AS THE MONEY BURNS

Podcast by Nicki Woodard

Episode 106 – Moss Covered

Outline

Scandalous young lovers

Engagement & divorce rumors

Series Tag

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

While Barbara Hutton travels the South Seas, Prince Alexis Mdivani returns to Paris and is greeted by Louise Van Alen.

Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS

Title

00:43

Moss-Covered

[Music Fade Out]

Episode Tag

Another set of divorce rumors and scandal abound as another lover has been found.

01:00

[Music – It’s the Talk of the Town by Ambrose, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]

Section 1 – Story

[Music Fade Out]

01:16

Love makes the world go round, and young lovers spin it even faster and sometimes out of control.

Isn’t it amazing how some people just seem made for scandal?  Like they were born into it and thus have it from the get-go?

01:30

Well, no one probably fits that description more than the ill-fated Titanic baby, the proud scion John Jacob Astor VI aka Jakey.  Conceived under semi-scandal, then survives the major Titanic tragedy in utero, only to be born and forever plagued by scandal.

When it comes to scandal, he hates every minute of it.  Yet the press and public alike are fixated on him, endlessly referring to his rather sullen, depressed, and bitter demeanor.  Rarely praising and almost always criticizing him.

02:04

Jakey wants nothing other than to be left alone to live the good life.  To be the epitome of a gentleman like his grandmother the esteemed Gilded Age queen bee Caroline Astor would have been so proud to have in her lineage.  Oh, if Caroline was still alive, she would nip these scandals fast.  She did not like gossip.

Only no such luck.  In fact, her death leads to the beginning of all this scandal.

02:31

As the real beginning starts even before the Titanic tragedy and his birth.

For that situation, Jakey really can’t blame anyone but his parents somewhat.  His father John Jacob Astor IV waited until his mother Caroline’s death before daring to defy her biggest fear and divorces his acrimonious haughty and beautiful wife Ava Lowle Willing, actually Ava initiated the proceedings.  The couple were absolutely miserable with each other, already living separate lives – he in the U.S. with their son Vincent Astor and she already spending large amounts of time in England with their daughter Ava Alice Muriel Astor. 

03:10

Upon his mother’s death, they gladly parted ways.  Now divorce and remarriage had already become acceptable among the 400 with that other Gilded Age queen bee the indomitable Alva Vanderbilt Belmont.  Caroline long suffered through her own bad marriage but luckily widowhood had freed her instead.  Even though Caroline suffered dementia near the end, Jack held off getting his own freedom.  He already had a sister Charlotte Astor Drayton who had caused a big scandal with her indiscreet sexual affair and divorce back in 1892. 

03:41

When Jack finally won his freedom at the age of 46, he went a bit mad over a very young female barely 18 years old Madeleine Talmage Force.  His quick remarriage in less than 2 years of his divorce to a female less than half his age – and dare say younger than his college age son Vincent – became a huge HUGE scandal. 

So much so the newlyweds fled for a long-extended honeymoon in Europe and the Middle East, visiting as far as Egypt.  They traveled on the ocean liner Olympic to Europe.  When young Madeleine became pregnant, the new condition mandated a return to the states.  Thus they booked passage upon the Olympic’s sister ship the state of the art luxury liner Titanic’s maiden voyage.  After placing Madeleine into a lifeboat, Jack would become the richest man to die in that tragedy on April 15^th, 1912. 

04:33

Jack’s will was strict and limiting.  Madeliene got a small cash upfront allowance plus a 5 million trust fund ($141.5 million in 2024) and access to the Astor Fifth Avenue mansion as long as she remained unmarried.  Daughter Ava got a nice $10 million (nearly $314 million in 2024), an inheritance which was more than sufficient for her life.  Son Vincent inherited the bulk of the fortune which was estimated around $67 million (today in 2024 that’s $2.13 billion).  And there was a stipulation for any unnamed heir – which would be Jakey for $3 million (or $95.4 million in 2024).

05:17

To say that Jakey is bitter over the diminished amount cannot be overstated.  Furthermore, his young and impetuous mother refuses the money and permanent widowhood to instead remarry her childhood friend and sweetheart William Dick in 1916.  After which she will continually appeal to the Astor estate to expand Jakey’s living allowance to have a more appropriate life due to his station.  In her legal complaints, Madeleine foots his lavish bills until repayment is possible.  Madeleine will forever play the Titanic victim card whenever troubles for her or her future son Jakey surface.

05:53

William Dick is an adequate stepfather, and the couple have two more sons William Force Dick and John Henry Dick.  Jakey gets along far better with his two younger half-brothers than his older half-brother Vincent.  To say Vincent and Jakey detest each other is an understatement.  Vincent constantly hints that Jakey is illegitimate and refuses to give his brother a better portion of the fortune.

