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| Beautiful Marilyn Tolley |
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| Design for Perry Como's tunic |
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| Me wearing Perry Como's tunic |
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| Marilyn and me at Donald Trumps Christmas Party |
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| Helen Boehm and me at the Breakers Construction Ball |
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| Marilyn and me at the Victorian Ball for Planned Parenthood |
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| Bob and Martha's home in Palm Beach |
Living in Palm Beach from 1982 to 1992 gave me a taste of the “life of rich and famous.” The bank had me live good life to get the customers; charity balls, private parties and grand openings such as Trump Towers. I must admit living in my ocean front condo on South Ocean Blvd was not the tough life. It was rather enjoyable or really very enjoyable. It was a 24 unit building and each unit was 3,000 sq. ft., had views of both the ocean and intracoastal . Having a pool right on the ocean and your own private beach was what I call the good life. As part of my job the bank paid for me to go to a number of big charity benefits each year each costing from $250 to $1,000 a plate. A few, stand out as extraordinarily grand or down right tasteless. The Palm Beach Opera Balls were always grand and events you truly looked forward to, as were The American Cancer Society Balls and Planned Parenthood.
There are a few that truly stand out over the ten year period. I think the most memorable has to be The Palm Beach Opera Ball Mardi Gras in 1986. I had a very good friend that was Manager of Van Clef and Arpels, Worth Ave Store. Ron once told me of a $6 million necklace of yellow and white gold with turquoise and diamonds. I actually sat next to the woman who owned it at an affair a few weeks later, Well, weeks before the Mardi Gras ball everyone attending was trying to come up with a costume to out do everyone else. There was a body builder in dark makeup with just a loin cloth and the most incredible Indian headdress with feathers trailing to the floor. One man came as the devil in a body fitting red sequin outfit with a tail that actually moved and real horns on his head. The King and Queen of the Mardi Gras was determined by the couple that donated the most money to the Palm Beach Opera. That was Bob and Arlette Gordon. They were both rather short and stocky people. They were dressed as Anthony and Cleopatra, Arlette was dressed in flowing gold lame and with the regal serpent headdress and Bob as the Pharaoh also in robes of gold and azure blue with a copy of the familiar Pharaoh headdress. They were both borne into the room on gold biers carried by local bodybuilders sprayed gold from head to toe wearing small gold bikinis followed by those Egyptian feather fans on large gold poles. It was truly a spectical to watch. Marilyn Tolley, a Palm Beach artist and dear friend was my steady to all the parties and balls. She had a beautiful home in Palm Beach, just a few hundred feet from the turquoise waters of the Atlantic. One night we were sitting out by her pool trying to decide what we were going to wear to the ball that was only 3 weeks away. All of a sudden she jumped up and said stay there I have an idea. She ran into the house and came out a couple of minutes later with the most over the top men’s purple velvet, silver lame, and crystal tunic that you could possible imagine. She here try it on, it fit like it was made for me. That’s it she said. “I will take it to my dress maker and have a gown made to match it and we can go as a royal couple. The next day I was having lunch with Ron from Van Cleef’s and told him about the tunic and that it was worn by Perry Como when he was King of the Mardi Gras in 1976. Perry and his wife were good friends of Marilyn and her ex-husband; Perry loaned it to him to wear to a ball and he never did. So this would be the first airing of this very elaborate 15 pound tunic in Palm Beach. I was telling Ron about it and he asked me to get it after lunch and bring it to the store for him to see. He could not believe how over the top it was but loved it as did I. He asked what Marilyn was wearing and I told him she was having a gown made to go with it. Later that week I went out and bought a pair of very plain, fairly high boots and a pair of white leotards, some purple dye some silver spray paint and a large glass ring from the 5 and dime store in West Palm. A little work and