Babe Paley

Barbara Cushing Mortimer Paley, born Barbara Cushing in Boston, Massachusetts, was the daughter of renowned brain surgeon Harvey Cushing, who belonged to a prominent Cleveland medical family and held professorships at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Yale, and Katharine Stone (née Crowell), a granddaughter of Ohio congressman John Crowell. She spent her formative years in Brookline, Massachusetts.1920 United States Federal Census Summers were spent at the family cottage, Little Boar’s Head on the coast off New Hampshire.

Barbaras father was comitted to his career{{Cite book |last=Angus |first=L. D. George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cpf5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA337&dq=The+Sisters:+The+Lives+and+Times+of+the+Fabulous+Cushing+Sisters&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-_sqTi8SMAxWWLBAIHRtGFqwQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=The%20Sisters:%20The%20Lives%20and%20Times%20of%20the%20Fabulous%20Cushing%20Sisters&f=false |title=Unveiling the Legends:: Celebrating medical Visionaries, their revolutionary contributions and sacred resting grounds |last2=Angus |first2=Taleah R. |date=2024-03-06 |publisher=The Writers Tree |isbn=978-1-304-62781-0 |language=en}} and would spend long hours at his work which meant that his wife was left at home alone with the couples five children.{{Cite book |last=Bliss |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EzbjVnjwjPYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=William+Harvey+Cushing&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiry4Ct_sOMAxWBFBAIHbqAEkoQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=snippet&q=Barbara&f=false |title=Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery |date=2005-10-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-534695-4 |language=en}} Though affectionate towards his children when home he would spend much of his time in his study. Cushing was also stern and demanded perfectionism.{{Cite news |last=Nemy |first=Enid |date=1998-03-26 |title=Betsey Cushing Whitney Is Dead at 89 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/26/nyregion/betsey-cushing-whitney-is-dead-at-89.html |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Within the family Barbara was known as "Baby" or "Babs" which would eventually the moniker she was known by ; Babe.

Barbara had two older sisters, Mary and Betsey, who both entered into unions with affluent families: Mary Cushing became the second wife of Vincent Astor, while Betsey Cushing married James Roosevelt, the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later John Hay Whitney.name="Bumiller1999">{{cite news|last1=Bumiller|first1=Elisabeth|title=THE LIVES THEY LIVED: Betsey Cushing Whitney; The Last Princess|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/03/magazine/the-lives-they-lived-betsey-cushing-whitney-the-last-princess.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=January 3, 1999}}{{cite news|last1=Nemy|first1=Enid|title=Betsey Cushing Whitney Is Dead at 89|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/26/nyregion/betsey-cushing-whitney-is-dead-at-89.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=March 26, 1998}} Together, the Cushing sisters were often referred to by the public as 'The Fabulous Cushing Sisters'.

Barbaras oldest brother William died in an automobile accident in 1926, near New Haven where he was attending Yale University. The death of her brother was a devastating blow to Barbaras parents. While her father threw himself into his work, her mother would attend seances in order to connect with the spirit of her son.

Barbara attended the Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut where she graduated at the top of her class.In October 1934, she made her debut as a debutante in Boston at the Ritz-Carlton, an event that garnered attention amid the challenges of the Great Depression. Notably, sons of Roosevelt attended her debut.New York Times, October 24, 1934 This marked the beginning of her social journey. She completed her high school education at Winsor School in Boston in 1934.

In 1937, Paley was involved in a car accident while returning from a party in Long island when the drunk male driver crashed into a tree.{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Sally Bedell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4IgALTXtH4C&pg=PA247&dq=she+did+not+have+her+face+reconstructed+babe&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS2eP7gsSMAxXjDxAIHZvHPMcQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=she%20did%20not%20have%20her%20face%20reconstructed%20babe&f=false |title=In All His Glory: The Life and Times of William S. Paley and the Birth of Modern Broadcasting |date=2012-02-29 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-78671-5 |language=en}} The accident led to Paleys front teeth being knocked out and her jawbone becoming shattered.Doctors had to reconstruct her jaw and the same was done to her teeth. Later in life there would be rumors that she had undergone plastic surgery.

