Episode 30: Spring Blossoms
Temporary seasonal changes might become more permanent under a new climate. In a showy opulent world, will those with losses be able to hide their less than spectacular circumstances?
In Palm Beach, Jessie Woolworth Donahue and Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton prepare for Barbara Hutton’s debut later this year. At Cielito Lindo’s Moroccan tea pavilion, their friends Eva Stotesbury, Anna Dodge Dillman, and Cobina Wright gather to help plan a great celebration.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Publish Date: April 29, 2021
Length: 20:11
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Turkish Towel by The Savoy Havana Band, Album Fascinating Rhythm
Section 2 Music: Sunshine by Jack Hylton, Album Fascinating Rhythm – Great Hits of the 20s
Section 3 Music: Organ Grinder’s Song by Jack Payne, 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 030 – Spring Blossoms
Outline
Palm Beach
Estates & activities
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.
00:27
Story Recap
While the Crash has impacted several adults including Cobina Wright and the uber wealthy Stotesburys, for young heiresses Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton life remains the same with the unhappiness of school and needing to make impressive debuts.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:45
Spring Blossoms
[Music fade out]
Episode Tag
Temporary seasonal changes might become more permanent under a new climate. In a showy opulent world, will those with losses be able to hide their less than spectacular circumstances?
01:02
[Music – Turkish Towel by The Savoy Havana Band, Album Fascinating Rhythm]
Section 1 – Story
[Music fade out]
01:18
The warm, balmy weather of Palm Beach, Florida, is a welcomed change from northern winters. Under the renewed sunshine and its brightening of perspectives, the wealthy prepare for another social season. The question lingers is who might or might not be in attendance in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash.
Chubby budding fashionista teenage heiress Barbara Hutton makes her rounds of sub debutante activities with her various family members. She attends one debutante party with cousin Eleanor Post Hutton and is photographed walking around with her Aunt Jessie Donahue.
01:50
The spring blooms are all around as wealthy ladies gather in a Moroccan tea pavilion at one the most beautiful of the Florida sand castles Cielito Lindo. The ladies gathered are all exceedingly and excessively wealthy, far wealthier than most Newport bluebloods. Yet each has struggled with acceptance in capital S Society being of relative new money. It can take 2-3 generations for admission, and they are mostly 2nd generation wealth as heiresses or first generation if by marriage. They enjoy their lavish conspicuous lives to the hilt, and Palm Beach makes no restrictions that the stuffier Newport requires.
02:29
The ladies in attendance include:
· Palm Beach’s reigning queen Eva Stotesbury who married a first generation wealthy Philadelphian financier and banker.
· Her favorite son’s former mother-in-law and devoted sidekick Anna Dodge Dillman, widow of the auto fortune first generation made and now remarried.
· Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton who became the world’s wealthiest woman as the sole heir to her father’s cereal fortune, and as a savvy businesswoman and with the aid of her second husband expands the family empire considerably.
· Jessie Woolworth Donahue the youngest daughter and one of three heirs to the mercantile fortune who married a younger son of a lesser meat fortune.
· Supreme hostess and opera singer Cobina Wright who maintains the façade unsure if her husband will be able to restore their fortune. Her party skills and bluebood husband help her cross all social lines.
03:22
They all know the pain of exclusion and the need to be accepted. Thus it is absolutely mandatory that this next debutante season goes well for one of their own – the young and impressionable Barbara Hutton, niece to both Marjorie and Jessie whose multiple residences sometimes overlap. Both have taken a strong interest in Barbara in recent years upon realizing how utterly abandoned she’s been by her father.
03:46
Here in Palm Beach, Cielito Lindo is the winter retreat for Jessie Donahue, and her neighbor slightly to the south is Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton at Mar-a-Lago and within the vicinity Eva Stotesbury’s El Mirasol and Anna Dodge Dillman’s Playa Riente.
Playa Riente has the coveted Sinbad the Sailor murals painted by Sert, a Spanish Catalan painter married to none other than Russian Prince Alexis Mdivani’s sister. Barbara sighs wistfully remembering last summer’s interactions with the Prince. If only he could escort her on her big night. She carries his letters inside her purse everywhere.
04:24
Snapping out of her daydreams, Barbara’s deep blue eyes are drawn to Cobina, who has an in with Parisian fashion designers. Barbara absolutely adores fashion, though it hardly becomes her figure. Cobina warmly invites the teen to sit close to her.
