Mrs. Astor Regrets

by Meryl Gordon

  "She wanted to talk": Author phone interview with Sandra Graves, Sept. 2007.

  [>] "One day he knocked me down": Marilyn Berger, "Being Brooke Astor," New York Times Magazine, May 20, 1984.

  "a trust fund": Mrs. Lester Perrin to Suzanne Kuser, n.d. Courtesy of Suzanne Kuser.

  [>] "I hardly ever saw": Author interview with Suzanne Kuser in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2007.

  "He once created": Kravchenko interview.

  "I had an affair:" Eileen Simpson interview with Brooke Astor, June 15, 1996, New York Public Library, Vincent Astor Foundation collection.

  Buddie Marshall finally left: Frances Kiernan, The Last Mrs. Astor (New York: W. W. Norton, 2007), p. 73.

  "I was quite shocked": Mrs. Lester Perrin to Suzanne Kuser.

  [>] "I didn't like it": Author interview with Tony Marshall at his home, Sept. 16, 2005.

  "At the age of six": Tony Marshall, speech to U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation, Russell Leadership Award ceremonies, Oct. 26, 2005, transcript.

  "I'm totally for abortion": Regina Nadelson, "Wednesday Women: Dollar Duchess," Guardian, June, 8, 1988.

  "In my day": Author interview with confidential source.

  "He was very shy": Author interview with Samuel Peabody at his home, Apr. 17, 2007.

  [>] "My grandfather said": Author interview with Tony Marshall at Westchester County Surrogate's Court, Oct. 19, 2007.

  General Russell also called the Brooks School: Astor, Footprints, p. 232.

  Tony went to war: Marshall, speech to U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation.

  When his father learned: Astor, Footprints, p. 232.

  "I led a platoon": Tony Marshall interview, Oct. 19, 2007.

  [>] "Brooke was in a dither": Louis Auchincloss interview.

  "I didn't really want": Tony Marshall interview, Sept. 16, 2005.

  [>] "She got a lot of money out of him": Author interview with confidential source. Dryden finally took Tony to court: Astor, Footprints, p. 232.

  "The boy was another": Brooke Astor, The Last Blossom on the Plum Tree (New York: Random House, 1986), p. 5.

  "From his first spanking": Anthony D. Marshall, Dash (New York: Vantage, 2001), p. 15.

  "Dryden used to call": Author phone interview with Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith, May 17, 2007.

  [>] "Brooke was supporting him": Louis Auchincloss interview.

  [>] "Who the hell": Author phone interview with Cynthia Meanwell, July 2007.

  "They've changed things around": Tony Marshall interview, Westchester County Surrogate's Court, Sept. 5, 2007.

  5. AN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  [>] Brooke was left with: Frances Kiernan, The Last Mrs. Astor (New York: W. W. Norton, 2007), p. 102.

  "She was feeling": Author interview with confidential source.

  [>] Astor's sprawling real estate empire: "Son is Chief Heir," Washington Post, May 7, 1912.

  memory of being locked: Brooke Astor, Footprints (New York: Doubleday, 1980), pp. 303, 278–79.

  "Always Kept Under Guard," Washington Post, July 17, 1904.

  product of Ava Astor's illicit affair: Justin Kaplan, When the Astors Owned New York (New York: Viking, 2006) p. 150.

  "She was a tigress": Interview with Ivan Obolensky in Manhattan, Oct. 11, 2007.

  [>] "The perils of being young": "Good Mate for Astor," Washington Post, May 23, 1913

  "She is a typical": "Vincent Astor Is Wed," Washington Post, Nov. 8, 1913.

  "Mr. Astor was shocked": "Vincent Astor Dies in his Home at 67," New York Times, Feb. 4, 1959.

  [>] "Any crank": Jonathan Alter, The Defining Moment (New York: Simon & Shuster, 2006), pp. 168–71.

  "Fun with Friends," Time, Apr. 9, 1934.

  At a Washington dinner party: David Grafton, The Sisters (New York: Villard, 1992), p. 39.

  [>] "The word got out": Ivan Obolensky interview.

  "I was terrified": Author interview with Reinaldo Hererra at his home, May 2007.

  "If you have the slightest doubt": Vincent Astor to Brooke Astor, bound volume for Brooke Astor's one hundredth birthday party. Courtesy of David Rockefeller.

  [>] "It was important": Author interview with Barbara Goldsmith at her home, Mar. 15, 2007.

  "Vincent would to go this sanitorium": Ivan Obolensky interview.

  "If she married him": Author interview with Louis Auchincloss at his home, Nov. 16, 2007.

  "only a few relatives": "Mrs. Marshall Wed to Vincent Astor," New York Times, Oct. 9, 1953.

