Episode 09: An Heir With A Spare
An heir to two fortunes is back on the market. Which unlucky heiress will win his heart?
Some perfect moments can turn so bad that one wishes it had only been a nightmare. Our heiress Doris Duke finds herself stuck in two situations that go horribly wrong. No matter the era, adolescence is never easy with or without those awkwardly bad moments.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Publish Date: August 6, 2020
Length: 21:20
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: You Hit The Spot by Carroll Gibbons, Album The Age of Style – Hits from the 30s
Section 2 Music: These Foolish Things by Benny Carter, Album Perfect Blues
Section 3 Music: Top Hat, White Tie and Tails by Carroll Gibbons & Boy Friends, Album Sophistication – Songs of the Thirties
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 009 – An Heir with A Spare
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.
00:24
Story Recap
To reunite former lovers, Barbara Hutton must thwart Louise Van Alen’s romance with Prince Alexis Mdivani. Meanwhile awkward Doris Duke continuously embarrasses her mother Nanaline, and Cobina Wright struggles with her husband’s secret love affairs.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
00:44
Title
An Heir With A Spare
[Music fade out]
00:48
Episode Tag
Ever had a dream so vivid it seemed real? Ever had a situation in real life so bad and awful that you wished it was only a nightmare?
An heir to two fortunes is back on the market. Which unlucky heiress will win his heart?
01:04
[Music – You Hit The Spot by Carroll Gibbons, Album The Age of Style – Hits from the 30s]
Section 1 – Story
[Music fade out]
01:13
[Sound effects – Surf Beach Ambience / Seagulls w Surf]
Amidst the surf and froth at Bailey’s Beach in Newport, Rhode Island, awkward teen heiress Doris Duke steps out of her cabana feeling self-conscious in her stunning new white swimsuit. No one even looks at her.
It Girl Louise Van Alen splashes in the water with her cousin Jakey Astor and her two brothers. While budding teen fashionista Barbara Hutton reads a book and perched nearby the sidelined Prince Alexis Mdivani, still suffering from a dislocated shoulder.
When Louise motions for Doris to join the group, Doris can hardly believe it. Barbara shrugs under her more modest attire. She has absolutely zero intention of leaving the Prince’s side.
01:55
Doris leaves the lounge area and heads into the water, hovering near Louise’s brothers. Louise nods in approval over the new suit. Doris blushes and to control her nerves swims out into the ocean waves.
The Prince turns his attention to Barbara. He holds out his hand, and elatedly she hands him her book.
Relaxed and rejuvenated Doris returns. Rising out of the water, she wades towards shore.
Glares and giggles follow her. She turns around confused. Everyone stares directly at her.
She looks down. Her white bathing suit, unlined, now exposes her nearly naked body. Mortified and frozen as the laughter increases.
No one helps her. Time stands still. Please oh please let this be a nightmare…
The sun blares out then in revealing another ritzy seaside port of Bar Harbor, Maine.
[Sound effects end]
03:03
The rich like to circulate in various places outside of Newport – Hamptons, Palm Beach, and Bar Harbor are prime places in the States. The current frenzy in Bar Harbor surrounds the annual Ladies Yacht Races.
A modestly clothed Doris walks around with the ever assured supreme hostess and opera singer Cobina Wright. Cobina delights in the frivolous elite distraction away from her marital woes when she runs into bigger trouble.
Amongst this glittering set, two Society mavens Eva Stotesbury and Evalyn Walsh McLean are doting on the dapper man candy James HR Cromwell, aka Jimmy, in his mid-30s and newly divorced from the Dodge fortune. He is also Eva Stotesbury’s pampered son. An heir to his deceased father’s fortune as well his very wealthy and generous stepfather’s. Jimmy is a tall Nordic god dressed to perfection – only he’s about as oblivious as he is handsome.
04:07
Cobina purrs, “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? Come to dip your toes in a new pool of beauties?”
With a knowing smile, he replies, “Do I hear a songbird calling my name? Alas, we can be in a crowd of thousands, but I will always feel like you’re singing only to me.”
Their eyes sparkle at each other. There’s real history. Flashbacks of two young lovers celebrating the end of World War I in Paris.
As the heat simmers, Eva and Evalyn focus their attentions on the young and unattached Doris as they seek a new mate for their beloved Jimmy. The reigning Washington socialite and mining heiress Evalyn Walsh McLean (mid-40s) wears wrapped around her neck the unmistakable large stunning Hope Diamond. France’s Blue hypnotizes Doris who knows Barbara would faint at the sight of it.
05:08
Jimmy takes notices of the young girl and seems pleased. “So glad you escaped from stuffy old Newport. I hope you brought your white swimsuit.” He gives a salacious wink.
Cobina elbows him in the ribs, as Doris immediately turns beet red. Oh yeah, that earlier scene at Bailey’s wasn’t a dream it was real, and it will haunt Doris for the rest of her life.
