Episode 64: Recycled Loves
As another Hollywood royal marriage implodes, back east another heir and heiress actually marry under favorable circumstances.
The Marrying Mdivanis are making headlines – Prince Serge Mdivani freshly divorced from Pola Negri quickly married Mary McCormic, Prince David Mdivani is served divorced from his actress wife Mae Murray, and Prince Alexis Mdivani with his new bride Princess Louise Astor Van Alen returns for a wedding. Louise’s brother William “Sam” Van Alen is marrying Elizabeth “Betty” Kent with a reception afterwards at a familiar family estate.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Extra Notes / Call to Action:
Proud Stutter Season 2, Ep. 3 — PROUD STUTTER
https://www.proudstutter.com/proud-stutter-season-2-ep-3
Desiree Cole https://www.desireetraciecole.com/
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Publish Date: August 04, 2022
Length: 21:31
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Love Walked In by Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Hotel Orpheans, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s
Section 2 Music: I’ve Got A Heart (Filled With Love For You Dear) by Glenn Miller, Album Perfect Big Bands
Section 3 Music: The Very Thought of You by Al Bowlly, Album More Sophistication
End Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
AS THE MONEY BURNS
Podcast by Nicki Woodard
Episode 064 – Recycled Loves
00:00
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast by Nicki Woodard. Based on historical research, this is a deep exploration into what happened to a set of actual heirs and heiresses to some of America’s most famous fortunes when the Great Depression hits.
Each episode has three primary sections. Section 1 is a narrative story. Section 2 goes deeper into the historical facts. Section 3 focuses on contemporary, emotional, and personal connections.
00:29
Story Recap
Unsuccessfully, an Italian prince pursues Barbara Hutton, and while Henrietta Hartford attempts to break up her son Huntington’s secret marriage in Hawaii.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:45
Recycled Loves
[Music Fade Out]
Episode Tag
As another Hollywood royal marriage implodes, back east another heir and heiress actually marry under favorable circumstances.
01:00
[Music – Love Walked In by Carroll Gibbons & The Savoy Hotel Orpheans, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]
Section 1 – Story
[Music Fade Out]
01:18
It never fails as one relationship implodes another begins, even if not always with the same people involved. However there might be tangential connections.
In this case, it’s through the in-laws. In particular, Mdivani in-laws. Ah yes, that illustrious set of 5 siblings otherwise known as The Marrying Mdivanis for their knack of making lucrative marital matches. A famous painter, a brilliant lawyer, an exotic actress, an American sweetheart, a popular songbird, and now an Astor heiress.
1931 headlines cover the Mdivanis especially with their American exploits in the marital domain. Back in Europe, the two sisters are Princess Roussie Mdivani married to famous Spanish painter Josep Maria Sert and eldest Princess Nina Mdivani to lawyer Charles Hubert. But it is the brothers causing the sensations.
02:13
In April 1931, oldest brother Prince Serge Mdivani finally gets his divorce from silver screen siren Pola Negri in Paris after her funds dried out. It seems $5-7 million didn’t last long even in the 1930s. Serge then quickly turns around and marries wealthier opera singer Mary McCormic. Relieved to be rid of her former royal husband, Pola even sends her blessings.
However those nuptials are shrouded in rumor and mystery with several fake wedding announcements – one even before the divorce is finalized. Another announces an interrupted honeymoon due to none other than a burglary at the newlyweds Serge and Mary’s Hollywood home. For the actual event, the only witnesses are second brother Prince David Mdivani and his actress producer wife Mae Murray, while the location, the date, and other details remain hidden.
03:09
All shortly before another almost scandalous union in May 1931 when youngest brother Prince Alexis Mdivani marries his secret lover Society It Girl heiress and bigger cash cow Louise Astor Van Alen, the great granddaughter of Gilded Age society queen Caroline Astor. The papers celebrate the union, though Louise’s family is less than pleased.
Ahh, the bitter sting of in-laws hovers all around. Naturally, newlyweds hold company with other couples, especially those within their families. In-laws can be both supportive and inspiring as well as portents to future troubles.
03:52
Years earlier back in 1926, Prince David landed the first of the millionaire wives when he married popular comedienne actress and dancer Mae Murray. The two had met at Pola Negri’s party, when Pola was still with Rudolph Valentino. Pola and Valentino served as maid of honor and best man at that small Hollywood royal wedding. Shortly thereafter when Pola is in mourning over Valentino, David introduces her to brother Serge. Another whirlwind courtship and marriage abounds.