Cobina kindly asks, “Has Doris given you any tidbits this year?”
Aunt Jessie scoffs, “How can Doris Duke give any advice on etiquette or fashion? Did you not see she was referred as an unsophisticated debutante in that January article? Our dear Barbara must fair much better when the spotlight falls on her next winter.”
Barbara shyly replies, “She’s in Paris with her mother. Oh, how I envy the chance to see the new trends early.”
05:06
Suddenly too self-aware, Barbara recoils fearing the ladies might attack her like hyenas. Then she realizes they love ostentation and fashion unlike her crustier, old money Farmington classmates. Modesty need not apply to this room.
Aunt Marjorie chimes in, “We have better than seeing trends early, but a chance to influence the future with the Fashion League.” The ladies light up in agreement.
05:32
Earlier this year, Cobina volunteered to be part of a fashion committee to aid Parisian designers with the American market. She is trying to stay in the game whilst her stockbroker husband Bill gathers his whereabouts and restores their fortune. This was the first year Cobina did not host their annual Circus Ball, but there is hope maybe later this year or possibly next year.
05:53
Cobina reaches over to grab a sandwich, intending to sneak it into her purse like a magic trick. When she notices a hole along the cuff of her sleeve and clumsily drops the sandwich on her plate. She twists her wrists and bracelets to cover up the hole.
Deflecting notice, Cobina remarks, “Lil Cobina loves these sandwiches.”
The ever gracious Aunt Jessie offers. “We have plenty. No reason, for the child not to have a treat. I’ll have the maid wrap a few for her.”
06:20
Without a mother to supervise the debutante activities, Barbara’s aunts have volunteered to assist in the process. Her stepmother Irene is not up to handling all the details of a fine coming out in capital S Society. Barbara’s Aunt Jessie wants it to be the grand debut she nor her sisters never had despite their wealth.
Marjorie’s two eldest daughters non-Huttons Adelaide and Eleanor have recently had their own coming outs, so she is the most prepared. However Marjorie wants to outdo herself especially to cheer up her niece, whom she considers the saddest girl in the world.
06:54
Planning a debut is more than just a party, but arranging several activities leading up to the great event. There are teas, garden parties, breakfasts, brunches, sub debutante activities, dances, and other events Barbara must be seen and attend to aid in her own coming out. Her guest list must not be invites but actual attendance, and that alone requires a good social secretary.
Aunt Jessie is thrilled to participate as she only has two sons, and this will be her vicarious moment to enjoy such a celebration. Like her companions, she loves to throw a decadent party. Unlike her eldest sister Helena McCann who is far more modest. Jessie loves to live everything to the hilt and drips in fabulous jewels.
07:36
Jessie is by far the proudest and showiest out of the three Woolworth sisters. She names everything she owns in some form of hybrid manner combining maiden name Woolworth and married name Donahue, immortalizing both her father and husband. Even her boys are named firstborn Woolworth or Wooly and James or Jimmy and for those closest Jeem. They are Barbara’s favorite cousins especially the very charismatic Jeem, who even at 14 is flamboyantly gay with a reputation.
As if on cue, Barbara’s teen male cousins Wooly and Jeem enter the pavilion needing to relieve the boredom so apt to come in the afternoon after tennis. They are followed by 8 year old Lil Cobina Wright Jr and little 6 year old Nedenia “Dina” Hutton, Marjorie’s youngest. Cobina realizes her Lil Cobina has matured seemingly overnight next to Dina.
08:31
The ladies agree to convene their tea and take all the youngsters out to Irving’s for ice cream sodas. The popular upscale chain Irving’s democratically serves all from its elite clientele and their servants in tow in multiple locations along the East Coast.
At the soda shop, the ladies relax as they chat over idle gossip. Rumors of married American socialite Thelma Furness with the single Prince of Wales percolate.
08:55
Flipping casually through New York’s Daily News, today April 29th, 1930 announcement pops out – Doris Duke will be bowing at the Court of St. James this May.
All mouths drop open at the rare honor.
09:09
Upon return later that afternoon, Cobina looks at the cute picnic basket bearing the little sandwiches. Curiously, she discovers an envelope inside and opens to find a rather large check signed by Jessie Donahue with a tiny note –
You might need a little cash to tide you over. For friendship’s sake, don’t ever mention this.