The whole group spends a day at the races. Cobina and Jimmy naturally flirt throughout the day, but his eyes wander over to Doris from time to time. Cobina nudges the early attraction. Eva and Evalyn too are intrigued. That Dodge girl had proved to be a little bit too much to handle, and she is likely hanging about as she is prone to boat races. Jimmy needs to be cared for properly.
06:00
The society mavens whisper to each other wondering if this shy girl might blossom under the right encouragement. Doris needs refinement and might be a little too dull, but her fortune well that’s a lot to work with. Eva and Evalyn find they might have a new project as they watch her play with a kitten.
During this prized event, Doris and Cobina along with Jimmy and his mother are all guests at Evalyn Walsh McLean’s estate. Doris’s ambitious mother Nanaline agreed to the excursion in hopes of fostering future social connections for Doris while the scandal in Newport died down. Nanaline would love the match of Doris with a plush Jimmy as well as hobnobbing with Eva and Evalyn.
Late into the night, each settle into their separate rooms. As silence takes over the mansion, another restless energy takes over.
Cobina’s mind races to thoughts of her husband Bill meeting up with some unknown woman. In a crazy moment of brave desperation, she opens her door but hesitates and closes it, barely missing Jimmy leaving his room.
07:07
Inside Doris’s room, the teen cuddles with the little kitten in her bed. When the door opens, Doris sits up to see — Jimmy slip in.
Immediately, Jimmy drops trou and stark naked crawls into the bed of a very shocked and astonished Doris.
She is petrified at the sight and feel of a naked man.
Completely unfazed, Jimmy goes to kiss Doris, who can barely reciprocate. He pulls at the string of her nightgown, but Doris clings to her neckline.
Jimmy inquires, “Have you ever kissed a man before?”
Doris shakes her head no.
“Have you ever kissed a boy?”
As Doris blushes in utter shame, he strokes her chin and forces her to look at him.
“There is nothing to fear. It’s all quite natural and simple.”
He plants a big dramatic and awkward kiss on her lips. She nearly dies but has no idea how to kiss him back.
08:04
Back inside Cobina’s room, she paces like a wildcat trying to control her temper and her passions. Finally unable to hold back, she slips out of her room and lightly knocks on Jimmy’s door to which no one answers. Then overwhelmed with guilt, she returns to her room hopefully unnoticed.
Jimmy and Doris sit in bed together – doing absolutely nothing after having done absolutely nothing.
”I guess I thought you were more grown up.”
He crawls out of bed and puts his clothes on. He slips back into the night.
Doris collapses into tears.
08:46
[Music – These Foolish Things by Benny Carter, Album Perfect Blues]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music fade out]
08:58
The oft quoted opening line from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice novel goes as such, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
This may never seem more true than in relation to golden boy and sometimes triple silverspooned James HR Cromwell a definite catch with a Midas touch. Already he’s the heir to one minor fortune, when his widowed mother then married into a much greater one – the Stotesbury, Building a nearly $200 million dollar fortune with connections to the bankers Drexel and JP Morgan, stepfather Ned Stotesbury was generous to his three stepchildren as well as his own. Jimmy grew up in the lap of luxury in a massive Philadelphia mansion with its own soda jerker available via button and a separate cookie room – all pre- World War I.
09:48
After serving as a marine naval captain in that very war, he had a short passionate affair with Cobina Wright in Paris celebrating the Armistice with his own sister the infamous Louise Brooks and the famed General Pershing. Jimmy had enjoyed the simple military life but was ready to return to his more luxurious pampered one, and Cobina was determined to pursue her opera career. They parted bitterly, but he later decided to remain friends. In 1920, Jimmy married Delphine Dodge, the daughter and heir of Horace Dodge one half of the auto fortune. A former Wharton student, Jimmy supervised Delphine and her mother Anna on the selling of their family shares in Dodge for a most lucrative $146 million. His own mother Eva helped Anna mingle into high society as new money often requires guidance and approval.
Both Eva and Anna thoroughly supported and encouraged Jimmy in his big real estate venture – Floranada. The elder society ladies do love to dote on him.
10:47
Floranada was a newsworthy name in the 1920s for two completely different while also oddly similar reasons. Both involved chance and a sort of gambling. Fortunately, one would eventually remove the association with the other. Floranada was the name for both a land development near Fort Lauderdale and a popular racehorse. The horse went up against such fierce competitors like Candy Pig, Candy Hog, Ima Baby, and Dry Moon in 1927.
11:15
Back in 1925-1926, the Floranada Club was comprised of American and British investors led by Jimmy Cromwell, who served as president of the corporation and mayor of the fledgling city. All around well-connected with the support of Eva and Anna, Jimmy gathered investors into a new Palm Beach type lucrative settlement near Fort Lauderdale. The resort like city development estimated around $100 million covered over 3600 acres. Investors included his stepfather E.T. Stotesbury, his in-law Anna Dodge, the actual British Earl and Countess of Lauderdale, Mrs. Alexander Biddle, as well as John Pillsbury (of the flour fortune). Also involved were Andrew Dice president of Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and Harry Black director of the Plaza Hotel corporation. There was a rumor of King George II of Greece (cousin to future Prince Philip, king consort to Queen Elizabeth II), but that was a marketing fabrication to drum up interests.