04:23
Love is in the air. Well, maybe not —
Now on August 1, 1931, silver screen star Mae Murray suddenly files for divorce from Prince David. David and Mae have a small son Koran, the only next generation progeny so far in this amorous, marital minded family.
Now the curly haired David who so ardently pursued the girl with the bee stung lips Mae Murray might have taken his passions too far. In her court filings, Mae accuses David of extreme cruelty both mental and physical. Only days before an argument escalates into physical assault, and that may have only been one of many.
05:05
The once lucrative actress and producer Mae struggles financially with the more free spending David, who like his brother Serge insists the man be the head of the house and the woman stay at home all the while spending their wives’ fortunes. Mae relates more now to former sister-in-law and actress rival Pola and possibly now envies the latter’s new freedom. The overly entitled Mdivanis never hide their privileged intentions. When previously pulled over for a speeding ticket, Prince David lists his occupation as “husband” to the amusement of the press. On the more recent marriage license, Prince Alexis lists “gentleman” as his choice of occupation.
05:45
Meanwhile returning to the States, newlyweds Prince Alexis and his wife now Princess Louise eschewed their own fancy wedding with an elopement but now arrive in Bar Harbor, Maine, as members of a large and fancy bridal party.
Speaking of so many elopements and secret weddings, here is finally one wedding getting all the proper attention in the Society pages.
06:09
Radio magnate Atwater Kent’s daughter Elizabeth “Betty” Brinton Kent is marrying prominent heir William “Sam” Van Alen, great grandson of Gilded Age society queen Caroline Astor, son of current Society queen Daisy Van Alen, Louise’s brother and Alexis’s best friend from school days in England. Betty herself is a popular debutante having bowed at Buckingham Palace with Doris Duke back in May 1930.
The elites and bridal party gather from 5 different cities.
The headlines alone indicate this is a billion dollar bridal party for all the wealth presented. A billion dollars in 1931. That is $19.5 trillion in 2022.
And now nearly 2 years into the Great Depression, things are apparently not getting better but worse. Many of the upper echelons have muted their summer holiday travels. But those with means or needing to appear of means arrive in Bar Harbor for two prominent must be seen at weddings the Van Alen – Kent and the following week Loews – Strawbridge.
07:23
Saturday, August 8th, 1931, at 4 o’clock
St. Saviors Chapel hosts the wedding with Reverend William Patterson and Dr. WDF Hugh officiating.
Proud father Atwater Kent walks down the aisle red headed “Betty,” who glows in a pearl ivory tone satin gown with graceful lines and tapering sleeves and a long court train. A bandeau of pearls holds her tulle veil in place. Her bouquet comprises of orchids and lilies of the valley.
Her maid of honor is her sister Virginia Tucker Kent. Virginia wears a dainty frock of wisteria leaf green silk lace, a long sleeved coatee of lace, and a velvet toque to match the shade of the gown and carries a bouquet of lilies of the valley. Their mother wears a rose tone georgette and matching hat. The other bridesmaids are Betty’s now to be sister-in-laws Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani and Eleanor Van Alen along with ten others including cousin and soon to be popular debutante Nancy Lucas and a younger Bertha Potter Palmer. The bridesmaids wear pearl ivory silk lace dresses with long sleeved coatees of lace along with wisteria leaf green velvet toque and hats. The ladies carry lilies of the valley bouquets.
08:42
Best man is Sam and Louise’s oldest brother James “Henry” Van Alen, while other in-laws Prince Alexis and Betty’s brother Atwater Kent, Jr. also serve as groomsmen. A beautiful wedding followed by a magnificent reception.
After the ceremony, nearly 700 celebrate at the Kent summer estate Sonogee. An Italian Renaissance villa on the waterfront where father-in-law Atwater graciously hosts guests with unbound generosity. The Van Alens move about like it is home. They are already very familiar with the estate, not from the new in-laws, but rather the previous owners were their beloved Uncle Frederick Vanderbilt and Aunt Louise “Lulu” Vanderbilt.
At the end of the reception, the Van Alen – Kent newlywed couple Sam and Betty leave for their honeymoon by boarding the Kent family yacht Whileaway. A blissful ending of a day leading to a promising new beginning.
