Tinker Grants With Joy

“It is well to keep in mind that both children and artists need luxuries more then they need necessities.” — Eric Hoffer, San Francisco longshoreman and philosopher.

Turn the corner onto 66th Street and there it is: that stately prewar structure, a ten-story balconied building donning a circular staircase, arched windows, terraces, sun rooms and — waiting in front — a doorman who’s genial greeting suggests that the fantasy will now begin.

It’s the Cosmopolitan Club. And for the next few hours, the Annie Tinker Association for Women will host its beneficiaries and the remarkable Tinker board members along with founders and executives of other non-profit associations. Sprinkled, in between, are such luminous guests as Matilda Raffa Cuomo and State Senator Liz Krueger.

The enchantment begins at the door. There’s history here. One can feel it.

True, this award-winning building holds the shadows of past Cosmopolitan Club members including Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Hayes, Pearl Buck and Margaret Mead. Yet, our story lies in the parallel objectives of the club, itself, and the Annie Tinker Association for Women: both celebrate women in the arts.

The Cosmopolitan Club was chartered in 1911— as a clubhouse “for the use and benefit of women engaged in, or interest in, the liberal arts or professions,” and during the following year Annie Tinker led the mounted squadron of The Woman’s Suffrage Parade. Also, in 1912, she hosted a tea honoring the plucky women of the Barnum Bailey Circus. (The New York Times reported that one guest “lifts three men as if they were kittens, which excites much admiration.”)

It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination, then, to suppose that the 800 women of Ms. Tinker’s movement and the founders of the Cosmopolitan Club were in harmony. These were women of like minds, establishing their positions in a daunting civic setting.

And now, for the next few hours, we celebrate that history.

Bursts of enthusiasm begin in the coat room, where old friends rediscover one another and take time to chat. Rita Ebenhart, who decides to check her bike helmet, says, “I love getting dressed up for these lunches and teas!” Rita, some may remember, performed a musical presentation “The Victorian Woman” in full costume at a recent Tinker Halloween party. “Aside from that event, I confess I like these lunches and teas best.”

Exchanges and introductions continue in the man-operated elevators which transport guests to impressive dining rooms. Mildred Shulman, who is diligent about visiting her studio each day at the Art Students League, admits that it takes an event as special as the Tinker luncheon to pull her attention away from her work. A professional oil painter, who shows her work at various galleries, offers a rave, “This is like a banquet: cocktails before luncheon and an opportunity to spend several hours together: it’s not only a pleasure to be here, one actually looks forward to attending! It’s absolutely perfect!”

As people find their way to well-appointed round tables, someone waves to a colleague, “Sit next to me.” Evelyn Poslednik begins to shoot what will be unerring photographs; Ruth Reardon says that Evelyn should receive a special award for her outstanding documentation. Everyone agrees.

At another table, Esther Gebhart, a Parsons-trained painter who works out of her home, says that she particularly enjoys the small Tinker gatherings hosted by artists in their apartments. She remembers with great fondness a small group of compatible fellow Tinker beneficiaries gathered round a table in the home of Mildred Shulman. “Most were artists who just clicked; our personalities melded.”

Jean Rice, still taking bows for designing last year’s MOMA-quality Tinker Christmas card, picked up on that note: “The compatibility and interest escalates with each gathering. We ask one another ‘How do you do this project, or work out that problem?’ It becomes a sort of family.” As the food arrives she adds, “I feel lucky to have this privilege. It’s more elegant each time!”

Dyke Benjamin stands and warmly addresses the gathering. He establishes the tone and the company takes pleasure in his genuine welcome. It is the highlight of the event. And for this period of time, all is well with the world.

After dessert, someone from the Burden Center for the Aging takes a seat next to a social worker from Lenox Hill Neighborhood House. Another guest is overheard saying that The Annie Tinker Association sets itself apart by bringing people together in a relaxed and joyful setting. “It’s a gift to the beneficiaries,” he says, “…and a cordial respite for the guests.”

Coffee is served while notebooks and pens emerge, meetings are planned and business cards are exchanged. It’s time to say goodbye.

Before leaving the Cosmopolitan Club, one is tempted to revert to the childhood game, “I could live here.” In this game, we pretend that these rooms of understated grace, the sun-flooded terraces, the hint of grandeur, all belong to us. Yes, tomorrow we will finally pay that Con Edison bill. But right now, fantasy prevails. “I could live here.”

“A vigorous society is a society made up of people who set their hearts on toys, and who would work harder for superfluities than for necessities.” — Working and Thinking on the Waterfront.

Thank you, Eric Hoffer.

And for the teas, the lunches, the good will, the friendships — for the anticipation and the memories, thank you Michele Randall, Isabel Spencer, and Dyke Benjamin.

And thank you, Annie Rensselaer Tinker. You make our hearts sing.

By in Events.

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