She patented the first modern bra at the age of 19 in the year of 1910 and married Harry Crosby after scandal and divorce. They joined the expatriate crowd in Paris in the 1920s where they published early works of twentieth century greats at Black Sun Press. Theirs was an unconventional and fraught alliance, the best account I’ve read can be found here: Amazon.com: Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby (New York Review Books Classics) (9781590170663): Geoffrey Wolff: Books.
I found these pictures of her estate in Virginia while thumbing through a pile of LIFE magazines – Salvador Dali visits in Virginia…
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…While taking her daughter Polly to Hollywood where she aspired to become an actress, Caresse met Selbert “Bert” Saffold Young, an unemployed aspiring actor and former football player 18 years her junior. When he saw her staring at him in a restaurant, he immediately came over and asked her to dance. She described him as “handsome as Hermes” and “as militant as Mars.” Her friend Constance Coolidge described Bert as “untamed” and “entirely ruled by impulse.”
Without a job, he convinced Caresse he just wanted to own a farm and they decided to look for land on the east coast. They drove into Virginia looking for an old plantation house smothered in roses. When their car broke down, she accidentally discovered Hampton Manor, a Hereford cattle farm with a dilapidated brick mansion on a 486 acres (197 ha) estate in Bowling Green, Virginia. It had been built in 1838 by John Hampton DeJarnette from plans by his friend, Thomas Jefferson. John Hampton was the brother of Virginia Legislator Daniel Coleman De Jarnette.
On September 30, 1936, she wrote to the New York Trust Company and instructed them to send 433 shares of stock that she used to buy the property,[37] which was in need of renovation. They were married in Virginia on March 24, 1937. Bert was always asking Caresse for money, he crashed her car, ran up the telephone bill, and used all her credit at the local liquor store. Bert ended one bout of drinking with a solo trip to Florida and did not come back to Virginia until the next year.
I like the story that she had a wall in her old european holiday home that she was distressed to discover had been painted over by the nazis. The reason for her distress? House guests of hers and Crosby’s such as DH Lawrence and Picasso had been invited to leave their signatures and marks in watercolours. Stylish.
Harry Crosby doesn’t sound all that charming an individual, apart from anything else having Polly change her name to Caress with an “e” on the end is a black mark in my book! Although earlier choice “Clytoris” is many degrees worse…
I have a friend who told me a story her grandmother told her about Caresse, well it’s more of a quote… “Ah. Caresse and her castle! Twenty-one bedrooms and not a single indoor toilet. Tsk-tsk, etc.”
Ach. No indoor toilets? That’s just not *right*!
Maybe she was into restoration accurate to the period? Or, maybe with her multiple residences she never stayed there!
Dearest Ms Lester
What a splendid story and a rather dashing residence – The Dandy is much taken with their taste in interior design!!
Thank you as always for bringing these tales to our attention.
You are a public service!!!
Yours ever
The Perfumed Dandy.
I’ve always wanted to see his and Gala’s home in Spain, Portlligat – I’ve heard it’s wonderful!
I always worry that Salvador Dali was going to poke himself – or someone else – in the eye with his moustache.
I should have scanned the rest of the article – after 6 months in residence and a great deal of “enchantment” the house was opened to tours for war relief. Dali spent a portion of each day at the local store, there’s a picture of him by a pot belly stove, chatting with the regulars. It also notes he played chess every night with his wife, and lost – it’s really charming.
Fascinating details, Vickie, and the pictures are eerily informative. Creative eccentrics make for stunning topics. Thanks for a great post.
Fascinating.I had never hear of Harry Crosby before.I shall look him up.Was this the same Crosby family that David Crosby from Crosby,Stills,Nash and Young came from?I had heard that he was from a pretty wealthy background before musical fame.
I think he came from a wealthy east coast family… and I think his dad worked in the film industry. I don’t know that Harry Crosby ever had any children…