October :: 2011 :: Beverley Jackson

Bouncing in a Bubble

by Beverley

October 31st, 2011

Kathy and Alain Clenet and I in front of a row of his 14 vintage Clenet cars.

The Concours d’Elegance came to Santa Barbara and I couldn’t resist attending. It was a lovely autumn day. As always a wonderful assortment of cars were being shown — old cars, rare cars, “Woodies” one of which, a two seat convertible, I coveted. But what really caught my interest was “Bubble Fun”. Maybe you’ve seen it but I never have. It was something to keep the children amused once they’d had their fill of antique Rolls, Packards, Ferraris, etc.

The concession consisted of an area with a big pile of plastic forms that will blow up into giant see through balls and a very large plastic pool of water. The children, one at a time, climb into one of these transparent plastic forms and a man blows them up with I presume oxygen because no one was gasping for breath. Once blown up to proper size they get zipped tight and rolled into the big plastic water-filled pool. A woman standing near me comented “Just like my hamsters” as we watched the children running in the balls as they rolled over and over in the water. Actually a friend has just told me her grandson has a plastic bubble he blows up to put his hamster in at night to keep the family cat from getting it while they sleep. And the hamster seems totally comfortable in his bubble she reported. It looked like such fun! The friend I was with watched my enthusiasm cautiously and finally said, “Don’t get any ideas!” He was right. It was for children.

Another highlight of this Concours was seeing my dear very long time friends Kathy and Alain Clenet and their children and grandchildren. And their extended family that included 14 of Alain’s legendary Clenet cars on display. An entire Clenet Car Club was represented. In 1975 Alain started building these fabulous cars in a garage in Santa Barbara. Ultimately he outgrew the garage and went on to airplane hangers. The cars were sheer luxury in every detail and were bought by customers like Silverster Stallone, King Husssein of Jordan and I remember one man from Saudi Arabia who ordered about 20 of the to give as gifts. Very expensive gifts! Alain later was designing cars in China and now he is… well he’s such an interesting man I’m going to let you Google him and get the whole story!

Another friend Michael Gross has a brand new book out Unreal Estate that really captures the reader and holds them, especially anyone who knows the Los Angeles area. Having made a big success with his most recent book 740 Park Avenue telling the stories behind the billionaires who lived and live in this New York building at 740 Park Avenue, he is now telling all about the history of a group of old mansions in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Holmby Hills and all the gossip on the developers, oil millionaires and silent film stars who originally built them. He goes right through the various owners to the billionaires who now call these places home. Home does seem like much too cozy a word for me to use here. Don’t get ideas of a happy little house filled with happy people please.

There was a small amount of information I was able to give Michael for this riveting new book and he very graciously acknowledged this in the book as my friend Lisa See acknowledged me in her best seller Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I mention this because all I have to do is Google “Chinese Footbinding” and I can about 50 pages of sites for papers, articles and books now out on the subject I wrote the first complete book on in 1998 that have taken the majority of their material from my book. And no sign of any acknowledgement there! So I am most grateful to Michael and Lisa. But then they are big time authors with manners.

We read about the books that sell over a million copies like these two authors but one wonders realistically how many copies do most books sell? I’ve always been pleased with how many tens of thousands my Splendid Slippers has sold since 1998, and still going strong in latest Random House printing. My other books have done as expected since two of them were expensive very focused books meant only for collectors, museum libraries, auction house libraries etc. One of these Kingfisher Blue with only 2,000 printed sold out and last year there were two used copies for sale for $1,350 each on Amazon. And they sold!! I called my publisher and asked if I was dead and didn’t know it. I didn’t know books of living authors could demand such a price. Now the $50 book can be bought used for about $300. Incidentally I made $4.70 a copy for this book! Well there was a decent advance too.

But again what do most books sell? I started checking it out and found 500 copies is a good average. And now I discover that of the six shortlisted books for the coveted 2011 British Booker Award the best seller of the six was A. D. Miller’s Snowdrops. And this book sold only 11,800 copies!

