Episode 98: Pandora's Box
When one door closes, another opens. How might an eviction lead to a brand new life in a luxury hotel?
November 5th, 1932, Cobina Wright moves out of her Sutton Place home and now becomes homeless along with her 10 year daughter Lil Cobina Wright, Jr. At the last minute, an opportunity arrives to live at the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
Other people and subjects include: William May Wright aka “Bill,” Lucius Boomer, Ted Saucier, Elsa Maxwell, William Waldorf Astor, Caroline Astor, Carrie Astor, Orme Wilson, Jr., Grace Wilson Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor VI aka “Jakey,” Vincent Astor, Princess Ava Alice Astor Obolensky, James “Henry” Van Alen, William “Sam” Van Alen, Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani, Josep Maria Sert, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Bertha Russell, Gladys Russell, George Russell, Wall Street Crash of 1929, moving, Sutton Place, Sutton Club, Waldorf-Astoria, Waldorf-Astoria Manhattan, Sert Room, Basildon Room, Jade Room, ballroom, The Gilded Age tv series, pain, joy, grit, resilience, hope
Archival Music provided by Past Perfect Vintage Music, www.pastperfect.com.
Extra Notes / Call to Action:
New York Adventure Club www.nyadventureclub.com
Instagram & Facebook Groups: MansionsoftheGildedAge and TheGildedAgeSociety by Gary Lawrance
**Submit questions to As The Money Burns social media accounts for the upcoming 100th episode.
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Publish Date: November 17, 2023
Length: 19:15
Opening Music: My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands
Section 1 Music: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Freddy Gardner, Album Elegance 2
Section 2 Music: The Younger Generation by Ray Noble, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s
Section 3 Music: Sing A Song of Sunbeams by Ronnie Munro & Orchestra, Albums Tea Dance 2 & The Great Bands Dance Bands Play Hits Of The 30s
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 098 – Pandora’s Box
Outline
Moving
Waldorf-Astoria
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
Cobina Wright’s dire circumstances are publicly outed during her husband Bill Wright’s litigation over his financial indiscretions.
Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS
Title
00:46
Pandora’s Box
[Music Fade Out]
Episode Tag
When one door closes, another opens. How might an eviction lead to a brand new life in a luxury hotel?
01:00
[Music – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Freddy Gardner, Album Elegance 2]
Section 1 – Story
[Music Fade Out]
01:19
The Fates like to play games of give and take. Oh so generous one day, to be equally cruel the next.
Saturday, November 5th, 1932
Newspapers announce that supreme hostess and opera singer Cobina Wright is moving out of her Sutton Place home. A photo of her slim figure wrapped in a fur coat and hat contrasts next to the movers packing up her 13 room home. Her husband William May Wright, aka Bill, is back in California as Cobina is left to handle the details alone.
Months behind on payments, they are now forced to move. A few weeks ago, their beautiful Sands Point home was taken by creditors to pay off old debts.
The news articles reveal they lost their fortunes during the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and they have never recovered their financial footing since.
02:12
The gracious hostess has so many capital S Society friends who continually cheer on her endeavors to rebuild their life, from the Sutton Club to her more recent Cobina Wright Orchestras and Gypsy Ensemble. Her entertainment friends would not only be frequent guests but perform as well. Always making splashes in the papers over the years, Cobina has been the envy of many, including shopgirls far and wide who dreamed of the better life.
Cobina definitely reveled in the high life, and even today she smiles as she tries to present a brave and hopeful demeanor.
02:47
Deep down, she is heartbroken but not for the loss of a home. She fears losing Bill, the man she loves with a great passion but who has drifted further and further away from her. And more so, the impact on their child, their baby, Lil’ Cobina Wright, Jr. who must now face uncertainty. The papers splash the comments referring to “the baby” – who is now 10 years old, but for a parent the sentiment never really goes away.
Lil’ Cobina might share her mother’s name as well as inherit a wonderful singing voice, yet the little blonde curly-headed girl resembles her father. She misses having his exhuberant presence around and may soon forget parts of him if his absence continues.
03:34
Cobina supervises the movers with her presence. Wistful and nostalgic, she watches the remaining treasured items of a life now past packed up and taken away.
Cobina and Lil’ Cobina are now officially homeless. Not sure which gracious friend will extend a home or for how long. Lil’ Cobina’s school has agreed to allow her to stay in attendance for the moment. But all such arrangements eventually become weary as does the continual pilgrimage to the next gracious friend’s home. Cobina might be poor in money but will always be rich in friends. Eventually the Cobinas might head West and will most likely end up in Oregon.
04:15
As item after item is removed, it feels like Pandora’s Box has opened with all the troubles and monsters let out to run amok.
Then something happens.
An emissary in the form of a powerful publicist Ted Saucier arrives. Cobina smiles warmly and invites him in for tea and coffee. They chat lightly as Cobina sighs. Ted has come to present an offer. Hotelier Lucius Boomer graciously welcomes Cobina to move into the new Waldorf-Astoria hotel, which opened back in October 1931.
She demures that her income is not of the Waldorf class, though she did love staying at the former hotel, which was demolished back in May 1929.
