Episode 19: Dinner Is Served
A debutante’s coming out is a never ending list of nonstop activities. Before the big dance, dinner is served for the most exclusive guests.
Wanna see what the fuss is all about?
Henry Van Alen officially presents his sister Louise as debutante at a private dinner at Wakehurst before the big ball. Finally invited to the dance only, Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton rush to get ready for the big event. Louise’s secret relationship with Prince Alexis Mdivani seems to follow a long Astor and Van Alen history of complicated romances.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Publish Date: December 10, 2020
Length: 17:54
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: One In A Million by Brian Lawrance, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 2 Music: The Girl Friend by Savoy Orpheans, Album Charleston – Great Stars Of The 1920s
Section 3 Music: Just As Long As The World Goes Round and Around by Jay Wilbur, Album The Great British Dance Bands
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 019 – Dinner Is Served
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.
00:28
Story Recap
Outcast teen Barbara Hutton learns she is the only one uninvited to Louise Van Alen’s debutante ball. Only Louise’s secret lover the Prince insists on her inclusion. Surprisingly, awkward Doris Duke is invited but dreads being alone at such a big event.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
[Music fade out]
00:48
Dinner Is Served
Episode Tag
A debutante’s coming out is a never ending list of nonstop activities. Before the big dance, dinner is served for the most exclusive guests.
Wanna see what the fuss is all about?
01:02
[Music – One In A Million by Brian Lawrance, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Section 1 – Story
[Music fade out]
01:10
Newport always brims with activity during the summer as the colonists flutter from one event to another. Now this week champion tennis matches and the horseshow fill their schedules, but it is the debut of Louise Astor Van Alen which will really prove the pinnacle of one’s social success.
While movie star handsome and teen tennis sensation Frank Shields takes over the courts with Louise’s brothers Henry and Sam, others enjoy the grandeur of the stallions. Now more mobile since his injury, Van Alen family friend and polo player Prince Alexis Mdivani breaks away from the racket sports to enjoy something he likes more – horses.
01:48
Adrift in the crowds at the horseshow, the budding fashionista teen heiress Barbara Hutton walks morosely behind her father Franklyn Hutton and her ditzy stepmother Irene. The outcast teen feels more and more lost knowing that other girls will all be attending Louise’s debutante ball without her.
From a distance, Barbara spots awkward teen heiress Doris Duke distracting herself with the horses. Barbara pauses then turns in the opposite direction. Doris looks up and sees her heartbroken friend. Still recovering from last nights’ junior dance at her own home Rough Point, Doris desperately wants to catch up with Barbara but fears knowing her friend is excluded from this evening’s activities.
02:26
Ducking through the crowd until finding a quiet secluded spot, Barbara leans against a wall as tears stream down her face. No one notices her absence. She slinks down and clutches her beloved poetry book closer to her. When composed, she steps back out and runs into Prince Alexis. Her purse spills, and she drops her book. Too embarrassed, she quickly grabs her things and runs off through the crowd.
The Prince notices her poetry book and chases after her. Unintentionally, Barbara beelines to Doris. The two teens face off in silence. Barbara out of breath and Doris just as timid. The Prince catches up to them. Instead of saying anything, he just politely hands over the poetry book and bids them adieu.
03:09
Blushingly, Barbara holds her book as he weaves back into the crowd. She feels a bulge and opens to find an invitation. Doris’s jaw drops open. Barbara is stunned as her shaking hands struggle to open and confirm the contents. It’s for the dance but not dinner. The teen girls are elated. An invite is still an in.
—
03:30
Wakehurst is full of last minute activity. Servants make the final preparations before the guests arrive. In the salon, the Van Alen brothers and the Prince await in their finest of clothes. Louise enters in a beautiful white satin gown imported from Paris. The intricate and delicate details radiate elegance. She drips in diamonds and pearls that sparkle under the chandelier. She also has the customary ostrich plume and fan. She flutters the fan coyly as she curtsies. The young men bow, and she taps them playfully. Though a little nervous, she still glows in excitement.
The Prince grabs Louise’s hand to kiss it, but she resists and won’t open up her fist. She lets Sam and Henry know that their mother Daisy needs to go over one more thing with them in the dining room. Now alone, she opens to reveal a pair of diamond cufflinks.
04:20
“These are my father’s, and Mother agreed it would be lovely for you to wear them tonight so I would have a piece of him with me.” She tenderly adjusts his sleeves and adds the finishing touch. The Prince’s eyes twinkle. He really likes expensive things. She laughs then warns, “They are on loan only. It would have been too hard to choose between Sam and Henry.”
He smiles nonetheless. The splendor of the Van Alen family home and lifestyle is one he has long absorbed as his own.
04:47
Away in their own abodes, hurrying in anticipation Barbara and Doris prepare for the ball. Thankfully the dinner exclusion buys them a little more time. With her ever attentive governess Ticki in tow, Barbara pulls from her closet the special dress she kept stashed hoping the invitation will come. From Paris, it’s a stunning color with details unknowingly similar to Louise’s.
