The Medium and The Magician

Happy Halloween everyone! Recently, I watched a film that was released a few years ago called "Death Defying Acts" starring Guy Pearce as Houdini and Catherine Zeta-Jones as a fake psychic named Mary McGregor.  According to the copy on the back of the DVD "it is the year is 1926, and Houdini is an international superstar. Yet behind Houdini's winning smile resides the restless heart of a tortured soul. Isolated by fame and drowning in regret over having not been present to hear his mother's last words, Houdini sets out in tour of Scotland and announces that he will pay 10,000 dollars to anyone who can prove spiritual contact with his deceased mother. But in his determination to prove that there is life after death, Houdini also becomes the target of countless charlatans, scam artists, and self-proclaimed spiritualists. Of course, stunning psychic Mary McGregor and her daughter/sidekick, Benji, seem remarkably sincere in their supernatural talents, yet that doesn't mean that the pair doesn't have their own ulterior motives for making a connection with the world-famous magic man."

Sounds intriguing doesn't it? Well the irony is that movie is based somewhat on fact. In 1924, Houdini set out to expose a medium named Mina Crandon who used the name 'Margery.' Margery wasn't Scottish; she was a Canadian who lived in Boston with her physician husband. And the prize money was $2,500 put up by Scientific American to anyone who could prove that they had psychic powers. The judges were Walter Franklin Pierce, an American psychical researcher, Hereward Carrington, an occult writer, Daniel Comstock who introduced Technicolor to film, and William McDougall, a professor of psychology at Harvard University.

By 1924, Houdini was world famous as a magician, he'd even dabbled in the new medium of film, but his newest passion was debunking mediums. It wasn't that Houdini wasn't open to the idea of being able to contact the spirit world.  There had been moments in his life that he couldn't explain. Once in Berlin, Houdini was put in a box, tied up and handcuffed so tightly that he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to get out. His wife Bess had prayed to Houdini's late father Rabbi Mayer Samuel for help. Before he died, he had told Houdini that if he ever needed him, that he would be there. Within seconds after Bess's prayer, Houdini was able to escape the handcuffs. On another occasion, Houdini had seen a fleeting vision of his mother. The next day he learned that she had passed away.

Houdini had consulted spiritualists after his mother Cecilia's death in 1913. He was so distraught that he hadn't been there at the end, but he soon realized that these so-called 'spiritualists' were all con-artists. That they used illusion the same way he did on stage. Houdini was disgusted by how they were taking advantage of the grief of so many people, and he determined to expose them. He began to devote a large part of his act to debunking mediums across the country, by demonstrating no stage how they managed to fool their clients. He would go in disguise to séances, and then dramatically pull off his beard, shouting "I am Houdini and you are a fraud," as he exposed them.

Spiritualism had been on the rise again both in America and in Europe in the aftermath of World War I. Noted author and the creator of Sherlock Holmes; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a firm believer. It seems hard to understand how Conan Doyle, the man who created one of the most rational men alive could become so convinced that spirits exist. Conan Doyle had been raised Catholic, and had attended schools run by Jesuits, but as an adult he had become a confirmed agnostic. He came to spiritualism gradually over the years. After the death of his son Kingsley in the First World War, he threw his lot in with spiritualism wholeheartedly. However, like a lot of converts, he had a one track mind when it came to spiritualism; he was unable to see anyone else's point of view. “I consider the psychic question to be infinitely the most important thing in the world,” he declared. “All modern inventions and discoveries will sink into insignificance besides those psychic facts which will force themselves within a few years upon the universal human mind.”

Conan Doyle and Houdini became friends when Houdini came to England to perform. While he was there, he hoped to have Conan Doyle introduce him to various mediums who might have been reluctant to meet him given his position on spiritualism. As the two men got to know each other over the next few years, Conan Doyle became convinced that Houdini's gifts were psychic in nature, and not a carefully planned and rehearsed act, despite Houdini's protestations to the contrary. He wrote Houdini telling him that he didn't need to search for creditable medium, when he already was one. Houdini on his part tried to gently get Doyle to see that most mediums were actually fake by demonstrating how they achieved their results but Doyle refused to believe it. Houdini even sent him a copy of his book Miracle Mongers and their Methods, where he exposed the secrets of sword swallowers, snake charmers, and other side show entertainers.

