Episode 21: Rising Tides
The summer is ending, but there’s one last activity before everyone heads off for the fall. This one requires shovels and buckets, no
fancy dresses nor jewels needed.
After all the glitz and glamour, it’s time to get a little dirty.
Over a hot Labor Day weekend, the preferred activity is crabbing. Amongst the waves and rocks, Louise Van Alen worries about her secret romance with Prince Alexis Mdivani, and her concerns are valid when looking at older couple Grace Wilson Vanderbilt and her husband Neily Vanderbilt. Doris Duke with Jimmy Cromwell and Barbara Hutton with Frank Shields have various success with their buckets, hinting at their own situations.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Publish Date: January 07, 2021
Length: 19:31
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Red Sails In The Sunset by Casani Club Orchestra, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s
Section 2 Music: Stars Fell On Alabama by Lew Stone, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 3 Music: Sunshine by Jack Hylton, Album Fascinating Rhythm – Great Hits of the 20s
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 021 – Rising Tides
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.
00:26
Story Recap
Reigning It Girl Louise Van Alen finally had her debutante ball, and it was as good as a fairy tale including a Prince. But forewarning fairy tales always have a dark side. Will Doris Duke, Barbara Hutton, and the other heirs do as well when their times come?
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:46
Rising Tides
[Music fade out]
Episode Tag
00:48
The summer is ending, but there’s one last activity before everyone heads off for the fall. This one requires shovels and buckets, no fancy dresses nor jewels needed.
After all the glitz and glamour, it’s time to get a little dirty.
01:02
[Music – Red Sails In The Sunset by Casani Club Orchestra, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]
Section 1 – Story
[Music fade out]
01:13
Over the bright Labor Day weekend of 1929, a blistering heat wave sweeps the New England coast. By late afternoon, the remaining Colonists gather with shovels and buckets on a scavenger hunt of sorts. The evening tide of the approaching new moon along with the heat makes the perfect weather for the treasure they seek – large juicy crabs.
The informal and grungy event contrasts a summer of constant parading and flossing. Now everyone is in simple attire as they play amongst the surf and rocks.
Along the rocky edges, recent debutante Louise Van Alen and her brothers Sam and Henry attempt to show Russian Prince Alexis Mdivani the fun of crabbing. Only the haughty prince is less than amused by the gritty work reminding him of the barren years of his family’s exile scavenging and hustling for food and accommodations. He likes luxury and being served.
02:02
Louise fears her secret lover also longs for Paris and his ex-lover Silvia. When the summer ends, Sam, Henry, and the Prince will all return to London, while Louise continues her debutante parade under the pretense of finding a more appropriate suitor.
That’s not a small fear, but a viable one with dire consequences not only with financial ramifications but potentially damaging familial bonds as well. The lovestruck debutante must weigh the choices before her – her family, her lover, her fortune, and Society.
Louise only needs to look along the beach to see a reminder of another long ago young romantic tale that still drifts amongst the waves.
02:42
Society queen Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, now nearing 60, has gloriously lived the life of which every heiress dreams. Her disputed marriage with Cornelius “Neily” Vanderbilt III was the scandal of its day. He was disinherited from the grand Vanderbilt fortune due to his family’s disapproval. However the young couple was defended and supported by her family and even more celebrated as true lovebirds especially in Europe.
Now decades later, Grace enjoys the luxurious life, never once experiencing a period of want nor confusion despite the twists and turns. She lives life as in a fairy tale of endless happiness. Almost everywhere she dons enormous jewels. Grace has never believed in less is more, only in more is more. At any opera, ball, or tea – she sparkles. There is only one event where she shows up plain and simple, and yet still elegant.
Grace has always enjoyed a day of crabbing. Her silvery white hair gleams in the sunlight. With a bucket and shovel, in rolled up pants and a basic shirt, Grace stomps around in the sand hunting for crabs to boil along with Louise’s mother Daisy.
03:49
Also playing in the surf, young tots Lil Cobina Jr, Bobby Goelet, and Gloria Vanderbilt search for crabs. They find one caught in a pool. Bobby pokes it with a stick, and the feisty little crab snaps its claws in defense. Lil Cobina bravely picks it up by one of the little legs, and the crab clamps its pincers hard on her little fingers.