Meanwhile Doris awaits her mother Nanaline Duke whose hands glide over the silks, chiffons, taffetas, and other fine materials of dresses in her closet. Doris wishes Nanaline would be as tender towards her. Finally, Nanaline picks one and holds up to see if it will appropriately fit Doris. It’s always a struggle .
05:30
As the evening progresses, the Wakehurst salon fills with fifty dinner guests, including Vanderbilts and other bluebloods. Jakey Astor and his siblings Vincent and Ava exchange customary cheek kisses and handshakes with their Van Alen cousins. The amiable Frank Shields arrives on the arm of his elderly doting benefactress Maud Barger-Wallach. At first glance, it might seem like an elderly cougar with her youthful escort, yet it is more like an eccentric aunt with her playful ward. His less sophisticated manners softened in their joviality.
The Prince is not amused, though tonight he commands all attention as Louise’s primary escort. He plans to keep it that way.
06:10
Before dinner begins, Henry stands up and gives a toast. In replacement of their father, Henry officially presents Louise to Society. Daisy nods in approval, while Sam too will later give a speech honoring his sister.
The rather small party gathers around the table for the official dinner. As everyone takes their seat, it is the art of placement. Louise discreetly reminds Prince Alexis of everyone’s relations. Henry sits next to their glamorous cousin Ava. They were once intended to be wed – back then blueblood circles did not discriminate against close relations of near first cousin marriages. However both seemed uninterested in such a union, and Ava ended up with her own Russian Prince Serge Obolensky.
06:55
Ava wears a remarkable exotic gold necklace of ramsheads, which she discovered in King Tut’s tomb shortly after her own successful debut. Her charming husband Serge sits a little further down next to the former opera singer Cobina Wright. The familiar friends chat happily away.
As the multiple courses are served, under the tablecloth the Prince’s knee taps Louise as she perks up a little. They chat with the various people around them, as his fingers intertwine with hers. As the new dishes arrive, they let go, but he moves his foot next to hers and slightly kicks it. She responds in kind, never missing a beat above the table.
07:35
She wraps her foot with his locking them together. She almost blushes and turns to chat with her Uncle Frederick Vanderbilt who sits next to his favorite niece Daisy. No one seems the wiser about the under the table hanky panky in their midst.
In the Beach Mound foyer, Ticki fawns over Barbara and hands over her purse with a knowing look. Barbara’s statement dress looks a bit too overtop for her to pull off.
She preens with excitement when her face falls.
Ticki turns to see Franklyn and Irene coming down. Irene is wearing an identical dress to Barbara, and now the dress looks a bit trashy and declasse.
08:15
[Music – The Girl Friend by Savoy Orpheans, Album Charleston – Great Stars Of The 1920s]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music fade out]
08:33
The desire and excitement of a debutante ball is all about the fun and dreamy aspects. The dress, the dance, a cute escort, and all the possibilities of romance and the future.
Alas that is not exactly how it happens. In fact, for many, it was a laborious and painful tradition giving the young deb a chance to have a few moments of glory before a potential lifetime prison sentence to a less than satisfactory marriage.
09:01
Because when it comes to debutante balls, all that fuss is really about marriage alliances. The actual debutante ball is the official announcement that the young lady is now of marital age, and she needs to be married within 3 years of her debut lest she be considered an old maid. It’s like being sold off at auction only the bidders might have zero appeal to young lady.
Marriages amongst the elite run much like those amongst royalty. Business and social alliances are preferable to those made purely based on love or compatibility. The lucky ones somehow succeed in having both. However what is considered acceptable is always relative.
09:38
Take for instance, Louise’s own grandparents.
James John Van Alen married the beautiful Emily Astor – the first born child and daughter of the Gilded Age socialite queen Caroline Astor and oldest sister to John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titanic. Caroline and her husband William Backhouse Astor Jr disapproved of the marriage with William exclaiming, “Damned if I want my family mixed in with the Van Alens.” It was probably one of the few things the Astor couple agree upon. They themselves unhappily ill-matched in personalities, temperaments, and interests. Though Caroline always presented herself publicly as a dutiful and obedient wife, fortunately they lived fairly independent of each other.
10:19
The Astor parental refusal came out in such a way, that James’s father Civil War Union brigadier General another James Henry Van Alen challenged William Backhouse Astor Jr to a duel. Though after some consulting of the rules and protocols, it was determined the General was not due satisfaction, and the duel was canceled despite weapons having already been chosen.
10:41
Then it seems in a twist when the General then opposed the marriage, it would be Caroline who yielded showing some acceptance towards the young couple and aided in planning a few of the wedding details. In the end, Emily and James would marry in 1876. The marriage still causing ill will in the family, contrary to Emily’s sisters’ future more acceptable marriages like to Helen to a Roosevelt and Carrie to a Wilson, whose own sister Grace caused a disinheritance scandal amongst the Vanderbilts. Much later Emily’s sister Charlotte would cause much scandal to the family with love letters exposing her affair and lead to her inevitable divorce – causing their brother John Jacob Astor IV to delay his own divorce until after Caroline’s death and his scandalous second marriage which led to his own death on the Titanic.