Houdini and Conan Doyle's friendship, unfortunately couldn't survive their differing opinions about spiritualism, despite their mutual respect for each other.  On a trip to the US, Conan Doyle's wife, Jean had conducted a séance for Houdini and her husband (Bess was not invited) in which Houdini's mother's spirit was supposed to have come through, using automatic writing. Houdini tried to be tactful in his response to séance because he still needed Doyle's help and also out of respect but privately he admitted that the spirit couldn't possibly have been his mother. The first reason being the writing was in English, which was a language that his mother could neither speak nor read, she had made the sign of the cross on the pad, and Houdini's family was Jewish, and finally the day of the séance was his mother's birthday which she never mentioned.

When Houdini published an article with the statement, "I am willing to be convinced, my mind is open, but the proof must be such as to leave no vestige of doubt that what is claimed to be done is accomplished through or by supernatural power." Conan Doyle was pissed. He felt that the article was an insult to his wife. Doyle also knew that getting Houdini on spiritualism's side would have been a great coup for the movement. Houdini, on the other hand, was being pressured by his friends who were anti-spiritualists to come out once and for all against the movement.  It was only a matter of time before Mina Crandon came across his radar.

At first glance, Mina Crandon seemed an unlikely medium.  She was an exceedingly attractive woman who came across more like a light-hearted flapper than most mediums who seemed solid and serious.  Mina was the daughter of a Canadian farmer, who had moved to Boston as a teenager to play in various dance bands. When that didn't work out, Mina went through a serious of odd jobs including secretary, actress and an ambulance driver. After divorcing her first husband, by whom she had a son; Mina married Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon, twice married, and a former instructor of surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1918. Mina had met Crandon when she was admitted to the hospital, probably for an appendectomy. Crandon was famous for his technique of removing the appendix by going in through the belly button so that the scarring was minimal. At the time Mina was 30 and Dr. Crandon was in his early forties. Crandon adopted her son and changed his name to John Crandon.

Mina had never had a psychic experience in her life, and had no interest in spiritualism until her husband became interested. One evening in 1923, Dr. Crandon invited a few friends over to his house for what they called a ‘home circle’ meeting.  The group gathered around a small table, which soon began tilting in response to their questions.  Dr. Crandon suggested that they leave one at a time to see who might be responsible for the paranormal activity.  Surprise, surprise, it turned out to be Mina! Ironically just a few days before, a psychic had told Mina that she possessed supernatural abilities and that she sensed that a laughing man was trying to contact her from beyond the grave.  The young man turned out to be Mina’s late brother Walter, who died in a railroad accident in 1911.  Walter would turn out be Mina’s spirit guide, a quick-witted fellow who loved to use foul language.  Mina was so versatile that Walter would continue talking even when she appeared to be snoring or holding water in her mouth.

For a year, Mina only displayed her talents to sympathetic audiences who were all too ready to believe evidence that their loved ones were contacting them.   During the séances, mysterious things would happen, bumps and raps rang out, and strange flashes of light pierced the darkness, once a live pigeon appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere.  Convinced of her talents, Dr. Crandon took Mina abroad where she made the acquaintance of Arthur Conan-Doyle who was convinced that Mina was the real enchilada. He declared that she was “a very powerful medium” and that her gifts were “beyond all question.”

Mina’s first real test came in late 1923 in front of a group of Harvard professors and students.  When it was over, one of the participants William McDougall tried to get Mina to admit that she was a fraud.  The Scientific American contest was going to be her crowning achievement as a medium.  All she had to do was win the $2,500. The Crandon’s’ didn’t need the money, what they wanted was the seal of approval winning the contest would confer. It seemed like a slam dunk.  J. Malcolm Bird, an associate editor at Scientific American who had come up with the idea, also believed that Mina was the real deal, and had written articles extolling her ‘gifts.’ It was Bird who gave her the stage name ‘Margery’ to protect her privacy.

By the time Houdini got involved, the judges were almost ready to award the prize to Mina.  Houdini offered to pay $1,000 of his own money if he failed to expose Mina as a fraud. Traveling to Boston, he reviewed the findings of the judges and came to the conclusion that the whole matter had been mishandled. Not only had the committee availed themselves of the Crandon’s hospitality but one of the investigators had borrowed money from Dr. Crandon.

