One of the President’s friends saw the whole scene. He hurried after Booth, who, first withdrew his hunting knife, and then struck him. Then the actor climbed up the balustrade of the box and leapt onto the stage. His spur became caught in one of the flags that adorn the balustrade, and he lost his…
On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln awoke in his room at the White House at seven o’clock, as usual. It promised to be a glorious, spring day. In the parks and gardens, the scent of the lilacs permeate throughout the garden, the willows shade the banks of the Potomac River with their great branches….
We had been invited to the White House by the Clintons for a dinner in honour of my cousins, the kings of Spain. Before supper we entered a vast hall. A lady who was accompanying us said: “It is in this very room that I saw the coffin of President Kennedy” “And before that,” added…
As usual, I was spending this Saturday morning in New York, going round auction halls. On Christie’s Park Avenue, one can find magnificent jewellery on display. My friend François, one of the world’s greatest experts in the field, invited me to follow him into his office. He knew that I was an enthusiast and handed…
Randolph Hearst was the most formidable press tycoon. As illustrated by Orson Wells in “Citizen Kane”, he was a killer, a ruthless businessman, a conqueror that backed down for nothing. North of Los Angeles, he built a most extravagant castle in San Simeon, amongst the green hills. The façade was that of a Mexican cathedral,…
Mabel Dodge was the wealthy wife of the automobile manufacturer of the same name. In the 1930s, she had an extraordinary villa built in New Mexico on the High Plateaux in the city of Taos. This paradise attracted a great many eccentric artists and characters. Mabel Dodge received all who thought and created, notably D….
His name was Francis Bannerman. He had come to the United States from his native Scotland when he was three years old and he and his family lived in Brooklyn. He worked in trade. He had specialized in purchasing American army surplus. The American Civil War and then the Cuban war had indeed left behind…
Behind the hotel, which had once been the villa of Mabel Dodge in Taos, lay a vast prairie, which stretched out to the horizon where it met a range of lofty mountains. I asked the headmistress, the sharp-witted lady with the shaven head, how we could get onto the prairie to take a walk. “You…
The Beresford is one of the most magnificent buildings in New York City on Central Park West. That is where we settled when we arrived from Europe: in a large apartment with spacious, high-ceilinged rooms. It was light-filled, with a splendid view of the park. Marina, myself, and our two daughters were very happy there….
Briskly, he walks through the French Quarters, crosses Jackson Square, turns around the Saint Louis Cathedral and reaches the gates of the cemetery bearing the same name. Now, he is no longer in a hurry. He takes his time to dawdle amongst the graves, looking for the one on which to lie. The moon, shining…