She screams out loud and tries to shake it off, but it holds on tight. Golden boy stockbroker and blueblood Bill Wright runs over and helps yank it off of his daughter. Lil Cobina cries. Bill soothes her, “Now now, Daddy’s always going to take care of you and protect you.” Tears stream down her face.
“You were so brave. You can’t let a little crab frighten you.” A big wave splashes both of them. He makes a silly face, and she laughs.
04:39
Over to the side, opera singer Cobina Wright watches her husband and child together. Her eyes water as she hopes this is a sign he will return back to them. She glances over to the various young potential couples on the beach. Wishing them all a lifetime of happiness.
Louise wades amongst the tide pools trying to find the best spot. The Prince reluctantly participates. He never likes getting dirty unless it involves competition on the field.
05:06
Bill gathers the little kids and hustles them over to famed artist and Neily’s sister Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. She smiles as she sculpts sand structures with the children. Future architect Sam organizes the building of a large sandcastle and recruits his teenage cousin Jakey Astor to haul over and compile a large mound of sand. The Prince refuses to add in his own labor. He has very little interest or use for children.
Grace wonders about in pure happiness like a young girl playing on the beach. Over to the side her husband Neily desperately tries distracting himself. He has long mentally split from his wife. He was never one of endless socializing, always more prone to science, engineering, and exploration. Neily longs to get back onto the yacht and out to sea. For the moment, he sticks with more practical distractions like trying to build a better trap with the assistance of the eager baby-faced heir Huntington Hartford.
06:02
Neily’s mother the dowager Alice Vanderbilt has graced the beaches to be with her daughters and granddaughters. In large protective hat and covering, she hopes to avoid overheating. Only recently, Neily reconciled with his mother Alice after his brothers died and left him as the sole male Vanderbilt heir. Their relations especially when Grace is present is tenuous at best.
06:26
Teen tennis sensation Frank Shields finds a crab that tries to pinch him then scurries away. Frank chases it along the beach, but the agile little creature outmaneuvers him. Chubby budding fashionista Barbara Hutton laughs until the crab comes directly towards her. Frightened she jumps out of the way and knocks over the bucket. Frank shouts for her to grab it, but the crab has disappeared.
She turns over the bucket to reveal her captive then quickly plops him in the bucket. Frank runs over and congratulates her on her catch. The little blue point crab scrambles around trying to crawl out. She sets the bucket down as she’s more interested in trying to find an oyster with a pearl. Frank gladly wades deeper into murkier waters trying to find her a stash of bivalves.
He scoops up a bunch and brings his booty back to her. She looks amongst his collection trying to find something of value. When she sees a good oyster, she goes to put it in her bucket only to notice her crab has escaped. The crab darts away and slips deep into the rocks before Frank can catch him again. When another wave douses the teens, and they laugh.
07:27
Meanwhile awkward heiress Doris Duke and older heir to two fortunes Jimmy Cromwell work together and have gathered quite a few crabs. Their bucket has about 6 or 7. Taking a break on the rocks, they enjoy the occasional spray cooling them off. She watches the crabs move in the bucket.
One adventurous crab tries to crawl out. As he hooks a leg over the rim, another claw reaches out and grabs his leg pulling him back in. The crab crawls on top of the others, then makes another try only to be pulled down again by the others.
Doris sighs as she watches the little creature struggle. Jimmy grabs her hand and pulls her into the ocean for a quick dip before their meal.
Once more, the little crab tries an escape. The other crabs attack and tear him apart.
08:13
Small bonfires light the beach as the darkness falls. Everyone enjoys the day’s bounty as they collectively boil their fleshy treasures in large pots. They sit along the surf prying and cracking open shells. Tender flesh pulled apart and sucked out.
The Prince all of sudden snaps and spits. He managed to get a good bite of sand with his treat. The others laugh as they continue to eat. Louise sucks an oyster into her mouth then too bites down something unusually hard. More graciously and somewhat lady like spits into her palm.
Everyone claps as she reveals her obstruction. Of course, perfect Louise would find the pearl.
As the season draws to an end, the hints of summer romances realized or not begin to fade away until it all begins again next year.