12:15
The development was set up to have waterways, a whole new road system, tennis courts, a polo field, 2 golf courses, an aviation field, yacht club, and Roman baths with swimming pools. The new hotel would also have its own unique architectural design and style – Spanish Eclectic and Mediterranean Revival became prominent during this time.
This attempt at the American Riviera quickly turned into a disaster. Within a year, it was beset with host of problems resulting in a failed venture. Unlike some of the other speculative Florida developments, Floranada was not a con nor a scam, but mostly ill-prepared management faced with almost insurmountable situations even skilled talent would have trouble overcoming.
12:58
On August 17, 1925 and lasting through Spring 1926, the Florida railroad placed an embargo on all building materials coming in carloads except food due to the inability to handle the volume caused by all the rampant overdevelopment. The attempt to switch to waterway transportation alternatives proved also inadequate for the demand. Adding more complications, the core commodity of labor was limited by the dearth of affordable available housing which led to rent profiteering. Government investigations into Florida land schemes also brought suspicion and withdrawal of participation. The Internal Revenue ruled taxes had to paid on the purchase price of the property and reported as income without deductable losses.
13:41
With every obstacle, Jimmy would double down trying to force construction to continue. It was the wrong move. By spring and summer 1926, there was a mass exodus of investors leading to the American-British Improvement Corporation filing bankruptcy. The books were accidentally lost in the waterway. A mosquito infestation followed by a hurricane finished off any hope, and Florida would enter an economic depression 3 years before the rest of the world.
The loss totaled nearly 8 million dollars. Eva Stotesbury and Anna Dodge would together pay nearly $2 million for debts and paying back investors. Jimmy resigned as mayor, and a local farmer took over and would later face more problems. Overall the development was a disaster.
14:24
The failure also sped up the demise of his marriage. The wilder and unpredictable Delphine who like her father enjoyed speed racing especially boats proved to be a hard match. They had a daughter Christine and were divorced by 1928.
However Jimmy is a rare breed and not the kind to let such failures get him down. He would turn around and take an interest in economic policy, join the Democratic Party (the rich were strictly Republican) even befriending future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and set his own sights on political office.
14:57
Another fun tidbit, the Hope Diamond was purchased in 1910 at the offices of the Washington Post then owned by Evalyn Walsh McLean’s husband. It would take nearly 8 years for the infamous diamond’s curse to eventually affect their lives. A story to explore for another time…
15:12
[Music – Top Hat, White Tie and Tails by Carroll Gibbons & Boy Friends, Album Sophistication – Songs of the Thirties]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music fade out]
15:32
Aw, what would it be like to be young and dumb, back in the prime of youth with all the best yet to happen and too naïve to know that the worse things might happen too. This has always been the journey that compelled me to tell these stories.
The worst year of my life had a small utopian break when I did a summer high school program at Brown University. I found young love and a brief moment of happiness before real tragedy hit. Life has a way of throwing us punches and disappointments. Flashes of hope dashed by broken promises and fate’s cruel nature. Makes for great story, but sucks in real life.
16:08
At this point so early in our story, I’m not sure what to say about an inappropriate seduction, other than it was a different time and there is much more to go we’ve barely even started. Still with all the revelations of the last few years, it makes one wonder about the pressures young women faced when so much seems against them. No matter the era, those situations are endlessly confusing and disorienting, and only now are we really able to express that in all its complexities. Any bad sexual encounter can have large impact, but when it’s the first moment or experience in love or sex so endlessly more impactful on how one views oneself.
16:49
1929 was a cataclysmic year by almost all standards. It also so happened to be an important year in the lives of our very young heiresses. Each having a pivotal moment in their complicated love lives.
And now this year 2020 is another cataclysmic year. Already so many traditions and rites of passage broken. Half the year has already passed and not much change likely for the second half. Some are trapped in absolute hells, while luckier many wait for the redundant doldrums to shift. We wait for life to begin again and make do with what we have for the moment. If lucky, simple dates have to be even simpler as we adjust to new ways of relating.
17:33
Maybe the one good thing is some have avoided those hopeful moments going so wrong. Only replaced with another still quite confusing and so far unending process.
I guess the question is right now would you want to go back in time or skip ahead forward – hoping but unsure of what might be awaiting us next. Here’s hoping that the next summer will be happier for us all.
Hook
18:00
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
A family fortune isn’t always family friendly. Sibling rivalry can reach great heights when money is divided unequally, especially after one infamous maritime tragedy changed the course of a dynasty.
Until then…
18:17
Please enjoy the full rendition of our opening song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” by Billy Cotton available on Past Perfect’s digitally remastered album The Great British Dance Bands.
Credits
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 www.pastperfect.com.
Come check us out at As The Money Burns at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Also transcripts are available at our website asthemoneyburns.com.
21:19
THE END