![]() True, they don’t have the vast fortunes anymore, but they’re still here. The accent, the cadence, the word choices - beautiful to listen to.Ĭontrary to what some have posted, there are still some very old money families, even pre-Revolutionary, still around. I loved that video of Gloria Vanderbilt! Amazing, after 90 years of trying to run away from being known as “the heiress”, her speech betrays her. ![]() She literally knew everyone in NY society over the last 60 years - and in her latter years wasn’t shy about spilling some tea either. Always impeccably turned out, always smiling and charming, and always with her signature blue glasses. by AnonymousĪdd me to the Ann Slater fan club! I met her at a few social occasions through the years - what a doll. In the end, it's the number and not the age of the bucks that counts. Some years from now it may well be a Chinese, Russian, Spanish, or even Arabic name. Today, the home of the NY Philharmonic is named after a self-made Jewish man. Then this new establishment could attempt to keep out the emerging generations if they were deemed inappropriate (i.e. And they gave their money and name to the institutions (museums, universities, clubs, libraries) that were necessary in an increasingly important nation. So what? The new crew was much richer and could afford to build or buy whatever they wanted. No doubt that they would have been considered arrivistes by the existing establishment of the time. Not unlike the Bezos, Gates, and Zuckenbergs of today. These fortunes, however new, were huge - larger than the crowned heads of Europe. The richest of them all, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was the daughter of a self-made man, as was her sister-in-law, a Woolworth heiress, and also one or two of her husbands. Many of the storied names of the beginning of the 20th century were at most second or third generation fortunes. It seems to me that the requirements of some of you for being a proper socialite are a bit romantically restrictive. ![]() Ain't no one like her today- or the others. ![]() Three of them I got to know pretty well, and they were great company and fun. Mrs O, Mrs Mellon, Nan, Babe, and others, had terrific taste, style, wit, and yes- were smart. It's accurate to say that wit and style are missing from the celebrity class by in large- whether "society", big wealth, entertainers, sports figures or the truely depraved (reatlity "stars"). She was one of the most successful courtesans of her day (she landed Bill Paley) in any case. Nan was up front about wanting to be everywhere, know everyone, have a great time and be fabulous. Any socialite of the past or present becomes "famous" deliberately. So Babe and Nan had pretty high flying pedigrees. Babe was WASP pedigree and Nan Our Crowd (German Jewish wealth and NYC Jewish old money as opposed to Eastern European Jews lie the Lauder family). R49, Babe was a Cushing from Boston and Nan was from a wealthy family in San Fran (Schaefer, sp? I think) and married into the Loeb/Lehman fortunes. ![]()
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