File:Paley vogue 1939.jpeg

By 1935 Paley had secured an entry level job at Glamour magazine and commuted from the Cushing familys home in New Haven.

In 1938, Paley decided to move to Manhattan to live with her sister Betsey and then shared an apartment with her friend Priscilla Weld. Living in New York enabled Paley to land a job as fashion editor at Vogue in 1939.{{Cite web |date=January 7, 2019 |title=Babs Simpson, a Former Vogue Editor Who Collaborated With Irving Penn, Has Died at 105 |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/babs-simpson-vogue-editor-obituary |access-date=February 18, 2023 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}} This role granted her access to designer clothing, often obtained in exchange for her high-profile image. In 1941, Time magazine ranked her the world's second-best dressed woman, following Wallis Simpson and preceding Aimée de Heeren.[http://www.aimeedeheeren.com Babe Paley / Mrs Stanley Mortimer Jr 2nd best dressed woman in the World according to Times 1941] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110142857/http://www.aimeedeheeren.com/ |date=January 10, 2015 }} She was also named on the best-dressed lists of 1945 and 1946.

Following her second marriage in 1947, Paley left her position at Vogue.{{cite web|url=http://www.vogue.com/voguepedia/Babe_Paley|title=Babe Paley|publisher=vogue.com|accessdate=March 24, 2013}}

File:KN-C19647. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's Tea for the Special Committee for White House Paintings.jpg for First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's Tea for the Special Committee for White House Paintings in 1961]]

Babe and William Paley maintained an apartment at the St. Regis, which was adorned by the interior design expertise of Billy Baldwin. They resided there during the week and spent weekends at their 80-acre (32 ha) estate, Kiluna Farm, located in Manhasset, Long Island.They included Alice Recknagel Ireys, Russell Page, Thomas D. Church and the connoisseur and collector Henry Francis du Pont: Valentine Lawford, "The Gardens of Mrs. William S. Paley: Landscape Architecture by Russell Page", Architectural Record In 1957, they acquired Kiluna North, a retreat on Squam Lake in New Hampshire, which afforded them privacy and played host to numerous celebrities.In 1970 the house was given to Dartmouth College and serves as [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~minary/history/ Minary Conference Center] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017230801/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~minary/history/ |date=October 17, 2007 }}.

Despite encountering social exclusions and discriminatory practices due to prevalent anti-Semitic prejudices against her husband, the Paleys cultivated a circle of high-society friends that included author Truman Capote and fellow socialite Slim Keith. Capote included Paley and Keith in his group of "swans," comprising New York socialites such as Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, and C.Z. Guest{{cite news|url=http://nymag.com/news/people/31556/|title=The Top Twenty Socialites of All Time|date=May 7, 2007|magazine=New York Magazine|accessdate=March 5, 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090201090411/http://nymag.com/news/people/31556/| archive-date= February 1, 2009 | url-status= live}} Paley severed her friendship with Capote when he published excerpts from Answered Prayers, his tell-all about New York's elite.

Her personal, unconventional style was enormously influential. A photograph of Paley with a scarf tied to her handbag, for example, created a trendy tidal wave that millions of women emulated. She often mixed extravagant jewelry by Fulco di Verdura and Jean Schlumberger with costume pieces and embraced letting her hair go gray instead of using dye.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Paley's distinctive style earned her a place on the best-dressed list a remarkable fourteen times before her induction into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1958. Her ability to command attention, with her impeccable hair, makeup, and overall crispness, was legendary. As fashion designer Bill Blass once remarked, 'I never saw her fail to capture anyone's attention. You noticed Babe and nothing else.'"{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

