No, this isn’t an announcement for another New York nightclub. This is more like a very exclusive ‘members only’ kind of club. In fact, no one really knows much about this club except that it consists of an assortment of powerful, wealthy, and older New York gentlemen who have been holding regular dinner meetings since 1957.
The Wednesday 10 is no after-school activity—the members of this club have been around for a long time, and if you haven’t ever heard of them, you’re not alone, and that’s probably their intention. An assortment of New York men, including Mort Janklow and former NBC president Larry Grossman, have been meeting regularly for dinners since 1957.
Some astute observer’s who have just become aware of the clubs existence (read: most people) have noticed that there aren’t any women in the group. Is this straight forward discrimination? Not so fast, says Bob Menschel of Goldman Sachs who points out that there are no women in the group purely because the group was founded so many years ago, and that if it had been formed today, “it wouldn’t occur to us not to include women.”
Club members also state that in fact, contrary to reports, prominent women such as Barbara Walters, Gloria Steinem, and author Betty Friedan, have been invited to address the group as guests. Ok, fair enough perhaps, but guests aren’t the same as members, so still no real clarification there. Plus, Walters says she recalls nothing from the meeting she attended, and neither does Steinem which indicates something fishy is going on, or the particular meetings was significantly long ago. There’ll be no third confirmation from Friedan either though, as she has passed away.
Regardless, sometimes men need a little time to be men with their manly pals and start secret clubs and discuss…whatever it is men discuss over dinners for more than 50 years. No seriously, kudos to them; keeping age-old traditions alive is so rare now-a-days, I say keep it up and enjoy. The rest of us can start our own little club. Thursday 11.
