Hickory Hill

Hickory Hill, home of the late Robert Kennedy, lies just across the Potomac from Washington. Every year they hold what they call The Pet Show to which neighbors and friends are invited to bring anything that might be called a pet along with a child to mind it. The Kennedy’s have a number of pets themselves led by Broomis, a hundred-plus pound dog of uncertain ancestry, and a number of miniature horses (not ponies) who seemed to have the run of the place.
The host for the show was columnist Art Buckwald, dressed in a red hunting outfit that gave unmistakable authority to his role.  A friend of ours, George Plimpton, who was also a friend of the Kennedy’s and had attended previous pet shows, was able to explain the rules of the road as it were. Everything seemed to be going along swimmingly when Broomis chased one of the feline contestants up a tree from which he had to be removed by a fireman called to the rescue. (D A Pennebaker)