09:00
[Music – Stars Fell On Alabama by Lew Stone, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music fade out]
09:17
Summers come and go, along with their memories. 1929 was the summer everyone wanted to have endlessly. Only nothing lasts forever, and the cycles seem to repeat.
During one summer long ago, another debutante party led to a forbidden romance that became a grand love story. Well sort of.
Previously, Episode 07 The Setting Sun discussed the dwindling Vanderbilt fortunes in the twilight era of the former railroad and shipping dynasty. As well as how the dowager Alice Vanderbilt’s social power would be eclipsed by her daughter-in-law Grace Wilson Vanderbilt.
09:50
Southern beauty Grace Wilson definitely enjoyed the good life. Her father banker RT Wilson made a fortune in the cotton trade and railroads during a complicated time. He was accused of Civil War profiteering for serving as the middleman between the Southern cotton plantations and the British traders.
Grace had a delicate yet enchanting temperament. Not one prone to much anxiety as everything always seemed to work out in her favor. Indeed, she was her father’s favorite child, doted and indulged. A late in life baby spoiled to never think nor worry. Once she was stuck in Paris awaiting her new garments from fashion house Worth, when alerted her clothes would not be ready in time. RT Wilson dispatched an associate to hound the clothiers demanding no other orders be filled until his little princess got hers. Of course, the tactic worked.
10:37
Like her mother-in-law Alice, Grace was intent on keeping up the social graces. Something she excelled at with her natural extroversion and joie de vivre that made her a great hostess in her own right. Growing up she had spent much time in Europe, especially London and Paris. Her sister married into British nobility thus further boosting the family’s profile and interactions. Even without formal schooling and only governesses, Grace spoke flawless French and workable German. She also had a keen eye for the arts from European to Chinese and was an avid opera goer.
11:10
Her own romance with Cornelius “Neily” Vanderbilt III came as a result of a debutante ball – his sister Gertrude’s, a reluctant debutante in her own right. Many decades earlier in 1895 the night of Gertrude’s debut, a flirtation struck up between Grace and her former beau’s brother Neily. Grace was a stunning young lady, and Neily too handsome in his own scholarly way. They made a striking couple, but his parents objected on several grounds – the largest being his oldest brother Bill might have been Grace’s secret fiancé while at Yale before his timely young death from typhoid in May 1892.
11:47
By the way, the summer travel of the rich to the country or other less populated and thus better sanitation areas like Newport was actually started as a way to avoid the prevalence infectious diseases that come with warmer weather.
12:00
Despite the Vanderbilt objections, Grace and Neily would marry in 1896, and thus they were accused of causing to his own father’s stroke that same year and the later complications leading to his death in 1899. Neily was disowned but would later inherit the dwindled family fortune in 1925 after his other two surviving brothers also died far too early.
12:21
Already a favorite amongst European royalty, Grace scooped her Society queen title in 1902 when Austrian Kaiser Wilhelm II’s brother Prince Henry came to the US to negotiate with Theodore Roosevelt. Prince Henry’s arrival marked a huge improvement in US international relations, so much so that the Astor family hotel Waldorf-Astoria made huge efforts to ensure his stay was top notched. Grace scored the rare and dignified position to play hostess to the visiting Prince. The US elites took notice of Grace. After that, any holdouts, and there weren’t that many to begin with, accepted her. Europeans were always confused over the Vanderbilt refusal to accept Grace, whom they found utterly charming.
13:02
Grace had a quick smile, dainty wrists, and silver curls. Her hair turned prematurely white early in their marriage when Neily suffered a bout of typhoid, the same illness that had taken his brother and her former fiancé Bill. Grace actually loved the new hair color so much she refused to dye her hair. She could be sweet, loving, and occasionally simple, but mostly she loved playing up everything to the luxurious and glamorous hilt.
A large depletion in the Vanderbilt fortune is attributed to Grace’s reckless and extravagant spending. Raised to never think about the cost of money, Grace always insisted on the best. Renovating their Fifth Avenue mansion, lavish parties… In one year, it was estimated she hosted 37,000 guests between their New York mansion, Newport cottage, and yacht the North Star.