09:28
[Music – Sunshine by Jack Hylton, Album Fascinating Rhythm – Great Hits of the 20s]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music fade out]
09:44
The Atlanta Constitution in its 1934 Who’s Who and Why and Where column remarked that “Socially, Palm Beach is a five-ring circus, plus sideshows. It is at once one of the loveliest and phoniest spots in the world.”
As explained in Episode 9 Heir with A Spare, the 1920s resulted in a large boom of construction in Florida. Some areas succeeded quite well – Palm Beach, while other developments like the future Fort Lauderdale would struggle to take off.
10:12
There is a pattern to travel and migration amongst those for whom money is no object. The seasons as such for the elite in the 1920s and 1930s followed this pattern:
-February and March in Palm Beach, Florida
-Spring to Summer might include a European jaunt for shopping
-Early summer Southhamptons, New York
-Mid-late summer Newport, Rhode Island
-Early Fall Paris and the Riviera
-Late fall New York for the opera and the holiday season
-December-January in New York when many of the biggest debutante activities occur along with other balls
It’s easy to see from the calendar of activities where one should be. Each place has its own sets of polo matches, tennis tournaments, golf courses, teas, balls, yachting, regattas, and other desirable activities.
10:58
Decades earlier post Civil War through the Gilded Age era, old money stayed within Manhattan and Newport with months long jaunts over to Europe. By 1920s & 1930s, train, ship, automobile, and for some air travel would aid more hopping about. The former café society would eventually become jetset. The advent of faster and more mobile transportation opened up even more possibilities. Florida was perfect for winter before its sticky summer heat takes over and they migrate north again.
11:27
The origins of the name Palm Beach is related to the 1878 shipwreck Providencia. Its coconut cargo from Trinidad and the British West Indies scattered over the coast then naturalized to the region and grew into a lush grove.
Palm Beach was a mixture of old money and new money, and was far more open in the types of people who could mingle with the rich. With its Cuban imported palm trees, neo Spanish and Italian homes, all featuring art and antiques not indigenous to the region, Palm Beach was barely inhabited only a decade earlier. Still unlike the other elite hotspots, it is filled with new hotels and Jazz Age nightclubs along with private mansions. It was actually more expensive to be in Southhampton or Palm Beach than Newport. The admixture of gaudy and classic, low and high. The melting pot of all society brought many, but more like moths to a flame.
12:19
In contrast, Newport remains practically Victorian in its resistance to change especially when it comes to social inclusivity. It is still a desirable nut to crack for those needing elite status, but elsewhere the social ranks had more flexibility.
12:35
Down far south, the queen of Palm Beach is none other than Eva Stotesbury, with her El Mirasol estate. Accompanying her is her son’s former mother-in-law Anna Dodge now remarried as Dillman. Anna bought the Josh Cosden mansion Playa Riente, which hosts 9 specialty murals featuring Sinbad the Sailor painted by famous Spanish painter Josep Maria Sert – a Coco Chanel and de Rothschilds favorite, he also created some murals for the new Waldorf-Astoria hotel opening in 1931 as well as the American Progress ceiling mural where a Titan straddles the columns at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 1937.
Sert is far more linked in our story. He is the brother-in-law to the Russian Prince Alexis Mdivani. Sert’s wife Roussie, Alexis’s sister, will play an important role in upcoming stories.
13:23
Two more noteworthy homes are both owned by Barbara Hutton’s aunts. Her paternal Aunt Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton built Mar-a-Lago, yes former President Trump’s current estate. Marjorie is one of the largest female heiresses of all time as the sole recipient to the Post Cereal fortune, nearly $20 million back in 1914 (today $500 million) making her the wealthiest woman in the world. And not only did she inherit a vast sum, she had brains for business and with assistance of her second husband EF Hutton expanded the empire forming General Foods and acquiring Birdseye with its advanced refrigeration freezing techniques. Marjorie went on to build a $200 million dollar fortune, nearly $1.5 billion today.
14:07
In 1922, Marjorie herself scoured through the Florida jungle undergrowth to find a location with access to both Worth Lake and the Atlantic Ocean, hence the name Mar-a-Lago, Spanish for “sea to lake.” At the time, Palm Beach had only 1,200 residents, and there was another Post house called Horgarcito or “Little Home.” Construction for Mar-a-Lago began in 1924, and Marjorie involved Joseph Urban the scenic designer of the Ziegfeld Follies and Metropolitan Opera, whom original architect Marion Sims Wyeth credited for turning his potential masterpiece into a monstrosity. The gold fixtures were additions requested by Marjorie.
