White House Vaudeville

He had not been invited to any of the performances, but he had read about the programs and that was enough. So far as Drama Critic Richard Coe of the Washington Post and Times Herald is concerned, during the 1958-59 season the White House was one of the nation's worst show spots. Running down the bills, Critic Coe could tick off the Supreme Court dinner in December, when the President's guests heard a collection of local amateur harpists; the diplomatic corps dinners, which featured the boys' choir of Washington's Landon School; and the season's final musicale last week, when Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn was honored by the appearance of Rudy Hansen, a cowboy guitarist from New Jersey. Just about the only real pro (who appeared at a dinner honoring Vice President Nixon) was Lawrence Welk. Sneered Coe: "If I were a world figure, I certainly wouldn't want to listen to that kind of thing."

In earlier years of the Eisenhower Administration, Artur Rubinstein, Hildegarde and Marian Anderson, among others, have played the White House.*Only last year some show business commentators--including Critic Coe--blamed the Eisenhowers for requesting too many command performances (traditionally unpaid) from well-known entertainers. Ike never cared much for White House vaudeville (the acts are booked by Mary Jane McCaffree, Mamie's secretary), prefers movies, which he takes along on his vacations (he likes westerns, but has been known to protest when they show cavalry procedure incorrectly). As for Lawrence Welk, both the Eisenhowers and the Nixons dug him. Ike tapped his foot vigorously in time with I've Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle and smiled at such old favorites as A Little Bit of Heaven. The President asked Welk: "Don't you know The Yellow Rose of Texas?" Replied Welk: "Well, if we don't we can certainly make it up." Then, reports a White House aide, Welk and his band proceeded to do just that. No one could recognize the tune.

*The tradition goes back to Chester A. Arthur, who called on Operatic Soprano Adelina Patti. Teddy Roosevelt gave weekly musicales for as many as 500 guests, invited such performers as Paderewski and Actress Ethel Barrymore. Neither Herbert Hoover nor Calvin Coolidge went in for such lighthearted entertainment, although Coolidge once had John Barrymore to dinner before going to the National to see the Great Profile play Hamlet. Both F.D.R. (he liked Lawrence Tibbett, Marian Anderson, Kate Smith and Mickey Mouse, among others) and Truman were major White House impresarios.

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