Interviewer: "I wrote all that part before I came."
Subject: "And you'll put in a bit about how I adore the country and pigs and ducks and those sort of things?"
Interviewer: "I wrote all that part before I came."
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“H[arold Acton] is planning a trip to Norway (well to anywhere really) in August to escape another possible visit from Princess Margaret. He really is too old to be subjected to that.”
Nancy Mitford, The Mitfords, Letters Between Six Sisters "I would always just say, ‘Yes dear,’ and then I’d go to Paris."
Rose Kennedy, When Asked How She Handled Marital Disagreements, via The Patriarch, The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy “I don’t know who decided that the presidential primaries should begin in New Hampshire in the winter, but he certainly was not from California.”
Nancy Reagan “Good sex is all about how much is too much, how little is too little, about that thin dividing line between consistency and variety, between meeting the expected and surprising with the unexpected.” Scotty Bowers Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Live of the Stars is one of the most extraordinary Hollywood tell-alls ever released. Its publication was like a nuclear bomb detonation, but because every victim was already deceased, there were no fatalities (and not even that much attention from the tabloids). That is actually just as the author Scotty Bowers intended. By all accounts, he is a kind person and loyal friend. He steadfastly resisted all attempts to write about his four-decade career as an A-List hustler and sex-broker until those he would incriminate were long gone. Bowers’ incredible story begins in 1946 when he pumped gas into an automobile driven by character actor Walter Pidgeon. Pidgeon propositioned him, paying Bowers twenty dollars for a sexual encounter. More such on-the-job shenanigans followed, and soon the Richfield gasoline station on Hollywood Boulevard where Bowers worked became the most unlikely of brothels. [Leave it to car-centric midcentury Los Angeles to combine the world's oldest profession with its newest mode of transportation.] Just about every personality in Hollywood except Shirley Temple and Lassie eventually found need of Bower’s services: either via an assignation with Bowers himself or a male or female companion arranged by him. His client list included Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Errol Flynn, Edith Piaf, Noel Coward, Tyrone Power, Anthony Perkins, George Cukor, and many, many others. One of those others was Charles Laughton, and the chapter concerning him is so disturbing that it is best to skip it altogether. It is a truth-is-stranger than fiction book, and one cannot help but wonder if Bowers embellished his story. Did the Duke and Duchess of Windsor really participate in a tawdry Pacific Palisades sex party? Gore Vidal, a longtime close friend and client of Bowers, vouched for Scotty’s veracity. It was Vidal who publicly encouraged Bowers to break his code of silence and write his memoirs. Vidal lived to see that come to fruition, but just barely. In fact, the February 8, 2012 launch party for the book, held at the Chateau Marmont, was Vidal's last public appearance. He died later that year. Another corroborating witness was Cecil Beaton. In the early 1960s, Beaton was billeted in Los Angeles for an extended period—a miserable one for him—working on the costumes and sets for My Fair Lady. During production, he famously fell out with his friend George Cukor, My Fair Lady’s director. As Bowers relates in his book, Beaton required much encouragement and compassion, which Bowers provided during paid sexual encounters at Beaton’s private bungalow on the grounds of the Hotel Bel-Air. Beaton himself confirmed his association with Bowers in his diaries from the period, posthumously published as Beaton in the Sixties. Referring to an assignation several years after the wrap of My Fair Lady, Beaton wrote, “Scotty is a phenomenon. I heard several years ago that the police had caught up with him ... I only had a telephone number, now surely in disrepair. But no. Although I woke him early, his voice was as cheerful as ever. It is five years since I’ve seen him ... I asked him how much I owed him and he suggested a sum much smaller than I knew was customary.” The Paul Cadmus sketches for the ballet Filling Station are in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art. The photo of Cecil Beaton was included in John Moran Auctioneer's sale of property belonging to Beaton's 1960s-era romantic interest Kin Hoitsma.
“If it was good enough for Marie Antoinette, it’s good enough for you.” Elsie de Wolfe, Admonishing Her Client Natica Warburg (Daughter of Condé Nast) Photo Credit: Cartier l'album
“You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty.”
Jessica Mitford, Poison Penmanship, The Gentle Art of Muckraking “My theory is that all good lawyers, clergymen, and politicians must be good actors to start with.” Joan Fontaine, No Bed of Roses This photograph from Joan Fontaine's memoir No Bed of Roses is extraordinary ... and heartbreaking. It captures the normally feuding sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland relaxed and happy in each other's company, as if they could have been intimate friends as easily as estranged sisters. [NHL covered this topic in more detail in the post A Tale of Two Sisters: Olivia de Havilland & Joan Fontaine.]
