Inside the TRAGIC Marriage of Truman Capote’s Swan Babe Paley

she was a fashion icon in mid-century New York High Society he was a media Mogul with wealth power and Charisma she was tall beautiful and gracious one of the most admired women of the 20th century he was cold Stern and known to have a bad temper the two couldn't have been more different in personality and presentation yet they would marry each other for similar reasons in this video we take a deep dive into the tragic marriage of Truman Capo's favorite Swan babe paly to William S paly the Chicago cigar maker son who built the CBS Television Empire and reigned as its autocratic chairman until 1983 we'll look at what is true and what may not be true inside the marriage of this mid-century New York power couple let's begin Barbara babe Cushing married bill paly on July 28th 1947 she was 32 years old just divorced from an alcoholic husband while bill was over a decade her senior at 45 he too was fresh from a divorce in fact Bill py married babe just 4 days after his divorce was Final the first question that comes to mind is why did they marry each other was it love or was it something darker more transactional the two grew up in different social strata Babe's father was an esteemed surgeon born and bred in an affluent family married to a prominent Boston socialite bill on the other hand was a second generation Ukrainian Jew whose father made his fortune by running a Cigar Company they both came from money and had money when they married but it wasn't money they were after for both Bill and babe the drive was to climb up the social ladder of High Society New York to reach its Pinnacle where influence recognition and power were not just the ultimate symbols of status but for Bill also the keys to unlocking doors that had once seemed impenetrable to him babe was already an established member of New York's High Society but Bill was not he lacked culture and refinement that is until he married his first wife the Glamorous Dorothy Hart hen whose first husband was John Randolph Hurst of the Hurst Empire Sally Bedell Smith wrote in in all his glory her 1990 biography of Bill paly although years his Junior Dorothy was more worldly than he she knew her way around sophisticated circles friendships with men like Randolph Churchill counted a great deal to the ambitious py in New York she joined the Algonquin set the playwrights journalists and other intellectuals whose lunch and reposts during the 1920s became a literary Legend Dorothy became his palian his hunger to know satisfied her trenchant desire to teach he had the instinct but she had the knowledge she began transforming his life she got him to saval ro tayor she encouraged him to buy art and introduced him to dealers in a short time they began to accumulate what is now known as the William paly collection of art Dorothy may have been worldly and sophisticated but one thing she wasn't was a docel doting wife she once recalled about her marriage to paly I never behaved as if the world revolved around him maybe that was a problem Enter babe py another younger woman who bill paly could use to his Advantage babe gave Bill entry to a level of high society and elevated taste and Bill provided babe with all the money she could ever need so that she could live the way she and her mother believed she was born to live Babe's Mother Catherine stoncel Cushing practiced the Fine Art of grooming her three daughters Mary Betsy and babe collectively known known as The Fabulous Cushing sisters to marry the richest and most distinguished men in America Mary's first husband was William Vincent Aster of the prestigious old money Aster family of New York and Betsy first married James Roosevelt II and later jock Whitney the millionaire Sportsman and publisher when babe met William paly his wealth was already impressive in 1946 his Holdings in CBS alone were worth 9.8 million and his income from salary and dividends that year exceeded $800,000 babe was a wasp a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant and an established member of what was coined the cafe Society they were the beautiful people and Bright Young things the set of people who tended to do their entertaining semi- publicly and who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York Paris and London Bill needed babe to offset his Jewish background and boost his status in the New York Cafe society and babe wanted a man who fit the requirements that her mother Catherine had raised her to expect when they married one newspaper account of the wedding noted that he was the first Cushing son-in-law who is not socially prominent babe was the perfect wife for a domineering husband unlike Bill's previous wife babe was groomed to serve a man without complaint her own mother taught her to suppress her feelings always have composure and never say anything negative about your husband or about anyone for that matter and that's what she did throughout her 31 years of marriage to William S paly babe was always attentive to bill paying close attention to his moods and