DOGS AT A DIMMER PARTY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9117, 9 April 1908, Page 6

DOGS AT A DIMMER PARTY.

MILLIONAIRE’S EXTRAORDINARY ENTERTAINMENT. New York, February 14. A new “splash” dinner record was achieved last night by a member of the “progressive” millionaire clique. Robert Collier, described in the newspapers as a “society leader,” gave one of the most elaborate and undoubtedly the most expensive dinners ever served in New York, at .Sherry’s Restaurant last night. Two ballrooms were transformed at enormous expense to represent scenes from Spain, the first being a replica of a room in the house of a Spanish grandee, and the second representing the courtyard in front of the royal palace at Madrid. The guests were seated at eight tables surrounding the courtyard, which was decorated with trees. The branches of some of the trees touched the coiling of the ballroom, which was specially painted to represent the sky, while realistic lighting effects were secured by means of shaded electric lamps suspended from posts. In the centre of the courtyard a stage was erected, where scenes from the entertainments now running at three theatres were given by the original performers. The dinner did not begin until midnight, because of the necessity of waiting for the arrival of the chorus girls from the Casino Theatre, with the dogs which appear in the “coolie ballet,” which is a feature of the Casino entertainment. The dogs were fed at a separate table. The other guests included Mrs John Jacob Astor, Mr and Mrs William K. Vanderbilt, and Mark Twain. Mr Collier endeavoured to keep the affair secret, but the gathering of so many well-known people at so late an hour attracted great attention.