my outfit would be complete, or so I thought. I dyed the leotards a purple a few shade lighter than the tunic and spray painted the boots with silver spray paint. My outfit was complete. A week later I got a call from Ron and he said for Marilyn and me not to plan to wear anything on our heads he would take care of that. The week before the ball he asked Marilyn and me to come to the store. We sat in their elegant showroom with millions of dollars of diamonds in bullet proof frames on the wall. He came out with pictures of what we would be wearing on our respective heads the next week. He said we could have them for the night on one condition, that we were willing to have two armed guards accompany us for the entire evening; from the time we left the store in the limo he would provide until it brought us back to the store after the ball. After we saw the pictures and the descriptions, we both agreed that we would love to do it. What we would be wearing would be incredible publicity for him and the store and would be sure to make us the most talked about couple at the ball, even well over and above the Gordons, which was fine, because no one really liked them anyway. Marilyn called me a couple of days before the party and asked me to bring my outfit over, she wanted to see how we looked together since she just got her gown. Oh my god, it was incredible. Layers of silver and gold lame, she looked like a Queen going to her coronation. The day of the ball she went to her salon with a picture of what she would be wearing on her head and her hairdresser out did herself. The limo arrived at my condo about 7 with an armed guard, we then went the few short miles to Marilyn palatial home and picked her up. Wow, she looked beautiful. Then to Worth Ave and Van Cleef and Arpels to get our crowning glories. And they were crowns. Marilyn was wearing Josephine’s crown with 5, 30 carat emeralds and hundreds of diamonds. Resting on my head for the evening would be Napoleon’s crown with over 583 diamonds. No one was forewarned what we would be wearing, no one could know ahead of time for security reasons. The limo pulled up to the portico of the Grand Ball Room and the doorman opened the door. As usual the local paparazzi were there to greet everyone for the society papers. As the security guard a huge muscular guy slid out of the car flashes went off. Then Marilyn was helped out in her beautiful gown and the bedazzling crown. The paparazzi went crazy. The guard kept them all at bay.
I got out of the limo in my purple bejeweled tunic and my crown. I don’t know which was brighter my crown or all the flashes. In the lobby and hallway to the ballroom were other guest we all knew and more paparazzi. It took us a good 20 minutes to get to the main ballroom of the Hyatt Regency. Mort Kaye the society photographer on the Island took a series of photographs of us sitting and standing in different poses which trumped the Gordon’s We had a great evening and were told we were the true the King and Queen of the Ball which I think rather upset the Gordons to no end. Hell, I could not even go to the men’s room without the guard going with me. When we danced the guard was always only a few feet away. It was a fun evening and one that you could only dream of and the great memories are made from.
There were other great parties, The American Cancer Society Red Ball where all the women wore red gowns or had red on someplace. Marilyn being a Marilyn Monroe type of beautiful blonde , in her later 40’s wore a skin tight red silk gown. I wore tux with a cutaway jacket a red cummerbund and a red bow tie. I have to tell you that the bank paid for all these tickets and for whatever I was going to wear if I did not already have it. “Good PR.” The guest of honor that night was Lucia Albanese, the world renown opera singer from the 20’s through the early 50’s. Lucia lived in Palm Beach and was a regular at the Opera Balls and the Cancer Balls. Pushing her mid 80’s she sang Un bel di from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. She still had something there. If we could all sing like that even in our prime. The party was at the Breakers in the Venetian Ball Room that opened right on to the ocean. It was a room that looked like it had been transported form the Medici Palace in Venice all marble, floors, walls and columns that rose over 30 feet. The ceiling was done in cloud frescoes, it was very regal. The room sat comfortably, 700 for dinner and the adjoining Mediterranean Ball Room over 300. Our table was right on the dance floor which provided us with a great view of all those attending.
