Mrs. Astor Regrets (50 page)

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 "I revered Miss Madeira": Mort Sheinman and Lorna Koski, "The Last Queen,"
Women's Wear Daily,
Aug. 14, 2007, p. 1 (excerpts from 1991 interview).

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 "We were a totally miscast pair": Astor,
Footprints,
p. 39.
"She told me that she ran": Author interview with Liz Smith in Manhattan, Jan. 23, 2007.
"She was naughty": Author interview with Philippe de Montebello at the Metropolitan Museum, Mar. 12, 2008.
"When I can't sleep": Brooke Astor,
The Bluebird Is at Home
(New York: Harper & Row, 1965), p. 17.

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 "If only I were younger": Author interview with Vernon Jordan at his office, Apr. 9, 2007.
Faircourt, the family's grandiose: John Turpin and W. Barry Thomson,
New Jersey Country Houses: The Somerset Hills,
vol. I (Far Hills, N.J.: Mountain Colony Press, 2004); author visit to Faircourt, July 2007.

55 notorious robbery: "Adroit Thief Drugs Then Robs Kuser,"
New York Times,
Nov. 2, 1921; Astor,
Footprints,
pp. 57–58.

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 "Dryden was fast-drinking": Author phone interview with Andrew Kravchenko, July 2007.
"Having not participated": Astor,
Footprints,
p. 51.
"Now, Bob dear": Author interview with Bob Pyle in Northeast Harbor, Maine, July 19, 2007.
"She wanted to talk": Author phone interview with Sandra Graves, Sept. 2007.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "Brooke was in a dither": Louis Auchincloss interview.
"I didn't really want": Tony Marshall interview, Sept. 16, 2005.

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 "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.

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 "Brooke was supporting him": Louis Auchincloss interview.

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 "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

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 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.

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 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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "I don't think I can stand": Elizabeth Wheaton-Smith interview.
"You are the luckiest": Barbara Goldsmith interview.

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 "I've had it": Ivan Obolensky interview; Kiernan,
The Last Mrs. Astor,
pp. 144–45.
"He used to change": Astor,
Footprints,
pp. 323–24.

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 "'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

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

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "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.

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 "It was Brooke's way of saying": Author interview with John Hart in Manhattan, Sept. 26, 2006.
"It was traffic": Nancy Reagan interview.

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 "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.