So if many of you think you are going to write a best seller and make millions of dollars, maybe you’d better spend that time doing something more promising!

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories My Life

Some Moan and Groan, Some Try to Do Something About Problems

by Beverley

October 24th, 2011

I write a lot about yesterdays. And maybe I imply yesterday was better. It probably was if only because I was younger and more able to cope. Sometimes coping takes a tremendous amount of control and sometimes imagination. For instance yesterday when I was approaching emotional liftoff after more than half an hour of pushing numbers which a robot voice on United Air phone line kept dictating I push, as well as listening to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, United Air version, for at least thousandth time. Suddenly I got inventive. How would I be conducting this Gershwin treasure if I were Alan Gilbert as compared to how the late Leopold Stokowski might have conducted it. The telephone receiver became Gilbert’s violin. Yes I was on my old fashioned landline. I live in an area where power outages are frequent and we need one. My pen became Stokowski’s baton. A little small but I was improvising. I tossed my hair wildly as Leopold got into full motion, my baton slashing the air with tremendous force. You know the part — da, da, DAH, da…. Luckily I was clutching Alan’s violin near my ear with my left hand when unbelievably a live person announced herself on his violin, well, my landline receiver, and asked most serenely if she could assist me — that was just before she disconnected us.

But this is leading somewhere. To a very interesting article in Sunday October 23rd New York Times Art & Leisure section. The Worlds Poor: Rescued by Design by Michael Kimmelman to be exact. Mr. Kimmelman writes about an exhibition in the United Nations visitor’s lobby organized by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

The exhibition is all about simple ideas to help the poorest people in the world. Tackling the problem of schools for children of frequently moving migrant construction workers in the booming area of Pune, Indian school buses, but not the usual ones, proved an ideal solution. These are schools in buses — buses equipped with classrooms for 25 children who are picked up where they live. And when parents must move to another location they are connected with school room buses in their new area. This system is now fortunately being brought into the frighteningly crowded slum areas of Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a project that will spread throughout India.

In Kibera, Naurobi, Kenya someone designed a huge square “stove” with areas for many cooking pots heated by a central unit fueled by refuse the women collect as payment for using the community stove. Brilliant idea. Rural Chinese should have similar to eliminate all the small coal stoves spewing toxic fumes into their tiny huts.

The statistics are frightening in Mr. Kimmelman’s article. Over a billon people live in horrifying slums today. I’ve seen the favelas in Rio myself, one area mentioned. What is really frightening however is the prediction that by 2050 One in three people on the planet will be living in favelas or chapros in Nepal or barrios in Ecuador etc. And we have areas in this country too that are nothing to be proud of.

The seemingly small creative projects featured in this exhibition become big when you look at them as a beginning in solving momentous problems. A beginning indicates moving forward not just ignoring and accepting. More power to the creative minds moving us forward.

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories Editorial

Sharing a Bumpy Bathroom With President Jack Kennedy’s Sisters & Nieces

by Beverley

October 18th, 2011

There was an aura of an Agatha Christie mystery brewing when one boarded the newly restored glamorous Venice Simplon-Orient Express in 1983. The abandoned 1920’s Pullman cars that James Sherwood had located around the world had been restored to their original elegance. Every detail from the Lalique glass panels and intricate wood marquetry to the uniforms worn by the porters and dining room attendants was exactly like the original.

Five of us were on this train journey in September 1983, having first spent three nights in London at Claridge’s. Our trip was a fancy press junket arranged by prestigious PR representative Mary Homi who handled the Savoy Group Hotels (Claridge’s, Berkeley, Connaught, Savoy, Lancaster in Paris) as well as the as all James Sherwood’s 5 star hotels and his Simplon-Orient Express train. The group was made up of society columnists from New York, Palm Beach, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. Mary made five. And it was glamour all the way! While we were in London I noted in the morning paper that the exciting Night of 100 Stars charity theatre event would take place the night we returned from Venice. Among the stars performing was Charles Dance. I was and still am a tremendous fan of this English actor. Reading about the event I decided I simply had to see him perform in person. Fellow traveler, my long time friend Gloria Greer the Palm Springs representative, was all for it too so we purchased VIP tickets including the after performance reception before taking off on our rail adventure. Something to look forward at the end of our journey.

