BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
The Beatrice Saunders Robinson Project
From the Saunders Family Archives
Pittsburgh PA.
December 3, 2010
BBNS
The following invitation was sent by the Mayor of Toronto Canada to Mrs James Robinson, who was a delegate at the Annual American Newspaper Guild Convention which was being held in the great city of Toronto in 1956.
Mrs. Beatrice Saunders Robinson was Chairman of the Courier Unit of the Pittsburgh local of the ANG, and she was also the treasurer of the Pittsburgh local and a member of the Executive Board.
The Mayor and Council
of the Corporation of the City of Toronto
request the pleasure of the company of
Mrs James Robinson
at Buffet Supper
at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club
on Wednesday, July 11th, 1956
at four-thirty o'clock p.m.
In honour of the delegates to the Convention
of the American Newspaper Guild
R.S.V.P.
City Clerk Dress Optional
R.C. Y. C. Boat leaves
Wharf at foot of York Street
at
3:15 }
3:45 } in the afternoon
4:15 }
* The American Newspaper Guild Convention was being held at The Royal York Hotel in Toronto Canada, which at the time was the largest hotel in the British Empire.
I recall traveling on a City bus with the Convention delegates and their families to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in which the bus ran off of the road into a ditch only causing a few people to get shaken up and startled.
I do remember that a lady from Stockton California whose husband was a delegate to the Convention subsequently sued the Bus company for the minor accident. The woman from Stockton who was suing the bus company ask my mother, and Mrs Helen Minear to be her witnesses to said accident. No members of the Pittsburgh delegation or families were injured in said accident.
The Buffet and Supper was held on a private Island and we played numerous games and events that I was not accustomed to playing such as Croquette, Cricket and Boccie.
They had enough food there to feed the entire Province of Ontario.
Such foods as the following:
1. Several Roasting Pigs and Steers
2. All kinds of Steaks + Buffalo and Beef Burgers
3. All kinds of fish such as Salmon, Trout, Bass
4. Lamb on sticks, Lamb Burgers, Veal Burgers
5. Lobster, Shrimp, Scallops, Clams, Crab Legs, Muscles, Oysters
6. Duck, Turkey, Chicken and Pheasants
7. All kinds of Potatoes even some that were cooked under the ground.
8. Various Pasta's
9. Plenty of Potato and Macaroni Salad
10. All types of Rice dishes
11. A variety of Fruit and Vegetable Salads
12. Hundreds of different types of Cheeses
13. All kinds of Vegetables
14. All kinds of Melons
15. All kinds of drinks and liquids
16. Many of the foods such as Lobster, Steaks etc were cooked over an open pit which was quite tasty.
16a. Every kind of fresh bread that was imaginable
17. All kinds of Deserts and Ice Creams
I thought that I was in Heaven at this Convention because my family eate a very strict Health Food diet.
I also had the opportunity to swim at one of the local swim clubs in Toronto, and I beat their best swimmers in the following events:
1. 50 Yard Freestyle
2. 50 Yard Butterfly
3. 50 Yard Backstroke
In the spring of 1956 at the Pittsburgh YMCA Championship I beat my old nemesis Nate Clark in the 25 Yard Freestyle, and I still have that blue ribbon for winning that event. I would never again beat Nate in any swimming event, and Nate received a full swimming Scholarship to Ohio State and he became the first African American in the USA to place in an NCCA Swimming Championship. Nate took 5th in the 200 Meter Butterfly in 1962, and he made All American in 1962, 1963. Nate also swam on the last Ohio State to team to win or capture an NCAA Championship in 1962.
At the time Nate received his scholarship to Ohio St the buckeyes were the premier school in the country for swimming, and they still are tied with several schools for most NCAA Swimming Championships.
Nate grew up on a street right behind the old Pittsburgh Courier, and that street no longer exists thanks to the expansion of the University of Pittsburgh. Nate swam on our team at the Centre Avenue YMCA, and on our team at Herron Hill Jr High School, but he moved to another part of the City in 1956.
Nate's late father Frank Clark was a City Fire Captain stationed on Webster Avenue in the Hill District section of Pittsburgh PA.
Everyday Gary O'Malley and I would eat our lunch at the VENETIAN CAFE LUNCHEON, which was located in the Royal York Hotel.
Gary is the son of Helen Minear who was the Secretary of the Pittsburgh Local of the ANG. Helen was a paid Union staffer, and she was like the Top Sergeant in the military. Here is an example of the VENETIAN CAFE LUNCHEON MENU in 1956:
VENETIAN CAFE
LUNCHEON
Served from 12 noon to 2:30 p.m.
Price indicates cost of complete meal
Choice of- Beef Salad, Royal York
Chilled Grape Juice Sliced Tomato, Vinaigrette
Halibut Flakes, Ravigotte Summer Sausage
Acadian Clam Chowder Consomme Stars
Jellied Consomme
Filet of Fresh Cod Saute, Meuniere....................$ 1.60
Grilled Lake Ontario Whitefish, Hoteliere..........$ 1.60
Fried Filet of Flounder, Tartar Sauce (To Order)$ 1.60
Fricassee Of Fowl with Rice, Golden Gate...........$ 2.05
Grilled Chump Chop with Bacon and Tomato....$ 2.25
Toasted Lobster Sandwich, Royal York................$ 2.00
Spanish Omelette....................................................$ 1.45
Grilled Spring Chicken, Hashed Brown Potatoes $ 2. 35
Roast Prime Ribs of Beef AU JUS..........................$ 2.25
Seafood Plate with Coleslaw, 1000 Island Dressing..# 1.90
Jellied Chicken with Ham, Potato Salad...............$1.90
Fruit Plate with Cottage Cheese.............................$ 1.65
Mashed Yellow Turnips-- Macedoine of Vegetables
Boiled or Mashed Potatoes
Choice of
Raisin Pie...................... English Trifle
Compote Stewed Peaches....... Fruit Sherbert........ Ice Cream
Canadian Cheese with Crackers
Tea.... Coffee........ Milk
Friday, July 6TH. 1956.
* For breakfast Gary and I would eat at a Greek Restaurant inside the Hotel. My breakfast consisted of the following:
1.A large glass of apple juice and cup of plain Yogurt.
2.One T. Bone Steak well done with home fries, Ham Steak and eggs over easy
3. A large bowl of mixed fresh fruits.
Our favorite waiter would always wait on me first, which was intentional. He said he was sick and tired of seeing colored people treated like they were less than human in the States, and he claimed that most Canadians were not half as bias or racially prejudice as White Americans.
Even on the Toronto's new Subway Trains the driver would also wait on me ahead of Gary.
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