06:17

Jakey spends his life trying to establish his credentials to match his illustrious family name.  He is semi doing better, now graduated from Newport’s St. Georges and on to Harvard.  Though not really a good student nor academically inclined, Jakey opts to take a long worldwide trip in 1932, but before heading to Honolulu he sends a corsage of orchids to New York to Princess Donna Cristina Torlonia of Italy, who debuted during the 1931-1932 social season.  That 1932 summer they will meet in the Italian Alps, where they hike, ride horses, dance, and play tennis.  Maybe he’s trying to be a dollar prince, though titles usually don’t flow in that direction.  Alas Jakey heads back to the United States and eventually Harvard.  Rumors ever since percolate that they are engaged to be married.

07:11

The story heats up as the couple have more interactions elsewhere.  His mother Madeleine is thrilled with the idea and is even photographed escorting the young pretty blonde, blue-eyed princess about to the Belmont races and several fashionable resorts both in Europe and America.  Which only fuels more speculation.

Then a leak in late January comes from a potential bridesmaid messaging her Italian admiral father in Mussolini-land over the pending nuptials, attention increases on the young couple as newspapers postulate will they or won’t they be married. 

07:47

Mid-February to early March 1933

Meanwhile both of the couple’s families are in Palm Beach for the winter season.  Madeleine and Jakey luckily avoid interacting with Vincent as he takes President-elect Franklin Roosevelt for one more fishing jaunt before the latter takes office, and afterwards Vincent heads out on his yacht Nourmahal down to the Galapagos for another exploration along with his former brother-in-law and newly divorced Prince Serge Obolensky.

08:17

Amidst the flurry of attention, Madeleine changes her mind and publicly states she thinks Jakey is too young to marry and should wait a little longer.  Cristina’s mother Elsie Moore, herself a Brooklyn hardware heiress and former American dollar princess – or Dollar Duchess as the press formerly called her, also denies any engagement plans and preposterous due to their young ages.  Despite that the debutante ball is a signal for courtship availability leading to marriage.

In 1933, the age of consent is 21 so both Jakey 20 and Cristina 18 or 19 are not old enough to marry without parental approval.  Thus if that is really their intentions, they are thwarted first and foremost by their mothers.

09:03

The speculation abruptly ends on…

March 5^th, 1933

When Cristina’s father Prince Don Marino Torlonia suddenly passes away in Rome.

Rumors will percolate for a month longer.  Only for every rumor there is a counter rumor.  And eventually some old rumors might come true.

It is a bit ironic that Madeleine is about to cause yet another scandal in her own right and all in the name of love again. 

09:34

Now in late February 1933, amidst her son’s wedding nuptial rumors, whispers of a scandal are hinting in the gossip columns that Madeleine might soon file for divorce from her second husband William Dick. This seemingly silly, antiquated moss-covered rumor resurfaces and is quickly dismissed by none other than Cholly Knickerbocker as something that has plagued the couple frequently over the years.  Only there may be some truth to that rumor after all, and it is far more scandalous.  The gossip columnist remarks Madeleine is rarely seen out and about in the days of late.  She has been keeping herself quite busy so it seems, and that usually means with someone or something but with whom or what is not known.

10:20

What isn’t publicly known is that over a year ago on January 1932, Madeleine traveled on the ocean liner Vulcania and met the hunky Italian boxer Enzo Fiermonte.  His last name literally means “fiery mountain.”  Nearly penniless, Enzo is a boxer who has spent several years on the circuit in Italy and trying to break into America to intermittent and not too great a success.

10:47

Immediately smitten in an age reversed scandal as her first marriage, the married 39 yr old Madeleine goes after the married Enzo, who at 24 is almost half her age.  His youthful vigor, her wealth.  Who really pursues whom…  He yields, she yields, and the tryst is so intoxicating Madeleine loses part of her senses then pursues him relentlessly.  The press picks up her extended stay in Italy and wonders if she might once again be headed for a potential divorce like back in 1924-1925.  She claims no such plans and explains she remains abroad due to an illness of one of her children – much like in 1925 when Jakey caught typhoid.

Back in Florida, Madeleine hires Enzo to train her sons in boxing while continuing the affair.  When Jakey heads on his world tour, she visits Los Angeles during the1932 Olympics, where she might be following Enzo around.

11:44

In the meantime, another young widow who remains unmarried Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt is applying for an increase in allowance for her daughter Gloria Vanderbilt.  Only little Gloria’s aunts artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Countess Grace Vanderbilt Szechenyi are growing more concerned over their niece’s care.  Mother Gloria’s twin sister Viscountess Thelma Morgan Furness’s own scandalous affair with Prince David, the Prince of Wales, future King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor, will soon cause little Gloria greater troubles.

12:14

With so many scandals boiling to the surface, it’s getting all confusing.  For now publicly, Enzo will not be mentioned with Madeleine until a bit later.  But those in the know, know the truth.

We know young lovers are impetuous, but what about those young in heart and mind though not exactly in body?  Oh, the troubles that await…