The Bad Boys and Girls of the Gilded Age

James Gordon Bennett Jr. 

BORN: May 10, 1841

DIED: May 14, 1918

NEWPORT RESIDENCE: Stone Villa, demolished in 1957, now the site of the Bellevue Gardens Shopping Center.

Courtesy of National Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame Archive.

An American newspaper baron, Bennett’s father founded the New York Herald and left his son, James Gordon Bennett Jr., in charge of it. Bennett was obsessed with owls and Pekinese dogs, and at least once, rode his coach recklessly down Bellevue Avenue in the nude. He went on to found the Newport Casino, is credited with organizing the first polo match in the United States, and served as the youngest commodore of the New York Yacht Club. He earned a reputation for yachting around the world on a whim, much to his guests’ dismay.

QUIRKS AND SCANDALS: Bennett took over the newspaper at age twenty-six and sponsored expeditions for their newsworthiness. He sent explorer Henry Morton Stanley to find David Livingstone and also sponsored the USS Jeanette expedition to the North Pole, during which twenty people died from starvation. All of this was great for newspaper circulation, however.
According to the New England Historical Society, he was driving his coach at breakneck speed with his friend, Leonard Jerome, and Jerome’s young daughter, Jennie, as bewildered passengers when he lost control. Fortunately, Jennie survived the crash to grow up, marry and give birth to Winston Churchill.

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont

BORN: Jan. 17, 1853

DIED: Jan. 26, 1933

NEWPORT RESIDENCE: Marble House and Belcourt.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

The former wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt Sr., Alva solidified her family’s status in the societal “Four Hundred.” This took some finagling with the Astor family, who believed a family’s fortune should be at least two generations old to earn the coveted designation. The Vanderbilts were considered nouveau riche, but threw a party the Astors’ daughter begged to attend. The Astors had to accept the Vanderbilts to beget the invitation.

QUIRKS AND SCANDALS: Alva went on to divorce Willie K. in 1895, and married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont a year later. Belmont was notorious for ditching his first wife on his Spanish honeymoon in favor of a French dancer. He was also obsessed with horses, lavishing them with attention, and keeping a stable on the first floor of their Belcourt mansion. When he unexpectedly died at age fifty, Alva inherited his vast fortune, which included several mansions and $10 million. She then went on a building and buying spree that included the Chinese Tea House at Marble House, a mansion in Manhattan and a medieval-style castle on Long Island Sound. She later diverted her time and focus from lavish entertainment to the women’s suffrage movement. 

Harry Lehr

BORN: March 28, 1869

DIED: January 3, 1929

NEWPORT RESIDENCE: Lehr summered in Newport with friends.

Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Harry Lehr was famous for befriending the “the Big Four,” aka the most powerful women in New York society, including Mrs. William Astor, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs and Mrs. Oliver Belmont. While Lehr was courting Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Dahlgren, the heiress to a Philadelphia banking fortune, he introduced her to the group, securing her social stature and his future as her husband, even though all he was interested in was her money.  

QUIRKS AND SCANDALS: On the couple’s wedding night, Lehr blew off the bedtime ritual by requesting dinner alone, revealing to his wife that he would only remain devoted in public. All bets were off in private as he vowed that their marriage was only a
marriage in name. He purportedly had a long and intimate relationship with Charles Greenough, unbeknownst to Elizabeth at the time. Dubbed “America’s Court Jester,” Lehr dressed in drag for theatrical performances, once hosted a caviar dinner for dogs and reportedly invited guests to a party to meet “the prince,” who happened to be a monkey dressed in a costume fit for a king. 

Doris Duke

BORN: Nov. 22, 1912

DIED: October 28, 1993

Doris Duke at Rough Point. Photo courtesy of Duke University Library.

NEWPORT RESIDENCE: Rough Point.

American Tobacco Company heiress Doris Duke donated more than $400 million to various causes over the course of her life — often anonymously — but was also notorious for her extravagant lifestyle that involved building Shangri La in Honolulu, taking up surfing and curating an elaborate and eclectic wardrobe. 

QUIRKS AND SCANDALS: She owned two live camels while living at Rough Point, which was filled with one-of-a-kind art and antiques from her travels all over the world, particularly the Middle East. The seasonal home was also the site of a tragedy when she allegedly ran over her friend, designer Eduardo Tirella, in front of its gates, but was never charged with a crime. 

Eileen Slocum

BORN: Dec. 21, 1915

DIED: July 27, 2008

NEWPORT RESIDENCE: Harold Brown Villa.

Photo courtesy of G. Wayne Miller, director of oceanstatestories.org

The grande dame of Newport society was an opinionated Republican best known for her knowledge of politics and public policy. She hosted lavish parties and dinners for Washington’s elite — including President Gerald R. Ford, Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Vice President Dick Cheney — at her private residence, which she shared with her husband, respected diplomat and literary scholar John J. Slocum.

QUIRKS AND SCANDALS: At age seventeen, Slocum was betrothed to John Jacob Astor V, but two days before the wedding, she ended their engagement because she didn’t think he was stable enough to get married. Her mother was so distraught that she took the whole family to Europe to avoid the fallout. In later years, she was known for her outspokenness around politics and for owning her own gun. 

Sources: New England Historical Society, Warwick Rhode Island Digital History Project (warwickhistory.com), the New York Times, the Long Island Historical Journal, Rhode Island Monthly.