On the night of July 23, Houdini arrived at the Lime Street for another séance. Mina greeted her guests in a flimsy dressing gown, bedroom slippers, and silk stockings which left little to the imagination.  The idea was to rule out the possibility that she was concealing anything on her.  It also had the desired effect of sending the judges pulses racing.  At 36, Mina was still a good-looking woman with a girlish figure, and sparkling blue eyes.  By the time Houdini left the house, he was impressed by Mina although not her supernatural powers.  At the hotel that night, Houdini detailed just exactly how Mina had produced the supernatural effects that had them so mesmerized.  He told them Mina had used her foot underneath the table to make the bell ring during the séance.  He also demonstrated how she had managed to make a megaphone crash to the floor.

Another séance was arranged and this time Houdini came prepared. He’d designed a special cabinet with openings for the medium’s head and arms. Once inside, Mina’s movements would be restricted.  Reluctantly Mina agreed to conduct the séance from within the cabinet.  The séance was not a success, ‘Walter’ tipped off Dr. Crandon that an erase had been wedged into the bell box to prevent it from ringing.  The next séance, a collapsible ruler was found inside the cabinet.  Mina’s defenders claimed that Houdini had planted both items to discredit Mina.  Houdini, on the other hand, believed the items had been planted to impugn his testimony.

Houdini outraged Mina and her supporters by publishing a pamphlet called Houdini Exposes the Tricks Used by the Boston Medium Margery.  He was adamant that Mina was a fake while her supporters were just as adamant that she was genuine. Scientific American decided to cut its losses and declined to award the prize to Mina after all. No doubt, in large part, to Houdini.  From the grave, Walter weighed in with a prediction that Houdini would be dead within a year.  He was off by a year, Houdini died on October 31, 1926, of complications following a blow to the stomach.   In an interview with the press, Mina praised Houdini’s virile personality and great determination.

Mina continued to give séances.  By this time, Mina had moved on from just channeling Walter, she was now able to produce physical evidence such as ectoplasm from various body parts.  Sometimes the ectoplasm even formed into hands.  It was the ectoplasm that was responsible for the ringing of the bell and other phenomena.  When another investigator named Eric Dingwall asked to examine the ectoplasm, Dr. Crandon claimed that it could only be seen with a special red lamp.  When Dingwall touched the ectoplasm, he described it as feeling like ‘a piece of cold raw beef or a possibly a piece of soft wet rubber.’  Dingwall became suspicious as did other investigators but Mina was unconcerned.  By 1928, ‘Walter’ was now able to leave behind a fingerprint.  This time, Mina had gone too far.  When the fingerprint was examined, it turned out to match the fingerprints of Mina’s dentist! Even Mina’s most staunch defenders began to back away. 

In 1939, Dr. Crandon died, and Mina began to turn to alcohol to ease her depression, although she continued to hold séances in her house on Lime Street. Mina Crandon died in 1941 at the relatively young age of 54. In the end, she was worn down by her own success, having to produce more and more ‘miracles’ to satisfy her supporters.  Was Mina a real medium or an out and out fake? Many researchers believe that were some elements of the paranormal present in Crandon’s séances, although no one could tell what was genuine and what was not.  

Sources:

Houdini - Kenneth Silverman
The Secret Life of Houdini - William Kalush and Larry Sloman
Final Séance - Massimo Polidoro

 

London 2012 - Victoria Revealed and more

I apologize for my lack of posts lately but I spent a week in London at the end of September/beginning of October and I'm still recovering.  Not from jet lag but because it was such a great experience.  Really anytime that I get to go to London is a good experience! Once again, I booked a room through At Home in London.  At Home in London features B&B's in private homes.  The last two times I stayed in Parsons Green, this time I stayed in a lovely home in Shepherd's Bush owned by an antiques dealer and his wife.

This time the trip was both for business and for pleasure. I attended the Historical Novel Society conference held at the University of Westminster on Upper Regent Street.  This was my second time attending the Historical Novel Society conference and it won't be my last.  I saw many familiar faces from last year but also some new ones. The conference was very different from the one held last year in San Diego. For one thing, I was unable to attend the Saturday night banquet because it was sold out.  The conference in London was structured on a sliding scale, meaning that you could pay for all three days or you could pay it piecemeal.  I opted for the Friday night cocktail party, the Saturday all-day conference.  Because I registered in July, the banquet was already sold out and there was just no more room for them to add extra tables.  It was interesting to hear opinions on the future of historical fiction from editors, agents and booksellers in England vs. the US. The general consensus seemed to be for writers just to write a great story that you are passionate about.