  [>] "I asked him what I should do": Author interview with Tony Marshall, Westchester County Surrogate's Court, Oct. 17, 2007.

  [>] "Tony clearly loved those days": Author interview with Frances Fitzgerald at her home, Apr. 11, 2007.

  "She did not approve": Author phone interview with Winthrop Aldrich, Feb. 2008. (This is not the same Winthrop Aldrich mentioned by David Rockefeller in Chapter 1.)

  "I saw very little of Tony": Astor, Footprints, pp. 303–4.

  [>] "At ten-thirty A.M.": Author phone interview with Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith, multiple interviews, May 17, 2007–Mar. 2008.

  74 "Vincent had a boat": Author phone interview with James McCabe, July 20, 2007.

  "He was tall and gruff": Author phone interview with Emily Harding, Feb. 2008.

  "Vincent had one of the early VWs": Author interview with Philip Marshall, multiple interviews, July 31, 2006–June 2008.

  he revised his will: Vincent Astor will, May 15, 1957.

  [>] "I don't think I can stand": Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith interview.

  "You are the luckiest": Barbara Goldsmith interview.

  [>] "I've had it": Ivan Obolensky interview; Kiernan, The Last Mrs. Astor, pp. 144–45.

  "He used to change": Astor, Footprints, pp. 323–24.

  [>] "'Vincent drank so much'": Astor, Footprints, pp. 323–25; Kiernan, The Last Mrs. Astor, pp. 139–45.

  "Please Help": "Please Help Poor John Jacob Astor," Washington Post, June 21, 1959.

  "Vincent Astor had died": Author phone interview with Albert Hadley, Apr. 2008.

  6. WHITE-GLOVE PHILANTHROPY

  [>] "Vincent told me": Videotaped interview with Brooke Astor by Peg Breen, president of the Landmarks Conservancy, Nov. 1984. Collection of the Landmarks Conservancy.

  [>] "Brooke was perfectly aware": Author interview with Philippe de Montebello at the Metropolitan Museum, Mar. 12, 2008.

  During the city's newspaper strike: Author interview with Robert Silvers, June 2008.

  "outdoor living rooms": "Mrs. Astor Sponsors Outdoor Living Rooms," Washington Post, Mar. 6, 1966.

  "Brooke really came into her own": Author interview with Howard Phipps at his office, June 12, 2007.

  [>] "Mrs. Astor came frequently": Author phone interview with Marie Ridder, June 2007.

  "She had this wonderful personality": Author phone interview with Elizabeth Corbett, July 2007.

  "I thought it was wonderful": Author phone interview with Nancy Reagan, Apr. 25, 2007.

  "If I go up to Harlem": Marilyn Berger, "Being Brooke Astor," New York Times, May 20, 1984.

  [>] "Brooke, to her ever-loving credit": Author interview with Peter Duchin, Nov. 1, 2006.

  "There was consternation": Author interview with Ashton Hawkins at his office, Sept. 2005.

  "She was not a snob": Philippe de Montebello interview.

  [>] "I went to things": Author interview with Liz Smith in Manhattan, Jan. 23, 2007.

  "If you are an Astor": "Mrs. Astor Sponsors Outdoor Living Rooms."

  "Vincent was a very suspicious man": Dana Kennedy, Associated Press; "The Grand Mrs. Astor, a Young 90, Works Hard at Giving Away Money," Los Angeles Times, Mar. 22, 1992, p. A3.

  I knew he was hard up": Caroline Seebohm, No Regrets (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), p. 280.

  83 "Hiring the actor Frederic Bradlee": Author interview with Alexandra Schlesinger, Feb. 1, 2007; "Mrs. J. H. Russell, Mother of Mrs. Vincent Astor, Dies," New York Times, Apr. 1, 1967.

  "
She made a big effort": Author phone interview with James McCabe, July 20, 2007.

  "bathed in a glow": Enid Nemy, "Emeralds Cast Their Glow on a Night of Oriental Splendor," New York Times, Dec. 2, 1976, p. 58.

  "I was invited": Brooke Astor, "Not at the Party," New York Times, Mar. 2, 1970.

  [>] "I was desperately upset": Author phone interview with Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith, multiple interviews, May 17, 2007–Mar. 2008.

  "I don't think we saw it coming": Author phone interview with Philip Marshall, multiple interviews, July 28, 2006–June 2008.

  [>] "Visiting my father and grandmother": Author interview with Alec Marshall at his home, Dec. 12, 2007.

  "Philip was artistic": Author phone interview with Toby Hilliard, Aug. 2007.

  [>] "I've got to give my father credit": Philip Marshall interview.

  "svelte, sixtyish": Judy Klemesrud, "The Goal of Brooke Astor: Easing the Misery of Others," New York Times, June 16, 1968.

  [>] "I'm sure that her contributions": Author interview with Henry Kissinger at his office, Sept. 19, 2007.

