a r
How the Society Heiresses Who
Joined Under Assumed
Names Nearly Broke Up
the Organization by
Taking Over Fifty
Admiring Men Out i
of It Along With i
Them When I
They Were ■
'Suspended 1
for Misbehavior ’
Mr*. Mark Frazier, the fourth vice-president of
the ‘‘Joy Club,” who helped bring about the
suspension of the five heiresses and now is
said to wish she hadn’t
Mrs. Mary
Leacock,
another of
those who
brought the
charges that
suspended
the “too
joyful” girls
Miss Alice Lewis,
one of the /
suspended
heiresses /
f
{
Miss Agatha De
bussy, niece of
the famous French
musical composer,
in whose honor
Miss Livingstone
gave the dance
that is believed to
have aroused a
storm of jealousy
in the “Joy Club”
V
ft ' ^
Mist Annalee Livingstone, the leader of the
group of fashionable Indianapolis society girls
who joined the mysterious “W. W. B. and M.”
in search of new thrills, and found and gave a
great many more than they ever expected
MISS ANNALEE LIVINGSTONE,
of Indianapolis, is the pretty
eighteen-year-old daughter of
Axon Livingstore, whose diamond mines
in South Africa make him one of the
richest men in the Middle West.
Her chums, Marcia Johns, Alice Lewis,
Florence James and Martha Frye, have
almost equally brilliant backgrounds of
wealth and social position. In fact, when
you have named this quintet you have
named five of the richest, most fashiona
ble young beauties of whom Western so
ciety can boast.
And they are as full of high spirits
and as keen for romantic adventure as
they are rich, fashionable and charming.
The latest evidence of this is found in
what hapengd when they concealed their
identity under assumed hames, laid aside
their fine clothes for ones such as not at
all wealthy girls wear and became mem
bers of an Indianapolis organization
familiarly known as the ‘‘Joy Club.”
This is a branch of a national society
which has taken for its name the mys
terious initials W. W. B. and M. It has
chapters in Chicago and in a number
of Indiana cities besides Indianapolis.
Although the constitution of the W.
W. B. and M. does not say precisely this,
the general impression is that the chief
purpose of the society is to encourage
romances among its men and women
membeps. This is why it has been nick
named the “Joy Club,” and this reputed
feature of its activities is what appealed
to the restless imaginations of Annalee
Livingstone and her chums and made
them think it would be great fun to join.
Like so many other society heiresses
who have more money than they ..now
how to spend Annalee and her friends
were getting insufferably bored with life.
Even perilous airplane flights and trips
to Russia to select the costly sables for
their winter coats could not begin to
supply the thrills they craved. They
wanted something novel and startling,
something quite different from anything
to be found amid the tiresome conven
tions and formalities of the smart set.
So they joined the “Joy Club,” all five
of them, and there they not only found
the thrills they longed for, but they also
succeeded in thrilling the whole organi
zation so that it was shaken to its very
foundations. In the short space of a
few weeks their membership produced
the following results:
Fellow-women members charged them
with being altogether too joyful in their
relations with the male members of the
t chapter and had them suspended.
Fifty anrl more of the male members
who thoroughly enjoyed the brand of joy
the heiresses had been dispensing re
fused to attend any further meetings of
the chapter until the girls were rein
stated.
The chapter became so disrupted that
the national president of the W. W. B.
and M. started an investigation of the
row. •
He, too, aided with the suspended girls
and ordered the Indianapolis chapter to
take them back or have its charter an
nulled.
The suspended girls agreed to accept
their reinstatement on condition that
they never again be suspended and that
the women who had brought about their
suspension make a public apology.
By this time, of course, the identity
of the heiresses had become known and
great was the consternation among the
fifty men. who had been so thoroughly
appreciative of their joy-giving quali
ties, and also among the women mem
bers who objected to them. Some of the
latter are now inclined to feel rather
sorry for having been so “catty” in
their treatment of the most distinguished
members the club ever had, or perhaps
ever will have.
The charge on which the suspension of
the five girl members was based is said
to have been "too much joy in your
hearts, which state is in defiance of the
expressed purpose of this society.” There
are many different explanations of just
what was meant by "too much joy.” Ap
parently it was something far from dis
tasteful to some fifty of the men mem
bers, for they promptly refused to at
tend any more of the chapter meetings
unless the five suspended girls were re
instated.
The shortage of men at the meetings
caused CJeorge Huge, the grand presi
dent, at Ixigansport, Ind., to issue an
order reprimanding the Indianapolis
chapter for its irregular attendance. He
also threatened to withdraw the char
ter unless the meetings were thereafter
more evenly balanced between men and
women.
The girls had been fascinated hy the
letters W. W. B. and M. After being
duly initiated into the society they dis
covered that the mysterious letters stood
for Widowers, Widows, Bachelors and
Maids. The constitution of W. W. B.
and M. specifies that its
"membership is open to
, that class of men and women
who have been designated
by society at large by the
stinging epithets of ‘wid
ower, widow, bachelor and
maid.’ ”
While the purpose of the
) organization is *ot avowed
ly matrimonial, still the
constitution states that "no member or
members shall be expelled for marrying
while he or she is a member,” adding
that the other members "are not to inti
mate that the resignation of marrying
parties would be in order.”
The W. W. B. and M.’s give pienics
at which the lonely widows and maids
may exhibit their culinary prowess and
at which the home-hungry bachelors and
widowers frankly discuss their financial
resources. Dances, too, are permitted by
the constitution, and “other social gath
erings of a moral and pleasant charac
ter.” The constitution speaks of these
parties as "social relations in the pre
scribed style.”
