D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A R EC E P T I O N FO R PA R R I S H A R T MU S E U M I N S O U T H A M P TO N
Madeline Hult and Dottie Herman
our original list was inadvertently defining the end of an era that began more than a century ago with rise of Caroline Astor—a.k.a. the Mrs. Astor—and her Fifth Avenue ballroom. Society’s reverie. I love this photograph of the 27-year-old Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, which was taken by Bert Morgan in Palm Beach in the winter of 1940. Defiant, blasé, and with an arrogance that is really only achievable of someone with a stoned gaze or a gaze of stone: look at the eyes. The face is that of the world’s most famous fiveand-dime heiress. When she reached majority, eight years before this photo was taken, her net worth was, in today’s dollars, more than $2 billion. 24 QUEST
Nina Madison and Stephanie Madison
Aaron Dannenberg, Julie Dannenberg and Felice Dannenberg
She had her great inheritance, but she was also the five-year-old child of a mother who committed suicide in the Plaza Hotel. It was the girl who discovered her mother’s body in the suite they shared. The child’s way of life automatically turned into temporary relationships in temporary homes of relatives near and distant. She continued to repeat that pattern for the rest of her life right up until her death in 1979, when she was alone, once again, in a hotel room (like her mother) at the age of 66 in Beverly Hills. I like the photo particularly as a cover for the book Café Society; Socialites, Patrons, and Artists (1920– 1960) by Thierry Coudert (Rizzoli) because of the presumed at-
Christopher French and Hope Sandrow
Douglas Oliver and Sherry Brous
titude on the young woman’s face: the defiance, arrogance, etc. Because, in all likelihood, the woman behind that face and that expression lived in an elaborate cocoon of self-protection that was greatly enhanced to the point of make-believe by her material, if not her spiritual, wealth. Anyone with half a brain would feel sorry for Barbara Hutton, or a sense of empathy. She was already known to the public as “poor little rich girl” by the time she inherited her fortune, and she and Doris Duke (a contemporary and friend) were known as the richest girls in the world. This was American society the mid-20th century, 50 years before our Quest created a “400” list. The very young
Debbie Bancroft and Julie Minskoff
Howard Lorber and Terrie Sultan
Barbara was dazzling the world with her extravagance. She was already a major customer of Jules Glaenzer, who was Cartier’s most successful salesman. As frivolous as she might seem when examining her spending and her marriages (she would be married and divorced four or five times), Barbara was a connoisseur when it came to her jewels. Although she was still legally married (but separated) from Count Kurt von Reventlow, there was a new man in her life when this photo was taken: Robert Sweeny, Jr., an Oxford graduate and investment banker who had been a British amateur golf champion. Sweeny was very handsome, was said to be a great lover, and (unlike most
PAT R I C K M C M U LL A N
Jane and David Walentas with Hannah King