Doris Duke 

(1912-1993)

Doris Duke and her Father, James Buchanan Duke.

Doris Duke was the only child of James Buchanan Duke and Nanaline Holt Duke.  Doris' life was marked by both privilege, philanthropy and intrique regarding her two marriages and a child named Arden who only lived 24 hours and whose father was never really determined.   She was known for the extensive charitable donations, particularly to Duke University, Princeton University and other institutions.  

Doris Duke did not inherit the Duke mansion in Charlotte, North Carolina.  She did inherit Duke Farms in New Jersey, Rough Point in Rhode Island and a mansion on Fifth Avenue in New York City.  Doris and her mother, Nanaline Duke eventually donated the Fifth Avenue mansion to New York University's Institute of Fine Arts in 1958.

The 5th Avenue Mansion 

While her father purchased the Duke Mansion in Charlotte (Myers Park) and expanded it, it was not part of her inheritance.  Instead, the estate was purchased by Charles Campbell Coddington (1878-1928) after J.B. Duke's passing.  

Doris Duke was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist and socialite.  She was often called "the richest girl in the world".  Her great wealth, luxurious lifestyle and love life attracted significant press coverage, both during her life and after her passing at Falcon Lair in Los Angeles. 

Duke married twice.  The first time in 1935 to James H. R. Cromwell. They embarked on a world honeymoon spending significant time in the Middle East and in Asia  The couple had a daughter, Arden who was born prematurely in Honolulu on July 11, 1940 and only lived for 24 hours. Many who knew Doris feel the father of that child was not James Cromwell and say "anyone who knew Miss Duke knows that". 

Duke and Cromwell divorced in 1943.  After the divorce, Cromwell remarried and had two children demonstrating he had a life beyond his marriage to Doris Duke.  Doris, after the divorce, continued her philanthropic activities and built Shangri La in Honolulu, Hawaii.  

Shanghri La

4055 Papu Circle

Honolulu, Hawaii 

Shangri La was constructed from 1935-1937.  It was inspired by Doris' extensive travels throughout North Africa and Western, Central,  South and Southeast Asia and the landscapes of Hawaii'i.  Over the course of 60 years, Duke assembled and impressive collection of nearly 4,500 artworks, cultural resources and architectural designs through commissions from artisans, purchases from dealers and bazaars, or received as gifts. The collection is particularly strong in ceramics, wood, glass and textiles from 1600 to 1940. As part of her lasting desire to promote the sturdy and understanding of the art and cultures experienced during her travels, Doris Duke directed in her will that Shangri La be "available to scholars, students and others interested in the furtherance and preseration of Islamic art and make the premises open to the public."  In 2002, Shangri La opened as the only musuem dedicated exclusively to Islamic art in the United States. 

James and Doris Duke Cromwell 

On September 1, 1947, while in Paris, Duke became the third wife of Porfirio Rubirosa, a diplomat from the Dominican Republic.  Duke paid Porfirio's second wife $1 million to agree to an uncontested divorce.  Rubirosa was a known playboy having been married to Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune on December 30, 1953.  The marriage lasted 1 month following a 3 month engagement.

Duke's passions varied widely.  She was a news correspondent in the 1940s.  She also played jazz piano and learned to surf, competitively.  At her father's estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey she created one of the largest indoor botanical displays in the United States.  She was also active in preserving more than 80 historic buildings in Newport, Rhode Island.  Duke was close friends with former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  In 1968, Duke created the Newport Restoration Foundation with Kennedy Onassis being appointed the vice president.

In 1930, when Doris turned 18, the 6 foot tall Duke was presented to society as a debutante at a ball at Rough Point, the family residence in Newport.  She received large bequests from her father's will when she turned 21, 25 and 30.  Her mother died in 1962 leaving her jewelry, a coat and an additional $250 million.  When Duke came of age, she used her wealth to pursue a variety of interests including extensive travel and the arts.  She studied singing with the voice teacher of opera singer, Beverly Sills in New York City.  She spoke French fluently and after WWII she moved to Paris and wrote for Harper's Bazaar. 

Due to her extensive travel she purchased her own Boeing 737 and redecorated the interior of the plane to travel between homes and her trips to collect art.  