Paris station Orient Express Gloria Greer

Gloria Greer second from right facing camera at the Paris stop.

Excitement was high as we boarded the train in London. The “All Aboard” call sounded loud and clear and we clamored aboard and found our compartments with childlike enthusiasm. Our luggage, having last been seen in our rooms at Claridge’s, awaited us in our compartments. That’s the way travel was then but I’ve already told you about that in my blog on sailing the Atlantic on the S.S. United States in 1953. And believe me those memories are kept alive any time I venture out of Santa Barbara dragging bags on wheels and backpacks and purses hanging from my shoulders with no one to lend a hand.

The train compartments were small but most comfortable. Linens on the beds were fine perfectly ironed Irish linen. All was perfection especially the service of all the train employees. Bathrooms were a bit of a drawback however. In those days you didn’t have bathroom facilities attached to your compartments. You marched in nightgown, bathrobe and bedroom slippers down to the end of the car to the one bathroom per railroad car, tooth brush and towels in hand. Now this was perfectly fine going to Venice as there men occupying the other compartments in my car and they got in there, brushed there teeth and did whatever else needed doing and got out. It was on the return trip, Venice to London that my bathroom problems arose. On that return somewhere in the middle of the night at a small stop in the Italian Alps four American skiers boarded, Patricia Kennedy Lawford and her daughter, and Jeanne Kennedy Smith and her daughter, sisters and nieces of the president of the United States Jack Kennedy.

Orient Express. Pat Kennedy Lawford and daughter 9/83

Pat Kennedy Lawford center in short fox coat talking to her daughter Victoria left pushing cart.

I met the Kennedy clan early the next morning standing in line waiting to get into the bathroom. Pat Lawford had gotten there first. I’d known her casually in the days when she dated my good friend Alfredo de la Vega, but I didn’t know her bathroom habits. “She takes forever once she gets in there,” Victoria Lawford moaned. Her aunt Jeanne nodded in agreement. What didn’t come out was Jeanne Smith’s daughter didn’t exactly rush through teeth brushing, make up applying etc. either. All I can say is Jeanne Smith and I were practically lifetime friends by the time we left the bumpy hallway and got our turns in that one bathroom.

As I read newspapers today of the wonderful things Jeanne Smith has achieved, Ambassador to Ireland from the United States, her tireless work for the disabled etc. and receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given in our country, I remember our brief friendship balancing on the fast moving train with firm grip on our toothbrushes and tooth paste waiting anxiously to get into the bathroom early one morning as our splendid vintage train clicky clacked its way to Paris, then London.

Dinner on the train was true dining in style. Wonderful silk damask cloths and gigantic napkins and shining vintage silver ware dressed the tables. The menu choices were fantastic and the products the kitchen produced were superb. Dining was a very special event on this jaunt. Everyone in the diner was in evening clothes except the Kennedy family who had only ski attire. But it was sweet to notice Jeanne Smith’s daughter, after glancing around the elegantly dressed guests in the dining room, slipped a few small flowers out of the vase of fresh flowers on their dinner table and tucked them into her hair to look more dressed up.

