Episode 71: Muscles In Ruffles
Their fortune might be gone, but one couple dances the night away while planning to rebuild another.
At Club Lido, Cobina Wright and Bill Wright dance the tango with the professional couple Medrano and Donna. The Wrights prepare for a new venture to restore their fortune, but Cobina worries more about the future of their marriage.
Archival music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Extra Notes / Call to Action:
My recurring Waldorf-Astoria hotels webinar – Part 1 on Thursday, December 1st, 2022 and Part 2 Thursday, December 8th at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com or the events section at https://asthemoneyburns.com.
Thursday, December 1st, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel Part 1: A New Standard of Luxury (pre-1929), Come learn more about the Astor family dispute behind the famous hotel and its construction as well as the hotel’s influence on luxury travel and fine dining. Connections to the Titanic as well as other events and famous people will also be explored. But all good things come to and end.
Thursday, December 8th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York Part 2: Manhattan’s Grandest Hotel (1931-present), The second version of this fine luxury hotel comes during the dawn of new era which will bring new challenges and excitement. A lingering Astor family connection adds to the saga until a new family the Hilton dynasty rises and takes over. More celebrities and events will add to allure of this hotel. Finally, updates reveal the recent renovations, an auction, and the future for the third incarnation.
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Publish Date: November 11, 2022
Length: 24:11
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Swinging at Maida by Benny Carter & His Orchestra, Album Jazz Age!
Section 2 Music: Got To Dance My Way To Heaven by Henry Hall, Albums The Great British Dance Bands & Tea Dance 2
Section 3 Music: Ooh! That Kiss! by Carroll Gibbons, Album Elegance 2
End Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
PROHIBITION NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK RECIPES
FRUIT JULEP (1931)
6 lemons (juice and rind)
2 oranges (juice and rind)
1 cup sugar
2 cups crushed pineapple
Small strip cucumber rind.
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ nutmeg
1 cup blackberry or raspberry juice
3 pints ginger ale
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Extract juice from lemons and cut rind into fancy shapes. Drop into juice, add orange sliced without removing rind, sugar, pineapple, cucumber rind, mix well and all to stand on ice for 3 hours. Remove cucumber rind, add blackberry juice, stir well and slowly pour in the ginger ale. Serve at once.
PINEAPPLE LEMONADE (1931)
Add 4 cups hot water to 2 cups sugar, and boil slowly for 15 minutes. Cool and add a small can of chopped pineapple, the juice of 3 lemons and 4 medium oranges, and a charged water. Add a quart of cold water, and pour on ice in small or large glasses.
FRUITED ICE CUBES (1931)
Open bottle of any preferred beverage and our contents into a bowl or pitcher – allow to stand for an hour, so that the carbonation may pass off. Half fill cube trays of mechanical refrigerator with the beverage and when frozen, place cherry in center of each cube and fill with beverage. Replace in refrigerator and allow to freeze.
ICED CHOCOLATE (1931)
2 squares chocolate
1 cup cold water
¼ cup sugar
3 cups milk
Salt.
Cut the chocolate into pieces, melt in top of double boiler, add the salt and water. Place over direct heat, stirring constrantly, until smooth and let boil 2 minutes. Add milk and sugar, heat until foamy, beat with an egg beater to prevent scum forming an serve at once. Serve over cracked ice and serve with whipped cream.
MOONLIGHT PUNCH (1929)
Make a syrup by boiling together 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar for 10 minutes. Cool. Then add the juice from 3 lemons and 1 can grated pineapple. Strain. Pour over 1 quart lemon ice.
TROPICAL LIME PUNCH (1929)
Squeeze the juice from 12 limes. Combine with the juice from 2 cans sliced pineapple. Add 2 cups green tea, 2 pints soda-water, and 1 cup grated pineapple. Chill and garnish with fresh mint leave and maraschino cherries.
RUSSIAN TEA PUNCH (1931)
This has a foundation of quart of tea, strong but quickly brewed.
To the tea add a mixture of 2 tablespoons of orange juice, 5 tablespoons lemon juice, and 2 cups of sugar. Then add quart of charged water and half a cup of fresh berries and shredded pineapple, canned or fresh. Serve with shaved ice.
PROHIBITION COCKTAIL (1931)
Serve pale dry ginger ale in cocktail
glass with added garnish of lemon, mint, and a cherry.
WOMEN’S CLUB SPECIAL (1930)
***Not a drink
Mash a bowl of white grapes.
Add the juice of a dozen grapefruit and one quart of sweet cider.
Place in a basin with a pint of strawberry syrup and whip well.