09:41
Oh, as for the divorcing couple, they too are back on their own way to bliss.
Just as quickly as the Murray – Mdivani divorce case is filed, within a week, Mae and David reconcile and have the divorce petition terminated.
Love like real estate recycles yet again. Is anyone else getting a little dizzy?
10:05
[Music – I’ve Got A Heart (Filled With Love For You Dear) by Glenn Miller, Album Perfect Big Bands]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music Fade Out]
10:21
Ahhh, the structure of this podcast is partially to point out all the overlaps to give a true wider perspective of an era – the people and places in it. So many times when studying history the story is very focused and myopic. While understandably, such a focus is necessary to present a coherent story and learning of facts. It also does a grave injustice as that approach dismisses other relevant information that give a more nuisance approach to the subject, especially when discussing love and money.
Not only are people inevitably crossing each other paths, and even quite incestuous or nearly incestuous in all the marriages and remarriages that might occur. Even the buildings tie people together and have unusual connections when brought back out into the light.
11:13
In 1903, chief ornithologist (*Henry Lane Eno*) of Lafayette National Park (renamed Acadia National Park in 1919) builds the elaborate The Sonogee estate in Bar Harbor, Maine. In 1919, Louise Vanderbilt purchases the estate and remodels it in 1920. Upon her death in 1926, her husband Frederick Vanderbilt sells the estate to Atwater Kent who would host lavish parties with three orchestras and with many of the guests arriving by the family yacht. Shortly before World War II, Kent will head to Bel Air, California, while his wife and son remain on the east coast.
11:50
Sonogee is one of the few structures to survive the Great Fires of 1947 which ravaged part of Maine and killed 16 people. After elder Kent passes away in 1949, Sonogee will be sold to another industrialist Richard Wetzel, and upon his widow’s later death to a local family the Colliers. In the 1970s, the Colliers first try to make it a tourist attraction and serve as a museum, then they convert it into a nursing home from 1976 to April 2019, and more recently it is rumored a hotel firm chain purchases the property in 2019.
12:30
Now let’s go back over one prior owner’s name – Louise Vanderbilt and her husband Frederick Vanderbilt. Louise also known as Aunt Lulu is the maternal aunt after whom Marguerite “Daisy” Post Van Alen names her own daughter Louise Astor Van Alen now Princess Mdivani. Lulu / Louise Vanderbilt is much loved, but her second marriage to Frederick had been considered scandalous. Lulu had been previously married and divorced Frederick’s cousin, then barely a year later when still unacceptable Lulu and Frederick marry in a secret wedding.
13:07
The rumors of scandal said the incident caused Frederick Vanderbilt to be practically disowned by his father William Henry Vanderbilt who then favored eldest sons Cornelius Vanderbilt II and William Kissam Vanderbilt, which leads to the whole endless debacle of wives Alice (Vanderbilt) and Alva Vanderbilt and other disinheritances and confusion discussed in other episodes. But as for this particular inheritance scenario all might have been forgiven, Fred and Lulu did receive one estate in the will as well as Frederick and other youngest brother George Vanderbilt each received $10 million. By the way, George was considered to be the favorite son of their father. Both George and Frederick will build their own substantial fortunes. In widowhood, Frederick is doted on by his favorite niece Daisy.
13:56
As for Daisy’s children, Jimmy aka Henry, William aka Sam, and Louise Van Alen all would have spent some time at the Sonogee estate when not in Europe. Thus when William – Sam and Betty Kent’s wedding reception is at the estate, it is familiar territory. Frederick Vanderbilt also sold his Newport cottage Rough Point to Buck Duke who purchased that estate to aid in his daughter Doris Duke’s future standing in Society and which became the location of her debutante ball in August 1930.
14:29
I want to note that our divorced, disinherited, and bankrupt heir from a few episodes back Episode 62: World’s Unluckiest Man newspaper man Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, referred as Jr in the press and socially as Neil, declares in January 1931, “Title-hunting is over. The daughters of the Social Register families are being married to American men.” This from the guy who is also a noted authority on life, love, literachoor (literature), ping-pong, and fifteen ball pool. Well in the case of Van Alen – Kent marriage, that seems to be the case. But the American dollar princess trend is far from over, and Hollywood and other American females still seek royal titles for a few more years. Coveted royal and marital titles are definitely something that people like to recycle like other status emblems like jewelry and real estate.
