The ABCB Holds it's National Convention; Hemingray holds party for over 100 bottlers, caricatures of McAbee & Zimmerman

Sparkling Entertainments

Featured the Annual Conclave

Diversified Program Arranged.... New Features Introduced For The First Time....Annual Ball Biggest Affair Ever Held — Convention Movie A Highlight... Other Activities, As Seen & Reported

By N. B. G. Staff

ALWAYS an important part of Convention activities, the entertainment features of this year's program were exceptionally fine, and gave the visiting bottlers, supplymen and their ladies many moments of relaxation from the grind of the daily Convention and Exposition activities. The program this year was a varied one, and contained some new and novel entertainment features, arranged especially for the. bottlers and the ladies. As a matter of fact. a great deal more of attention was paid to the entertainment of the ladies this time, a result of the splendid attendance last year. The following are condensed bits of some of the high-lights.

PLACED on the stage in the Arena, a fifteen piece orchestra provided a series of musical entertainments during the entire week, for the enjoyment of the visitors to the Exposition. Since there were two floors to the Exposition, the music was sent to Mechanics Hall over a public address system. Dancing was permitted on the stage, and quite a few of the visitors took advantage of the opportunity.

ON MONDAY, November 10, at 9 P. M., the first of the special entertainment features was run off. Instead of the usual procedure of having a smoker on this evening, this night was set aside for the President's reception, and proved a gala affair. The reception was held in Juneau Hall, in the Auditorium, and was largely attended, the bottlers being glad of the chance to personally greet Carl Jones, the retiring president. Also on the reception committee, were Mrs. Carl Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Oberfelder, and Mrs. and Mrs. Virgil Browne. The guests, upon entering the Hall, were personally greeted by the six in turn, while the moving picture operators, under the direction of Eric Scudder, ground out reel after reel of film. Refreshments were served free for the asking, and as the night was warm, the refreshment stand was quite popular. Following the reception, a dance was held, and the enjoyable evening ended about 11 o'clock.

FIRST event on the Ladies program took place on Tuesday afternoon, at 1 P. M., in the form of a Luncheon and Bingo Party at the Hotel Schroeder. Nearly every lady registered at the Convention attended, and to say that they enjoyed the affair is to put the matter lightly. The luncheon proved highly delectable, and was followed by the Bingo games, a form of Lotto. Prizes were distributed to the winners, after several hotly contested games.

THE ENTIRE evening of Tuesday, November 11, was set aside for the many special dinners staged by the various machinery and flavor concerns. Special suites were engaged at the leading hotels, and the bottlers were royally entertained. Among the concerns who ran special dinners were the Liquid Carbonic Corp., Chicago, Ill., Nehi, Inc., Columbus, Ga., Schlitz Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wis. Imperial Lithographing Co., Milwaukee, Wis., Schmidt Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wis., Hemingray Glass Co., Muncie, Ind., and many others. More detailed reports of these dinners are published elsewhere in this column.

AN ENJOYABLE jaunt for the ladies took place on Wednesday, November 12, at 2 P. M., when the ladies were carried off in fifteen huge buses, and shown the sights of Milwaukee. The trip took in the shopping centers, business districts and residential sections of the city, and ended at the Milwaukee Elks Club, where tea was served, and favors distributed to all the guests. The fair sex was enthusiastic over the splendid, arrangements made for them.

NINE o'clock, on Wednesday night, the climax of the entertainment features was reached, the event being the Annual A. B. C. B. Ball. It was held in the huge Juneau and Kilbourn Halls in the Auditorium, and never before in the annals of the Association had so large a crowd attended a similar function. The great halls, probably the largest in the city, were thought sufficiently large to hold the expected throngs, but the committee in charge of the arrangements was pleasurably surprised at the enormous turnout.

An orchestra in each hall alternated in playing the melodious waltz strains of the day and the more snappy jazz numbers, and the crowd kept streaming across the entrance hall, passing from one dance floor to the other. At about ten o'clock, the center of the floor in Kilbourn hall was cleared, to make room for the specialty dancers who entertained the gathering. The high spot of the evening was the group of Tyrolian dancers who dressed in their native costumes, played their native songs and danced the folk dances so popular in Switzerland.

Paper hats, of every size and description, were given everyone, as were noise makers and streamers, and the noise reached deafening proportions. No one minded that, however, for the gaiety had readied its height. By the end of the evening, it was almost impossible to squeeze into either hall, for more and more visitors arrived to join in the festivities. Many-colored streamers were distributed, and in a short time they were festooned all over the hall, and were tangled knee deep under foot. Taken from any viewpoint, it was an entirely successful affair. The high spirits of everyone present, the splendid music, the renewing of old friendships and the making of new ones, all combined to make the Ball a never-to-be forgotten affair.