13:49
A few years into the marriage, Neily realized he made a mistake, but instead of divorcing he focused on science and engineering including working for the family railroad business. He had over 30 patents including a corrugated firebox that gave a substantial increase in fuel efficiency and a cylindrical tank to transport oil. Neily was also influential in establishing the Interborough Rapid Transit to aid in constructing New York City’s first subway – with August Belmont Jr, the brother-in-law to his famous aunt Alva Vanderbilt Belmont.
However all of Neily’s success did not result in replenishing the family coiffers. Their own children Neil (Cornelius Vanderbilt IV) and Grace would be threatened with disinheritance. In the end, there wasn’t much left to inherit anyway.
14:33
Neily’s sister Gertrude had her own issues in finding a suitable mate, partially rumored due to lesbian attractions especially with Esther Hunt, the daughter of famed architect Richard Morris Hunt. Another situation Alice desperately disapproved. Luckily, Gertrude married sportsman and heir Harry Payne Whitney who encouraged her artistic endeavors. By 1934, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney will be embroiled in a sensationalistic custody battle over little Gloria Vanderbilt with her mother Gloria Morgan, the very young widow of youngest brother Reginald.
While a large inheritance seems to be an easy path in life, it is never truly guaranteed nor without complications.
15:12
[Music – Sunshine by Jack Hylton, Album Fascinating Rhythm – Great Hits of the 20s]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music fade out]
15:25
There is the saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats” coined by Irish politician Sean Lemass but popularized by first as Senator and later as President John F Kennedy, who himself married former debutante Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport. The “rising tide” is meant as a political term to say an improved economy helps everyone. However it ignores the fact that actual tides ebb and flow, so what rises also recedes. In receding, boats can be left stranded in the sand or pulled out to sea. Nothing remains permanent especially a high. When the tide goes out, other things might be revealed.
16:01
Change is inevitable and not always desirable, especially when it comes suddenly and drastically. It can take a while for people to realize anything has changed at all, and some can stay in denial even longer. This is true among individuals as well as groups.
Like the crab, many hide their beautiful delicate, soft insides with tough outsides and with sharp pincers. And yet still they remain vulnerable to forces bigger than themselves, whether a tide or a predator.
16:28
Have you ever heard the term crab mentality or crabs in the bucket effect? It refers to how an individual crab can and will naturally escape from a bucket or tank, but when in a group that individual crab will be pulled back by the others and even killed if it continually tries to crawl out.
Thus the crab mentality refers to the psychological situation in which humans prevent one another from improving their situation outside of the group. For the crabs, it is more likely a natural protective instinct gone awry in the wrong situation. But amongst humans, it is driven mostly by envy and competition. An imposed conformity especially to a lower standard of living within one’s individual group.
17:04
This theory is similar to the herd experiment involving monkeys who condition each other not to reach for bananas to avoid getting a nonexistent electric shock, cold water, or air blast. By the way, that latter experiment might be more myth or fable than an actual real experiment – references never give sources verifying the exact study nor method to be further substantiated.
17:26
Regardless, in today’s world, there are multiple attempts to corral and police one another. The most predominant and prevailing in the news is cancel culture with its oversimplification and vilification based on one or two traits. It provides little to no forgiveness and demands complete abdication and conformity to an ever shifting standard of correctness.
17:44
I hope you haven’t been too fooled to know that perfection is often a mask for something else. There is always a balancing factor in life, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the good gets rewarded and the bad punished. There is also a duality in life with which many struggle. Rarely is anything merely one way, and multiple interpretations and complexities abound. Which is why I find it critical to re-explore this group of people at this time. We have so much information to work with and so many situations to take into account.
18:12
Last note: At the end of 2020, my family lost our most vulnerable member due to health complications and the virus. This is a very trying time for many, and my heart goes out to all who have loved ones or are themselves separated due to health issues, and as well as those who have not had a chance to go through the proper mourning rituals necessary when needing to say goodbye.
We have both hope of a vaccine and fear of a new strain simultaneously. May 2021 get better and brighter, but we still have a ways to go.
Hook
18:42
[Music – My Heart Belongs To Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
As the heat wave continues to soar, so does the stock market. A new peak brings hope of an even better tomorrow and clouds judgement for the dangers ahead.
Until then…
Credits
18:59
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.
19:31
THE END