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 The very rich Mrs. Paul Mellon
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| Airplane and balloons. 6:40 PM. Photo: JH. |
Monday, June 6, 2011. Fair and cool-ish weekend with occasional storm clouds passing through.
The very rich Mrs. Paul Mellon, known as Bunny to her friends and to her public is in the news again alongside former Senator John Edwards who has been indicted for alleging misusing funds, at least some of which had been imparted to him by Mrs. Mellon.
The monies Mrs. Mellon gave to Mr. Edwards were used to quietly support a girlfriend and her child by the still-married Mr. Edwards while he ran his ill-fated race for the Presidency.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. |
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It may be surprising to us, the reader, that this very rich, very proper seeming, very old woman would be involved with a man of Mr. Edward’s reputation. Although it is perhaps not surprising to those who really know her. For example: at the same time that she was a friend and supporter of Mr. Edwards, she was also a friend and supporter of the late Robert Isabell, the Manhattan floral and party designer.
The two men hardly seem like birds of a feather except for their mutual friendship with Mrs. Mellon -- although they do bear some strong similarities. Only one year apart in age (Isabell born in ’52 – when Mrs. Mellon was 42 – and Edwards born in ’53 – both born in early June under the sign of Gemini). Both good looking dark haired boys from working class families who rose to the top of their professions by sheer grit and creativity. This is a powerful image to a vulnerable, lifelong heiress. And, although the men’s sexual proclivities differed (we can assume), they were both “adventurous” to put it conservatively.
Geminis, it should be noted for those who follow astrology, are very often charming and good looking, and those who have those characteristics usually learn early on how to use them, especially with the opposite sex. John F. Kennedy was also a Gemini.
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| Two of Mrs. Mellon's favorite men: Robert Isabell and former Senator John Edwards. |
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We are conditioned to think that someone at the great age of Mrs. Mellon would not be interested in the sex appeal of a much younger man. Unless she is. Or was. Mrs. Mellon is regarded by the media as someone who lives under the radar. But it is not so much “under the radar” as it is a life of great privilege and abundance where privacies are maintained even when they are public.
Where they are “unspoken” and that’s that. People who live in those orbits of privilege have their own reality – and it is very real -- for them. Women who have been rich all their lives, as Mrs. Mellon has, are used to having it their way, even if they have to pay for it. Mrs. Mellon obviously doesn’t mind paying for it, whatever “it” is, because that is the custom of the country, and always has been.
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| Bunny Mellon by Mati Klarwein (circa 1960s). |
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Add to that, a woman of Mrs. Mellon’s means and of her great age, has her own special allure, especially to men. Her participation and activity at her age and continuing means (she’s still rich) makes her a woman of achievement. She has triumphed – made it through this life and kept it interesting for herself. That fact has its own special charm especially to young, enterprising and creative men. Its allure is almost as powerful as sex itself, as well as means to self-delusion.
Mr. Isabell was unabashedly in the thrall of Mrs. Mellon. He was impressed with her; and very impressed to have her friendship. Her name came tumbling from his lips copious times in copious conversations when she was not around. There was a special pride in knowing her.
She was unlike anyone else he had ever known. And indeed she was and is. No doubt a big part of that was the money. Mrs Mellon is or has been for most of her life one of the richest women in America. That kind of history is its own currency and rarer than “the money.” Furthermore she is a naturally generous person. And has the creativity to match her generosity.
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| Lady Bird Johnson talking to Paul and Bunny Mellon. |
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We can easily assume Mr. Edwards was in that same thrall as Mr. Isabell when it came to Mrs. M. And we now know he had good reason to be. But what did they talk about, tete-a-tete? That’s the intriguing part. What did this former politician, lawyer, ambulance chasing poor white boy from the Carolinas talk about with this billionaire centenarian American aristocrat who was the empress of the Decorative Arts? Probably not baldachins and passementarie.
The funds she donated were for intimately personal use. Evidently she knew that, and evidently whatever her judgment of it, her priority was helping her friend, a man she believed in. I doubt it ever occurred to her that she was breaking a law because basically she was just providing food and shelter for someone. A generous act.
Mrs. Mellon became nationally-known in the 1960s when she was a friend of Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House, and advised Mrs. Kennedy on matters of décor and gardens and the arts. Her husband, Paul Mellon, was the son of Andrew Mellon, the billionaire Secretary of the Treasury throughout three Republican Administrations of the 1920s/early 1930s.
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| Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover with their Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon in the center. Plus, the father and his young son. |
The Mellons owned banks, Gulf Oil and Alcoa, among other investments. Andrew Mellon (at the urgings – and ground-laying of Lord Duveen) built the National Gallery in Washington. Ever since the Mellons have had a high profile in the worlds of art and culture. Paul Mellon expanded his father’s philanthropy greatly, and with distinction.
His wife’s palaces are working palaces. Bunny Mellon embodies the concept of great wealth not only in America but anywhere. The number of people on her personal payroll has been said at times to run into the thousands. That may be hyperbole but it serves to authentically describe the largeness of her largesse. And, having lived to her centenary, she continues to participate with her interests, which are, ultimately, the artist at work. |
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| Clockwise from top left: The house on East 70th Street; the grounds of the Mellon farm in Virginia; notice the perfectly mainicured treetops; plus two views of Mrs. Mellon's private botanical reference library at the Virginia farm. |
The question most of us would have about Mrs. Mellon would be “why” she developed relationships with the likes of these two men who, unalike as they might be to the world, were both obsessed with the illusions they could create. Illusions, create; money, Bunny Mellon?
But when people ask: why them? Why John Edwards? At least Robert Isabell was into gardens and flowers. I’d guess she thought they were “hot.” That means “brains” too, although youth always makes up for what’s missing after fifty. And why wouldn’t, or why shouldn’t a centenarian woman find a goodlooking young man -- who shares his confidences with her, -- very hot? The French call it nostalgie de la boue. After all, beauty is truth. Of one kind or another. |
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