In the latest addition to the poor-little-rich-girl bookshelf, tobacco heiress and Imelda Marcos-pal Doris Duke is portrayed by Washington Post reporter Mansfield as tightfisted, eccentric, and aimless. Duke was 12 when, in 1925, her father died and she inherited his vast fortune. An awkward teenager, she wore hand-me-downs from her mother and was said never to carry money. Her first husband, Jimmy Cromwell, was a charming fortune hunter with political ambitions; on their round-the-world honeymoon, his first check bounced, and from then on the pair lived on Duke's money. A stop in Hawaii led Duke to build a house there (she also had estates in Newport and New Jersey). When she and Cromwell split, WW II was on and Doris joined the United Seaman's Service and went abroad to serve in Cairo; before long, she had joined the OSS in Italy. She married legendary lover Porfiro Rubirosa and, after their divorce, hung out with jazz musicians and surrounded herself with psychics and faith healers. Duke shopped constantly (for instance, buying whole temples in Thailand and having them shipped back to the States) while astonishing her servants with her cheapness. Chandi Heffner, a Hare Krishna devotee, moved in with her in the mid-80's; Duke adopted this young woman, reputed to be her lover, only to evict her unapologetically opportunist ``daughter'' sometime after the pair became close to Marcos, then living in Hawaii. So Duke apparently sought fulfillment, bought lovers, and achieved little. Mansfield has amassed voluminous research, and there's a voyeuristic charge to following the spoiled whims of this notoriously reclusive heiress; and yet a seemingly petty, controlling woman without humor or flare makes for an unexciting biography.
Pub Date: June 8, 1992
ISBN: 0-399-13672-X
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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