  "Brooke bought": Author interview with Suzanne Kuser in Washington, D.C., June 28, 2007.

  "Anybody who wants to be an ambassador": Richard Reeves, President Nixon: Alone in the White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 462.

  "Brooke used to say": Author interview with Louis Auchincloss at his home, Nov. 16, 2006.

  "I was a friend of Dick Nixon": Author interview with Tony Marshall at his home, Sept. 16, 2005.

  Marshall contributed $20,000: Morton Mintz, "Nixon Got $1 Million Donation," Washington Post, Nov. 3, 1972.

  "Anthony [Tony] Marshall": "Suzy Says," Chicago Tribune, Dec. 16, 1969.

  "You can make it": Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Dec. 12, 1969, transcript.

  [>] "Madagascar was not one": Author phone interview with David Newsom, July 3, 2007.

  "We wondered": Author phone interview with Pamela Walker, Nov. 2007.

  "I had brought my ratty clothes": Philip Marshall interview.

  "He was persona non grata": Suzanne Kuser interview.

  [>] "in a supposed coup": "Little Black Lies: Spy Groups Increase Use of False Material to Put Enemy on the Spot," Wall Street Journal, Sept. 25, 1971.

  "aggressively attempted": Jim Hoagland, "Malagasy Demonstrators Quietened After Power Is Transferred to Army," Washington Post, May 22, 1972.

  Languishing in the tropics: Mintz, "Nixon got $1 Million Donation."

  "I suspect the influence": David Newsom interview.

  89 "Tony was competent": Henry Kissinger interview.

  [>] He did some consulting work: Author interview with Tony Marshall, Sept. 16, 2005.

  his rate of return lagged: Selena Maranjian, "105 Years Old, with $816 in the Bank," Motley Fool, www.fool.com, Apr. 11, 2007.

  "You could often": Author interview with Linda Gillies, Oct. 2007.

  "My father had plenty of room": Alec Marshall interview.

  [>] "The wives couldn't get along": Suzanne Kuser interview.

  "lots of proposals": Judy Klemesrud, "The Private Moments of a Public Benefactor," New York Times, June 14, 1980.

  "delightful": Eden Ross Lipson, "Fairy Godmother," New York Times Book Review, Sept. 7, 1980, p. 14.

  "A lot of us knew": Howard Phipps interview.

  [>] "She asked all of the boards": Author interview with Ashton Hawkins at his office, July 16, 2007.

  "Ronnie was under the table": Author phone interview with Nancy Reagan, Apr. 25, 2007; John Duka, "The Elite Welcome Reagan, Who Offers Toast to the City," New York Times, Dec. 10, 1980.

  [>] "She could talk": Author interview with Vartan Gregorian at his office, Mar. 24, 2007.

  "By virtue of her prestige": Author interview with Paul LeClerc at the New York Public Library, May 17, 2007.

  "You had to be tough": Author phone interview with John Meaney, June 2008.

  [>] "It was Brooke's way of saying": Author interview with John Hart in Manhattan, Sept. 26, 2006.

  "It was traffic": Nancy Reagan interview.

  [>] "How am I going to find": Author phone interview with Oscar de la Renta, Mar. 2008.

  "Brooke was always": Author interview with Annette de la Renta at her home, Jan. 29, 2008.

  "She was a hellion": Author interviews with Betsy and Victor Gotbaum at their home, Jan. 13, 2008.

  [>] Jane Pinto-Reis Brian: Douglas Martin, "Jane Engelhard, 86, Fixture in Society and Philanthropy," New York Times, Mar. 3, 2004.

  His death, on the cusp: "Fritz Mannheimer, Financier, Is Dead," New York Times, Aug. 11, 1939, p. 19; "Action Follows Shortly after Mannheimer's Death," New York Times, Aug. 12, 1939, p. 3.

  "cigar-smoking German Jew": "Post-War Story," Time, Aug. 21, 1939.

  [>] "pure-gold bracelets": Stephen Grover, "C. W. Engelhard, Industrialist, Dies at 54," Wall Street Journal, Mar. 3, 1971, p. 8.

  "I didn't know": Author phone interview with Susan O'Connor, Mar. 2008.

  "People think Annette": Oscar de la Renta interview.

  "one could not infer": John Heminway, "At Home on the Range," Town & Country, Aug. 1997, p. 78.

  [>] "Brooke admired Jane": Author phone interview with Robert Silvers, Mar. 2008.

  "Her stepfather adored her": Betsy Gotbaum interview.

  "We had the nannies": Susan O'Connor interview.

  "She'd make everybody laugh": Author phone interview with Elise Lufkin, Mar. 2008.

  99 "People practically committed suicide": Liz Smith, Dishing (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), pp. 67–71.