File:Babe paley style.jpeg

File:Cushing Mortimer wedding.jpeg

While working at Vogue, Barbara met and married Stanley Grafton Mortimer Jr. (1913–1999), an oil heir and member of a prominent New York family, in 1940 at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in East Hampton, New York.{{cite news|last1=Nemy|first1=Enid|title=Stanley G. Mortimer Jr., 86, Sportsman and Ad Executive|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/14/nyregion/stanley-g-mortimer-jr-86-sportsman-and-ad-executive.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=August 14, 1999}}{{cite news|title=BARBARA CUSHING TO BE WED SEPT. 21; Daughter of Surgeon to Become Bride of S.G. Mortimer Jr. in East Hampton NIECES TO ATTEND HER They Are Misses Sara and Kate Roosevelt, Granddaughters of President and Wife|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/13/archives/barbara-cushing-to-be-wed-sept-21-daughter-of-surgeon-to-become.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=September 13, 1940}}{{cite news|title=Miss Cushing Wed in Church; Sara and Kate Roosevelt Are Attendants at Marriage of Aunt to S.G. Mortimer Jr.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/09/22/archives/miss-cushing-wed-in-church-sara-and-kate-roosevelt-are-attendants.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=September 22, 1940}} However, their marriage ended by 1946 after Mortimer returning from his service in the Navy during the WWII became an alcoholic and displayed severe mood swings. Mortimer would decades later be diagnosed with manic depression

They had two children together:

• Stanley Grafton Mortimer III (born 1942), a Harvard graduate who married Siri Larsen in 1971.
• Amanda Jay Mortimer (born 1944), who married Carter Burden Jr., a descendant of the Vanderbilt family, in 1964. The couple divorced in 1972.

Paley's children grew up at the countryside estate Kiluna Farm in Manhasset,while their mother and father/step-father stayed in New York. Retrospectives have suggested that Barbara neglected her children while pursuing social status and relied on her husbands' wealth to support her extravagant lifestyle. Her daughter Amanda has acknowledged that their relationship was "virtually nonexistent" and that the distance "was her choice, not mine".{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/newyork/features/6005/|title=Social Planner - Nymag|website=New York Magazine|date=May 13, 2002 |language=en-us|access-date=April 22, 2020}}File:Stanley Grafton Mortimer Jr. and Barbara Cushing honeymoon in 1940.jpg

After her divorce from Mortimer, Barbara received a settlement from a trust fund. In 1946, she met William "Pasha" Paley, who was estranged from his wife Dorothy Hart Hearst (1908–1998), the former wife of John Randolph Hearst. William Paley was wealthy and interested in the arts, and sought acceptance in New York's café society. Barbara's social connections provided him a better chance of gaining entry into the exclusive circles that had previously eluded him. For Barbara, William Paley offered wealth, security, and worldly experiences. William's divorce was finalized July 24, 1947. He and Barbara married the following year. She had two children with Paley:{{cite news|last1=Guinto|first1=Joseph|title=His Father's Son {{!}} Bill Paley's father was a titan, his mother a goddess, and he—a dropout and addict—"a source of dismay," some said. Now in his sixties, Paley has revived his family's cigar business and wants to rewrite his personal legacy. He hopes his father would be proud.|url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2013/02/13/his-fathers-son/|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=Washingtonian|date=February 13, 2013}}

• William C. "Bill" Paley (born 1948),{{cite news|title=Son Born to William S. Paleys|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/03/31/archives/son-born-to-william-s-ialeys-j.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=March 31, 1948}} who relaunched La Palina, a cigar company established by grandfather Sam Paley in 1896. He married Alison Van Metre, daughter of Albert Van Metre, founder of Van Metre Homes.
• Kate Cushing Paley (born 1950),{{cite news|title=Child to Mrs. William S. Paley|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/17/archives/child-to-mrs-william-s-paley.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=February 17, 1950}} who made her "nondebut" in 1968, shortly after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.{{cite news|title=Kate Paley Has Small Nondebut|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/15/archives/kate-paley-has-small-nondebut.html|accessdate=February 15, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=June 15, 1968}}

According to several biographers, Barbara experienced loneliness and frustration as William Paley engaged in extramarital affairs.{{Cite web |date=December 18, 2022 |title=Tragic Facts About Babe Paley, The Queen Of New York |url=https://www.factinate.com/people/facts-babe-paley/ |access-date=January 3, 2023 |website=Factinate |language=en-US}} This emotional toll affected her and her family. Moreover, she faced public and media scrutiny, expected to maintain an unrealistic standard of beauty and social grace.