Planned Parenthood always held their balls at the Flager Museum which was Henry Flagler’s Mansion, Whitehall, right on the Intracoastal. Built at the turn of the century by railroad magnate Henry Flagler, this one of a kind Palm Beach mansion is over 70,000 sq ft with 70 large and very grand rooms, including a 4,800 sf grand entrance hall of marble, gold and frescoes. Two ball rooms and lush grounds. Planned Parenthood always took advantage of the island’s wonderful weather and planned the first part of the evening on the front and side lawns. In 1986 the theme of the evening was a International Grand Victorian Ball. Palm Beach Society went all out some period clothes and many made for the night by their couturiers. Marilyn and I both wore native 19th century Austrian costumes. Both our outfits came from the costume shop in West Palm Beach. It was a beautiful warm night. It was the kick off of Palm Beach Society Season. The grounds were covered with different International Victorian Pavilions, made especially for the even by master party planner Bruce Sutko. The one thing that really interested me was the fortune teller’s tents. I had always been leery of having my fortune told but was talked into it by a number of friends. Ok, I agreed, but how; my palm read, tarot cards, psychics, astrologers or a palmist. I picked the palmist. Now let me digress for a few minutes to lay some ground work. For years, decades, I had had a reoccurring dream normally more than once a week. I would be walking out of the Doges’ Palace in Venice in a green tunic, a hat with a feather and green leather shoes with a buckle. I would get in a gondola and go one block, turn left go under a rather high bridge to the next building. The gondola would pull over to the left of the canal I would get out doors would open I would climb wide marble stairs and end up in a white, gray and pink marble grand hall. The dream ended there. It was always exactly the same and never changed one bit. April of 1985, the doctors discovered that my mom’s colon cancer had metastasized to her liver. They operated but could not remove the diseased parts because it was too large. The following February she would tell me she needed a full time care giver and that she wanted me. She would pay me my salary prior to taxes and when she passed I would not have to worry. Well when your terminally ill mother asks you, you do what is needed. The first week in February I quit my job with an offer that I could come back whenever I wanted to. May Mom died. It was a very rough time. I was an only child, my dad had died 16 years before, I was divorced and not on any kind of terms with my ex, who I found out a month after the divorce, was having an affair while I was trying to get a job in Florida and married 4 days after the divorce. When my step father died his trust was set up so that I and my children could get money if we had any true financial, education or health needs. When my mom was to pass I would be set with an income for life and the children’s education, health and financial needs would be taken care of. Mom suffered a tremendous amount and died the week before my birthday in the end of May. I put her home in Palm Beach and her home on the New Jersey shore on the market and cleaned out both and kept what I wanted and sold the rest. The home in Florida sold in a few weeks. So I moved up to her NJ house to try to recollect my thoughts. The end of July I moved back to my small condo in West Palm and started to look for something larger.
In August, I found the condo I loved on the ocean in Palm Beach. After finishing it I moved in the beginning of September. It was a 24 unit building with four apartments per floor, each 2,900 sf. There was a basic floor plan but me getting it in the raw I could customize it the way I wanted. At that time the in colors were gray, mauve and cream. The living room faced the intracostal and was 20 x 30 with a 30 x 10 ft balcony off of it. The entire outside walls were windows 90 some feet down the side. There were beautiful ocean views out every window. I tiled the floors of the 60 foot gallery, kitchen dinning room and living room in an Italian porcelain tile, with gray suede wall covering and crystal chandeliers in the entrance foyer and guest bath. The guest bath was all black. Black marble floors and black silk wall coverings that had been hand painted with gray silver gold and a light azure blue in very large paisleys . All were a little different. That was on two walls and the ceiling, the other two walls were black mirrors. It was a small but very striking room. The master bedroom had gray carpet and light French blue walls. The very large master bath had gray, beige, white, and maroon marble floors and the wall paper was a gray that looked exactly like marble. The second bedroom also had gray walls but the carpet was a deep rich maroon. The bath had travertine floors with a contemporary paper made in the same color as the carpet. I turned the third bedroom into a TV room den. Instead of a large storage closet on one wall of the dining room I had a beautiful wet bar lined with gold tinted mirrors and large glass shelves with no support. The shelves were thick enough glass that the support of the mirrors on the back and end held up the shelves. There were storage cabinets under the wet bar. There were mirrors strategically placed in the living room so when you were in the dining room you you see the ocean from wherever you sat. It was a beautiful apartment. What made the building so much like a home was that out of the 24 units only 4 were year round residents.
Ok, with that long diversion, let me get back to the palmist. All we did was exchange pleasantries in the beginning. He asked my name and age and that was the end of our conversations. The first thing he told me was that I had a long life line and that it looked like I would live to be 104. ( that has been told to me twice since.) He then started to tell me that I have a reoccurring dream. I just looked at him not saying anything. He proceeded to tell about my dream in FULL detail. When he finished he said are you alright. I just looked at him and said you are amazing. Then he asked me if I wanted him to go on. All I could think about was mom. I said yes. Now remember, this was In November, the beginning of the Season. He told me that in February I would have a major decision to make, (quit my job to take care of mom,) the beginning of summer would be very difficult for me, (mom’s death)as fall started I would have another major decision and then things would begin to return to normal. With that he said there was no more. So within that 5 or so minutes the next 10 months of my life were put out in front of me. It all came true.
