Newspaper Page Text
American magazine Section of fiearst’s Sunday American, Atlanta, August 17, m
Copyright, 1913, by the
7. Star Cempnriy.
Qrcat Britain Rights Resent a
44 Every year the wicked extrava
gance grows! Fortunes are thrown
to Folly t and all for—a bubble!**
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“The Sky’s the Limit,’’ the
Slogan of Society ’s Frivolous
Summer Capital, Which Aims
to Break This Year in Waste
ful Foolish Frolics All Its
Fortune-Squandering Records.
flOLLY flying on the wings of
the west wind" is the New
port season as seen by a
prominent diplomat spending
the Summer in the heart of the Circus
Set. The season may have been late
in getting into its accustomed stride,
but since Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish’s Fairy
Ball ushered in August, Folly and Ex
travagance have been rampant. In the
words of one of Folly’s band, "We are
out to break all records in foolishness,
extravagance and scandal. We are
limited only by the sky above.”
Newport, of course, has a reputation
to keep up. Each season the limit for
extravagance and hilarity has been
raised until at last the "no-limit” stage
has been reached. And each year the
pace has been set by a different group
of young matrons. At one time It was
Mrs. Oliver Belmont, Mrs. Bish and
Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs who started the
ball and kept it rolling. East year Mrs.
"Neely” Vanderbilt and Mrs. Belmont
rivalled each other until it seemed that-
either one or the other would become
bankrupt in ideas if not wealth.
This Summer the social reins are
firmly held in the hands of Mrs. Robert
Goelet, Mrs. Craig Biddle and Mrs.
Dick Stevens, and the wealth of Midas
is at their back. Money is no object
with these young matrons when It is a
question of putting the entertainments
of other years in the shade.
Mrs. Fish’s bidding for Folly’s favor
started the extravagant entertainments
of the year.
The Circus Set is still talking of the
Fairy Ball. Naturally Mrs. Fish wanted
something that mere money alone could
not produce. Oriental effects were ta
booed, for Mrs. Xapderbilt reached the
summit last year in that field. No one
has ever tried a fairy ball before in
Newport. The everyday lives led by
the members of the Circus Set are more
like fairy tales than real truth any way.
Jewels whose total value would have
put the diamond mines of Kimberley
to shame were gathered in th6 new
ballroom at Crossways the night the
Fairies held sway. Their value was
so great that Mrs. Fish had a dozen
plain-clothes detectives on guard to
protect her guests. There was the
Queen of the Fairies in crown and robe
of jewels. Diamonds hung from her
gown and draped her figure so that she
scintillated with every move.
"Two million dollars could not du
plicate those jewels,” said one man
whose father made a fortune in the
diamond business.
In keeping with the extravagance of
the costumes the favors were costly
beyond anything ever given in New
port. Fairies cannot be treated as
common mortals. The beautiful ball
room and the other rooms on the lower
floor - re free formed into veritable
fairy bowers at a cost that only an ex-
'pert accountant could compute.
The day after this triumph Ihenew
Triple Alliance, as Mesdames Biddle,
Stevens and Goelet call themselves,
met in solemn conclave,
Urged by Folly, they decided that
they must go Mrs. Fish one better.
"And this will be hard,” said Mrs.
Biddle.
The Andrew Morelands of Pittsburgh
and the Charlie Welshes of Philadel
phia had made bids which had to be
carefully considered.
With all this extravagance and with
so much originality to outdo, Is it any
wonder the Triple Alliance looks wor
ried?
And what is the result? Mrs. Goelet
will wind up her series of dances with
a Living Picture dance, at which every
member of the Circus Set is to repre
sent some famous picture. As any
thing is proper where Art is concerned,
any picture but the "September Morn”
will be voted eligible for reproduction.
Folly whispers as she waits for higher
***** A
•pHOX® By CAMPBELL
STUDIO.
MRS. ROBERT GOELET.
Who Proposes a “Living Picture” Dance.
PHOTO
. BY
CAMPBELL
STUDIO
MRS. CRAIG BIDDLE.
Whose Extravagance Makes Even Folly Gasp
bids for her favor that this will be one
of the most stupendous hits of the year
and one that will be most difficult to
rival in extravagance and excitement.
Mrs. Stevens, who has all the wealth
of the Stevens family of Hoboken at
her command, places before Folly her
scheme to take over Easton's Beach for
two nights, going Mrs. Belmont one bet
ter. For two nights at a cost of from
$50,000 to $100,000 the new Coney Isl
and will belong to Folly's band. Dia
monds will flash and pearls glimmer up
and down the roller coaster and round
and round the merry-go-round.
What is there left for Folly to wait
for? Has she not been given every bid
that human can think of? With the
close of the season she will have re
ceived at her feet more than one mill
ion dollars, more than one ruined repu
tation, more than one broken home.
There are dozens of balls and routs not
listed here, more than one can count.
There will be nights when the Circus
Set will go from one dance to another,
and then on to a third—times when it
will be staggering home in broad day
light, with priceless jewels hanging
crookedly on haggard figures and fram
ing haggard faces. But what would
you? Folly flies high when there is no
limit but the sky.
is
*
A
MRS. DICK STEVEMg,
Who Tells “Folly” She Will Take Over Newport’s ,
Coney Island for a Two Nights’ Run.