Upon our return to London following the glorious train ride and a 3 day stay at Jim Sherwood’s Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Gloria and I had our tickets for the great charity theatre waiting. It was a most thrilling event. All the biggest names in English theatre, movies, TV, rock stars performed. Interestingly each one did the opposite of what they were known for. A famous opera star sang Rock ‘n Roll. A leading TV comedy star performed a scene from Shakespeare’s King Lear. Charles Dance, known as a serious actor, came out in a tight black tee shirt and jeans and sang Noel Coward’s “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun.” Following the performance there was the reception on stage. The Royal Patron for the event, the Duchess of Kent, was the center of attention. But I kept looking for Charles Dance. He finally appeared looking very special in black tie after the black tee shirt. I suddenly became shy so Gloria approached him and asked if she could take a photo of him and me. He was very gracious about it. A few days after her return to Palm Springs I got a call from Gloria, “I have the greatest photo of you and Charles Dance. Will get you a print soon.” That was 1983. I’m still waiting. She still can’t find the negative. But I still have hopes! And memories.

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories My Life

20 Ton Giants Against the Tiny Snowy Plover

by Beverley

October 14th, 2011

Western Snowy Plover. Public domain. Photo Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

It doesn’t sound quite logical does it, but the cute little shore bird with short legs and a short neck actually might be winning a battle against 20 ton giant statues of an Egyptian king. You see it may be tiny but its got one big thing going for it, the Snowy Plover is on the U.S. endangered species list. So those little birds are standing strong against four 20 ton statues of Pharaoh Ramses among other giants.

Where the little birds have the giants is their breeding season is protected along the beaches of Guadalupe, California and other areas of Pacific coastline and no one can trespass in their nesting territory from March through September.

My interest in the giants and thus the Snowy Plover began when I first heard about Cecil B. DeMille‘s “Lost City in the Dunes” in Guadalupe, California. Guadalupe is a small town about 150 miles north of Los Angeles that you usually pass right through quickly on your way to San Francisco. But one thing they have is an area of towering sand dune the locals call “the dune that never moves.” All the shifting sands, winds, waves, mini tsunamis, nothing changes that particular area of sand dunes.

The reason the dunes don’t move is the sands are controlled by the remains of Cecil B. DeMille’s gigantic sets/props for his 1923 silent film “The Ten Commandments“. DeMille always did things on a big scale. Whereas the remake of this film in 1956 with Charlton Heston was made in Egypt, DeMille built Egypt outside Guadalupe, California. Over 1,000 workers labored in this area to recreate the City of the Pharaohs. The wall surrounding the temple rose 110 feet out of the sand. In addition to the four 20 ton statues of Pharaoh Ramses there were 21 mammoth sphinxes. There were 300 chariots to cart around the 3,500 actors on the film and over 5,000 animals used for various scenes. Statistics show these animals consumed 20,000 pounds of hay a day. Don’t know what they fed the lions assuming they had lions. I did learn the crew or some of the animals consumed 2,500 apples a day and 2,500 oranges a day. But lions wouldn’t eat those.

Okay, where do my cute little birds come in. Well to lead into that I have to tell you that for over 20 years filmmaker Peter Brosnan has been trying to create a major documentary “The Lost City of DeMille” telling about this City of Pharaohs movie set buried in the sand in Guadalupe. It’s been a long hard struggle for Mr. Brosnan since he was given DeMille’s autobiography in 1982 which described the building and burying of the set. The saga of following clues and locating the area and then of getting funding is so involved I won’t bore you with it. I’ll just pick up in 1988 when the site passed into the hands of The Nature Conservancy who backed the project to save the set. Then Hollywood Heritage organization offered nonprofit sponsorship and in 1990 Bank of America got into the act because their founder, the late A.P.Giannini was involved with funding DeMille’s original film on the site. Anyways, they now had money to hire an archeological survey that using ground penetrating radar found portions of the set recoverable and in good shape.

Still heading towards my little birds story so stay with me. January 2011 with $300,000 in hand Peter Brosnan received a permit exemption from the Planning and Development Department for his salvage operation at the protected archeological site. Eight highly qualified archeologists were set to get to serious work October 5th. Already using brushes and hand trowels they had come up with small material related to the 1923 film.

Then tragedy strikes. The little birds, NO! The Planning and Development Department claimed they made a mistake in giving the okay to proceed and 72 hours before work was to begin it was stopped. It was something about the Planning and Development people saying a grading permit was not necessary but the Coastal Development Department required a film permit.