One rule of the W. W. B. and M. Is
that all members shall "address each
other by their given names.” This leads,
according to the constitution, to the com
radeship "which speaks the spirit of our
highminded organization.”
The five heiresses who joined the “Joy
Club” found it easy enough to get ac
quainted merely by obeying this rule.
They were soon calling the grand presi
dent “Georgie, old boy,” and the president
of the Indianapolis chapter "Willie."
The first sign of trouble came when thtee'
of the widows and two of the maids took
it upon themselves to remonstrate with
the girls for their “undue familiarity
with thaw elders.”
The girls giggled. So did the "boys,"
some of them fifty or sixty years young.
The five remonstrators closed their lips
at the time, but a little later they opened
them to bring the charge of "too much
joy," which finally resulted in the sus
pension of the heiresses in disguise.
(Two of the five objectors were charter
members of the society, Miss Mabel
Churchman and Mrs. Mary Leacock.
With two men, they founded the W. IjL
B. and M. two years ago. The other
three objectors were Miss Margot Lotts,
Joy doorkeeper; Mrs. Helen Hihbs, Joy
musician, and Mrs. Mark Frazier 3d,
Joy fourth vice-president.
Besides Joy Chapter
No. 5, at Indianapolis,
the W. W. B. and M.
has the following chap
ters in Indiana: Har- '*-.^0
mony No. 2, at Koko
mo; Friendship No. 1
at Ixigansport, where
the grand council head- .
quarters are located; Unity No. 3,
Peru, and Loyalty No. 4, at Elwood.
Happiness No. fi is the Chicago chap
ter, which is the only one outside of
Indiana.
The organization has a membership of
about 1,000 persons, 200 of whom bel^ieg
to the Joy chapter at Indianapolis, and
325 to the Chicago chapter in Chicago.
Marcia Johns, one of tho five hei resses
whom some of the "Joy Club's" mem
liers thought too Joyful, inherited from
her grandfather a fortune of $10,000,000.
Alice Lewis is the only sister of Anton
l.ewis, the millionaire banker.
Florence James is the granddaughter
of Mrs. Hector Stilson-James, who is the
Middle West’s unquestioned social leader.
She is one of three Indianapolis girls
who danced with the Prince of Wales
during his American visit.
Martha Frye and her brother, Alex,
who were educated In Switzerland and
came to the States only a year ago, will
inherit from their father and grand
father a fortune estimated at $20,000,000.
These four fashionable heiresses and
Annalee Livingstone went into the "Joy
Club” without revealing their true iden
tities. They wore simple clothing and
made no mention of their wealth or high
social position.
Not once did Martha Frye mention t »
Miss Mabel Churchman, one of tho char
ter members who objected to Martha's
behavior, that her father and grand
father own the exporting business where
Miss Churchman had served as employ
ment secretary for tifteen years. Not
for a minute did Florence James remind
Mrs. Harry Hibhs, another objector, of
thn time Mrs. Hibhs hail tried to "break
in" to Mrs. Stilson-James’s exclusive
circle.
Enjoying
by themselves, the heiresses
went their cheerful ways ami had even
more fun than they had anticipated
when they joined the W. W. H. and M.
Then at a meeting one night they
were informed that they were “suspended
until further notice." Wrapping their
furs around their necks, tilting their
hnts to one side, with a shrug of their
shoulders the girls left the room, ail
eyes turned their way. And to the in
tehse dismay of the women who had
framed the suspension charges, they
were followed out of the hall by more
than fifty sympathetic bachelor* and
widowers,’
Kecause these fifty nr more men stayed
away from Joy chapter meetings Mr.
Guge, the grand president, made an in
vestigation. The record of the Joy meet
ings showed a decided surplus of women.
That was unconstitutional. The consti
tution of W. W. B. and M. specifically
says that “an approximately equal num
ber of men and women shall"attend the
meetings." Mr. Guge threatened to with
draw the charter of the Joy chapter un
less matters were remedied.
Something which may have helped in
spire the charge of “too much joy" was
a dance which Annalee Livingstone ~ave
at her home on Millionaires’ Row for
her guest. Miss Agatha Debussy, a New
York girl, who is the niece of Claude De
bussy, the great French composer. To
this Annalee invited, to add spice to the
party, several of the bachelors and wid
owers of the W. W, B. and M. But she
failed to invite any of the maids and
widows.
Long before the dance Annalee and
her friends had told the men of W. W.
B. and M. who they really were, and
the men, being cheerful
Ananiases, had replied:
"We knew there was
something different about
you.”
The withdrawal of
more than fifty men
shook the Joy chapter to
ita very foundation. At
■ last. in order to restore
the chapter to its original
status, J, W. Winning
ham, the president, wrote
the girls that their term of suspension
was ended. And the girls, after talking
the situation over with the fifty men.
replied that they would return on con
dition that they were never again to he
suspended and that the five objectors
would publicly apologize.
The girls' conditions were met and the
charter of the “Joy Club” was saved
The five heiresses may now be as active
in the organization's affairs as bey
please, but this will probably not be for
very long, as they are beginning to feel
that they have about exhausted its possi
bilities for thrills.
For that matter, it is probable that
should the heiresses be attracted to
newer thrills elsewhere, the “Joy Club"
will lose much of its appeal for the fifty
lonesome widowers and bachelors who
found them so entertaining.