Philippa Gregory was the Saturday morning speaker and it's always a delight to hear her speak, although she seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder in regards to critics who don't take the genre seriously or consider it to be 'literary.'  While I enjoyed the conference, I found the rooms to be a bit cramped, and space was tight in the room where lunch and the cocktail party was held with very limited seating. I totally get that holding the conference at the University kept costs down for participants but I kind of missed the rather posh in comparison meeting rooms that you find at most hotels in the US.  It was a bit stuffy in the rooms at times, and I found myself nodding off at various points on Saturday.

I skipped the Sunday portion of the conference opting to sleep a little later and to head out to Hampton Court Palace to see the final day of the Beauty, Sex and Power exhibit which featured a host of portraits of society beauties during the reigns of the Stuart Monarchs.  While wondering through the rooms, I came upon a reenactment of Barbara Castlemaine getting ready to have her portrait painted by Sir Peter Wright, a court painter who is not as well known as Sir Peter Lely.  When they asked for a volunteer from the audience to help Lady Castlemaine undress, I raised my hand. So I got to be the Lady Elizabeth for about 15 minutes.  I love reenactments, although I felt for the gentleman playing Sir Peter, he seemed rather green as if he wasn't quite sure what was required of him.  Lady Castlemaine had to lead him gently by the hand through their scene.

Later that night I met my friend author Leanna Renee Hieber at the Spaniard's Inn in Hampstead.  If you have never been to the Spaniard's Inn, it is worth the trek from the Hampstead tube station.  And I do mean that it is a trek.  It felt like we were walking for miles until we finally reached the Inn. Outside we discovered this groovy bench where apparently Keats sat when he quaffed ale at the inn as you can see from the sign on the bench.

The next afternoon, I headed to Kensington Palace to see the new Victoria Revealed exhibit.  The palace has undergone extensive renovations and it now looks quite spiffy.

It has stopped raining and the sun came out so here is a picture of me and King William III at the entrance to the Palace.  

The Victoria Revealed exhibit is wonderful because it uses Victoria's own words (as well as Albert's) to illustrate her life along with a host of personal items from her wedding dress to the jewelry that Albert gave her, christening gowns, books, letters.  For probably the first time, I began to see Victoria as not just a Queen but a living, breathing person with thoughts and feelings, not just the grumpy widow in black.

This is a photo of me with one of Albert's uniforms.  In fact, I think this is what he wore when he married Victoria.  My friend Leanna took it with her Blackberry without a flash, so it's a little fuzzy. As you can see Albert was not that tall, about 5'7" or 5"8.  I'm wearing 3 inch heels and I'm about the same height as he would have been.  There was also a small exhibit about Queen Victoria's jubilee which was quite interesting. A bit smaller compared to Queen Elizabeth II's!

And here's a final picture of me with Queen Victoria in the background on the staircase leading up to the exhibit.

Marie Antoinettepalooza Giveaway!

Next Friday, November 2nd is Marie Antoinette (and my birthday).  Not only that, but Scandalous Women is celebrating its 5th Anniversary and its 500th post. So to celebrate, I've come up with a Marie Antoinettepalooza giveaway for readers of the blog.

One lucky reader will receive this lovely fleur de lis tote bag filled with goodies.

Amongst the goodies will be the following:

• A copy each of BECOMING MARIE ANTOINETTE and DAYS OF SPLENDOR, DAYS OF SORROW by Juliet Grey, the first 2 books in her Marie Antoinette trilogy.
• A DVD of the Marie Antoinette documentary that appeared on PBS several years ago.
• Macaroons from Laduree
• Marie Antoinette earrings

Giveaway (US only)

- To enter, please leave a comment below and include your email address (only comments with email addresses will be entered in the giveaway).

 

- If you are not a follower and become one, you get an extra entry
- If you tweet about the giveaway, you get an extra entry.
- If you like my Scandalous Women Facebook page, you get an extra entry.

Good luck!

 

- Giveaway ends on November 2nd.

Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand

Title:  Hello Gorgeous:   Becoming Barbra Streisand

Author:  William J. Mann

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Publication date: 10/9/2012

Meet the Author:

William J. Mann is the author of Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, which was named a New York Times Notable Book, as well as several other acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. He divides his time between Provincetown, Massachusetts and New York City.

