Diamond Dinner

It had been a great night for nudging and staring. The 800 people in the Waldorf-Astoria's Grand Ballroom had paid $250 apiece for dinner, and taken a certain clinical interest in one another. An army of waiters had produced a series of gastronomic spectacles, from turtle soup to brandied cherries.

But the biggest moment was yet to come. To insure the success of the banquet --held to raise money for the Al Smith Memorial Hospital Fund--every ticket holder had been promised a chance to win a genuine 109-carat diamond.

When the dishes were cleared, waiters distributed paper & pencils at every table. John Kieran of Information, Please appeared on the platform like an evil genie. The startled guests found themselves fumbling agonizingly through the richest--and probably the hardest--quiz program ever held.

"What," asked Kieran, "is the mean approximate distance from the earth to the moon?" (Answer: 239,000 miles.) "Who served the shortest term in the Presidency?" (Answer: William Henry Harrison.) After twelve such questions the guests, who had been served dry sack, Riesling, Burgundy, champagne, brandy and liqueurs, laid down their pencils with a collective sigh. Forty schoolteachers took over the job of correcting papers.

The Missing Guest. Just before midnight Kieran rose to announce that two men had tied with marks of 85. There would be another quiz to determine the winner. One nervous man--black-haired Lester B. Stone, onetime executive secretary to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia--showed up on the stage. The second contender--plump, wealthy William Rogers Coe, banker and vice president of the Virginian Railway Co.--had given the whole thing up, was found across the street visiting some pals at LaRue's Restaurant.

At first he refused to believe scouts who were sent to recapture him. Finally he returned, immediately got nervous too. Kieran launched into a list of ten new questions. "From where does this line come: 'Night's candles are burn t out and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops'?" Stone pondered, perspired, gave up. Coe knew the answer: Romeo and Juliet. After that he stayed one question ahead. But on the last question he said the circumference of the earth was 27,000 miles. Stone got it right: 25,000 miles. The two had finished in a dead heat again.

Did they want to try a third quiz? Both refused, triumphantly accepted an I.O.U. for a $25,000 Victory Bond apiece.

But a few minutes later each was calculating furiously. Stone had agreed before dinner to pool his chances with five friends. As a result his total take was only $3,066. Coe guessed he would salvage but little more.

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