his needs giving up any sense of autonomy she went so far as to stop setting her hair before bed because he didn't want her doing her hair at night Bill liked to have Attractive people around and Babe's life was spent hosting Cafe society-like dinner parties where her sole role was to be the decorative presence not necessarily silent but by all means to be seen even as Bill expected babe to be perfect and she worked hard to devote herself to meeting his demanding standards his expectations scarcely afforded any consideration for the toll it took to maintain appearances in spite of it all babe paly excelled as a gracious Hostess going to Great Lengths to ensure her guests were content with meticulous organization she made sure no one had to unpack and every bedroom was filled with Provisions like food flowers and newspapers according to their friend Lady Mary Dunn you could hardly get into the bedroom for the flowers over time the marriage became a waking nightmare for babe with Bill's ever increasing demands and wandering eye further eroding their relationship in in all his glory Sally Bedell Smith paints William paly as a hard-driving narcissist who treated his children much as he dealt with his top Executives what counted was that they knew he was in charge he applied the same rule to his wife so much so that babe lived in fear of her husband's bad temper Smith pushes the point home with the story of the broken lamp once when a floor lamp got damaged Bill demanded that it be fixed on the double while B was trying to get it repaired she had to leave with Bill for a trip to Europe when they arrived back in the States babe was so nervous about the lamp that she called her sister from the airport to find out if the repairs had been done when Betsy reported that they had not babe begged her to run over and get it out of the house I don't care what you do with it just get it out of his sight before Bill sees it another time babe expressed fear of bill was when she told her friend Truman capot about a recent love affair as Smith tells it one day babe invited capot to an out ofth Way New York restaurant to meet the man she loved an American ambassador he was charming and devoted but soon afterward she ended the affair telling capot she was afraid bill would find out it was better to be alone never mind that bill was a notorious womanizer and had multitudes of Affairs he was a philanderer with a roving eye and groping hands that just couldn't get enough beautiful and accomplished women into his back his Affairs included all manner of women including many well-known socialites and even his own American Diplomat he was also said to have had encounters with actresses including Greta Garbo Peggy nudson and Louise Brooks Bill's infidelities brought bab's insecurities to light she started to believe that she wasn't attractive to men or attractive at all she ultimately resigned herself to a Barren marriage bed while her friends speculated she might be as sexual Truman capot Babe's closest friend and Confidant wrote in an excerpt from his unfinished book answered prayers that babe tried to kill herself multiple times once by cutting her wrists and the other by taking a handful of pills but the book is in actuality only a work of fiction characterized by thinly veiled representations of the socialites he called his swans including his most revered Swan babe paly capot was prone to exaggeration and had no qualms about writing and telling half-truths about what he saw and heard during his years as part of the New York Cafe Society leaving us with the question if it was actually true that babe contemplated taking her own life he also claimed that babe confessed to him that she had considered divorced several times in the marriage and that he talked her out of it by reminding her that bill bought and paid for her playing upon her ever present insecurities capot pointed out that she had no money of her own had four children and couldn't maintain her social status if she were to ruin it all by becoming a sad divorce left to live on the fringes of society also from Truman capot we get the story that babe had a little gold notebook that she used to make notes about her inadequacies in an effort to do better the next time that she hosted a Suare or dinner party once perceived as nothing less than perfect the drive to perfectionism only made life with Bill paly that much more difficult babe paly's marriage was tragic not only because of who her husband was and what he did inside the marriage but also because of Babe's need to be perfect at the detriment of her own happiness babe paly never divorced her husband of 31 years she died from lung cancer on July 6th 1978 a day after her 63rd birthday want the full story behind Truman kot's shocking betrayal of his swans here it is

Channel: Fabulous, Fierce & Feisty Women In History

Views: 112,592

Keywords: babe paley, truman capote, capote vs the swans, captoe's swans, feud capote vs the swans

Id: 95q827UWOU4

Length: 11min 14sec (674 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 04 2024