My take:  

Like the author, I’m not a huge fan of Barbra Streisand.  I think that she has a phenomenal voice, but I haven’t been a huge fan of hers as an actress, apart from her earlier films WHAT’S UP DOC (which is a classic screwball comedy) and THE WAY WE WERE.  While I enjoyed the PRINCE OF TIDES, I thought the last film she directed, THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES, was just one long therapy session. I suspect that if I knew her, I would find her somewhat insufferable.  I totally get that she’s a perfectionist, I suffer from that same malady myself, but she takes it even to extremes.  I remember watching her on the Oprah Winfrey show, where she claimed that she managed to will some bulbs that she had planted in a window box outside her bedroom, to change color so that they matched the wallpaper in the room.  Seriously?

So why did I pick up a biography of Barbra Streisand given my love/hate relationship with the subject? Well, I was intrigued by the fact that Mann focuses solely on the first 5 years of Barbra’s career, I had to order the book from Net Galley.  The book chronicles the trajectory of Barbra's career from struggling actress to reluctant chanteuse, all the way to her triumph on Broadway, portraying Fanny Brice in a little musical called ‘Funny Girl.’ This is a Barbra that has all but been forgotten, the young insecure girl who was determined to ‘go big or go home.’  For Barbra there was no other option. Mann deals with Barbra’s early childhood, the loss of her father before her 2^ndbirthday and the hole that left in her and her mother’s short-lived second marriage to Louis Kind in a few pages.  He’s more concerned with the impact that it had on her life. 

The reader learns about the men and women who helped Barbra along the way, including her first real love Barry Dennen, who was the first one to hear the potential and Barbra’s voice and did a great deal to shape her early persona of a kooky Brooklyn girl with the big nose and the even bigger voice.  From the beginning of Barbra’s career, her looks were treated as an asset instead of a detriment.  Barbra was enormously lucky that she was beginning her career in the early sixties at the end of the reign of the studios who controlled every aspect of a performer’s career.   If Barbra had come along in the thirties, forties or even the early fifties, everything about her would have been changed from her nose, her name, they would have tried to mold her into whatever niche on their roster needed filling.  By the sixties, a whole new generation of Actors Studio trained actors paying their dues in small theaters Off and Off-Off Broadway were making their mark, including a fellow acting student named Dustin Hoffmann.

Mann does a fantastic job of not just chronicling Barbra’s career but also the changing times from the Puritanism of the 1950’s to the ‘Let it all hang out’ 1960’s, from the standard heavy and novelty tune pop music to the British Invasion bringing back the rawness of the early years of rock and roll. In many ways, Barbra embodies the changing times.  On the one hand, she made her mark breathing new life into old songs, on the other hand, she benefited from the changes in the business.  One of the things that I found fascinating in the book was how Barbra’s publicists were able to use publicity in the forms of the many newspaper columnists who covered show business, as well as the medium of television.  Here was Barbra Streisand at the tender age of 18 years old already appearing on the Tonight Show after only making a few club appearances in New York.  The only equivalent I can think of would be Ellen DeGeneres having the two little girls who became a YouTube sensation singing pop songs but even that isn’t quite the same thing.  Barbra became famous so quick and so early because a) she was incredibly talented, b) she was incredibly focused and determined, one could almost say pushy and c) she was able to attract people to her who knew a good thing when they saw and were determined to make her career happen. Not out of any altruistic sense, but because they saw a money-maker.

One of the more poignant moments in the book comes about half-way through when Mann describes Streisand’s appearance on the short-lived Judy Garland Show.  The contrast between Judy’s life and Barbra’s is fascinating.  You just wish that Judy had had people around her to protect and guide her the way that Barbra did. The meatiest part of the book is of course the second half of the book which details the journey of Funny Girl from concept to execution.  Frankly this could be a whole book on its own, and hopefully someday someone will write a book doing just that. I give Mann credit because he the reader a bird’s eye view not just from Barbra’s perspective but also of the other participants including Lainie Kazan, who was Streisand’s understudy.  For a theatre geek and actress like me, this part of the book was like manna from heaven.  I couldn’t get enough, I almost wish that Mann had continued and given us more from when the show moved to the West End.  I had no idea that Anne Bancroft was seriously in the running to play Fanny Brice, from what I know about the real Fanny Brice (the subject of a future blog post), Barbra seems to have been born to play the role.  She even resembles Fanny Brice.

