A front-page story in the Dec. 6, 1973, ºüÀêÊÓƵ noted a major change in the annual Veiled Prophet Ball tradition:
The Veiled Prophet organization will abandon Kiel Auditorium as the site of its annual ball beginning next year, sponsors of the event disclosed today. The ball has been at Kiel since 1936.
The change was disclosed when city officials settled a suit filed by members of ACTION, the civil rights group. The group contended that the city was condoning racism by allowing the ball to be in a public facility.
John H. Lashly, attorney for the ball's sponsoring committee, filed a letter in Circuit Court stating that the ball would not be held in Kiel "next year or thereafter." Lashly was unavailable for comment on where the event might be held.
The suit was filed Nov. 16. In it, the civil rights group charged that the city was allowing Veiled Prophet sponsors to discriminate against blacks by giving the sponsors the right to bar "objectionable" persons from the ball.
The suit described the Veiled Prophet Committee as an "antiblack, semisecret organization made up of members of the economic, political and social white power structure of the City of ºüÀêÊÓƵ."
City officials denied the charges. They cited a clause in the contract with the Veiled Prophet Committee prohibiting the group from excluding "any person solely because of race, color or creed ..."
The agreement to settle the suit was signed after attorneys negotiated for several hours this morning with Judge Vernon W. Meyer. It will not affect this year's ball, scheduled for Dec. 23. More than $10,000 has already been spent on decorations for this year's ball.
Percy Green, ACTION spokesman, said his group had not yet decided whether to conduct a protest at this year's ball. He said he didn't consider changing the site of the ball a victory because the move would not help obtain more jobs for Blacks.
Even though Green did not claim a victory, changing the ball site was the second major change in the Veiled Prophet celebration since Green's group began protesting against the annual festival in the mid-'60s.Â
First the parade was changed to include more representation of various ºüÀêÊÓƵ area civic groups in addition to the Veiled Prophet Committee. Participation by area high school groups also began.
In 1972, an ACTION protestor revealed the identity of the literally veiled prophet when she yanked off his veil. Although unreported at the time in the Post-Dispatch and Globe-Democrat, the man was Rom K. Smith Jr., a Monsanto vice president.Â
Later coverage of the ball noted: "There were no ACTION protestors sliding down ropes to expose [the prophet's] face. And although in the balcony the militant group had scotch-taped mimeographed sheets bidding the VP "farewell," and vowing to continue its struggle against racism, this year no one showered printed matter down from the upper reaches onto the white-tied, expensively gowned group below.
Black activists picketed the Veiled Prophet Ball, complaining that the organization was racist and elitist. A man dressed as the "Black Veiled Prophet" and his queen joined the protest.