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Hall of Fame
AND
"THE
DRUNK"
CAME
IN
A frequent visitor in the early days was John
R.
Drexel,
member of a prominent Philadelphia family, who for
many years has made his home abroad. He had a brother,
Anthony, who became a resident of England in the days
when few Americans were persuaded that the social ad–
vantages of the "tight little island" outweighed its cli–
matic disadvantages. For a time "Tony" was better
known than his brother John, enjoying the reputation of
being a sort of "pal" of the then Prince .of Wales, later
King Edward VII, who was frequently entertained on
Anthony's steam yacht
Margarita.
John
R.
Drexel used to come
ov~r
to New York fre–
quently to attend the opera and other "functions" in
whicti society was interested.
In
time he found his ap–
pearance in the Bar was apt to draw undesirable atten–
tion from persons who, in their cups, wanted to tell him ,
the story of their lives or, perhaps, borrow money. Dur–
ing one of his early visits occurred an incident that
was probably responsible for a line that more than one
vaudeville artist later used to his profit.
Boldt had installed on the various floors of the hotel
young German bus boys-waiters' helpers-whose duty
it was to supply floor service. These youngsters had been
drawn from the crews of German steamers in port. What
they did not know about the English language sometimes
proved considerable.
Pneumatic tubes had been installed to accelerate mes–
sages between the office and the various floors. All orders
were written, and shot up and down by air pressure.
Clerks in the front office, who must translate the mes-
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