The book also gives the reader details about Barbra’s first marriage to Elliot Gould, her brief relationship with Tommy Smothers (who knew?), and her affair with Sydney Chaplin (son of Charlie) who played Nicky Arnstein.  Frankly, I felt for Elliot Gould, it can’t have been easy to be in love or even married to a powerhouse like Barbra. Particularly when she walked away with all the acclaim in the musical I CAN GET IT FOR YOUR WHOLESALE in a minor role when he was the star.  Some of this will be familiar to Streisand fans, especially her fraught relationship with her mother Diana who comes across as an overprotective mother who was unable to nurture her daughter in a way that she needed.  Diana never praised Barbra because she didn’t want to encourage her only to have Barbra end up disappointed the way that Diana had been when she had to give up a spot in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera.  You feel for Barbra, and it certainly explains her drive.  When anyone told Barbra no, she couldn’t do something, it just made her all the more determined to prove them wrong.

I can’t say that I liked Barbra Streisand more after reading the book.  There were times when I wanted to strangle her for her narcissism, her inability to thank the people who did so much for her, and her willful blindness to the needs of other people in her life.  However, I certainly feel like I understand her better, and I have sympathy for that fatherless little girl whose mother never talked about her late husband, and who seemed to prefer her youngest daughter to Barbra.  The book is over 500 pages, but it reads more like a novel than a biography.  I found that I couldn't put it down and even though I've read other biographies about Barbra, I had to find out what happened next.

Title:  The Shadow Queen

Author:  Rebecca Dean
Publisher:  Crown Publishing Group
Publication date:  8/14/2012

What it’s about:

A king would abdicate his throne for her in one of the world’s great love stories – but who was Wallis Simpson?
Born into a poor southern family but taken in by rich relatives, Wallis Simpson was raised as a socialite. Between family conflicts and debutante balls, she and her friends dream of their future husbands, and like millions of girls’ worldwide, dream of Prince Edward, the heir to the British throne who would someday be king. Beloved author Rebecca Dean imagines the early life of Wallis Simpson, her triumphs and heartbreaks, and the making of the twice divorced, nearly destitute woman who captured a king’s heart and changed the course of history. Set against a background of high society, royal circles, and diplomatic intrigue, The Shadow Queen features one of the most fascinating and controversial women of the 20th century.

My thoughts:

I’ve been fascinated by Wallis Simpson ever since I saw the miniseries Edward and Mrs. Simpson in high school. This miniseries, starring Edward Fox as Edward VIII and Cynthia Harris as Wallis is still, in my opinion, the definitive filmed version of their story. Since then I’ve read every major biography that has come out about Wallis and seen every single film and TV version of their story, some of which I have critiqued here on the blog.  I think my fascination stems from the fact that Wallis was an American, and here was a King of England giving up his throne to marry her.  Of course, we all know now that their story is far from being the great romance of the century, but it still has a certain power.  And Wallis herself continues to be somewhat of an enigma.  Was she really a hermaphrodite? A Nazi sympathizer? Was she stringing Edward along while having numerous affairs with other men?

Rebecca Dean is more concerned with Wallis’ early years which make for fascinating reading. I disagree heartily with the Publisher’s Weekly reviewer who wrote that Wallis’ personality comes out in unpleasant ways.  Wallis doesn’t demand that her Uncle Sol finance her debutante season.  She hopes that he will because of the Warfield’s standing in society and because she’s his niece.  Given the deprivation of her early childhood, and that her Uncle would tighten or loosen the purse strings on a whim, it is understandable that Wallis would hope for a debutante ball.   In order for Wallis to marry well, as was expected of her, she would have needed to have been launched into society with all the bells and whistles, particularly since she had already been invited to balls thrown by other debutantes.  It was the custom for a debutante to reciprocate the hospitality.

Dean digs in deep to give the reader psychological reasons for Wallis’ actions throughout the book.  She emphasizes the Warfield family history that Wallis had grown up with, dating all the way back to William the Conqueror.  It may be hard for contemporary readers to understand just how important a pedigree was back in the 19^thcentury, particularly if you came from genteel poverty.  Your pedigree was all that you had.  Wallis’ mother Alice, widowed when Wallis just a baby, is flighty and impractical.  There is a telling scene early on in the book when Wallis accidentally overhears her Uncle Sol making a play for her mother. Although only a child, she realizes that since her Uncle cannot have his brother’s widow, he uses money as a weapon.  Imagine growing up like that? I can’t, so it’s understandable that money looms large in Wallis’ life.

