Posts Tagged ‘Alexa Stolz LaBarge’

Elizabeth Brenton Howe

IN OUR TOWN: The 125 year-old Veiled Prophet Ball hit a society high note the other night at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The ball, seen through the eyes of some, has been a kind of Tiger Woods infidelity/redemption event.  Those who love it and others afflicted with a level of reality do not. The VP is the last of the constants in a city that grows away from itself and grows deeply into itself.  We look inward rather than out. Ours is the only city that presents such a stylish event with its panache and postiche not to mention the tenderloin served at the Queen’s supper. Many of the attendees live in this Never-Never Land of three cars for every two-car garage and Chicken a la Kiev in every pot.  Old money, which is better than new money, was well represented. They keep the money in circulation, occasionally their own. Long may the VP be preserved, sous cloche or on the rocks. The 2,000-member Veiled Prophet Order – shrouded in secrecy – now helps such organizations as Operation Brightside, St. Louis Public Schools, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club and Forest Park Forever.  This year, Elizabeth Brenton Howe was chosen as the Queen of Love and Beauty, a title she’ll hold for one year.  The audience was gripped in excitement as Elizabeth soared on the wings of fantasy. “The mysterious majesty,” the Veiled Prophet of Khorasan needed no introduction, but got one anyway.  Special maids,” who did the runway walk, were: Elizabeth Field Davidson; Josephine Dorothy Jones; Kelly Shea Rouse; Alexa Stolz LaBarge; Amanda Marilyn Reagan and Eloise Huttig Schlafly. The character of the Veiled Prophet comes from a book by Thomas Moore titled, “Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance.”  On the fringes of the year’s biggest coming-out party for debs were four able-bodied men, who work at Grant’s Farm and also serve members of the Busch family.  One of them, Ralph Brouk, mused over AB-InBev’s Carlos Brito.  “When he visited Grant’s farm, he was displeased that no member of the Busch family greeted him.”  After ogling the castle,’Brito remarked that he’d like to buy it. (The late) Gussie and Trudy‘s sons said it’s not for sale – ‘it’s our home!’”