midnight
She had a women 's - club meeting . Babbitt said that he was very sorry . Besides the five official delegates to the convention -- Babbitt , Rountree , W. A. Rogers , Alvin Thayer , and Elbert Wing -- there were fifty unofficial delegates , most of them with their wives . They met at the Union Station for the midnight train to Monarch . All of them , save Cecil Rountree , who was such a snob that he never wore badges , displayed celluloid buttons the size of dollars and lettered `` We zoom for Zenith . '' The official delegates were magnificent with silver and magenta ribbons . Martin Lumsen 's little boy Willy carried a tasseled banner inscribed `` Zenith the Zip City -- Zeal , Zest and Zowie -- 1,000,000 in 1935 . ''