11:28
Nevertheless James John Van Alen and Emily would have 3 children – 2 daughters and a son Louise’s father. However the marriage was short lived with Emily’s death from childbirth within 5 years in 1881.
James John Van Alen deeply mourned his wife. To console his son, the General gave him a plot of land in Newport to develop for a home. The Van Alens too were prestigious with money accumulated from railroads and banking. They had long been established in Newport with multiple estates. The widow James was an attractive and colorful man often referred to as the American Prince of Wales. He would eventually build his own estate Wakehurst in preparation for his own son James Laurens’ 1900 marriage to Newport native Margaret “Daisy” Post, also a descendant from the prominent colonial family the Posts.
12:17
Two decades later, with Prohibition and the 18th Amendment, the now former ambassador to Italy James John Van Alen took his clan (son & only grandchildren) overseas in protest against curtailing civil liberties. This was in principle since he was actually a teetotaler himself. Thus the Van Alen brothers and their sister Louise spent several years abroad.
The brothers would meet their companion Prince Alexis Mdivani during that time. He quickly took to the Van Alens semi-patronage and support.
When their grandfather died in 1923, the family relocated from London to Paris.
12:50
Alas in 1927, Van Alens would lose their father James Laurens Van Alen delaying Louise’s debut for another year as etiquette required. Then widowed Daisy returned to Newport, Rhode Island as a permanent year round resident at Wakehurst. Daisy also was an heiress to the Post fortune and never had to worry about money especially after serving as a nurse maid for nearly the next decade to her ailing widowed Uncle Frederick Vanderbilt. Louise would join her mother while the brothers continued their British education and bounce as desired between London, Newport, Paris, and elsewhere often with the Prince in tow at their expense.
13:28
But while the Prince was an acceptable family friend, he would have been unacceptable as a future spouse for their sister Louise. His dispossessed Russian nobility claim comes with no money and basically a title with modest social cache. And while cousin and John Jacob Astor IV’s daughter Ava Alice Astor was supposed to marry Louise’s brother James Henry, the independent Titanic heiress married her own dispossessed Russian Prince Serge Obolensky also to the objections of her mother. Serge’s eventual acceptance provides no guarantee that Louise will win the family approval for her secret lover.
Then again her family history seems to be the heart wants what the heart wants – fortunes be damned and so to the lovestruck couples. Such goes the dreams of love and romance when money is involved.
Maybe Louise should reconsider the warning signs…
14:21
[Music – Just As Long As The World Goes Round And Around by Jay Wilbur, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music fade out]
14:34
The effects of the Great Depression will change the nature of debutante balls, mostly moving away from the private one on one events and turning them into group activities. We will explore that transformation later in our story.
Today the debutante ball involves multiple young ladies in a single event.
Since 1954, the Waldorf-Astoria New York has hosted the International Debutante Ball every two years. It is the most prestigious event of its kind. From all around the United States and the world, young society ladies have made their debuts at this event.
15:08
Daughters and granddaughters of presidents, royalty, diplomats, ambassadors, nobility, billionaires, and titans of industry participate in this charity event. Each debutante must donate $22,000 to one of multiple charities affiliated with the U.S. Armed Services through the International Debutante Ball Foundation including the Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Clubs of New York.
Only a previous debutante can recommend a new participant. Each female has two male escorts – one from the military and the other a young male mostly from high ranking social and/or industrial business families. The last names of females include Eisenhower, Habsburg, Nixon,… Newer money still struggles to find ways to participate and join this elite group.
15:53
The young ladies are between 17-21 and should be unmarried and unengaged. Once again, the purpose was to present a girl to society as being ready for marriage. A rule Vera Wang secretly broke when she participated in 1968. Then 19 year old Vera was already engaged for two weeks to Thomas Bermingham of Chicago and Phoenix, however that marriage did not occur. As the daughter of a United Nations translator, Vera participated as her parents wanted her to represent China though she had never been there at that time.
16:24
Chairmen / Chairwomen and Vice Chairmen / Chairwomen have included past participants including Prince Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky – the son of Prince Serge Obolensky and Ava Alice Astor. Thus Ivan is the great grandson of Caroline Astor.
Ivan’s own granddaughters Princesses Natalya and Octavia Obolensky debuted in the 2006 at the 58th Annual International Debutante Ball at the Waldorf-Astoria New York, a hotel with its own origin story deeply rooted with Caroline Astor and her son John Jacob Astor IV. The Princesses Obolensky would be the 3 times great granddaughters of Caroline Astor.
Some traditions live on.
Hook
17:05
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
After a small dinner party of nearly 50, the real attraction of a debutante’s coming out is an elaborate dance with a few more hundred attending.
The whirl of partners and romantic intrigue is only beginning.
Until then…
Credits
17:23
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 Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
17:54
THE END