Add lemon peel, nutmeg, borax, and a dash of shaving soap.
Strain through a portrait of Andrew J. Volstead and throw out the back window.
AS THE MONEY BURNS
Podcast by Nicki Woodard
Episode 071 – Muscles In Ruffles
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.
00:30
Story Recap
Constant press speculation surrounds heiresses Barbara Hutton and Doris Duke on potential mates, while Huntington Hartford’s secret marriage is finally exposed.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:47
Muscles in Ruffles
[Music Fade Out]
Episode Tag
Their fortune might be gone, but one couple dances the night away while planning to rebuild another.
01:04
[Music – Swinging at Maida by Benny Carter & His Orchestra, Album Jazz Age!]
Section 1 – Story
[Music Fade Out]
01:17
Inside Club Lido, the happening supper and dance spot with multiple national locations has reopened its season in Manhattan. Music from the orchestra plays that fabulous big band era style of music.
Across the dance floor, the husband-wife team Medrano and Donna show off their stuff with gusto. Alternating their tight Argentine style with the Parisian Apache fight, it’s aggressive sharp, and stunning. The Argentinian Roberto Medrano is an athletic sportsman, a He-Man with muscles in ruffles with gentleman refinements. Black haired and bright-eyed Donna formerly Landwehr is all American, a petite heiress from Michigan who found passion in Medrano’s arms.
02:04
After the couple finishes their last and most famous number “The Ritual of the Fire Dance,” they graciously leave the floor for a break and join one particular table with supreme hostess and coloratura soprano opera star Cobina Wright and her blueblooded stockbroker husband William May Wright, aka Bill.
The Wrights are enjoying a night on the town after a larger show – the Metropolitan Opera has recently reopened its 1931 season with a performance of La Traviata. Guiseppe Verdi’s Italian opera based on The Lady of the Camellias tale by Alexander Dumas *fils about a tuberculosis riddled courtesan who finds love, rejection, and reunion with her young lover shortly before her death.
02:49
Cobina and Bill are dining with several others. Cobina sparkles with her large earrings while she laughs and flirts with her handsome, blonde curly topped husband Bill. What few may realize this might be one of their last nights out. Soon they will open another venture. One they hope will restore some of their lost fortune. Cobina glances over the large non-alcoholic drink menu taking mental notes.
Bill sold the Slade, Wright, & Co stock exchange seat back on April 24, 1931, and the office closed by May 1931. Since then, Bill has been a bit aimless at home. They have done their best not to lose face to the rest of society. Once known for their fabulous parties especially their annual Circus Ball in January, the Wrights have been economizing.
03:36
Economizing in the elite sense. This summer they still spent time at their Long Island home, the pink beachfront Sands Point property Casa Cobina. Attending several activities, they mingle in hopes Bill will eventually regain his focus and begin building a new fortune, one better than the one wiped out in the Stock Market Crash on October 29, 1929.
Since that fatal call when Bill informed Cobina they lost everything, Cobina has hustled her way into new opportunities. She returns to the stage for several operatic displays and an occasional radio program. Like another actress – soprano singer Grace Blakeley Hyde who after getting a divorce resumes her stage career with both Broadway and radio performances.
04:22
Another popular venture is the supper club. The Wrights are planning to open one of their own. Despite the ongoing restrictions due to Prohibition, dinner and dancing remain popular activities. Cobina’s signature guestlist mixture of bluebloods and stars will surely draw a substantial paying crowd.
Cobina, Bill, Medrano, and Donna all laugh with the other guests. A musical interlude hints an upcoming song too irresistible to miss. Well aware of what will be next, Medrano stands up and offers his hand to Cobina, and Bill responds by escorting Donna to the dance floor.
04:59
Both couples snap to attention.
The beat distinct and seductive.
A tango unfolds.
Medrano leads Cobina across the floor. Their cheeks touching. Their form perfect. Two passes simple, clean, clear.
No slouch himself, Bill too glides over the floor with Donna. She adds a flourish here and there. She’s a bright flower without the usual disdainfulness of similar high caliber dancers.
The floor remains otherwise empty as everyone is mesmerized.
Each couple shows off flair and ambition. Medrano twists and turns as to be expected with Cobina ever the expert performer following flawlessly. As well, Bill proves more than up to challenge, and Donna puts on a show.
Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow
05:58
Amidst a pass, the couples exchange partners.
Never have any of the Wright’s former guests seen them dance with such precision and execution. Cobina has always been a flamboyant performer. Bill enjoys a good time, but no one anticipated such mastery.
They cascade over the floor, dramatically. The heat between them rising. Could he be jealous of Medrano, not to be outdone or challenged by a suave Latin lover?
