Social History

Social History• July 20, 2011

Philadelphia in Palm Beach: Part III, 1935-1938

Tea in Chestnut Hill with Mrs. Albert (Rebecca) Pancoast, mother-in-law of Joseph Widener, a weekend hunt at Gertrude “Gertie” Sanford Legendre’s Medway Plantation, cocktails and dinner with Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney and Kay Denckla at the Arizona Desert School, lunch with Amory and Dolly Carhart on Fishers Island, tennis with Cordy Robertson, golf with Donald […]...

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Philadelphia in Palm Beach: Part II, 1931-1935, cont.

Social History• July 12, 2011.

Chicago, June 1933 In Chicago for a Garden Club meet and a party at Marion McKinlock’s, Ellen Frazer visited the International Exposition. Chestnut Hill, 1933-1935 Amidst the Wood, Field and Stream, 1934. January-March, 1935. El Paso, Tucson, Scottsdale, and Palm Springs. Before heading to Palm Beach in late March and April, Ellen Frazer and ... READ MORE

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Philadelphia in Palm Beach: Part II, 1931-1935

Social History• June 10, 2011.

Philadelphia in Palm Beach: Part II, 1931-1935 In March New York Social Diary featured the first part of a series Philadelphia in Palm Beach: 1920-1931 adapted from Ellen Glendinning Frazer Ordway’s voluminous biographical scrapbook of photographs. For this next chapter, I perused the more than 3,000 images Ellen Frazer compiled in a six-volu... READ MORE

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The April 1987 PEN dinner

Social History• April 5, 2011.

Twenty-four years ago this month, at the Metropolitan Club, there was a PEN dinner to beat all previous PEN dinners. It was chaired by Gayfryd Steinberg who was then one of the reigning queens of New York Society. The top ticket was $750, which in those days was like $5000 today, and it was a sell-out. Mrs. […]... READ MORE

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

Social History• March 4, 2011.

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. Ca... READ MORE

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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

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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