No Bed of Roses is available via the Nick Harvill Libraries kiosk at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood.
To mention Florence Pritchett Smith and conspiracy in the same sentence risks being led astray on on a tangent (see this related post). However, the truth is that her elegant cookbook and hostessing guide from 1966, These Entertaining People, A Guide for the Elegant Hostess, does expose a conspiracy of sorts. The fifties were an ignoble era for American cuisine. As income rose, food quality sank. Food industry shills like editor Poppy Cannon (see The Bride’s Cookbook) worked overtime to convince the American public that quality food could be produced cheaply and quickly via packaged mixes and can openers. These Entertaining People promoted the opposite, with advice from the author's friends. That those friends happened to be society’s most glamorous hostesses added sparkle and panache to the book. As to be expected, Pritchett Smith herself was an accomplished hostess. Her husband was the final U.S. ambassador to Cuba prior to the Revolution. She presided over social events at the United States embassy in Havana up until the time when it would have been necessary to plan a welcome party for Fidel Castro and the other Communists rebels, which one imagines Pritchett Smith would have done with aplomb should the State Department have so required. Following are seven considerations Florence Pritchett Smith considered most important when planning a dinner party: Flavor “Taste buds were meant to be intrigued, never bored. Let them travel the road from bland to spicy, from sweet to tart, from rich to simple.” Texture There should be a variety of textures: “from thick to thin, from clear to creamy, from soft to crisp, from smooth to rough.”
First in Season “Keep your eye on the markets for early seasonal things.” “Foods of the season arouse the strongest desires.” Temperature “Pleasurable sensations can be created effectively by sharp contrasts in the temperature of foods.” Serve hot popovers with an ice-cold soup, or drizzle “a hot sauce over ice cream or cold fruit.” Appropriateness (as to Occasion and Number of Guests) “A black-tie dinner before a dance requires a menu as decorative as the beautifully dressed guests.” “The fewer the guests, the more delicious and unusual [the] food can be.” Smith's advice is excellent but what makes this book extraordinary is its star power. Smith polled her society friends requesting their favorite menus, recipes, and entertaining advice. Astonishingly nearly all responded, even such media-adverse personalities as Betsey Whitney. Whitney’s less publicity-shy sisters Babe Paley and Minnie Astor Fosburgh of course replied, as well as Diana Vreeland, C.Z. Guest, Marella Agnelli, and the ex and then-current Mrs. Leland Haywards (Slim and Pam). One of the respondents—Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan—was vaguely related to the author. Her niece, also named Consuelo, had once been married to Florence Pritchett’s husband Earl E.T. Smith (and had two children by him). Advice from Pritchett Smith's glamorous friends takes up a good portion of the book. Here are some of the best: Diana Vreeland “Don’t invite too many married couples. It is suburban. Have pretty women, attractive men, guests who are en passant, the flavor of another language. This is the jet age, so have something new and changing.” Lorraine Cooper “I have one menu if friends from the United States lunch with us, another for Europeans, and still a different menu for guests from Asia, who are so often vegetarian.” Babe Paley “At a big dinner I like to have two pretty girls at each table if possible. It makes it more festive because they are as decorative as a bouquet of flowers.” Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan “I believe that tact, that intuitive sympathy, will provide the only answer to social problems. It will help to smooth over difficulties and ignore rudeness, at least for the time being. I personally believe in eliminating bounders and bores as well as the cutlet-for-cutlet principle by the simple rule of not accepting an invitation I do not wish to return.” C.Z. Guest “My menus are worked out in advance, and I keep the likes and dislikes of my guests in mind.” Countess Consuelo Crespi “The extra effort is worth every minute of it when you realize your efforts have made someone happy.” Sybil Connolly “Remember, you have invited your guests to your home not to forcibly express your ideas of life and living, but to hear them express theirs.” Cecil Beaton “Everyone should learn to create food that belongs to them, not just the inevitable cold ham and turkey… It’s too impersonal. I think so many amusing succulent dishes can be whipped up that it seems to me an awful pity people don’t have a personal idiom, even in their food.” Gloria Guinness “[A supper dance should] have lots of tables, lots of soft candlelight, lots of pretty girls in pretty dresses, two or three bars, and two different places for your supper buffet.” The Duchess of Windsor “Keep a menu book listing the [food], wine, table setting, the guest list and seating plan, and after-dinner amusements to avoid repetition