by David Mostardi, Club Historian
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago
January 1923
New Year’s Party: Since New Year’s Eve came on Sunday, the usual reception of the
New Year was postponed until New Year’s Night. Dr. Grant and his Committee
furnished a delightful program which began with old-fashioned dances for which good
music had been provided. Lancers and waltzes gave all an opportunity to take part in the
fun. Later, Old Father Time, excellently portrayed by Mr. McFarlan, told of happenings
in the Club and then gave way to the New Year, represented by Mr. Irving Whitney, who
with timely resolutions on the part of certain members of the Club amused those present.
With particularly attractive decorations of great boughs of greenery hung with
varicolored bells, the Clubhouse was most attractive and set off the few old-fashioned
costumes worn by the members. No costume was more quaint and charming than Mrs.
Preble’s, who, with Mr. Preble, was celebrating not only the coming of a New Year but
also their 45 th wedding anniversary.
Business Meeting: Dr. William S. Morgan, chairman of the Civic Affairs Committee,
began his program in connection with the matters to be on the ballot in the election of
January 20, 1923. Dr. Morgan gave a brief resume of the various measures and then
spoke at length in favor of the city Manager Plan. Mr. Carol Aronovici, Consultant for
the City Planning Commission, gave a brief review of some of the city’s problems, and
gave suggestions and advice as to the possibilities of the future. [Carol Aronovici (1882-
1975) a native of Romania, received his Ph.D. from Brown University. At the University
of Pennsylvania, he taught what has been described as the first city planning course in the
United States. He came to California in 1919 as State Commissioner of Housing and
Immigration. He became Berkeley’s City Planning Director in the early 1920s, and later
consulted for the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and Richmond. He was one of a
group of naturalized citizens honored in 1939 at the New York City World’s Fair for their
contributions to “the welfare and progress of the United States.”]
Directors Meeting: Moved and seconded that the Directors recommend to the Club that it
pass a resolution condemning the showing of Arbuckle films in the motion picture
theaters. Unanimously carried. [Roscoe Arbuckle (1887-1933) was one of the most
popular and highly-paid actors in silent-film Hollywood, but he was accused of rape after
a September 1921 party in San Francisco which ended in the illness and death of actress
Virginia Rappe. There was no solid evidence against Arbuckle, but there were three
courtroom trials which were gaudily sensationalized by the Hearst newspapers: it was
Hollywood’s first big scandal. The first two ended in mistrials and the third in an
emotional acquittal, but by then Arbuckle’s reputation was completely ruined. The
Hollywood studios, fearful of association with Arbuckle, forbade other actors from
coming to his defense. Most theaters refused to show Arbuckle’s films, and as a result
several of them have been lost.]
January 1948
Fireside Meeting: Professor Frank L. Kidner of the Department of Economics, University
of California, will speak on the subject “Inflation: What Caused It, and What Can Be
Done About It.” This will be of interest to all of us. [Frank Leroy Kidner (1910-1979)
had an almost lifelong association with the University of California. He was an
undergraduate here, then earned his Ph.D. at Columbia Unviersity. He returned to
Berkeley in 1939 and remained an active member of the Department of Economics until
1960. University President Clark Kerr then asked him to accept appointment as
University Dean of Educational Relations, where he served until 1975.]
International Relations: The section will present Dr. S. Mosk of the Department of
Economics, University of California, who will talk on “Political Implications of the
Economic Interdependence of the Americas.” Dr. Mosk will also clarify the program of
the Ninth International Conference of American States in Bogotá, Colombia. [Sanford
Alexander Mosk (1904-1960) was born in San Francisco and received BS and Ph.D.
degrees from the University of California. He first joined the UC faculty in 1934 as
Research Associate in Geography, later joining the Department of Economics where he
served for twenty-four years. He was a specialist in Latin America, wrote a major work
on the Industrial Revolution in Mexico. He was given fellowships by Guggenheim
Foundation and the Social Science Research Council, and was awarded an honorary
doctorate from the University of San Carlos in Guatemala.]
Evening of Art: This year’s Evening of Art is being devoted to the works of members.
There will be original music and poetry by our own members, as well as an exhibit of
their own arts and crafts. Our member Theodore A. Heinrich [profiled in this column in
September 2009], now Director of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Monuments Section for
Greater Hesse under OMGUS, will address us on “Restoring the Lost Art of Europe.”
[The Office of Military Government, United States, or OMGUS, was a military-
established government created shortly after the end of hostilities in occupied Germany in
World War II. It administered the area of Germany and Berlin that was controlled by the
US Army. Greater Hesse was one of the five offices in the US zone.]
January 1973
Fireside Meeting: A crucial question for all Hillsiders will be raised at the January
Fireside Meeting by the Civic Affairs Committee when its selected topic—WHITHER
BERKELEY?—will be discussed by Vice-Mayor Wilmont Sweeney. Every member of
the Club has a stake in the outcome of Berkeley’s problems. Not only current Berkeley
residents but also former Berkeleyans who have moved to nearby locations are bound to
be affected by what happens in this community.
Mel Bequest: Attention of all members is directed to the enclosed announcement of a
most generous bequest to the Hillside Club from the late Florence Mel.
Photographic Arts Section: Fondness for primitive cultures has drawn our member,
Gordon Whitehead, to many remote areas of the earth—Yucatan, the Amazon, the Andes
of Chile and Peru, and to his beloved thrice-visited New Guinea—where he has lived
with the natives, some of them cannibals, in a habitat scarcely touched by industrialism.
Gordon will present “New Guinea Today,” a record of his most recent trip to that South
Sea island, taken last May, composed of color slides and movies with running
commentary. Those of us who saw Gordon’s “Head-hunters of New Guinea,” presented
at Hillside two years ago, will attest to the excellence of his pictures and the
perceptiveness of his remarks.
Evening of Art: “Catch the London bus for Calcutta and share a hilarious adventure with
sculptor Dick O’Hanlon and his painter wife, Ann.” Professor O’Hanlon will tell about
their trip and project slides of art treasures he photographed along the way for the
University of California Art Department’s library. He will conclude with films of some of
his own sculptures and point out how many show the influence of the visual arts
discovered on their journey. On special exhibition will be a book of paintings by Muriel
Backman, Victoria Kimball, and Clotilde Taylor depicting each of the Club’s sets and
backdrops. It is designed to aid those responsible for Hillside events in choosing
appropriate stage backgrounds.
January 1998
The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you
know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the
early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!
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