Barbara was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1974, attributed to her heavy smoking. Preparing for her impending death, she meticulously planned her own funeral, including the selection of food and wine to be served at the funeral luncheon. She allocated her jewelry collection and personal belongings to friends and family, wrapping them in colorful paper and creating a comprehensive file system with instructions for their distribution after her death.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

Paley died from lung cancer on July 6, 1978, a day after her 63rd birthday.{{cite news |title=Barbara Cushing Paley Dies at 63; Style Pace-Setter in Three Decades; Symbol of Taste |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/07/archives/barbara-cushing-paley-dies-at-63-style-pacesetter-in-three-decades.html |quote=Barbara Cushing Paley, the wife of William S. Paley, the chairman of the board of the Columbia Broadcasting System, died of cancer at their apartment in New York City yesterday after a long illness. She was 63 years old. |work=The New York Times |date=July 7, 1978 |accessdate=March 21, 2010 | first=Enid | last=Nemy}}

Barbara Paley remains an icon in the realms of fashion and style. Truman Capote, a former friend, reputedly commented, "Babe Paley had only one fault. She was perfect. Otherwise, she was perfect."{{cite book|last=Nowell|first=Iris|title=Generation Deluxe: Consumerism and Philanthropy of the New Super-rich|publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd.|year=2004|pages=[https://archive.org/details/generationdeluxe00nowe/page/141 141]|isbn=1-55002-503-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/generationdeluxe00nowe/page/141}}

Babe Paley has been portrayed in various films and series, including:

• Life of the Party: The Pamela Harriman Story (1998) by Joan Severance
• Capote (2005) by Michelle Harrison
• Infamous (2006) by Sigourney Weaver
• The Capote Tapes (2019) documentary
• Halston (2021) by Regina Schneider in episode 1
• The Love Machine (1969) by Jacqueline Susann: The characters Judith and Gregory Austin, a socialite and television network CEO, are reportedly based on Babe and William Paley. Dyan Cannon portrayed Judith in the 1971 film adaptation.
• The Swans of Fifth Avenue (2016) by Melanie Benjamin: The novel depicts Babe Paley alongside Truman Capote and Slim Keith
• Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024) by Naomi Watts{{Cite web |date=March 6, 2024 |title=The Babe Paley in ‘Feud’ Is Not the Woman I Knew |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/opinion/feud-swans-paley.html |access-date=March 6, 2024 |website=The New York Times |language=en-US}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Smith, Sally Bedell (1948- ). [https://books.google.com/books/about/In_All_His_Glory.html?id=W4IgALTXtH4C In all his glory: the life and times of William S. Paley and the birth of modern broadcasting]. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1990.
• Grafton, David. The Sisters: Babe Mortimer Paley, Betsey Roosevelt Whitney, Minnie Astor Fosburgh - The Lives and Times of the Fabulous Cushing Sisters. Villard (1992).
• Tapert, Annette & Edkins, Diana, The Power of Style - The Women Who Defined The Art of Living Well, Crown Publishers, New York, 1994.
• Prisant, Carol. Babe & I. Town & Country, December 2010, pp. 152–156.

{{Portal|Biography}}

• [http://www.dominomag.com/galleries/edspicks/babepaley Domino magazine's "Editor's Pick - Babe Paley, featuring a photo of Paley at her Round Hill Villa in Jamaica]
• [http://www.lucire.com/2004/spring2005/1106fe0.shtml Fashion designer Zang Toi's Spring 2005 collection inspired by Babe Paley's time in Jamaica]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120422130520/http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/shoppingdiary/shoppingdiary2.php NewYorkSocialDiary.com]
• {{Find a Grave|7311782|accessdate=August 10, 2010}}

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Category:1915 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:20th-century American writers

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:American magazine editors

Category:American debutantes

Category:American socialites

Category:Mortimer family (New York)

Category:American fashion journalists

Category:Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)

Category:People from Boston

Category:Vogue (magazine) people

Category:American women journalists

Category:People from Manhasset, New York

Category:American women magazine editors

Category:Winsor School alumni

Category:Cushing family