"Mine Host" Adds Up to Nine

Behind genial "Big Jim" at the Hanover Inn are eight alumni on the Board of Overseers who set policy - and new records.

IF you think the Baker Library with its tower is the center of life at Dartmouth, you're wrong. Like a "double star" Dartmouth revolves not only around the library but also around the white porticoed structure and bordering sidewalk across the campus, called "The Inn Corner."

There isn't an alumnus whose steps don't turn toward the Inn at least once during a weekend visit to the Hanover Plain. In fact, the chances are his steps turn there many times, for he's probably a guest in the first place. In the absence of any kind of alumni headquarters, the College-owned Inn has taken on that role.

And the chances are that every student many times during his four-year stay at the College asks his weekend date to meet him at the Inn Corner. The Inn, as most Dartmouth men know, is the "front door" and "best company guest-room" of the College.

What many Dartmouth men do not know are the difficulties in running this unique country hotel, and how in two actions the College has so successfully met the majority of them. The first of these was the establishment, in March 1951, of a Board of Overseers composed of alumni with special skills that would lend themselves to the operation of a hotel business.

The second was the appointment by the Overseers of James T. McFate, a professional hotel man with 27 years of experience, as full-time manager. McFate, who stands 6 feet 6 inches, is known variously as "Big Jim" or "Genial Jim" to undergraduates, townspeople and alumni guests.

Members of the College administration and alumni who were frequent patrons of the Inn had become worried over a long series of annual deficits during good travel years and a creeping decrepitation of the 90-year-old main building. They felt that as the "first impression" of Dartmouth for so many persons, the Inn should be a firstrate hotel.

James D. Landauer '23 of New York, a professional real estate man, suggested that the College set up a Board of Overseers to be responsible for Inn operation. For this interest, Landauer was promptly given the task of establishing the Board and was named its first chairman.

He gathered a group of eight men, including the Treasurer of Dartmouth College, ex-officio,* all of whom could bring specific business skills to the job. The present chairman is Victor G. Borella '30 of New York, also a real estate man (Vice President of Rockefeller Center in charge of operations). Other Board members at present are Governor Lane Dwinell '28 of Lebanon, N. H.; Chandler H. Foster '15 of Boston; James D. Landauer '23 of New York; E. Spencer Miller '31 of Portland, Me.; Ambrose McLaughlin '28 of Littleton, N. H.; Richard F. Treadway '36 of Sturbridge, Mass.; and John F. Meek '33, College Treasurer.

The Overseers first laid down a basic policy for Inn operation. This was designed to do two things - put the Inn on a sound financial basis (it had lost $113,000 in the five years prior to the establishment of the Board) and to make it a more appealing place to stay.

The Board immediately embarked on a long-range program of refurbishment, and in the past four years each of the 75 bedrooms in the house has been recarpeted, public rooms have been painted, refurbished and recarpeted, the cocktail lounge has been completely redecorated, and a new front desk installed.

Meeting twice a year, the Board of Overseers reviews with McFate the long-range policy of the Inn - how much money shall be spent on various improvement projects, whether or not to change the basic room rates, matters of personnel policy, and the like. As chairman, Mr. Borella is in regular touch with the manager and gives a generous amount of time and thought to the Inn, even though he has something as big as Rockefeller Center to look after.

Just last year, McFate reports, he spent $45,000 in the improvement program. This month he has closed an entire floor of the "new" wing, and furniture, beds and bedding are stacked in the corridor while painters, carpenters, paperhangers, plumbers and electricians "do over" many of the rooms.

"We do not need the rooms at this time," he explains, "and we certainly will need them in the spring. By closing the entire corridor we can do the job faster and more efficiently." It is this kind of thinking that has brought the Inn from heavy losses prior to the Overseers to two successive years of profits.

"Last year," McFate reports, "we were $4,000 in the black. This is just about breaking even, but we spent a lot of money on our redecoration program, and in the long run we shall more than recover what we have spent."

He finds that running the Inn is in essence the operation of a weekend business that stays open the other five days of the week. It is subject to tremendous fluctuations. In the peak month of August - yes, that's right, August - his dining room income is half again as much as his next highest month, which not surprisingly is June.