with the same guest.” Pamela Hayward Harriman “Hostesses must care that everything is arranged for comfort and fun.” When this book went to press, Pamela was still Mrs. Leland Hayward. Following his death, she married senior statesmen Averell Harriman with whom she had enjoyed a love affair during World War II. As Mrs. Harriman, she became a leading hostess for the Democratic Party, propelling William Jefferson Clinton to the White House. President-elect Clinton rewarded her with a plum assignment, ambassadress to France. Her rules for entertaining, which went on to secure her future successes, are included in the book: 1. Do not ruin dinner for other guests because one guest is late. 2. When inviting people, call them on the telephone yourself. It makes it so much more personal. 3. Never criticize servants or a family member in front of other guests. 4. Don’t answer the telephone unless it is an emergency. 5. Never talk about your own domestic or personal problems. 6. Stimulate the conversation, but don’t jog it. 7. Knowing how to cook yourself is fundamental, whether you must or not. Following are some of the recipes included in the book. NHL has not attempted any of them but is rather intrigued by Countess Consuelo Crespi's Ice Cream Cheese. It seems strange to mix a variety a cheeses together into a melange. One imagines it would be either a terrible failure or a spectacular success. Sadly Florence Pritchett Smith passed away prior to her book's publication. The death of an author limits a publisher's ability to properly promote a book, particularly in the case of a lifestyle tome that relies so much on book-signing events. There were only a few printings and no second edition. At present, Nick Harvill Libraries has one copy available for sale here. It appears to be the only one available anywhere online. [Update: this copy has now sold.] Photo Credits: A Wonderful Time by Slim Aarons and The Beautiful People's Beauty Book by Princess Luciana Pignatelli.
Florence Pritchett Smith died tragically young in November 1965 shortly before the publication of her book These Entertaining People, A Guide for the Elegant Hostess. The level of participation she received during its writing process—from such luminaries as Babe Paley, the Duchess of Windsor, and Cecil Beaton—is a fitting tribute to the author. Pritchett Smith began of humble New Jersey origins but deftly scaled the social heights. One of her admirers was John F. Kennedy. They were romantically involved in the forties and remained close friends throughout his life. A Kennedy insider believed the President was more in sympathy with her than any other woman. Marriage, however, was out of the question. Pritchett Smith was a divorcée when they began dating—then difficult for anyone considering a run for the Oval Office and an absolute impossibility for a man who aspired to be the first Catholic president. Their romance evolved into a friendship and expanded to include their spouses, Jacqueline Kennedy and Florence’s husband Earl E.T. Smith. Both Earl and Florence appear in Sally Bedell Smith’s excellent Grace and Power, The Private World of the Kennedy White House. When President Eisenhower appointed Earl to the Cuban ambassadorship and the Smiths decamped to Havana, Jackie sent them one hundred fifty volumes of classical works that Florence proclaimed “the best collection of English literature of anyone I know—outside of Jackie herself.” When Florence died of leukemia at age forty-five, Jackie wrote a warm note of sympathy to Earl, recalling “all the happy times gone now with dearest loving Flo.” A recent issue of Veranda revived interest in Florence Pritchett Smith and These Entertaining People. The few copies for sale were quickly snatched up. The one now offered by Nick Harvill Libraries appears to be the sole copy currently available online. [Note, this copy has now sold.] Even with this latest publicity, there is an awkward web search issue in regard to Florence Pritchett Smith. She passed away two days after the mysterious death of Dorothy Kilgallen, a reporter with whom she was acquainted. Kilgallen had recently conducted a rare private interview with Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer Jack Ruby from which she claimed to have information that would shed new light on the Kennedy assassination. Whatever Kilgallen knew followed her to the grave. She died of an apparent drug and alcohol overdose before telling her story. Her notes were never found. Kilgallen’s death was indeed suspicious, but Pritchett Smith’s two days later was not. Florence had been suffering from terminal cancer. It is unfortunate that her passing will be forever entangled in assassination conspiracy theories. The photograph of Florence Pritchett Smith was credited to the New York Herald Tribune and featured on the back dust jacket of These Entertaining People. The photograph of Jacqueline Kennedy and Earl E.T. Smith dancing is from Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces. It was taken by the Bert & Richard Morgan Studio. The photograph of Earl and Earl, Jr. was taken by Slim Aarons and is included in A Wonderful Time.
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