One of the famous homes Doris Duke purchased was Falcon Lair.  It was an historic 11 bedroom Mediterranean-style villa above Benedict Canyon once owned by silent film star, Rudolph Valentino.  In 1925, Rudolph Valentino purchased the 4 acre estate for $175,000 (equivalent to $3,138,000 in 2024) and named it Falcon Lair inspired by a film he planned to make with his wife, Natacha Rambova.  The estate was designed by Wallace Neff and featured a Spanish Revival style house.  After Valentino's passing, the estate was sold several times.  Eventually, Doris Duke acquired it and lived there for many years, using it as her West Coast home. Duke reportedly lived in a state of isolation at Falcon Lair.  It was even referred to as a "prison", by some.  Doris passed while in residence at Falcon Lair at age of 80. 

The historic main house was demolished in 2006.  Today, the former stable building and three-bay garage, converted into a guesthouse and pool pavilion, an elaborate gated entance, plus an open-air chapel are the only remaining structures of the original estate.  This remaining portion of the estate has been listed for sale at various times, most recently in 2019 for $4.95 million.

Falcon Lair

1436 Bella Drive

Benedict Canyon

Los Angeles, California 

The Fatal Crash That Plunged Doris Duke Into Scandal

It was about 5 p.m. on a Friday in October 1966 when the millionaire heiress Doris Duke, hounded by gossip columns for decades, drove a rental Dodge Polara station wagon into infamy.  Duke, then 53, was leaving her Newport, Rhode Island estate with her close companion of ten years, the interior set designer Eduardo Tirella, 42, according to reports at the time.  Tirella drove the two down the driveway before getting out to open the mansion's front gates, as Duke slid over to the driver's side.  "It was something we'd done a hundred times before," she reportedly told police. As Tirella opened the gates she would then usually drive the car through as he closed them.  This time, though, it all went terribly wrong.  As the New York Daily News recounted at the time, the car "struck the heavy, 15-foot high, 20-foot wide wrought iron gate with such force the gate sprang open.  Several inch-square, five-foot long sections of iron were torn out. The vehicle dragging Tirella's body, lurched across two-laned Bellevue Avenue and hit a large tree."  

The damaged infamous Rough Point Gates

 Duke was found nearby seemingly in a fog, bleeding from wounds.  She was released from the hospital after 30 stitches treating cuts to her lip and chin, but would not be interviewed by police until nearly two days after the event, as questions and a blinding media glare only grew more intense.  Her physician, Dr. Philip   McAllister told reporters Doris was in shock and officers wouldn't formally interview Duke until that Sunday afternoon. Dr. McAllister told the New York Daily News that subjecting Doris to police questions so soon after the tragedy would have been "inhumane".

The slow speed of the police investigation clearly concerned the Rhode Island Attorney General J. Joseph Nugent who soon announced he would ask police for a full report.  "This is an extraordinary case," Nugent told reporters.  "I can make a judgement independent of the police in the matter, if necessary".  The rumors grew quickly.  As the New York Times would later report, there was speculation that Duke had been drunk behind the wheel and that it wasn't an accident, after all!  When asked about such a possiblity, Duke's doctor pronounced it "unthinkable", saying the two "were devoted".  Besides, there was "no evidence of alcohol in the blood of either Miss Duke or Tirella" according to Dr. McAllister who just happened to also be the state's acting medical examiner.

The doctor didn't stop there.  "Wealth does not bring happiness. And I'm convinced that enormous wealth brings great handicaps."

Rumors notwithstanding, Police Chief Radice would rule Tirella's death "an unfortunate accident".  He added, "As far as I am concerned, the case is closed." Nugent, the attorney general, never apparently questioned the investigation and the case was closed.  All evidence at the site that there had ever been accident .. vanished.  The rented station wagon was hauled away,  the gates were repaired and the media disappeared.  One of Tirella's eight siblings, Alice Romano, filed two negligence suits of $1.25 million each, one against Duke and another against Avis Rental.  Duke was found negligent in the the civil trail and was order to pay $75,000 to the Tirella family.  Romano appealed the court's decision, alleging that the jury's award was inadequate, but it was dismissed.  

If Duke's money had been a curse to herself while she was alive, it seems to have had the same effect on her distnad relatives.  Duke was said to change her will often, replacing her nephew, Walker Patterson Inman, Jr. as executor with her butler, Bernard Lafferty. Lafferty was set to receive a $5 million fee and $500,000 a year for life (Duke's dogs were left a $100,000 trust fund), but he died in 1996.  She reportedly left Inman $7 million in a trust.

Duke might not have been surprised had she lived as she once told a journalist in 1945 over a glass of wine at the Hassler Hotel in Italy

"All that money is a problem sometimes."

