Roar, Lion, Roar

"Lions are the friendliest people." enthused Harvey ("They call me Cookie") Cook to his wife Harriett as they sipped bourbon and ginger ale in Chicago's Sherman Hotel last week. "Everybody has a name tag on him. You look and see the name and you greet him, say, 'How ya doin!' " Cook's extra big "Keep Smiling" button flashed gaily from his purple and gold vest; the 51-year-old utilities company employee from Beechview, Pa. considered how glad he was to be there, he and Harriett, hitting it off just great with 35,000 friendly people from all over the world. The occasion: 41st annual convention of Lions International, world's biggest and fastest-growing "service club."*

The week got off to a big start with the parade, which stopped traffic cold in the Loop for four hours and a half. Maybe 12,000 people marched--some counted 46 floats and close to a hundred bands--but not one too many of those luscious-legged drum majorettes from such towns as Magnolia, Ark. and Kitchener, Ont. Later in the week the wives had plenty of time to spend money in the department stores. In between the boisterous, briefest business sessions, the men got to a big league game at Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs 8, Pittsburgh Pirates 7). The kids danced to a big band in the Aragon Ballroom. In case anybody thought the recession was a problem, some of the members passed out buttons reading:

LIFE'S WONDERFUL. So's BUSINESS.

Businessmen's Lunch. Purring through the crowd was the official Old Monarch himself, 79-year-old Melvin Jones, the man who, as some say, "got the ball rolling" in 1917, when he turned his Chicago businessmen's luncheon club into the founding chapter of Lionism, then quit selling insurance to spend the rest of his life organizing clubs. In those days the luncheon club was primarily a meeting place for businessmen who wanted to meet businessmen. Rotary's pin was reserved for the town's leading man in each line of business; second-ranking Kiwanis, later tagged "the grey flannel suit boys" by Lions, used "We Trade" as its motto and admitted only two members from each recognized local enterprise.

Old Monarch Jones opened his new club's rolls to anybody a chapter voted to invite, made community service rather than business the organization's avowed goal. Taking the noble lion as his symbol, Jones injected a cubbish mood by teaching the boys to sing such rousing tunes as the official Roar, Lion, Roar at almost any meal. Though many a Rotarian and no few Kiwanians would continue to frown down upon lively Lions, the Jones ideas infected the older clubs (the Kiwanis motto has been changed from "We Trade" to "We Build"), and the Lions thrived first in the U.S., then in Canada, Latin America and Europe.

"You Feel Good." The new Lions International president elected this week: Dry Goods Retailer Dudley L. Simms, 49, of Charleston, W. Va., who is also an active Mason, Shriner and Elk. West Virginia's Governor Cecil H. Underwood came up to watch the inauguration. Simms now starts twelve months of world travel, much of it north and south of the borders. For the first time ever, West European Lions were thick enough to get a man on the vice-presidency ladder: Per Stahl, 42. knifemaker from Eskilstuna, Sweden, who will, in the normal order of Lion growth, become president in 1961.

Any man who walked around the Loop last week could be sure that no matter where he found a Lion he would hear earnest talk like that of Beechview's Cook. "One human being helping another --that's Lionism," he said, while Harriett nodded. "Service to humanity--that's Lionism. It makes you feel good."

*Big Three roll calls on active members:

Lions: 580,000 (420,000 U.S.) in 13,848 clubs, 91 countries.

Rotary: 464,000 (269,171 U.S.) in 9,883 clubs, no countries.

Kiwanis: 252,942 (238,406 U.S.) in 4,504 clubs, U.S. and Canada.

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