06:28
Cobina’s eyes fill with love. Could it be Bill has finally truly come back to her?
The Bill of yesteryear. The one she loves so much. A man on top of the world, her provider and protector. A man good natured, a passionate lover.
All vanished with their fortune. All mired by persistent rumors of his other lovers, a secretary, another a close friend, a lawsuit for maintenance.
Cobina fears she lost her husband, both in heart and soul. Now on the dance floor, the flames of love stoke once again.
For the finish, Bill twists and dips Cobina like an expert.
The crowd erupts with applause.
07:16
Cobina always looks at the world through rose tinted glasses, and never as much as when she looks at her beloved Bill.
Late into the early morning, they get back to their home at Sutton Place. There is construction going on, and the downstairs is in bit of a disarray.
Bill assists in removing her coat and goes to put it away. Going up the stairs, Cobina removes her large earrings. She glows and looks forward to a more passionate end of their evening. She heads up to their bedroom and the glorious purple Venetian canopy bed inside it and goes into the powder room. In front of her vanity mirror, she slips into a negligee and seductively adjusts her makeup and hair.
When she emerges, she sees the bed empty. No Bill.
08:05
She goes looking for him and finds him half undressed and passed out in the guest bedroom. She goes over and removes his shoes and pulls the covers over him.
Heading back to their room, she wipes away the tears from her eyes. She climbs into the bed alone. Moonlight beams pierce through the drapes.
Only a few more weeks, then things will get better. He’ll see. They will again be back on top. Only a few more weeks…
08:35
Soon news articles recount their evening out with praises claiming that –
If wust should ever come to financial bust (and that isn’t likely) for Mr. and Mrs. William May Wright, they could easily re-establish the family fortunes as a song-and-dance team.
Such a wonderful compliment had it not so accidentally pointed out an embarrassing secret very soon to be revealed. Appearances can be so deceiving…
09:08
[Music – Got To Dance My Way To Heaven by Henry Hall, Albums The Great British Dance Bands & Tea Dance 2]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music Fade Out]
09:21
Such a complicated time when so many things are happening all at once. These intertwining tales not only involve the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression but also overlap with the eras known as Prohibition and the Jazz Age.
We have heard tons of tales involving gangsters, rumrunners, speakeasies, and smoky filled jazz rooms. However those weren’t the only forms of entertainment. Motion picture films took off as the cheap price of entertainment. While higher ticketed places like the opera had a shift in attendance as long held box seats were rented or sold off. During the 1931 Met season, Alice Vanderbilt will still rent out her seats for scheduled parts of the week, while others follow similar suit. J. Pierpont Morgan will be one of only 3 patrons to keep his parterre box in the Diamond Horseshoe all to himself.
10:12
Then there is another form of entertainment – the supper club. Several establishments offering dinner with another activity. It might be watching a theatrical or musical performance, listening to a singer or big band orchestra, and dancing.
Club Lido is one establishment with several satellite locations which open seasonally throughout the year. The Manhattan locale is on 52nd and Seventh Avenue. Another on Hibiscus Island near Miami and Palm Beach areas for the Winter colonists. Long Island has its own spot, and yet another in the Los Angeles area. The first Club Lido opens in 1924 with several to follow, and night club owner and manager Frank Garlasco manages from the mid-1920s and early 1930s. Film star Constance Bennett’s sister Barbara Bennett will dance there with partner Maurice in 1925 and switches in 1926 to William Reardon, Reardon is a former partner of Irene Castle. Constance’s ex-husband and former Barbara Hutton fiancé millionheir Phil Plant will regularly be seen in the Palm Beach location including the 1931 opening.
11:24
Other popular restaurants, nightclubs, and dance spots include:
-The Embassy Club, both in London and New York
-Coral Gables & LaMaze in Florida
-Savoy Ballroom in Harlem
As well as several hotels like the Pierre Hotel, the Savoy-Plaza, and the newly opened Waldorf-Astoria will all offer dinner with entertainment. The annual Peacock Ball is held at the Waldorf in November 1931. The ball is named after the original Gilded Age Waldorf-Astoria hotel’s Peacock Alley and will make use of the new building’s main ballroom, Astor Gallery, Basildon, Jade, and Sert rooms. Barbara Hutton’s cousin Helena McCann will aid in the debutante chair committee which are raising funds for the poor, while Doris Duke will also attend. The evening’s entertainment will include themes of a Parisian Café, an Argentine Tavern, and Russian, New York, and Cuban cabarets.
