh '26, Clifton '27, Howes '27, Adams '29, Balkam '29, Marx '29, Faye '30; guests, Col. Clifton, Bob Frothingham.
San Francisco Annual Dinner A west coast celebration, April 7, 1933—celebrating the end of a good Dartmouth year and the beginning of a better one.
