Resort Life: Chapter XLI, 1973

18 February 1973. Everglades Club, Palm Beach. A black-tie roast celebrates bachelor Bob Leidy "… in his farewell appearance" before his marriage to Nicole Redfield.

Resort Life: Chapter XLI, 1973
Palm Beach + Hobe Sound + Medway Plantation + Down East + Fishers Island + La Costa + Hawaii
By Augustus Mayhew

On New Year's Eve, the Coconuts party was held at Club 265, formerly Marshall Grant's on Royal Poinciana Way. Mary Sanford stepped into 1973 wearing ostrich feathers. Head coconut Chris Dunphy stood at the door welcoming "fun, substantial and glamorous people." Lethal yellow threatened the resort's iconic coconut trees; gas shortages curtailed taking the Bentley to Publix. For the first time, The Breakers opened year round.

In March, Ari and Jackie O arrived for a month aboard the Christina. Known for their conspicuous privacy, the couple docked the 325-foot yacht in the turnaround basin, reaching the island with launches to the Sailfish Club. By July, the Town Council was ready to pay $5 million for the Par Three Golf Course. At Peter Dinkel's, a cheeseburger was $1.80; honey ice cream was 75 cents (Yikes, I can remember the honey ice cream!); and, coffee was 25 cents. In September, Marjorie Merriweather Post died. Much to the dismay of the locals, she left Mar-a-Lago to the federal government.

For Ellen Ordway, the year would bring the loss of some of her closest friends — Nonie Phipps, Michael Phipps and Tom Shevlin.

January 1973

"A very sad and distressing day in all our lives …"

Elaine "Nonie" Phipps Schippers (1938-1973).

Newspaper article, obituary. Nonie Phipps Schippers.

February 1973

Newspaper article. Hutton-Weir engagement announcement.

Newspaper article, Suzy Says column. Dorothy Hutton engagement.

Palm Beach Daily News, obituary. Thomas Shevlin.

Palm Beach
Villa Bel Tramonto

Polaroid. Harvey Shaffer.

Polaroid. Ellen Ordway and William Randolph Hearst, Jr.

Serena and Julian Barrow. English painter Julian Barrow's work was shown at Palm Beach Galleries.

February 1973

"Tommy Schippers and Etoile come for the weekend…"

Tommy Schippers and Etoile.

Bess McGrath and Tommy Schippers.

"And then, bridge …" Betty Iglehart Reed and Tommy Schippers.

Laura Pepper Cheston.

Otley Cochran.

February 1973
Hobe Sound

Princess Joan of Luxembourg and Bess McGrath.

Hans Kertess.

Peggy Scott-Duff (Mrs. Hans Kertess).

Princess Joan of Luxembourg.

HRH Charlotte and HRH Robert of Luxembourg.

18 February 1973

Invitation. Bob Leidy roast at the Everglades Club.

3 March 1973

Newspaper article. Dorothy Hutton-Lord Viscount Weir wedding announcement.

12 March 1973

"Michael Phipps Dies …"

Newspaper article. Michael Grace Phipps (1911-1973).

"The kids feed the ducks at the Everglades golf course. "

March 1973
Hobe Sound

"An afternoon of croquet …"

Jane Cheston and Mrs. Joseph Reed.

"Mrs. Reed in her garden with Gertrude…"

29 March 1973
Medway Plantation

"Happy Birthday Gertrude."

Sandy Wood, Gertrude's grandson.

Jane Canfield and Gertrude Legendre.

Agnes Baldwin and Sandy Wood.

Gertrude's grandson Sandy Wood and his mother Landine Manigault.

Dan Calkins and Gertrude Legendre.

John Pirie and Pickett Randolph.

Cass Canfield (1897-1986). Renowned Harper & Row president and chairman of the board, during the mid-1960s Augustus Cass Canfield was involved in the controversy over William Manchester's book The Death of the President when the Kennedy family asked for several pages of changes and deletions in the book. Canfield's adopted son Michael was first married to Lee Bouvier Radziwill. Following Michael Canfield's sudden death on board a jet, his wife Laura Charteris Long Dudley Canfield married Bert, the 10th Duke of Marlborough, in 1972.

Mato Grasso, Brazil. John Moses Brown, born 31 March 1973, with his parents Josie Duke Brown and John Marshall Brown.

Lion Country Safari, West Palm Beach.

1 June 1973

Bettina Dale. "Baltimore to NE …"

Down East
Northeast Harbor

Borderlea.

In the swim.

Augusta, Gussie and George Harrison.

Cora Clarkson.

24 June 1973

Bill Taylor and Billy Taylor.

July 1973

Angela Cochran.

Jay and Ceely Cochran.

Susie Phipps Cochran.

Whim Lynch.

Pamela and Andy Ordway.

The harbor.

August 1973

Northeast Harbor Swim Club.

Granville N. Toogood and family.

"The kids didn't leave until everything was gone …"

Granville Toogood and the kids.

24 August 1973

"Atty Kent takes us on a cruise to Bar Harbor …"

Atwater "Atty" Kent Jr.

Carrie Hollingsworth.

Mrs. Waterman, Ethel Garrett, and Carrie Hollingsworth.

John Nicholas Brown and his wife Anne Kinsolving Brown were in the harbor aboard Mazurka, Newport. Known as "the world's richest baby," Brown was "the pillar of Newport society," according to Suzy. In 1986, Brown's mansion Harbour Court was put on the market for a record $4.5 million by his son J. Carter Brown.