Don’t try to figure this out. Just ask anyone who has tried to build in Santa Barbara about dealing with Coastal Development. According to newspaper reports Glenn Russell, director of Planning and Development feels badly about the situation and is quoted as saying “This is a project that is obviously good for the county and the community of Guadalupe and we want to make sure they get it done. We feel obligated to process those permits at no cost.”

Actually not a great deal of earth moving is involved. It is believed most of the artifacts are fairly near the surface of the dune. The archeologist have told the county that a family building a sand castle on the beach would move more sand and do more environmental damage than their project would.

Now the birds! Their nesting season starts March 1, 2012 through September 30th. That would mean no excavating for the Lost City until all those baby Snowy Plovers are hatched and ready to face the world on their own. This delays the project until October 2012. That’s why I say the tiny birds are really holding their own against the giant Pharaohs.

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories Editorial

Anna Met the King of Siam But I Met the Queen

by Beverley

October 9th, 2011

Queen Sirikit visits with Colonel William McKean, Commander of the 27th, and U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Kenneth T. Young, Jr., June 1962. Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The invitation came as a great surprise. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong was inviting the 50 most influential women in California to a luncheon in Pasadena to meet Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand in March 1985. I was most honored to say the least to be included in such an impressive group. Wasn’t sure how I rated but I accepted with pleasure.

Herbert Armstrong, founder and chairman of the Ambassador Foundation in Pasadena, California was Her Majesty’s host in the United States for an unofficial visit. An expensive visit for him. She was traveling with an entourage of 45 and between them they had 400 pieces of luggage. Just do the math on all those tips for porters and bellmen!!! Her stay in the USA started in Palm Beach and included stops in New York and Washington DC where she was received unofficially by the Reagan’s then Pasadena, California.

Herbert W. Armstrong welcoming Queen Sirikit to his luncheon in her honor

For the luncheon at the Ambassador Foundation the queen’s own security forces were augmented by United States Secret Service agents and Los Angeles and Pasadena police forces as well as the security forces of the Ambassador Foundation and Ambassador College. Queen Sirikit was here in connection with the SUPPORT Foundation she started in 1975 to promote the training of peasant farmers and the hill tribes in ways to earn income by producing traditional crafts and arts.

I was met and taken through a side door upon arrival to avoid all the security by Ellis La Ravia, vice president of the Ambassador Foundation whom I knew through my volunteer work on Prince Charles’ project to build a small opera house in the Royal College of Music. And together we wandered privately through a magnificent exhibition “Treasures of the Kings of Siam” sponsored by the Ambassador Foundation. There were both examples of work being done through the queen’s project and examples of the royal family’s own collection of Thai antique treasures.

Luncheon was served at five large round tables of eleven. Her Majesty sat with Herbert Armstrong, the only man dining, and her main lady-in-waiting at an elevated table surrounded by security. One of Her Majesty’s delightful ladies-in-waiting, all Thai princesses, was seated at each of the tables of ten California women. I was honored to be seated with Mrs. Tom Bradley, wife of the Mayor of Los Angeles wearing one of her fabulous custom made Bullock’s Wilshire hats and Secretary of State March Fong Eu among others.

This is the dress I wore to the luncheon with Queen Sirikit of Thailand

Detail of the fabric used in my dress

Back tracking I have to explain that upon receiving the coveted invitation my first big decision was of course what should I wear. It was known the queen had appointed Pierre Balmain in Paris as her exclusive couturier. I had a supply of outfits from trips to Bangkok made of Thai silk from the native weavers of Jim Thompson silks. But that didn’t seem appropriate. Then I thought of a wonderful Italian silk print with leopards I’d brought home from Lake Como that Parola had transformed into a daytime dress for me. That was it! This choice actually led to a memorable moment. Just before dessert was served the number one lady-in-waiting left the head table and approaching our table came to me. Making a slight bow, with her hands pressed together in a prayer-like position in the traditional wai greeting, the princess said in her musical voice straight out of The King and I, “Excuse me please. But Her Majesty has asked me to convey a message to you. She would like you to know she finds your dress most delightful.” I can still hear her saying it. An enchanting moment.

