Imagine the excitement Billy Baldwin must have experienced, when, his telephone rang, and it was Mrs. Paley calling, asking him to meet her at the chic St. Regis Hotel...according to wikipedia, the Paleys kept this apartment in town, as their weekday retreat, then to Kiluna Farm in Manhasset, and Kiluna North for those de rigeur country living escapes. I've always loved this shot of the sitting room, from the book "The Finest Rooms by America's Great Decorators" - a book which Albert Hadley inspired his good friend Wilbur Pippin to collaborate on with Katherine Tweed- as well as this stunning portrait of Babe standing in the room, which I believe is by Horst. Babe Cushing Mortimer Paley was the most elegant woman of her time, and became an iconic style figure, Vogue editor, and a Capote "swan" - like C.Z. Guest, she too hailed from Boston. I love the caption under this photo in the book; The transformation of a banal hotel sitting room in New York into a personal and domestic room resulted in the Proustian, turn- of- the- century setting shown here- the walls are hung in brown and pink paisley calico. The Bessarabian rug is patterned with Blackamoor heads, and the extraordinary chandelier is Venetian. How exotic! How chic! How stylish! It all exudes the cafe' society belle epoque mystery that the Paleys seemed to aspire to. My late friend and mentor, Tice Alexander, was taken to this room, and he said he never really got over it, as it had been kept intact, as a kind of shrine to the impossibly fab Babe. I don't for a minute doubt it, and for all I know this charming room still exists- (Babe Paley died in 1978) I hope that you enjoy my post, I am certainly not the first or last to include BP in my list of inspiring and enchanting figures from the not so distant past. DF *****
