The club officially launched on Oct. 27, 1909, with five members, all men, and its mission was to promote the city. Its first president was The Sun's McKee Barclay, a cartoonist and political writer who, with the Ad Club, is credited with bringing the 1912 Democratic National Convention to town. (If you think what's going to happen in Denver this coming week is exciting, Woodrow Wilson didn't get the nomination at that convention until the delegates gathered here went through 46 ballots.) And speaking of presidents, the Ad Club managed what Hillary couldn't - it elected its first woman president some 25 years ago, the diminutive but indomitable Clarisse Mechanic, who with her late husband owned the downtown theater that bore their name and the Belvedere Hotel.
"I said to my husband, 'What do you mean, 'No women'?" she says of how she broke that glass ceiling, becoming the club's first female member in 1974 and later its president.
The group's members are hoping to collect photos and memorabilia from the club's glory days for next year's exhibit. They're hoping that past honorees will dig out from their closets the plaques they received, or that anyone who still has a "plunder box," a sort of swag bag that was filled with promotional items from local businesses, will contribute to the exhibit. Maybe there's someone out there who has an invitation to one of the annual balls, or the notification that they won the club's annual college scholarship.
The memorabilia will join the "Baltimore Truth Trophy" that the historical society already has - it's an impressive silver globe on a mahogany base that was designed and made by Stieff, which the club used to award to a counterpart elsewhere in the country that symbolized "truth in advertising" in a particular year.
"It'll bring back a lot of memories," Gerald Kavanagh, a retired banker and former club president, said of the exhibit. "There were so many good people in the club.
Many of the city's leaders took their turn in the president's seat, such as the Abell Foundation's Bob Embry and former police Commissioner Donald Pomerleau, and at its peak, the group had 1,200 members and a waiting list.
"I met all these great people," Mandris said. "It opened every door that was ever opened for me professionally."
For the members organizing the exhibit, it's a chance to look back fondly, even as they try to keep the spirit of the club if not its regular gatherings.
"Let's face it, everything changes," Mechanic said. "It's a different world. But we still want to promote the city."
jean.marbella@baltsun.com
Anyone with Ad Club memorabilia for the exhibit can call Mandris at 410-977-5866 or e-mail him at kipmandris@hotmail.com.
ONLINE
Find Jean Marbella's column archive at baltimoresun.com/
marbella