  "I loved her": Annette de la Renta interview (multiple interviews).

  "enormous chocolate cake": Oscar de la Renta interview (multiple interviews).

  "They are among": Enid Nemy, "They Look Alike, They Dress Alike, They Like Each Other Very Much," New York Times, Apr. 1, 1967, p. 16.

  [>] "Annette was unquestionably": Author interview with John Richardson at his home, June 5, 2007.

  "Brooke was a better mother": Author phone interview with Florence Irving, Apr. 2008.

  "They could be unguarded": Author interview with Randy Bourscheidt in Manhattan, June 8, 2007.

  "Jane gathered into herself": Robert Silvers interview.

  "When my mother moved": Susan O'Connor interview.

  [>] "My wife died": Oscar de la Renta interview.

  "Astor herself": Julia Reed, "Brooke Astor. The Last Empress," Manhattan Inc., Sept. 1988.

  "It was unpleasant": Annette de la Renta interview.

  Oscar and Annette: "Mrs. Reed Weds Oscar de la Renta," New York Times, Dec. 28, 1989.

  "I was a little nervous": Betsy Gotbaum interview.

  "Brooke was clinging": Oscar de la Renta interview.

  [>] "They were playing": Robert Silvers interview.

  "She leaned over": Author phone interview with Tom Brokaw, Mar. 27, 2007.

  "Why couldn't Mr. Clinton": Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Journals: 1952–2000 (New York: Penguin, 2007), p. 719.

  "I think there was a moment": Howard Phipps interview.

  "Tony was always trying": Author interview with Viscount William Astor, Dec. 26, 2007.

  "She unraveled to the point": John Meaney interview.

  [>] "Brooke said, 'Go out'": Philippe de Montebello interview.

  But that autumn: Linda Gilles interview.

  "My son is not an Astor": Geraldine Fabrikant, "Brooke Astor Has a Year's Worth of Giving Left," New York Times, Dec. 18. 1996, p. A1.

  [>] "I'd see her pull herself:" Author interview with confidential source.

  "He was always giving her grief": Author interview with Robert Pirie, Sept. 2007.

  7. THE PERILS OF CHARLENE

  [>] When Mrs. Astor awoke: Author interview with Alicia Johnson in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 17, 2007.

  [>] "Maine was perfect": Author interview with Judy Miller in Manhattan, Apr. 2007.

  "The house in Maine": Author phone interview with Barbara Walters, Jan. 18, 2008.

  106 "T
hey were fighting": Author interview with Betty Halpern in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 19, 2007.

  "This party was not": Author interview with Bob Pyle in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 19, 2008.

  [>] "She was hell on wheels": Judy Miller interview.

  "She was terrible": Author interview with Freddy Melhado at his home, June 4, 2007.

  "They wanted me to dissuade her": Author phone interview with Naomi Packard-Koot, Mar. 2008.

  "She would be sitting there": Alicia Johnson interview.

  [>] "Mrs. de la Renta": Brooke Astor phone logs, 1990–92; Brooke Astor summer calendar schedules, 2000–2002.

  "George went every summer": Author phone interview with Susan Trescher, Jan. 2007.

  "By the time I left": Author interview with Paul Pearson in Manhattan, Mar. 21, 2007.

  "Christopher is outstanding": Joel Schumacher, Jan. 22, 1990.

  [>] "Brooke read it": Author interview with John Hart in Manhattan, Sept. 26, 2006.

  "She would get into": Alicia Johnson interview.

  "Brooke couldn't talk on the phone": Author phone interview with Emily Harding, Mar. 2008.

  [>] "We were both nutty": Author interview with Nancy Pyne in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 19, 2007.

  "Is this another thing": Author phone interview with James McCabe, July 20, 2007.

  "I don't know why": Author interview with Gerrit Lansing in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 18, 2007.

  "She'd be right on top": Author interview with Steve Hamor in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 18, 2007.

  "'You'll have a job here'": Author interview with Steve Hamor Jr. in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 18, 2007.

  [>] "The high point came": Author interview with Robert Pirie, Sept. 2007.

  "Sometimes I lie down": Marilyn Berger. "Being Brooke Astor," New York Times, May 20, 1984.

  "Brooke told me": Author interview with Marshall Rose at his office, Apr. 10, 2007.

  "I didn't understand": Author interview with Peggy Pierrepont, May 11, 2007.

  [>] "You have to provide": Author interview with Frances Fitzgerald at her office, Apr. 11, 2007

  "I liked the fact": Author phone interview with Paul Gilbert, Jan. 6, 2008.

  "We admitted later": Author interview with Tony Marshall at Westchester County

  Surrogate's Court, Oct. 19, 2007.

  [>] "He could walk": Author phone interview with Oscar Johnson Small, Jr., Jan. 2008.