Our History
...as told by Ruth Miller Chamlee at our annual banquet in May of 1972:
“Once upon a time when a few, (and a very few) of us were young, and most of us were waiting up yonder to be born....(in fact it was the tenth of September 1906), a group of Los Angeles women met in the studio of Miss Mary O’Donoghue to discuss the organization of a club for women musicians. Their objective was the promotion of social fellowship and the advancement of musical culture in Los Angeles. Both Miss O’Donoghue and her colleague, Mrs. Blanche Hennion Robinson, were accompanists for the fine choral group of men who called themselves “The Ellis Club.” She and Mrs. Robinson, who alternated in this work, felt that women should form a musical group; hence, this meeting
There were nine ladies on this first occasion, AND I MEAN LADIES! They had just returned from vacations at the beach bedecked in the swimming costumes of the day: full bloomers, sailor blouses, long black stockings, bathing shoes and hats. They put aside these revealing clothes which showed their limbs from the knee to the ankle, donned their Gibson Girl blouses and floor length skirts, and decided to do something to make Los Angeles a city of culture.”
Origins of the name "Dominant"
"...named by Mr. Adolph Wilhartitz, of beloved memory, because of his conviction that the most important place in the scale of life is filled by women."