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories My Life

What Do You Give Your Ex-Husband For His Birthday?

by Beverley

October 6th, 2011

What do you give your ex-husband for his birthday after you’ve been estranged for nearly 47 years? “Tis a puzzlement” to quote a movie King of Siam. I found the answer in my own wine cellar.

This blog is about pleasant things, interesting places, people past and present, as well as items of interest from the media and everyday life. I’ve been writing it casually as I did the original By The Way newspaper column I wrote for 22 years. Then recently my wonderful tech helper and friend Kathleen Fetner in San Francisco sent me charts showing my blog is being read in almost every country in the world. I’m still in a shocked state of amazement. Why my blog even got hacked by professionals in Pakistan last week. Just like the Pentagon! I’d questioned her about emails I’d received from followers in Rumania, Japan and Denmark. “How did they find me when they don’t know me?” I asked Kathleen. “Well you caught on in Rumania when some avid Barbara Cartland reader Googled her and your blog on her came up and she must have spread the word to the Barbara Cartland readers in Rumania. Then your blog on Florence Chadwick swimming the Catalina Channel was picked up worldwide as people were Googling about Diane Nyad‘s Cuba-Miami swim attempt. And people liked what they read and started following.” Amazing! So now I’ve had to analyze more carefully what I write. One thing is definite, since I firmly believe decent people keep their private lives private there will never be dirty laundry aired here.

However, I am now going to tell you a bit of personal history because it’s an All’s Well That Ends Well story that might encourage other divorced couples in coping pleasantly with their situations in their later years.

Bob Jackson, Beverley Jackson, Carol Jackson, Leslie Jones, Linda Jackson

Left to right having dinner at Lucky’s. Bob Jackson on his 84th birthday, Beverley, Carol Jackson, Leslie Jones and Linda Jackson

My marriage ended after eight years. Bob Jackson my ex went on to be happily married to Carol Jackson for 47 years so far. We basically had no friendly contact all those years. I decided after the divorce I was an only child who liked to live life her way. I wasn’t really meant to be married. I raised my young daughter alone making her my primary interest in life in her young years. We roamed the world together having a fabulous time. Through my hotelier friendships we stayed in elegant suites in the world’s greatest hotels. Through my devoted friends worldwide we stayed in wonderful country houses and palaces as well. There were of course nights spent on wooden benches in cold remote little airports around the world due to plane delays. In the worst predicaments, in places like Rumania during the Cold War or no bathrooms on 10 hour drive from Jaipur to Udaipur, my daughter could always make me laugh.

I long ago heeded Auntie Mame‘s advice to Agnes, “Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!” Yes as my 83rd birthday approaches I can say I’ve truly feasted at life’s table!!

And so now in 2011 the three of us, Carol, Bob and I, are having a fun comfortable time together in our last years. We’ve gone far beyond the bad things and eliminated trouble makers from our lives. They are there for me and I’m there for them. Their being there for me includes the luxury of fresh eggs from their chickens, just picked vegetables from their garden, fabulous white goat milk butter they keep me supplied with.

I can’t contribute such culinary luxuries to our friendship but I can supply unusual entertainment. Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge came to Santa Barbara for a charity polo benefit. Being quite involved with the Santa Barbara Polo Club I had advance notice and obtained impossible to get tickets for the Jacksons. Unfortunately my nontransferable ticket went to waste as I developed a last minute health problem and missed the big event. But they gave me a full report.

I’d so wanted to see Prince William and his bride as his mother Princess Diana and I were friends in my London days, working together for our close mutual friends the late Duke of Norfolk’s Help the Aged and the now Dowager Duchess of Norfolk’s Hospices. But that will come up in a future blog when I tell you about the first time I met the young bride Princess Diana. It was the night Prince Charles kindly invited me to dine with them at Kensington Palace as a thank you for my help in raising the funds for his project of building a small opera house in the Royal College of Music.

