Society: Graceful Entrance

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Grandes Domes & Cops. Two days later Jackie made a gala appearance in Boston as honorary chairman of the Golden Trumpet Ball, a $150-a-ticket benefit for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was her first such acceptance in two years, and Boston's newspapers had splashed all over Page One the specifics of her arrival. When her car pulled up at Symphony Hall, thousands of shouting, shoving people packed the sidewalk. Mounted policemen desperately maneuvered their horses to hold back the crowd. Looking slightly frightened, Jackie hurried inside, while cops used sheer force to keep the excited mob from pouring in after her.

Inside, she regained her composure. Symphony Conductor Erich Leinsdorf gallantly kissed her hand as she entered, and she chatted comfortably at the dinner table with him and Henry Cabot, board president of the symphony. Amid the dimly lit candelabra and the red-globed lamps of the Edwardian decor, sweating photographers dashed about popping dozens of flashbulbs at her, occasionally overturning chairs and breaking wine glasses. The guests—from Boston grandes dames to college boys—gaped openly at Jackie, but she seemed unperturbed. Dinner was surprisingly good for such an affair: lobster, veal, braised endive and soufflé glacé. Jackie sat serenely through the speeches, then waltzed to the Blue Danube, The Merry Widow and Tales from the Vienna Woods, played by the Boston Pops Orchestra. Her first card dance was with Francis W. Hatch, chairman of the symphony trustees. She also danced once to Ruby Newman's music with Massachusetts' Republican Governor John Volpe.

Jackie gamely stuck with it until 12:30, then quietly slipped on her Jean Patou coat over her mint-green gown and left by the stage door, where a car waited to take her to the Ritz-Carlton. Next day she headed for the Kennedy compound at Cape Cod, where an Indian-summer day awaited her.