The Whitneys Clockwise from top left: Marylou and Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney; Mr. and Mrs. Cornerlius Vanderbilt Whitney in Saratoga, New York; Marylou Whitney in Hollywood; a painting of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney by John Everett Millais; Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, an artist herself, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1931; Harry Payne Whitney; William Collins Whitney in 1885; Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney; Gertrude, again.
and marriage with the Loebs, the Schiffs, the Seligmanns, the Lehmans, Otto Kahn, Jules Bache, and other prominent Jewish families in New York. The Jewish Museum on 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue was the home of Felix and Frieda Schiff Warburg. The Warburg descendents married almost entirely outside their religion—another progression in social relationships and what became of “society” in New York. Caroline Astor wouldn’t recognize the society that exists in her New York, a century after her death. Moving with
the speed of light, today’s world wouldn’t recognize her either. The dictum of who was and wasn’t “in” was a provincial holdover reflecting old Christian-Judaic traditions. It still exists in remnants that are almost entirely political in purpose, but it lacks the foresight that explains the dynamic of the society that is New York. Lina Astor’s rival and successor, Alva Vanderbilt, trumped her there also, turning to what became the liberating force for everyone. It was Alva, after all, who divorced a Vanderbilt and married a
man with Jewish origins. It was Alva who, in the late 1920s, mentored the young aspiring playwright Clare Boothe Brokaw to forsake society and pursue her personal ambitions. Within a few short years, the young divorcée summed it all up in a hit play called The Women and married Henry Luce, a rising publisher who became the titan of American media. And it was Alva who marched in the front of the parade for women’s independence and their right to vote, which changed everything for all of us, forever. Fait accompli. u AUGUST 2012 111