Ted smiles politely and clarifies that Lucius wants her to come live at the hotel as his guest in hopes she would host fabulous events there. Ted is the publicist for the hotel, and Ted and Lucius recognize Cobina’s ability to gather a wide range of guests that will help build the new hotel’s name and reputation.
05:23
It’s hardly an opportunity Cobina will turn down. She’s flattered at the offer and can hardly contemplate a better opportunity before she depletes the goodwill of her many friends. This still feels like charity, but could her pride turn down such an offer?
Cobina agrees to the deal. To her surprise, Lucius is indeed generous. Their new home is a spacious suite with a drawing room, a bedroom with dressing room and bath for Cobina, along with another suite of rooms for Lil’ Cobina and her governess.
Cobina soaks in the new Art Deco hotel as her mind swims with options for the evenings and events she will now be able to host. The Sert Room with its glorious murals might be the place to host a better version of her supper club. The beautiful Basildon Room, the Jade Room, and even the ball room could serve for so many things. Dare she even bring back an even grander Circus Ball? Could things finally be in an upswing?
06:21
In their new place, Cobina tries her best to give Lil’ Cobina the feeling of home plus a little side of adventure. They keep baby ducklings in the bathtub and baby chicks in the sitting room.
For the moment, Cobina will be the sole parent, and hopefully Lil’ Cobina doesn’t mind too much all the changes. Lil’ Cobina once had her own mini replica of their home with a little car to drive around. Inevitably, the child like the mother misses her father and their old home and way of life. In time, they will all be together again.
But until then, hope has appeared, and the courageous Cobina soldiers on.
07:03
[Music – The Younger Generation by Ray Noble, Album The Great Dance Bands Play Hits of the 30s]
Section 2 – History & Historiography
[Music Fade Out]
07:18
By now if you have listened to several of the podcast episodes, you might be seeing all the connections I am re-weaving. The semi-disparate stories all coming back together. A clearer picture of a world and a time with so many layers.
Speaking of pictures I will post a picture of Cobina Wright in a fur coat with the movers to the social media accounts for As The Money Burns on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
07:45
I have covered parts of the new Waldorf-Astoria hotel which opened in October 1931 in previous episodes. This place to see and be seen yet again will serve as a place in our story a few more times.
From the first hotel to the second, one direct link is Lucius Boomer. As a hotelier and manager, he oversaw the first hotel in the latter years. In sentiment, the last owners sold the name Waldorf-Astoria to him for $1 dollar in the spring of 1929 (that would be $18 in 2023). That very small transaction became very fortuitous. When it was announced the end of the first hotel, a renewed interest rose up along with proposals for a second hotel.
08:30
The deal to build a second hotel is signed the day before the Wall Street Crash on Tuesday October 29th, 1929, and one week later another meeting is held to confirm with plans to continue construction. Partially, no one is aware that the Great Depression would grow so big and linger for so long. Having moved to Florida in the spring 1929 for semi-retirement, Lucius returns and lives at the hotel until his death. He is a great promoter and will also have another famed hostess Elsa Maxwell on staff half the year. The other half she spends in Europe. Elsa too is to bring in the elite clientele and build the hotel’s image.
09:10
Now I also occasionally host two webinars on both Waldorf-Astoria 1893-1929 and Waldorf-Astoria Manhattan 1931-present. The latter hotel is currently undergoing renovations. But in the rooms marked off for preservation include the Basildon Room, which has beautiful paneling and gilded edges with an elaborate Parisian marble fireplace and fantastic frescoed ceiling based on the 18th Century salon inside of the English Basildon Manor in Berkshire. The 1931 construction of this room involves details like cornices, paintings, and the fireplace mantel. All non-original items faithfully reconstructed from models and records. Cobina enjoys hosting events here like small performances and sometimes auditioning talent.
The nearby Jade Room is also marked for preservation. The Jade Room has a simpler design with green walls, crystal and gold chandeliers, and gold carvings and ornaments. It can be reserved for small private and public events.
10:10
The Sert Room will become a special personal place for her. Her daughter Lil’ Cobina Wright, Jr. will make her debut not as a debutante but as a singer in this room in 1938, which is outside the scope of our story. The Sert Room is not on the list for the modern preservation effort as the murals were removed during a 1972 remodeling and thus not enough original elements remain for historic preservation unlike some of the other rooms.
10:38
The ups and downs on the merry-go-round of life, and the ties go long into the past, present, and future.
Which brings us back to the people connected to the wonderful and beautiful Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The original hotel is built due to a family dispute between William Waldorf Astor and his famous Aunt Lina known more popularly as the Mrs. Astor as in Caroline Astor, the society queen of the Gilded Age. A name somewhat forgotten by the wider public today but might now gain familiarity once again by none other than the popular entertainment form known as television. Caroline is one of the prime secondary characters in HBO’s The Gilded Age tv series now broadcasting Season 2. Caroline is the 4th most prominent among the elder female characters, and she is the largest character based directly on a real historical person. Her daughter Carrie Astor is also featured along with the story of her courtship with Orme Wilson, Jr. Orme is the older brother to Grace Wilson Vanderbilt.
