Martin Williams
Member
During the Christmas season of 1911, Clarence and Maybelle Moore were guests at Washington's most lavish costume ball, given by Mrs William F. Draper. The hostess had only recently come out of mourning and she now celebrated her return to Society by inviting over two hundred friends to dance the night away in fancy dress. Some of the outfits sound quite original; John Barrett as a Chinese Mandarin, Mrs Robert Hinckley as 'Ireland' (complete with shamrocks in her hair), Miss Laura Merriam as a 'fascinating' Alice-in-Wonderful, attended by James F. Curtis as the Mad Hatter, and the President's daughter, Helen Taft, as a Lady of the Court of Louis XVI. In addition to the usual Cleopatras, Mary Stuarts and Marie Antoinettes, the hostess's daughter was attired as Botticelli's 'Spring', in a gown of silver tissue and white tulle trimmed with butterflies, with a wreath of pink roses in her hair. Many impressively titled members of the diplomatic corps (from the embassies and legations of France, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Russia, Austria, Germany and Switzerland - although not, for some reason, Great Britain) were out in force, besides various senior figures from the U.S. army and navy. They were partnered by a bevy of the capital's most eligible debutantes - including, interestingly enough, Edith Gracie, the colonel's daughter, who would herself be formally 'brought out' at the Gotham Hotel in New York, just months after the 'Titanic' disaster and a matter of weeks before her father's premature death.