14:45
She would later donate it as a “winter White House” for presidential getaways and entertaining foreign dignitaries in 1972. After disuse for nearly a decade, Donald Trump would buy the estate in 1985, first as a private residence then converting it to an exclusive club as it is known today.
15:03
Just north of Mar-a-Lago, Barbara’s maternal Aunt Jessie Woolworth Donahue built Cielito Lindo, “A Little Piece of Heaven” in 1927 also with popular architect Wyeth. Cielito Lindo is considered one of the most beautiful estates and Wyeth’s finest work. Moorish in style with Moroccan-style brickwork with a special tea pavilion. The 45,000 square foot home was on a 16 acre estate.
15:27
Jessie Woolworth Donahue was the youngest of three daughters of dime store magnate Frank Woolworth and his wife Jenny. Due to Barbara’s mother Edna’s suicide, Barbara Hutton would inherit a portion of the Woolworth estate equal to her two aunts Helena and Jessie.
While Helena Woolworth McCann lived a more modest lifestyle in Long Island, New York, Marjorie and Jessie were far more extravagant and therefore exciting and influential to Barbara’s later flamboyance. She loved seeing her aunts in their furs, large jewelry, and magnificent houses.
15:54
Though Marjorie would catch on and slightly downplay her wealth during the harshest times in the Great Depression. Jessie would go on to later support the roving Duke and Duchess of Windsor, former King Edward VIII of England and American divorcee Wallis Simpson. At this point in the story, Edward was known as David the Prince of Wales who favored married women especially Gloria Vanderbilt’s mother’s twin sister Thelma Furness. More on that to come soon enough…
16:21
Barbara had cousins from all her aunts, but her favorites were Jessie’s two boys, slightly younger than Barbara – Woolworth or Wooly born in 1913 and James Paul or Jimmy or for those closest Jeem in 1915. Barbara was especially fond of Jeem, and they would often travel together. Yes, I’m favoring the nickname Jeem as Jimmy’s are way, way too abundant in our interwoven tale.
Spring blossoms always signal change, but this time some of those changes might be for the worse.
16:51
[Music – Organ Grinder’s Song by Jack Payne, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music fade out]
17:06
It’s hard to tell how long any period of time might last and what might happen afterwards. The ongoing pandemic is subsiding into a more hopeful summer, yet pandemics historically lasts roughly 18 months to almost 2 years.
The ongoing references to real estate and mansions are to show the short and long term nature of the story being told. The historic landmarks link us back in time, past remnants in the present and future, and at other times knowledge of what is now lost forever.
17:32
And that is the nature of this story, a precautionary tale about the limitations and fleeting nature of vast wealth. Our story could also be called, “How to Lose a Fortune.” As the people and elements presented are caught in a moment of time, one that is disappearing like a mirage on the horizon. Yet fortunes long gone leave traces especially in the form of real estate.
17:53
The former El Mirasol and the current Mar-a-Lago are listed among the largest houses still existing or lost in America via Wikipedia. The one curiously left off the list is Cielito Lindo at 45,000 square feet when built but was divided up into 4 different sections in the 1940s when the estate was split apart by Kings Road construction. The part containing the former tea pavilion was up for sale in 2015 via the Corcoran Real Estate Group. In February 2020, Palm Beach Daily News reported a home sold near Mar-a-Lago and is suspected to also be part of the original Cielito Lindo tea house or staff quarters.
As the more things change, somethings stay the same, and yet nothing truly lasts forever.
18:36
Looking for new podcasts – check out on Twitter Potato Lady Podcast Reviews. She did a review for As The Money Burns, praising the 3 part format and giving a special shout out to the wonderful music provided by Past Perfect. The Potato Lady also did a wonderful sketch and video on the creation of her artwork.
18:55
Interested in my recurring Waldorf-Astoria hotels webinar with little tidbits related to As The Money Burns podcast? They will be back Part 1 on Wednesday, June 16th and Part 2 Thursday, June 17th at 5:30pm EST / 2:30pm PST. More information can be found out at New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com or the events section at asthemoneyburns.com.
Hook
19:21
[Music – My Heart Belongs To Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
For the royally obsessed debutante, nothing is more enviable than to be presented at court. But such a high honor comes with a steep price.
Until then…
Credits
19:35
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.
20:11
THE END.