There were many other grand balls that season. The next memorable time was Christmas of 1988. Marilyn and I both got an invitation to the Grand Opening Christmas Party of the new luxury apartment high rise Trump Towers, owned by Donald Trump. Martha Gottfried a beautiful lady and friend and the major Palm Beach realtor had invited us the evening of the Palm Beach Christmas Boat Parade, and to meet Donald. Champagne, caviar and all good things like that flowed freely. Donald made his rounds to make everyone feel welcome and at home. There were Christmas presents for everyone from Donald and Martha. It was not a formal evening but very grand; it was a beautiful vantage point from the 4th floor terrace to watch all the decorated yachts pass by.
I mentioned Martha Gottfried earlier. Bob and Martha were one of the major power couples on the island. Martha owned the most prestigious real estate agency on the island. She had the listing of 95% of all the mansions on the island. Martha was a beautiful woman but was more important she was a beautiful person inside. She always has time for her friends and loved being with them. Bob owned the major contracting firm; building and remodeling mansions. One year, in addition to building homes for individuals he built four spec homes on the ocean ranging in price from $15 to $27 million. In the mid 1980’s they purchased a home on High Mount Rd. It was a nice home right on the Lake Worth, the Intracoastal. They demolished the home and started to build their dream house. Their magnificent home was well over 17,000 sf with an underground parking garage for 16 cars. The ceilings were 22 ft, most walls and floors were white and gray marble with huge marble columns. It was a grand palace. The basement held 3 wine cellars, red, white and aging, a full nautilus gym, a pizza parlor seating 50, separate men’s and woman’s locker room and the base of a incredible 2 story atrium and a theater. Each of their own bathrooms were 25 x 25 Bob’s in black marble and mirrors and Martha’s was white marble with a 7’ sunken marble oval tub with a crystal dome over it and a crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the dome. Her closet was made with a chain like at a dry cleaners and went up two stories. Martha’s kitchen was incredible; and as a gourmet cook, she truly enjoyed cooking wonderful dinners for all her friends. The back of the home face the Intracoastal and had 4- 18 foot glass arches that disappeared into the floor and marble coping folded over and made a smooth surface from the 50 foot great room to the terrace. The 50 x 20 foot terrace had very wide steps that lead to another terrace where there was a Greek swimming pool. The pool and surrounding deck were at least 15 feet above ground level which offered an incredible view of the lake. Within a month after the home was completed they hosted a very small open house that was covered by the magazine TOWN AND COUNTRY. There was a reporter and photographer at the party and a helicopter and photographer overhead. There were less than 30 friends invited. Marilyn and I were among the fortunate few. The afternoon was beautiful, blue sky and perfect temperature. We were all taken on individual tours by Martha and Bob. Two months later there was an article in Town and Country about the great swimming pools of Palm Beach. There we were Marilyn and me on the pool deck terrace in a photo from the helicopter. Very sadly, Martha died a couple of years later of a brain hemorrhage.
Later that year the Breakers Hotel broken ground for their condominium complex next to the hotel and they threw a “Construction Party.” All invitees were to wear construction costumes. Marilyn wore painters cap, tee shirt with a plunger on her hip, plunger end up. Within the first 30 minutes she had over $20.00 in the plunger. Good money for doing nothing. I wore my VA Tech tee shirt with a pack of cigarettes in the rolled up sleeve, a scuffed up hard hat, construction boots, short cutoff tight jeans and a hammer in my tool belt. This was in the fall after my divorce and I had lost a lot of weight and was really trim, a little over six feet fairly muscular and a tight 175 pounds. Marilyn said there was a woman that wanted to meet me. This had happened a few times at parties and I would end up taking these older women who did not have an escort to various functions. A gigolo, well probably, but I had a good time and the money was great. Marilyn brought me over to this attractive lady in her late 50’s early sixties who was dressed as a painter. You could just tell from looking at her she was money. She had a cap on, short bib overalls, red stockings and her purse was a glittered paint can with a brush attached. Her clothes were covered in different colors of paint. I was introduced to Helen Boehm. I kind of took a second breath. Helen was the President and owner of Boehm Porcelain, the finest porcelain manufactures in the United States. They were known for their birds and very delicate flowers. Some of their pieces would sell for more that $25,000. Every President of the United States had given Boehm Porcelain as a gift to foreign dignitaries or to heads of state when on an official visit. Helen and I talked for quite a while, then she excused herself and said she would be right back. She returned a couple of minutes later with Mort Kaye the society photographer and wanted him to take some pictures of the two of us. The next day one the lead pictures in the Shinny Sheet about the party was of Helen and me with her looking longingly