Social History
Social History• March 4, 2011

PICASSO & PIE DOWN EAST: The Mid-Century in Maine

I live in a typical little coastal village in eastern Maine — although ‘typical’ depends on one’s perspective. We live amidst achingly beautiful scenery, made only more beautiful by the clear light refracted from the ocean. We have little white houses, and we have big white houses. We have people and institutions: Lobstermen. Carpenters. Internet […]...

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The Trouble With Footmen: Servant Problems in Old Bar Harbor

Social History• February 9, 2011.
In 1941, Chicago heiress and philanthropist Louise de Koven Bowen, the major patron of Jane Addams’s Hull House settlement, made a difficult decision: She must sell her beloved summer home, Baymeath, at Hull’s Cove near Bar Harbor. Mrs. Bowen was in her eighties, America was about to enter World War II, and her grandchildren would soon... READ MORE
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The Pinafore Sails Down East

Social History• January 25, 2011.
Prelude: Pinafore makes the Dilettante long for Cosi I should like Gilbert and Sullivan better than I do. But I don’t. I’m fairly well rounded musically, but I need only to hear the opening strains of “I Am The Captain of The Pinafore,” or “Three Little Maids Are We” (am I the only one reminded […]... READ MORE
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Palm Beach Social Diary

Social History• August 25, 2010.
Graceful Living: The Phipps Family in Gulf Stream The polo world’s exclusive old money mystique has waned, for the most part now found amidst sepia photos, bookshelves, anecdotes and rows of silver cups in trophy rooms. But 85 years ago, when the Phipps family conceived and developed Gulf Stream as an exclusive resort sporting center, […]... READ MORE
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THE SUPER CHIEF – “THE TRAIN OF THE STARS”

Social History• August 15, 2010.
From the late 1930s to the 1950s, Hollywood adopted the Super Chief as the primary mode of travel as well as the subject of novels and motion pictures. In MGM’s The Hucksters, a brutal satire on the ad industry, Clark Gable says to another character: “Only talent agents and kept woman ride the Chief. But […]... READ MORE
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SS Andrea Doria

Social History• April 22, 2010.
I was initially drawn to the Andrea Doria at the age of 14 after reading the book, Collision Course, by Alvin Moscow. The book tells of the Andrea Doria’s birth, her brief but glorious life, and her tragic end, in the summer of 1956. To me the Andrea Doria embodied the hope and optimism that Italy was searching for after the War. I w... READ MORE
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Palm Beach Social Diary: Another Look at Lost Palm Beach

Palm Beach• January 3, 2010.
“We were so young and gay then and we thought we had all the money in the world. It will be sad if the great houses vanish and the Mizner period becomes only a memory and part of Palm Beach’s past rather than its present.” — Billie Burke Despite the heart-felt sentiment, many of the Mizner […]... READ MORE
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This Was Then

Social History• December 7, 2009.
One of the most popular society of fashion photographers in New York of the past quarter century has been Mary Hilliard. Mary started her career after her marriage and her children got to a certain age. Coming from the same part of town in life as many of her subjects, she may have been the […]... READ MORE
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Yesterday’s La Coquille Club

Social History• October 23, 2009.
Because today’s La Coquille Club has been so magnificently recast for nearly the past twenty years as part of The Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach in Manalapan, memories have nearly vanished of the original club’s ambience and attraction. By recalling its legacy with the few available images, the vision of its founder, Rockefeller scion, Spelma... READ MORE
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Envisioning Palm Beach: The Addison Mizner Collection at The Society of the Four Arts

Palm Beach• August 26, 2009.
Architect Addison Mizner’s extensive library, volumes that span three centuries, and his design diaries — scrapbooks filled with sketches, watercolors, photographs and ephemera — are noteworthy aspects of the decorative arts collections at The Society of the Four Arts, reflecting Mizner’s influential status as a professional architect and... READ MORE
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High over Palm Beach

Social History• August 11, 2009.
Late last fall a friend and I were motoring to Ithaca for the festivities at Cornell surrounding the dedication and DNA ribbon cutting of Weill Hall designed by Richard Meier, when my friend suggested we stop at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY, on Lake Keuka. I hesitated, admittedly not knowing a byte about Glenn Curtiss. Fort... READ MORE
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Garden Grandeur endures at Casa Phippsberger

Palm Beach• March 23, 2009.
In Palm Beach, where escapist landscapes borrowed from English rose gardens, French parterres, Spanish cloisters and Tuscan courtyards amplify the surreal allure of streets lined with imported architectural facades, Casa Phippsberger’s tropical splendor is a welcome relief, a six-acre sanctuary inspired by the barrier island’s own natural histo... READ MORE
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The tragic life of the Corsair IV

Social History• July 30, 2008.
J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. could never have imagined his yacht Corsair IV being converted into a deluxe cruise ship whose short career would end in tragedy but it happened. J.P. Morgan Jr. and his legendary business tycoon father, J. Pierpont Morgan, owned four yachts christened Corsair, and built three of them. Each yacht was bigger, […]... READ MORE

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