Now more about that bottle of wine I took to Bob’s birthday dinner party, along with a book of Irving Penn photographs, it was quite a good wine from the great vineyards of my very special friend of many years the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild‘s Chateau Mouton. Vintage 1981 for you former fellow Oenophiles in the San Francisco Commandarie de Bordeaux. How was it? It drank well, good nose, fruits still strong but it is meant to be drunk now and not held much longer. By the way I miss you all. Not sure I ever explained why I disappeared. But when Clem Whitaker died and United Air started charging $750 for the less than 400 mile flight and hotel rates soared I did the math and decided as much as I loved our meetings and dinners and the honor of being one of the only female members of the San Francisco Chapter of Commandarie de Bordeaux, it was time to resign. The math showed me how many Meals on Wheels I could supply and how many AIDS orphans in Rwanda I could feed by resigning.

So the advice I offer in this blog today is, in your 70’s or 80’s you might try to establish a comfortable “chicken soup when you’re sick” relationship with your ex spouses. It can prove very pleasant. It has for me.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild and his cellar master and friend of a lifetime Raoul Blondin, who is carrying wines he is about to decant for our dinner, talking in front of Grande Mouton.

Baron Philippe de Rothschild and me at a party in Montecito 1978

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories My Life

If You’re Rich Enough You Can Live In Movie Star Clothes From Auctions

by Beverley

October 3rd, 2011

Suddenly there is an epidemic of auctions of major deceased film stars! Have all the families been hanging in there waiting for it to begin? Last week I told you about handsome Douglas Fairbanks Jr.’s big auction. Even confessed to bidding, though not getting, a lovely velvet collared evening cape.

Well from formal evening capes to John Wayne’s Lucchese cowboy boots, looking a bit beaten up that he wore in True Grit or Rooster Cogburn — or maybe both. The auction house isn’t quite sure. The estimate on them is $8,000 to $10,000 and it’s sure to soar. You know how men are about their cowboy boots — when they’re in to them. And to have “The Big Man’s!” Of course there is one little catch. Lucchese boots are hand made and they have numbers in them. Well these boots have 495 in one and 496 in other which means they’re not exactly a matched pair. The auction house explains it by stating that in Rooster Cogburn John Wayne had walked in streams and rafted some rivers and they probably got wet and additional boots were needed. So if you don’t mind having a pair of boots that don’t exactly match the opening bid is $8,000.

There are actually more than one pair of Lucchese boots up for sale. I’ve been looking at sample Lucchese boots all summer in a booth selling them at the Santa Barbara Polo Club almost every Sunday. The boot booth was there because Lucchese is owned by John Muse who had a polo team playing at the Santa Barbara Polo Club called, surprise “Lucchese”. And Lucchese won the hotly contested Bombardier Pacific Coast Open Tournament September 4th. Of course John Muse doesn’t make anything on the auction of John Wayne’s boots and even if he did it wouldn’t really help him pay the ten goal star of his polo team, world’s greatest Adolfo Cambiaso. You see Cambiaso was rumored to be getting paid a million dollars plus four fine polo ponies for his summer of polo in Santa Barbara. I’m wondering now who made Adolfo’s boots. Maybe some day they’ll come up for sale at a famous sportsmen’s auction and we’ll find out.

Now if you’re not interested in buying what John Wayne wore on his feet you can start at the top and work your way down. But like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. don’t look for underwear for sale. Fortunately there’s none of Wayne’s either! But there are lots of hats!

You can pick up a little beret from The Green Berets if you’re game to start bidding at $6,000. No it’s not lined in sable!