12:18
Professional dance couples are definitely a rage and public draw at the establishments. There is one 1940 news article that indicates married couples fare better and last longer than brother-sister teams. The latter generally suffers especially after a marriage forces a split. Famous sibling dance teams include Grace and Ray McDonald, Vilma and Buddy Ebsen (of the future Beverly Hillbillies), and Adele and Fred Astaire. It should be noted Fred’s favorite partner of all time is definitely his sister, and he never takes another permanent partner after her and prefers to switch so his name stays prominent.
12:54
The original professional dance couple trendsetters are married Vernon and Irene Castle in 1910. Vernon dies in 1918 in a World War I related plane crash in Texas. Fred Astaire and his other famous partner Ginger Rogers will play the title roles in the 1939 film The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. The Castles are followed by other married couples Grace and Paul Hartmann, Veloz and Yolanda, Maurice and Cordoba, and Medrano and Donna. Notice another trend in those last few names?
13:26
Another wave appearing during this time is Spanish influence as homes are being built in California and the developing areas of Florida like Palm Beach and the future Fort Lauderdale. I have also run across several advertisements regarding Spanish and Latin forms of entertainment. Revues of music and dancers definitely appear in Florida and California and as popularity increases spreads to other parts of the country.
We have already covered the solo Spanish flamenco dancers La Argentina and La Argentinita and that confusion over who performed at Barbara Hutton’s debutante ball in December 1930. It was La Argentina.
14:03
In August 1921, new immigrant and teenager Roberto Medrano performs “In Argentina,” a South American mélange of songs, melodies, and dances. By 1925, Medrano performs dances with Mademoiselle Donna Landwehr. As a young man, Medrano migrates to America from Buenes Aires and finds a life in dancing. Donna comes from a wealthy Michigan family with ties to the Holland Furnace company. Donna joins Medrano becoming “Medrano and Donna” dancing across the country including New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and especially Florida.
14:41
In July 1928, her brother Paul Landwehr is one of four killed in a yachting accident on Black Lake in Michigan. 100 boats help immediately in the search rescuing only two survivors, and it will take an extra day to recover the four bodies / body parts. 21 year old Medrano is injured in the crash and knocked unconscious for several hours with amnesia. The only other survivor aviator 21 year old George Lyle testifies the crash happened due to Paul’s recklessness resulting in his speedboat colliding into a larger steamer’s paddle blades. There will be a few press and legislation calls to ban or limit speedboats in Michigan with little success.
15:24
Medrano and Donna continue dancing through the 1930s and will be featured in several ads, and another performer Vivian Vance (of future I Love Lucy) appears with them in 1933 at the Empire Room in Chicago’s Palmer House. The couple retires in 1939. In 1940, Donna will split an inheritance with her remaining brother and sister resulting from the 1937 separate deaths of their father and several other family members – two paternal uncles and maternal grandmother pass away within a very short period of time. After Medrano passes away in March 1950, Donna remarries lumberjack millionaire Cleaveland Putnam a week shy of a year in March 1951.
16:09
Another Latin influence comes in drinks – rum is a particularly favored alcohol for its easy brewing process, versatility with other mixers, and the closeness of Cuba, where many migrate for fun.
All this talk of dance and supper clubs gives rise to wonder what would someone be drinking during Prohibition that was not alcohol.
During Prohibition, it was forbidden to buy or sell alcohol, though people are technically allowed to drink the beverages. Six months before the Volstead Act gets enacted (passed on October 28th, 1919 and enacted on January 17th, 1920), many would stock up on supplies. Only Prohibition lasts for over 13 years until December 5th, 1933.
16:53
Early in 1920, Bertha Stockbridge published her second recipe book and what became an indispensable household aid What To Drink with many non-alcoholic recipes and became an instant and dominant bestseller.
Drinks with sugars, syrups, vinegars, malts, sours, fizzes, and other mixtures with juices and sodas. Cobblers, punches, sodas, ciders, juleps, tonics, and other mixtures rise to prominence. Frozen and ice recipes point to the increasing accessibility of refrigeration in public businesses and in private homes. To make drink menus seem more enticing, various fruit juices are added to specialty drinks. Ingredients might include oranges, grapes, loganberry, pineapple, raspberries, mint, and so much more. I will provide a few recipes via As The Money Burns social media and the website with the transcript.