11:42
A few other main characters are hybrids hinting to real life people. Main character Bertha Russell is partially based on Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, while daughter Gladys Russell is reminiscent of Alva’s daughter Consuelo Vanderbilt, and husband-father George Russell is based in part on railroad magnate Jay Gould.
Season 2 covers the story behind the creation of the Metropolitan Opera, which we have explored earlier in our series.
12:08
Within our podcast, the ties also resurface and overlap. Cobina Wright is a former coloratura soprano opera singer and a hostess for many events for the Metropolitan Opera and is frequently seen in the diamond horseshoe of elite boxes. Caroline Astor is the grandmother of John Jacob Astor VI, aka Jakey, and his siblings Vincent Astor and Princess Ava Alice Astor Obolensky. Caroline is also the great-grandmother of James “Henry” Van Alen, William “Sam” Van Alen, and Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani. Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani’s brother-in-law is none other than the famed Spanish painter Josep Maria Sert who painted the set of murals in his eponymous room for the new Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Now Cobina will be living at the second Waldorf-Astoria hotel and using the Sert Room for entertaining and events.
Is that not semi-incestuous enough for you? A very entangled web all knotted up.
Trust me it’s not gonna end here. There’s plenty more fun left in this tale.
13:11
[Music – Sing A Song of Sunbeams by Ronnie Munro & Orchestra, Albums Tea Dance 2 & The Great Bands Dance Bands Play Hits Of The 30s]
Section 3 – Contemporary & Personal Relevance
[Music Fade Out]
13:31
Life has a funny way of bringing joy during pain and pain during joy. Life tosses us about then leaves us scattered to pull ourselves back together.
It’s so hard to make changes when it means giving up what we once held so positively. Whether a person, a relationship, a job, or a place, it’s scary to move onto the next no matter the reason. We all must do our best when facing tough times and challenges.
13:58
This is the nature of grit and resilience. The strength to face these moments is built in handling the challenges and obstacles as they come before you. Grit is the fight and endurance, but resilience is about the aftermath and the potential to flourish.
I know that sounds impossible and a bit naïve. But trust me, I have been through many things and situations. Getting knockdown is one thing. Never getting up or staying stuck and afraid is another. You can’t always prevent what will level you. But it is up to you as to how much you let it take over the rest of your life. And life is very long, and whether that one thing can be one drastic moment or a years long situation it does pass on.
That’s not to say or invalidate the pain. This is only a nudge to not stay trapped by it.
14:55
I previously mentioned losing our home to the IRS while simultaneously experiencing my parents’ divorce was tricky and painful. Back then I kept my focus on academics which were both intellectually and creatively challenging for me in a good way. I was fortunate to have a very strong bond with a lifelong best friend and by extension her family who helped me navigate and emotionally process things instead of shutting down and totally withdrawing. I could see another option of an intact family in contrast to the disintegration of my own. This was tremendously important for me. It gave me hope.
15:40
And hope is one of the hardest things for someone who has endured any form of trauma. It is not just the idea of something or someone new, but it’s the realization that too whatever or whomever it may be could be lost as well. So many will shut themselves down and off to avoid any further pain.
But in the avoidance of pain, they lose all chance at any form of real happiness.
16:10
Cobina Wright shows a tremendous amount of resilience in the face of adversity. She is referred in the press and by others as courageous and brave. Her once public glamorous dreamy perfect life disappears and transforms into a very public humiliating nightmare. She still forces herself and somewhat the world to respond to her in a favorable light. She’s not just giving up, which is a good thing because she has a much longer life to live.
Our other heirs and heiresses will face their own difficulties and very public humiliations, but they won’t have the same resilience. That’s because resilience is not something inherited but earned. Indeed, large amounts of money offer no guarantees and might impede in learning resilience.
17:03
We have only one more episode to go before Episode 100, and I promise it’s going to be one you won’t want to miss. A major plot point comes to a boil, and a whole new crazy chase begins. Can you guess who might be involved?
Please come visit the various social media for As The Money Burns at Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram if you have any questions you might want me to answer. I love hearing the ways different people connect and relate to the stories being told. Please let me know if there any personal observations or tales you would like to point out?
17:37
Are you enjoying HBO’s The Gilded Age? Want to see the places described or referenced in the show and this podcast? Then check out New York Adventure Club. They have daily webinars for only $10 each, live with one week access after. The webinars at New York Adventure Club cover a range of wonderful topics. The mansions, the buildings, and the people behind them. My personal favorites are the ones led by Gary Lawrance, an architect and tour guide with a special affinity for this past.
For more information check out: www.nyadventureclub.com
And for Gary Lawrance’s Instagram and Facebook groups – @MansionsoftheGildedAge and @TheGildedAgeSociety
Links available in the notes and transcript.
If you enjoy As The Money Burns, then please share, like, & subscribe.
Hook
18:26
[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]
Next when we return to AS THE MONEY BURNS…
Not all love affairs last forever. When one princess loses her title, will another readily take her place and possibly share the same fate?
Until then…
Credits
18:45
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, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram. Transcripts, timeline, episode guide, and character bios are available at asthemoneyburns.com.
19:15
THE END.