The visit of Grand Duchess Cyril, wife of Cyril I, self-proclaimed “Czar of all Russians” now holding court in Coburg, brought into political prominence the Monday Opera Club.
Mrs. Henry P. Loomis, president of the Colonial Dames of America, is one of the most active leaders of the Monday Opera Club. It was she who went to Paris last summer and induced the Grand Duchess Cyril to accept the Club’s invitation to visit America. It was made known that the Grand Duchess is only one of many royal personages who are to be invited by the Club for the purpose of strengthening society. Those whose presence in America is expected are: Queen Marie of Roumania, the Duchess de Vendome, head of the Bourbons, who still hope to regain the throne of France: Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia, sister of the last Czar; Grand Duke Michael, cousin of the Czar, with his wife, the Countess Torby, and the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, granddaugher of Queen Victoria of England.
Mrs. Loomis, in defining the purpose of the Monday Opera Club is reported to have stated, “Those interested in its inception were not willing to lend their names, even for a good cause, to anything that was not maintained along the lines of fastidious taste. Society in Europe, brought to bay by the cataclysm of war, looks across the sea with hope to the social life of our vigorous young Nation. Society is only an agglomeration of groups. The Monday Opera Club is but one small group of these. Has it standards? Of course. But we must fight to keep them. In testimony of her appreciation of what the club is trying to do, the visit of the Grand Duchess bids fair to make our season a brilliant one.”
The Advisory and Executive Committee in charge of general policy consists of Princess Cantacuzene-Speransky (nee Grant), Mrs. Richard Mortimer, Mrs. Carnelins Vanderbilt, Mrs. Henry H. Rogers and Mrs. Henry P. Loomis, with Ethan Allen as treasurer and George Djamgaroff as secretary. The membership of the Monday Opera Club is limited to five hundred. In addition a guest list, which numbers about two thousand five hundred, has been carefully compiled. No one may attend the social functions of the Monday Opera Club except members and members guests. No Jew has ever attended a meeting of the club.
The club committee which passes on the eligibility of members consists of Mrs. George Baker, Jr. Mrs. Cornelius Bliss, Jr. Mrs. Williams Burden. Mrs. David Dows. Mrs. James B. Duke. Mrs. Frank Gray Griswold, Mrs. James B. Haggin, Mrs. Ogden H. Hammond, Mrs. George H. Howard, (Continued on Page 4)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