up at me. I got ribbed unmercifully for weeks about that picture. That night fresh shrimp were plentiful, they had a big back hoe on the pool deck filled with ice and loaded with probably a couple thousand shrimp. What a feast. Well, Helen and I went to get some of them from the backhoe and on the way over she asked me what I was doing the next afternoon and evening. I replied nothing and she said she would like me to be her guest at the Polo match in Wellington. Now you have to understand that this was NO ordinary polo match. This was the World Cup for Polo. It was being held at the Wellington Polo Grounds about 20 miles west of Palm Beach. What the important fact was that her team, the Boehm Porcelain Polo Team was playing against the Rolex Team for this prestigious award. I had never been to a polo match before and told her so. She said she would give me a book on polo before I left that night. Helen lived in one of the two Breakers Penthouse apartments, the other one was owned by Madame Alexander of Madame Alexander Doll fame. Helen had her maid bring the book down to the party before Marilyn and I left. You see, this is the kind of thing the bank loved, for it was inroads to get deposits from the wealthy in Palm Beach, plus I always had a great time especially with my dear friend Marilyn. Helen asked me where I lived and said she would call me when they were on their way to pick me up. I had seen pictures of folks at the polo matches so I sort of knew what to wear from that. I had white linen slacks, a pale blue shirt and a little darker blazer. I got my call and went downstairs and waited just a few minutes while I talked to a couple neighbors. Well sir, you would not believe what pulled in to pick me up, THE MOST INCREDIBLE chauffer driven mid 1930’s Deusenburg. The chauffeur opened the door and Helen got out and asked me to get in and we drove off to Wellington with my neighbors mouths on the sidewalk. The match was very exciting and the Boehm Team won the World Cup. We were sitting in the main box and even met Prince Charles who was a friend of Helen’s. It was a day filled with memories.
I have always loved antiques and in West Palm Beach there were a couple of blocks that were know as Antique Row. I used to frequent that area about once a week and met the owner of the Dragon Lady Antiques. Jean had been a collector of fine oriental antiques for many years. Her collection was vast, ranging from the 600’s to about the early 1900’s. Most all of the inventory she had was in her home. Jean and I became fast friends. A native of Massachusetts, she was recently divorced from the largest contractor in the Newton area. She moved to Palm Beach with her son, 24, who left shortly after their arrival for Thailand for business. Here she was in West Palm with no friends and storage units full of priceless oriental antiques. She lived in a 3 room apartment, quite a change from her 18 room English Tudor mansion. To say Jean was an eccentric was like saying is the Queen British. She would go through a tube of bright red lipstick in about 3 days. She was a kisser too. God help you if she planted a big kiss on your cheek, it would take a lot of scrubbing to get off. I would usually bring my golden retriever with me when I went out and she loved Beau. Beau would always be greeted with a big RED kiss right on his nose. The poor dog, but he loved her and she him. As time passed and we became close and me knowledgeable in oriental antiques, block prints and antique silks, she would take vacations and leave me to tend to the shop. We would go to New York to buy from other dealers and estates and have a wonderful time. Jean became part of my family. She would spend all holidays at my condo and her Christmas, birthday, Easter, Thanksgiving and any occasion present were right from her shop. For Christmas one year she gave me a red silk Imperial Chinese child’s robe. Other gifts were cloisonne, 16th century silks and badges of gold thread and coral beads. She was a very generous person. I would always tell her no it was not right and too much and her response was ,”if you don’t accept it then don’t come back to the shop.” That was Jean! Customers had a very difficult time dealing with her. Her prices were on the high side, but , if she didn’t particularly care for someone she would price it higher and not sell it, or she would say oh that was in my home for years, I don’t really want to sell it. At that point I would interject myself and take over and usually sell the item. Jean’s divorce settlement was diminishing fast. Her no good son left with one of her credit cards and had already charged over $50,000 in the first year and she was spending much more than she was taking in. The summer of 1990 I went to Europe for the 4th year in a row, for a month. When I returned, the first place I went was to the shop. It was gone and Jean was gone and no one knew where she went. I have never been able to find her. This truly upset me. I miss my friend Jean. I always prayed that she did not take her life as she threatened many times.
1991 I returned to Europe for another month, that was my last trip to the continent. I have visited England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Belgium and Lichtenstein.
July of 1992, I met my partner Chris Carter and my life changed for the better for ever!
What an incredible story of life, prosperity and love. You have truly lived a unique life that you should relive daily with pride and a smile. Cheers!
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