A Vanity Fair article was written in July/August 2020 by Peter Lance titled Homicide at Rough Point.

A writer by the name of Alyssa Maxwell wrote a book titled Murder at Rough Point.

On October 7, 1966, the wealthy heiress Doris Duke hit and killed her friend, Eduardo Tirella while behind the wheel of a renter car.  Whether his death at age 42 was an accident or an intentional act of murder, is still up for debate nearly 60 years later!  In 2021, the investigation was reopened.

Eduardo Tirella 

On the last full day of his life, October 6, 1966 Eduardo Tirella flew into Newport, Rhode Island, the storied summer colony of the country's old money families.  He was met at the airport by Doris Duke,, the richest woman in America, and they drove to Rough Point, her 10-acre estate on Bellevue Avenue .. Newport's Millionaire's Row.  Eddie, as friends knew Tirella, had just told intimates that after a decade as the artistic curator and designer of Duke's estates in New Jersey, Bel Air, Honolulu and Newport he was planning to sever his professsional ties with Doris, for good!  Now, it was time to let his patron and constant companion know, face-to-face!

The handsome Tirella, a war hero and Renaissance man, had just finished advising on a new Tony Curtis film, Don't Make Waves, and was working on his Hollywood career.  Anxious to move to the West Coast full-time, he intended to load his effects into a rented station wagon, drop them at his family's home in New Jersey and then fly back to California.  But nobody left Doris Duke without consequences.  Tirella, who was gay, had been warned by his friends that Duke might over react to his pending departure.  

Late the next afternoon, Tirella and Duke had a heated argument, overheard by the estate's staff.  Moments later, the pair got into the two-ton station wagon with Tirella behind the wheel and headed off for an appointment.  Approaching the property's immense iron gates, Eduardo stopped the car and got out of the station wagon to unlock the gate. 

Suddenly, Doris slid into the driver's seat, released the parking brake, shifted into drive and hit the accelerator resulting in Tirella's untimely death.   

🔎 🔍 

Ninety-six hours later, with no inquest and basing the authorities account of the crash entirely on the word of Doris Duke .. Newport police chief, Joseph A. Radice declared the death of Tirella .. accidental.  Case closed.  

Sidenote:  The fact that Doris' staff heard Eduardo and Doris arguing and he was intending to sever ties with her leads me to believe she ..

.. got away with murder .. 

 

Heinz Hall

600 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 

Home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

and

the cornerstone of the Cultural District of Pittsburgh.

The structure evolved from its origin in 1927 as the Loew's Penn Theatre to its renovation and dedication as Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts in 1971. 

Motion picture magnate, Marcus Loew hired the architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp to design the opulent movie house.  Known as Pittsburgh's "Temple of the Cinema" the building was regarded as the most magificent theatre between New York and Chicago.  Audible gasps from first-nighters would be heard as they entered the Grand Lobby on opening night.  A marble staircase led from the Grand Lobby with its 50-foot-high vaulted Venetian ceiling supported by massive ornamental columns.

Bronze and crystal chandeliers and imported silk damask draperies complimented the lobby artwork.  An organ, which would be destroyed in a 1936 flood, was touted to be "the greatest musical instrument the world has ever known".  Those in attendance were treated to a two-hour silent film and a live stage show.  

Such spectacles were not restricted to Pittsburgh.  In the early decades of the century, Americans flocked in droves to similarly designed theatres.  These flamboyant and stately palaces were built of the most costly materials, embellished with gold leaf cherubs, crystal chandeliers, Carrara marble and Persian tiles. 

With the advent of televsion, declining attendance and the rising costs of maintaining such landmarks, the Penn Theatre, in line with the nation's other great movie palaces, was forced to shut its doors in 1964.  The building then sat vacant for five years.  Destined to be demolished to make way for a parking lot, the building was nearly destroyed until the Pittsburgh Symphony intervened. 

Thank you Pittsburgh Symphony!

The Pittsburgh Symphony was searching for a new home, having outgrown Carnegie Music Hall.  The economic advantages to recycling the well-constructed theatre were clearly apparent.  To explore the feasibility of using the building, Henry J. Heinz II and Charles Denby, president of the Pittburgh Symphony Society, toured the old movie palace. Together, they had the vision to look past the rundown interior and see that with proper restoration the hall could be a brillant cultural center. Along with Adolph W. Schmidt, president of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust and Theodore Hazlett, Jr., representing the Allegheny Conference and the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, these men worked with the architectural firm of Stotz, Hess, MacLachlan & Fosner to begin the construction.