Last August, for example, the Inn served 27,239 meals. The total for June was 19,809, and for July it was 16,670. In December, the lowest month, only 9,605 meals were served.

The problem is to run an efficient business with reasonable overhead during the deep valleys. More than this, McFate wants to run a hotel with a warm feeling. Immediately after his arrival, he says, he observed a need for greater friendliness and embarked on a program of "geniality." If the elevator operator doesn't say "Good morning" when you first appear, and if the waitress who takes your order doesn't have a pleasant word, it is not because they haven't been told or observed "the boss" in action.

McFate emphasizes that this is not a one-man operation. It takes a lot of people, all with the same idea, to run a successful and happy hotel, whether it is in the middle of a large city or in a college town.

"Without people like Mrs. Adele Ives as an assistant, or a head housekeeper like Mrs. Virginia Hawkins, or a chef like Arthur Jones," he says, "we couldn't possibly keep this business on an even keel. Without efficient and considerate housekeepers we couldn't keep our rooms so clean and neat.

"Incidentally, we have a real asset in our housekeepers. They are all New England housewives, with a New England attitude toward dirt. I'm proud to say that our rooms compare with any hotel in the country for cleanliness and spick-and-span appearance."

McFate is well known to Dartmouth undergraduates. There are two reasons for this. First, he is an expert basketball timer and frequently officiates at home games. Second he is a lover of all sports and is seen at athletic events in all seasons. His stature insures that none shall miss his presence.

In line with his interest in sports, he is advertising this year on WDBS, the student radio station, during the station breaks of basketball and hockey broadcasts, declaring that the Inn is a fine place for students to bring their dates for dinner.

This is sound business so far as McFate is concerned. He knows that today's undergraduates are tomorrow's alumni, and the alumni are a sizable group of patrons.

"People expect the most from us when conditions are at their worst," McFate hastens to explain about alumni and football weekends. "Our barroom on a football weekend couldn't possibly be large enough. An armory wouldn't be big enough. And pretty much the same could be said of our dining room. At our last football game buffet we served dinner to 600 persons in four hours in a dining room with a capacity of 200."

If only one percent of Dartmouth's 27,000 alumni come back for a football weekend and plan to spend the night, McFate points out, they will fill to capacity every hotel within a radius of 30 miles.

But he recognizes that he can't possibly make everybody happy. "If we can only please 70 percent of our customers thoroughly, we'll be doing better than most hotels," he says. He wants to maintain the Inn's present standards for service while at the same time finding new business to take up the slack periods.

Our ski school this Christmas vacation was sold out way ahead of time," he explains, "and it is this kind of thing - meetings, conventions, academic conferences scheduled in our off months, that will per mit us to maintain a staff large enough to carry us well during our very busy times."

And for the alumni, "Big Jim" has an important final word: "Why not pay a visit to Hanover and stay at the Hanover Inn? You'll be glad you did. Bring the family; they'll be glad they came." (Advt. - Ed.)

Also on the first Board of Overseers were Charles W. Bartlett '27 of Boston, Victor G. Borella '30 of New York, Chandler H. Foster '15 of Boston, William L. Marcy Jr. '21 of Buffalo, John R. Mason '15 of Millville, N. J., the late Herman W. Newell '20 of New York, and Carl E. Newton '20 of New York.

Victor G. Borella '3O (left), chairman of the Hanover Inn's policy-making Board of Overseers, confers with Manager James T. McFate in the latter's office.

A large mural of a Dartmouth ski-jumping scene, painted by Paul Sample '20, the College's artist-in-residence, is the focal point in the completely renovated bar.

The alumnus shown registering at the new Inn desk will soon have his name posted on the "Dartmouth's in Town" bulletin board.

In warm weather, the Hanover Inn terrace overlooking the campus is one of the town's more pleasant spots. An outdoor grille operates at the eastern end of the terrace.

A completely modern, stainless steel kitchen is one of the Inn's prides.

With a light snowstorm as a fillip, a Navy helicopter landed on the campus in late November and took seniors in the NROTC Unit for rides over Hanover, orienting them to the latest rescue techniques in the service.