17:41
Originally, bottled sodas and juices began during 1850s and become more prolific after the Civil War. Another bump comes in the 1920s. Soda sales jump 200% during the first six months of Prohibition. Canadian Dry Ginger Ale debuts as a popular mixer in 1922, and the packaging resembles tiny champagne bottles. The “Dry” in the title referring to the alcohol-free beverages. By 1923, Pepsi Cola nearly went bankrupt, added more beverages, but the company didn’t really rebound until after the Great Depression. In 1929, Coca Cola temporarily has the heavily mocked campaign slogan “The Pause That Refreshes” – though still present in a 1932 ad. The eventually renamed 7 Up is launched only two weeks before the Stock Market Crash.
18:28
As many sodas were first medicinal and developed by doctors, drugs would be in the mixtures for another decade or more and giving special buzz effects. Mood stabilizer 7 Up originally had lithium citrate, the nerve tonic Coca Cola cocaine & cola & a trace of alcohol, Pepsi or Brad’s Drink was for digestion though it might have never contained the rumored enzyme pepsin, while Dr. Pepper did contain pepsin. Mountain Dew was developed as a chaser with Bourbon during Prohibition. By the late 1920s, over 600 lemon sodas are available.
19:03
As for those still wanting alcohol as well as American bartenders seeking work, many will go overseas to locations in Cuba, London, Paris, and elsewhere. As for in America, rum and gin became the two most popular forms of alcohol as they were the most simple and straight forward to make in their homemade varieties.
So many cultural twists arise from this era that survive into the modern day. If only the featured fortunes would fair as well…
19:34
[Music – Ooh! That Kiss! by Carroll Gibbons, Album Elegance 2]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music Fade Out]
19:52
Maybe that’s why there is such a fascination with the rich and elite during the Great Depression. It is human nature after all. The fantasy element of ease coupled with the ever around the corner betrayal and scandal. And yet, such speculation often ends in schadenfreude when the troubles come out.
We learned many lessons from the Great Depression. Ways to prevent complete collapse of society, so why are we headed into so much trouble now?
20:37
Don’t you feel like there are so many secrets waiting to be spilled in our modern times? Scams, scandals, lies, betrayals,… No arena will be unscathed – industry, elites, politics, entertainment… We are now finally re-engaging socially, but the world is changing so rapidly. Financial crimes are rising. Polarizing political views grow harsher, louder, and more divisive. Splintering rather than cohesion. Rapid and sudden changes contrasting with the slow and drawn out.
21:10
I wonder what cultural trends will last for decades longer. Dark times can breed a lot of innovation and fuel ambition. What about foods and health trends – will gluten, sugar, and fat free remain at large, and might there be any new flavor fusions, combinations, or additions that will last longer than a fad? Social media will likely stay in one form or another, but we need to see the Elon Musk effect on that one. The recent rise in podcasts is one new form of entertainment, but what others are on the horizon? Especially music… I mean every episode I peruse through Past Perfect’s amazing catalogue from that era and am so amazed by their significance. Whose music will last like that again? Who will transcend?
22:00
While energy and food insecurities are fast becoming an international concern, the U.S. Powerball this week peaked at the all time high of $1.9 billion on Monday, November 7th, 2022. Thus some person or persons might have the golden ticket winning luxury and freedom from those kind of worries. But will that truly give them better fates, or will they find themselves battling the dark sides of excessive wealth like our heirs and heiresses face?
If you have been paying attention, you already know some of the fortunes that are already dwindling, but sure enough the truths will inevitably surface in our story. So stay tuned…
22:42
Good news, my two webinars on the Waldorf-Astoria hotels are returning to New York Adventure Club Part 1 on Thursday, December 1st, 2022 and Part 2 on Thursday, December 8th, 2022 at 8pm EST / 5pm PST. Weblinks are available at www.nyadventureclub.com and the News | Events section at asthemoneyburns.com. The fee is $10 each with one week access after.
Thursday, December 1st, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel Part 1: A New Standard of Luxury (pre-1929), Come learn more about the Astor family dispute behind the famous hotel and its construction as well as the hotel’s influence on luxury travel and fine dining. Connections to the Titanic as well as other events and famous people will also be explored. But all good things come to and end.
Thursday, December 8th, 8pm EST / 5pm PST – Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York Part 2: Manhattan’s Grandest Hotel (1931-present), The second version of this fine luxury hotel comes during the dawn of new era which will bring new challenges and excitement. A lingering Astor family connection adds to the saga until a new family the Hilton dynasty rises and takes over. More celebrities and events will add to allure of this hotel. Finally, updates reveal the recent renovations, an auction, and the future for the third incarnation.
If you enjoy As The Money Burns, then please share, like, & subscribe.
Hook
23:20
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
The national holiday arrives when many give thanks, but how grateful should some be when they knowingly face tougher times ahead?
Until then…
Credits
23:39
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 Goodpods, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
24:11
THE END.