Wallis in THE SHADOW QUEEN does not come across as the grasping, greedy woman that most biographers and films depict her as.  Dean emphasizes the fact that Wallis was popular and well-liked, considered a great deal of fun by her contemporaries.  Although she preferred the company of men, she had several good female friends including her cousin Corinne.  Wallis marries her first husband, Earl Winfield Spencer, for love.  She ignores the warnings of friends and family, that he has a drinking problem, a bad temper, and more important to her Uncle Sol, his family comes from Kansas and has no money.  Even her Uncle’s decision to cut Wallis off doesn’t deter her from marrying Spencer. 

It’s hard not to sympathize with Wallis during this section of the book.  Despite her flaws, no one deserves to be abused the way that Wallis was in her first marriage, which Dean portrays with sensitivity, emphasizing that Wallis in some way believes that she deserves Spencer’s abuse for her own inadequacies.   This is where Dean gives the reader an interesting theory on Wallis’ sexuality that has puzzled biographers over the years.  In the Afterward, she explains why she made the choice that she did which seems completely plausible to me.

My only quibble with this novel is the fictional characters of Pamela Denby, the daughter of a Duke that Wallis meets as a child in Baltimore, and John Jasper Bachman who is depicted as her first love.  I didn’t think that either character was necessary, especially Pamela, and it certainly didn’t enhance the story or illuminate it in anyway.  When the book strayed from Wallis’ story to pick-up Pamela’s in London, I didn’t care.  I found Pamela to be narcissistic in the extreme and the less time spent with her the better.   I felt that the author included them just so that she could reference her earlier book THE GOLDEN PRINCE which is about an imagined love story between The Prince of Wales and a fictional character named Lily Houghton.   The book ends with Wallis meeting and marrying Ernest Simpson rather hastily and sailing for England where she meets Edward in the final pages of the book, no doubt setting the reader up for the sequel.  Frankly, I think the book would have been better served with Wallis just meeting Ernest but that’s just my preference.

On the whole I enjoyed this book immensely except for the rushed ending and the unnecessary fictional interlopers.

October Book of the Month: The Kingmaker's Daughter

 

Author:  Philippa Gregory

Hardcover: 432 pages

Publisher: Touchstone

Pub Date: August 14, 2012


What it’s about:

The Kingmaker’s Daughter is the gripping story of the daughters of the man known as the “Kingmaker,” Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters Anne and Isabel as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. In this novel, her first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory explores the lives of two fascinating young women.

At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family and will cost the lives of those she loves most in the world, including her precious only son, Prince Edward. Ultimately, the kingmaker’s daughter will achieve her father’s greatest ambition.

Why you should buy it:  I've been a Richard III fan girl ever since I first read Josephine Tey's THE DAUGHTER OF TIME as a teenager.  I raged against Shakespeare for his portrayal in RICHARD III, although I'm grateful to my high school English teacher Mrs. Harrison for teaching the play and the history behind it.  So it seemed like fate that Philippa Gregory's new book THE KINGMAKER'S DAUGHTER should be released around the same time that it appears that archeologists have found Richard III's body in a car park of all places.  I've mentioned before that Gregory is hit or miss for me. I loathed THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, liked THE BOLEYN INHERITANCE, but I've really enjoyed her new series about the cousin's war aka The War of the Roses.  Only Lady of the River was meh in my estimation. 

Well, I'm happy to say that THE KINGMAKER'S DAUGHTER is fabulous.  Anne is an appealing heroine, and her relationship with her sister Isabel, wife of George, Duke of Clarence will resonate with anyone who has an older sister.  Very little is known about Anne which means that in a sense she is a blank canvas ready for a skilled author to bring her to life.  In Gregory's hands, Anne grows from a rather naive but feisty little sister, to pawn of her father's ambitions, and then finally a loyal wife to the man she's always loved.  I appreciated Gregory's protrayal of Richard as man who is intensely loyal to his family, and who is forced to take drastic steps to ensure the future of the Yorks on the throne of England.

My only quibble with the book is that I'm not sure that Anne Beauchamp, the wife of the Earl of Warwick was quite so cold and calculating. She seemed rather harsh towards her children, seeing them more as commodities than her own flesh and blood. Still this was an enjoyable entry to the series.