“There is a myth that Palm Beach people don’t know the Kennedys are alive, and never talk about them. The truth is that Palm Beach people say they don’t know the Kennedys are alive, and then devote entire evenings to talking about them.”
John Ney, Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces
John Ney, Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces
 Palm Beach by John Ney |  Mrs. Leon Mandel on Her Yacht, Photo by Jack Manning |
John Ney never achieved the prominence of Cleveland Amory or Stephen Birmingham as a chronicler of social history, but what he lacked in output, he made up for in quality. His book Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces is ostensibly limited in scope to this specific and one-of-a-kind Florida community. There is a broader meaning, however. The author considers Palm Beach an American social experiment: what does it mean to be idle and rich in a republic founded upon the Protestant work ethic? Palm Beach is the only city in America in which the residents might genuinely inquire, “What is a weekend?” As such, what is unique about this book is that it takes the froth of café society seriously, and in so doing, discovers that beyond the caffeine, there is substance.
 Marjorie Merriweather Post and Prince Serge Obolensky |  Mr. and Mrs. Barry Van Gerbig |  Fifi Widener |
Formerly employed in the motion picture industry by David Selznick, Ney relocated to Palm Beach in the early 1960s. In that era, the community was frequently in the news as result of President Kennedy’s visits to his parents' home there. The first chapter, “The Royal Family” considers the Kennedy’s outsized influence on the community’s international reputation versus its minor social presence there. The author then quickly segues, concluding that despite the hoopla, the Kennedys are not the typical denizens of the city.
In addition to interviewing various residents and summarizing their mentions in leading gossip columns, Ney considers the appearance of Palm Beach in various works of literature and nonfiction. Cleveland Amory covered some of the same territory in The Last Resorts, A Portrait of American Society at Play, and several pages of Ney’s book are spent reviewing and quoting The Last Resorts. Curiously, the Chicago Tribune asked Amory to review Ney's book. In spite of the potential conflict of interest, Amory did so in an article entitled, “Trodding the Middle Ground.” He mostly applauds Ney's effort, drolly citing the Chinese proverb, “With the rich and mighty, always a little patience.”
Image Credit: Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces. Except where otherwise noted, they were taken by the Bert & Richard Morgan Studio
In addition to interviewing various residents and summarizing their mentions in leading gossip columns, Ney considers the appearance of Palm Beach in various works of literature and nonfiction. Cleveland Amory covered some of the same territory in The Last Resorts, A Portrait of American Society at Play, and several pages of Ney’s book are spent reviewing and quoting The Last Resorts. Curiously, the Chicago Tribune asked Amory to review Ney's book. In spite of the potential conflict of interest, Amory did so in an article entitled, “Trodding the Middle Ground.” He mostly applauds Ney's effort, drolly citing the Chinese proverb, “With the rich and mighty, always a little patience.”
Image Credit: Palm Beach, The Place, The People, Its Pleasures and Palaces. Except where otherwise noted, they were taken by the Bert & Richard Morgan Studio
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