Oh, and if you have been paying attention, yes Neil Vanderbilt is also the great nephew of Frederick and Lulu Vanderbilt. In his biography, Neil mentions how his parents Neily Cornelius Vanderbilt III and Grace Wilson Vanderbilt also hope to gain some portion of the childless Uncle Fred’s fortune. Yep, fortunes and expensive lifestyles are tricky things in constant need of replenishing, or they will end up recycled to others.
15:56
Have you ever noticed how real estate owners much like marital partners seem to be their own merry-go-round ride when it comes to the elites? Swapping and spinning, off and on, up and down,… No matter how far one seems to go, they inevitably end up back in the same place.
Cycles of life, history, love, and real estate.
16:21
[Music – The Very Thought of You by Al Bowlly, Album More Sophistication]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music Fade Out]
16:33
Oh, the feeling of déjà vu can happen under several circumstances. And it might not even be déjà vu but an actual revisit to a familiar place.
It never ceases to delight me how many ways these stories and people are perpetually intertwined. Seemingly random people connected through space and time. I like to highlight these connections because it makes the world all the smaller and helps to emphasize what was and is familiar to this group.
17:02
Have you ever revisited an old home, or had someone else living in a friend’s or neighbor’s house? Many things can remain the same, while others can be drastically modified or altered. Several times in my life that much later crossover happened in serendipitous ways. The recycling of a world, and yet the inability to completely go back in time.
17:26
As children, my brother had a friend who lived in the castle house, this unique large house with a semi turret looking somewhat like a medieval home. The winding stairway going up the tower into other rooms. I was so young I can hardly remember much but going over there was always exciting. We were so very young, not even 4 and 7. There were two boys, so my brother would stay over but I would only be there to drop off or pick him up. I dreamed about that house.
Time goes on, and families drift apart. Then in junior high 8th grade, a new girl starts school, and rumors on the bus she lives in the castle house. By now, I had moved into the townhome within this other neighborhood and therefore am riding on a new bus route. The other kids didn’t realize I knew that house all too well. None of the others had ever been inside. Even the girl was shocked, only I never did visit her there.
18:28
Later that same school year, my brother and I threw a party at our now townhome, and I learned the original little boy now a teen lived in our same townhome complex. He was in private school so I didn’t see him with my brother’s regular friends and would be graduating soon. By the end of my high school, the girl who lived in the castle house also had a change in fortune, and she too ended up living in the same townhome enclave. We would occasionally chat at the pool.
Now many years have passed, and I have had a couple of random links back to both the boy and girl through Facebook here and there.
19:07
Every now and then I will drive through that neighborhood looking at old homes. The house was long ago wiped out in some floods and that part of the neighborhood was not rebuilt. Other elements have changed as the neighborhood fell apart. Some of the same places remain but in an entirely different atmosphere.
Ahhh, the remnants of nostalgia how they linger inside us all for certain moments and places in time. Seemingly random encounters tied back together if only in memory in the present.
19:40
These random twisted tales are leading to many bigger things in the story. Don’t worry, I will continually remind you of them as time goes on. But trust me, these littler tales and sidenotes will help you understand when we get to where all this is going.
I hope you enjoy the ride in the meantime.
20:03
Previously, I have mentioned the podcast Proud Stutter by Maya Chupkov. Recently, I guest co-hosted with Maya an episode where we talk with actress and singer Desiree Cole about her performing career and about a special character she helped inspire with a stutter. That Proud Stutter episode will be released on August 26th, 2022. Links will be available in the notes section and at As The Money Burns website Press *News & Events tab.
Proud Stutter by Maya Chupkov and Desiree Cole August 26th, 2022 episode **Revised release September 9th, 2022
Proud Stutter Season 2, Ep. 3 — PROUD STUTTER
https://www.proudstutter.com/proud-stutter-season-2-ep-3
Desiree Cole https://www.
If you enjoy As The Money Burns, then please share, like, & subscribe.
Hook
20:41
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
The games begin for another Tennis Week in Newport, but in society’s game will one socialite be able to outmaneuver the scandal ahead?
Until then…
Credits
20:56
AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast written, produced, and voiced by Nicki Woodard, based on historical research. Archival music has been provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, check out their website at www.pastperfect.com.
Please come visit us at As The Money Burns via Goodpods, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
21:31
THE END.