MOST of the ladies were taken in hand by the Ladies Committee on November 13, at 1 P. M., this time the program calling for luncheon at the modern New Pfister Hotel. After the delightful repast, the ladies were transported to the outskirts of the city, arriving finally at the Phoenix Hosiery Mills. Courteous guides were provided by the officials of the company, and the ladies were shown every process in the manufacture of silk stockings. After the tour of inspection, each lady was presented with a pair of beautiful silk stockings, in a special box, a gift which brought joy to their hearts. Indeed, so pleased were they, that upon their return to the Auditorium, each lady made shift to show the gift to everyone she met. After the tenth lady, the men never wanted to see a silk stocking again.

FESTIVITIES for the week closed on Thursday night, at 9 P. M., when for the first time, at any Bottlers' convention, a movie of convention activities and shots of bottlers and supplymen were shown to a large gathering in Plankinton Hall, in the Auditorium. This movie had been in preparation during the entire week, under the able management of Eric Scudder, and showed every social function, besides views of the Exposition Hall and Convention Sessions. Shots of bottlers arriving at the convention, screen interviews of well known bottlers at the registration desk, all provided a highly satisfactory conclusion to the entertainment features. The picture was woven around the experiences of Mr. and Mrs. Average Bottler at the Convention and Exposition, and included every worthwhile feature of the entire week. The bottlers, supplymen and the ladies, seated in the darkened hall, found the picture extremely interesting, as shown by the numerous amusing and sometimes slightly caustic comments heard from the audience. The thrill of seeing themselves on the screen put the gathering into a gay mood, and the conclusion of the evening, the dance in Engelman Hall, found everyone perfectly satisfied with the arrangements that had been made for their amusement and entertainment.

The N. B. G. Staff Artist's Impression of the A. B. C. B. Ball.

ON TUESDAY night, November 11, the Nehi banquet, an affair long looked forward to by Nehi bottlers, took place at the Schroeder Hotel, in Milwaukee. More than one hundred bottlers and their wives were present at this social function, arriving early and leaving late, because of the really excellent program of entertainment which dotted the evening.

W. E. Upchurch was the Master of Ceremonies, and W. E. Sawyer acted as Toastmaster. Several informal short addresses were made by officials of the company, which were well received. Favors were placed at each place, and were accepted with much appreciation.

The banquet room was the setting for the ten act vaudeville show which was staged during the evening, and proved highly amusing and entertaining. The surprise of the night was the act in which three of the officials of Nehi, Inc., displayed their talents.

It was a perfectly arranged, and well run affair, and for genuine pleasure given, stands high among the entertainment features of the week.

BRILLIANTLY arrayed, that affectionate couple so much in evidence at the Show, who pinned buttons to everyone in sight, were Papa and Mama Schlitz, the familiar pair employed by the Schlitz Brewing Co. of Milwaukee. Their bright clothes and happy chatter brought a splash of color to the Exposition.

ENTHRALLED crowds watched B. Rogatz, of the Manhattan Bottling Company, Milwaukee, Wis., unfold himself from within his baby Austin every day in front of the Milwaukee Auditorium. Mr. Rogatz tried to check the car (?) in the hat check department, but was refused on the grounds that someone might trip over it. S'all right, Mr. Rogatz, even Houdini couldn't do it!

Character Impersonations As Seen in the Exposition Hall.

FOR ONE of the most enjoyable evenings they had at the Annual Conclave, several hundred bottlers and their ladies have to thank the Hemingray Glass Company, of Muncie, Ind. This concern, on Tuesday night, November 11, staged a party at the Shorecrest Hotel, one of the most exclusive hotels in Milwaukee, engaging the roof garden and several suites as the scene of the festivities, which proved one of the most successful of any held during the week.

The roof garden was an ideal place for the affair, for it was beautifully decorated, and quite amply large to accommodate the large crowd. Balloons of every color were tied to the backs of the chairs, and not a few of the bottlers doffed their dignity, and went back to playing with the balloons, as in their childhood. In one corner of the room, a five piece orchestra provided the dance music, and accompanied the floor show when it was run during the course of the evening.

Special talent from one of the Milwaukee night clubs had been engaged for this party, headed by a young comedian, who poked fun at everyone present and at himself, and put everyone in high good humor. Other numbers included a sister song and dance act, by two very pretty girls, and a tenor, who sang several of the popular numbers and quite a few of the old-timers, in a splendid voice. Indeed, so contagious was his singing, that the entire assemblage joined him in all the choruses, and had a howling good time.

COL. PHILIP MACABEE [sic] MCABEE,

Hemingray Glass Co.

W. P. ZIMMERMAN,

Hemingray Glass Co.

The big hit of the evening, however, was the Hollywood buffet which was served during the course of the party. An adjoining room contained a long table, which groaned under its load of delicious foods of every conceivable variety, so temptingly displayed, that nearly everyone had trouble deciding on what to eat. Courteous waiters and waitresses aided the guests in selecting their dinners, and in bringing them to the main dining room.

Before and after the floor show, and during the entire evening, the guests made good use of the dance floor, and the hostess of the party saw to it that there were no wall-flowers. It was a splendid evening of entertainment, and credit is due to the officials of the company and their wives, for the perfect evening of entertainment which they provided for the enjoyment of the bottlers and their ladies.