A cowboy hat worn in either Horse Soldiers or Rio Lobo is considered more of a treasure than the little beret because bidding on that hat starts at $30,000. A cowboy hat from Big Jake and/or Train Robbers starts at $30,000 as well. A real bargain is a black bowler hat they think is from The Quiet Man that starts at $1,300. And now I have to confess there is a white hat with a back flap that appears to me to be a Foreign Legion hat (they have another name for it) I find quite appealing. It starts at $500 and one never knows how things will go. I don’t think 82 going on 83 is really too old to run off and join the Foreign Legion if things get too rough do you? It has always sounded so romantic. And that hat is so cute…

Like the Douglas Fairbanks Jr. auction there are so many things for sale I don’t think should be like two unused checkbooks from 1960. Opening bid is $600. Who would be fool enough to sign one of those John Wayne and walk into a bank and try to cash it? Even if he were wearing cowboy boots and Stetson hat.

And again there were lots of books for sale. But they were more Hollywood biography and coffee table books. I won’t even begin to compare it to Douglas Fairbanks Jr’s really fine quality library.

If you are tempted by any of this you’d better get on line fast and go to Heritage House Auctions because John Wayne goes on sale October 6th and 7th. No time to lose.

You have plenty of time to buy Elizabeth Taylor gowns, jewels, who knows what else. Christie’s is really pushing this one! I had a formal engraved invitation to buy a ticket for a viewing of Taylor items being sold in Los Angeles. First time for that. I’m invited to every viewing and they offer me drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Selling tickets to clients is really a first.

When I say they are promoting big, they’ve got this act on the road unlike any auction in my memory. Even more than the Duke and Duchess of Windsor or Rudolf Nuryev. Elizabeth Taylor treasures to be auctioned were in Moscow Gum Red Square 3 for viewing last month, September 15th and 16th. Next stop September 24-26th London. It’s in Dubai for the big spenders to check Liz out October 23rd. Geneva bankers can peek November 11th and 12th. Then back to Paris November 25th to 27th. The sale takes place in Los Angeles December 13th to 16th. [Edited to add: Every ticket is sold out for four December days of viewings of Elizabeth Taylor sale LA! Catalogues can be preordered. Entire set is $300. Individually catalogues on jewels, costumes, personal clothing etc run $150 each. The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor – Christie’s]

I saw some of the great Taylor jewels in San Francisco when Cartier presented fantastic jewels from their archives at the Legion of Honor Museum in December 2009. A set of diamond and gorgeous Burmese rubies necklace, bracelet and earrings given to her by her husband Mike Todd in 1957 had museum goers breathless.

My memories of Elizabeth Taylor go way back. I was at a bridal shower for my friend singer Jane Powell. Other than Janie I didn’t really know any of the other girls and was sitting on a sofa between Ann Blyth and Janet Leigh when the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen burst into the room and threw herself on the ground in front of her friends Ann and Janet. Without taking a breath, bursting with enthusiasm she told them she’d just met the man she was going to marry, Nicky Hilton. And I’m there in the middle just starring at those magnificent lavender eyes and marveling at the beauty of this young woman.

I still had never really met Elizabeth Taylor when some years later I went to a party at the Edwin Pauley’s home following the premiere of Lust for Life. This time my escort was a friend of Mike Todd so I got introduced to both. She was wearing a beautiful very full gown of champagne color double satin with black velvet trim and lots of diamonds. But sadly what I noticed most was the old perspiration stains under the arms of the gown that obviously was put into the closet after the previous wearing when it should have gone to Beverly Hills best cleaner. So if you are tempted to bid on any champagne satin gowns, check the underarms first.

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com

Acknowledgement:
Kathleen Fetner, Technical Advisor and Friend

Categories My Life

Archive for October 2011

Bouncing in a Bubble

Some Moan and Groan, Some Try to Do Something About Problems

Sharing a Bumpy Bathroom With President Jack Kennedy’s Sisters & Nieces

20 Ton Giants Against the Tiny Snowy Plover

Anna Met the King of Siam But I Met the Queen

What Do You Give Your Ex-Husband For His Birthday?

If You’re Rich Enough You Can Live In Movie Star Clothes From Auctions