The $10 million recontruction took place over a three-year period, with much of the work completed by local craftsmen and artisans. Much of the basic architecture of the building remained unchanged from the original French Court style. The entrance to the theatre was moved into the area that had once been a coffee shop.  The 40-foot Alcoa window replaced the original entrance and rises above the Grand Lobby.

Breche opal and Lavanto marble, plush red velvet and shimmering crystal are the main elements in the decoration of the interior of the Hall. The gold detailing throughout is 24-karat gold leaf, which was applied by two local craftsmen of the A.J. Vater Company,  who worked on its application for 18 months.  The two spectacular 15-foot chandeliers in the Grand Lobby, weighing more than one ton each and which were part of the original theatre, were dismantled, redesigned and recrystalled. The crystals on these and all of the chandeliers were imported from J & L. Lobyer of Vienna. The acoustical consultant was Dr. Heinrich Keilholz of Salzburg, Austria.  An adjustable orchestra pit, to accommodate 85 musicians and powered by a hydraulic lift, was added for opera and stage performances.

As part of the renovation, a new five-story wing was added to the rear of the building which added 28 feet to the stage, plus dressing rooms, a music library and rehearsal room facilities. The main rehearsal room was designed to the exact dimensions of the stage area. All of the rooms are soundproofed and equipped with acoustical panels. 

September 10, 1971 was the Grand Opening of Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts.  It was a celebration of ceremony and pageantry with flowers, dinners, champagne and music.  Many of Pittsburgh's most prominent citizens were in attendance for the festivities with a Pittsburgh Symphony concert under the baton of William Steinberg.  

The guest list included such dignitaries as Marian Anderson, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Gregory Peck and Nancy Hanks, then chair of the National Council on the Arts. 

In keeping with its grand tradition, Heinz Hall maintains its position as a world-class, acoustically stunning concert hall to be enjoyed for generations to come.

Thank goodness it was saved and not turned into a parking lot.

 

The McGuire Sisters

Christine, Phyllis and Dorothy 

Ruby Christine McGuire

(July 30, 1926-December 8, 2018)

Dorothy "Dottie" McGuire

(February 13, 1928-September 7, 2012)

Phyllis Jean McGuire

February 14, 1931-December 29, 2020)

The singing sisters known for their sweet harmonies and identical outfits, recorded the No. 1 hits "Sincerely" and "Sugartime" in the 1950s. The sisters knowsn for their sweet synchronized body movements and gestures.  Other songs were "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" (1954) and "Something's Gotta Give" (1955).  The trio was dressed and coiffed identically performing synchronized body movements and hand gestures with military precision. Their recordings of "Sincerely", "Picnic" and "Sugartime" sold more than one million copies. 

Christine, Phyllis and Dorothy were born in Middletown, Ohio though grew up in Miamisburg, Ohio and began performing in 1935 when Phyllis, the youngest, was 4.  They got their big break on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts in 1952.  They made numerous appearances on TV variety shows hosted by Milton Berle, Andy Williams, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Danny Kaye, Red Skelton and others while touring into the late 1960s, making a last stop on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968.  The sisters got back together in 1986 to tour nightclubs and in 2004 they performed in the PBS special Magic Moments:  Best of 50's Pop.

The McGuire Sisters performed for five U.S. Presidents and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.  The five Presidents were Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

They were inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.  In 2009, the sisters were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.  

The McQuire Sisters and the Andrew Sisters met several times during their careers.

The McGuire Sisters were inducted into the Coca-Cola Hall of Fame. 

Christine, Phyllis and Dorothy at the opening of the World of Coca-Cola in Las Vegas, Nevada

July 7, 1997

The Coca-Cola company signed them to a contract with the highest fee in advertising history at that time.  

In 1968, they retired from  public performance.  Phyllis went to a solo act while Dorothy and Christine became totally devoted to their families.  Seventeen years later, however, they joined as an act again in response to their fans.  The sisters reunited in 1986, performing at Toronto's Royal York Hotel for the first time since their retirement.  Numerous nightclub engagements followed in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and New York City's Rainbows & Stars showcasing the group and Phyllis' impersonations of Peggy Lee, Judy Garland, Pearl Bailty, Ethel Merman and even Louis Armstrong. After their singing careers, they opened a restaurant in Bradenton, Florida calling it McGuire's Pub. 

The Talented and Beloved McGuire Sisters

Circa 1959