By 1883, the ball had become known as "the social event of the year," with funding "poured out like water," the result in bringing visitors to St. Louis "more than" justifying the cost, the Post-Dispatch commented.[92] "The Autumnal Festival," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 10, 1883, image 4
People wanting to attend had to apply for tickets. The recipients were then chosen by a secret committee.[93] The Veiled Prophets: Further News From Prophet-Land Concerning the Nocturnal Pageant, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 7, 1881, image 7
In 1881, nearly four thousand invitations to the Veiled Prophet Ball were issued,[94] and in 1885 there were more than seven thousand, of which some six thousand were used.[95]
The Post-Dispatch wrote in September 1887 that the "Grand Oracle of the Veiled Prophets began the distribution of his favors yesterday, and to-day the mails are burdened with big yellow packages. By 6 o'clock to-morrow evening several thousand people who have been waiting in anxious expectation . . . will have their suspense relieved[, while others] will suffer a grievous disappointment at seeing the postman trot by their door without stopping."[96]
By 1883, the ball had become known as "the social event of the year," with funding "poured out like water," the result in bringing visitors to St. Louis "more than" justifying the cost, the Post-Dispatch commented.[92] People wanting to attend had to apply for tickets. The recipients were then chosen by a secret committee.[93] In 1881, nearly four thousand invitations to the Veiled Prophet Ball were issued,[94] and in 1885 there were more than seven thousand, of which some six thousand were used.[95]
The Post-Dispatch wrote in September 1887 that the "Grand Oracle of the Veiled Prophets began the distribution of his favors yesterday, and to-day the mails are burdened with big yellow packages. By 6 o'clock to-morrow evening several thousand people who have been waiting in anxious expectation . . . will have their suspense relieved[, while others] will suffer a grievous disappointment at seeing the postman trot by their door without stopping."[96]
The "handsome and artistic" invitations, matching a different theme for each year, looked like this:
1880. Theme: The Four Seasons. On one side of the engraved bid was a picnic scene, surrounded by representations of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. On the other side were the initials V.P. and four additional scenes — summer in Germany, spring in England, autumn in France, and winter in Russia. To insure that the "strictly personal" invitations would not be transferred at the ball:[97]
Fifteen hundred tickets were printed in Paris, France, with "friends of the order" each able to reserve ten of them, and "a lady counts for as much as a gentleman in the list of names."[74] The tickets were inside a coarse, outside enclosure, an imitation-leather second envelope and, finally, a peagreen envelope, the edge bordered in gold and the center bearing the face of the Veiled Prophet and the initials "V.P." Within it was yet another envelope, with a highly polished gold or silver paten, containing a pink or pale blue card, the former "for ladies" and the latter "for gentlemen." With them were dance cards for the women, "a huge butterfly which is placed in harp-shaped envelopes of transparent linen covered with figures of gold."[101]
1885. Theme: An Arabian Night
The invitations for 1885 were in "what seems to be a strong metal box," which, when opened, revealed a satin bag bound with silk, which contained "the coveted bidding." Five scenes from the Arabian Nights were "successfully disclosed by the turning aside of a leaf hinged on a pivot, or the opening of a leaf[,] book fashion. . . . Accompanying . . . were beautifully engraved admission cards to the ball, and the dancing programme."[102]
1888. Theme: Child Lore
The six thousand invitations, again printed in Paris, included "a spectacular view of Mother Goose, on a blue ray-lit sky . . . . The goose is very white and the old woman on its back is very red. She carries a broom in her left hand and in right holds the reins of her feathered steed. There is a friendly grin on the old lady's face . . . ."[103]
Each invitation was inside a separate envelope, "even more gorgeous than its inclosure. Its . . . principal pictorial feature is a regulation fairy queen of the modern stage in a decollete bodice, transparent skirts and ravishing pink tights. A diadem adorns her flowing yellow hair[,] and two rows of pearls shine upon her splendid throat. . . . She is seated on the backs of a pair of flame-tongued, red-tailed dragons, and the sky in the immediate vicinity is blazing with glory."[103]
An enclosed ticket for the dance consisted, according to the same story, "of a "rabbit's foot growing out of a rabbit's head" [see accompanying image].[103]
1902. From the Discovery of the Mississippi to the World's Fair
The invitation included "a map of the Louisiana Purchase, supported by the palm branch, with intertwined shields of the United States and the Republic of France, [see note][104] with the Veiled Prophet's seal," along with, "in colors," scenes and incidents in the Louisiana Purchase.[84]
1904. Theme: Art and Architecture
Recipients had to open three boxes, one inside another, to reach the souvenir,
1913
1920. There were two thousand fewer invitations sent out that year, to avoid "the crowding that had so often in the past made balls uncomfortable," the Globe-Democrat reported, but that fact "did not make it any less democratic, for the invitations included all sorts and conditions of worthy St. Louisans."[106]
Program cover, 1883
Compton Litho Company - Missouri History Museum URL: http://images.mohistory.org/image/6DB86647-859B-74C6-DF57-D06C28D8A38B//original.jpg Gallery: http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/147482
A printed description for the first parade in 1878 was done by Alonzo Slayback, who wrote in his diary that it was "the nearest thing to a stroke of genius that I ever produced." His story, he said, was a "prose poem" which had "brought order and identity out of some very gorgeous but very meaningless representations," the floats in the parade. "For next year, and the year after, and so on for a hundred years . . . the strangers who visit our October fairs can be entertained . . . ."[249]
In 1881, the organization's "official publication" was printed by the Compton Lithographic Works, St. Louis. In the "principal illustration," representing the "hall of the Veiled Prophets, . . . Three or four fire-glowing planets wandering in and out among gleaming pillars send a shower of gold down upon the radiant raiment of the assembled Prophets and light up the picture in a manner that makes a circus poster look like a postage stamp."[74]
A lady's program for each ball listed individual dances for the evening, with spaces for the names of men with whom she would dance. In 1890, for example, it was designed in the form of a shield, with a heavy black cord and hook to attach to a coat or a dress, with a miniature pencil.[140]
President and Mrs. Grover Cleveland watch the 1887 VP Parade.
Notable VP Ball incidents and activities
The Belles and the Queens of Love and Beauty
See also: List of Veiled Prophet Belles and Queens
Suzanne Slayback, 1878 "Belle of the Ball", Veiled Prophet Ball.jpg http://images.mohistory.org/image/E8AB9CB4-ABCA-6456-8086-E32B7FCD9947/original.jpg Gallery: http://collections.mohistory.org/resource/140879
The custom of singling out a young woman for special attention began with the first Veiled Prophet Ball in 1878, when Suzanne (Susie) Slayback was chosen by the first Veiled Prophet, John G. Priest, to be the "belle" of the ball at the age of 16. According to a 1958 article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, in those earlier times it was "the custom of the Prophet to select a girl for his partner in the first dance at the ball."[53][72]
In 1884 the title of this honoree was changed to Queen of Love and Beauty. She was to "act as regent" between the Prophet's yearly visits[83] and to "be in charge of the social life of the city."[84]
In 2021 and 2022, two celebrities were denounced in social media for having been Veiled Prophet Queens when young.
- Some Twitter users called actress Ellie Kemper a "KKK princess" because in December 1999, she had been Queen of Love and Beauty at the VP Ball.[85] She responded in a five-slide Instagram apology, beginning:[86][87]
- Trudy Busch Valentine, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, apologized in early 2022 for having been the VP Queen in December 1977. She wrote: "I should have known better, and I deeply regret that my actions hurt others."[88]
