.**NEW** Names in Paige’s Phone Book: Desmond & Jonathan Guinness, Michael Butler of “Hair,” Hef & Joni, Cosby, FWHC. New painting. Expect updates. 02/25/2024. Very LONG! Under Construction!
Posted on October 6, 2023
This entry will make more sense if you have read at least the 2nd half of this website.
I was in Los Angeles in April of 2023 and visited with Melanie Myers from the Daily Mail and Secrets of Playboy.
She showed me an old paper she had saved with phone numbers she copied out of Paige’s personal phone directory, after her suicide.
Melanie and B.J. Royale, who lived in the front duplex in front of Paige’s apartment in 1974, were preparing to share the task of calling Paige’s friends to tell them the news of her suicide. And to inform some, that Paige left instructions for them to receive one (or more) of her paintings.
Melanie made me a copy of her original notes. I took photos of that as well.
Thank you Melanie, I enjoyed our interview and appreciate the phone list. It has given me several more clues into the last couple years of Paige’s life.
Below are images of the phone list.
Joni-Hefner entry below Jonathan Guinness. Joni refers to Joni Mattis, Hugh Hefner’s longtime assistant, personal secretary and friend from the Chicago mansion days and possible (probable) “fixer.” I believe Joni Mattis is the person who put into motion (with HMH approval) the actions taken to cover up Paige’s suicide and all the blame she placed on HMH and his friends, for instance: preventing the sensational news from leaking to the press, leaving out important details in the police incident report (like the mural), destroying or hiding the police photos taken at the scene, destroying notes written by Paige at scene.
Melanie in Daily Mail-“police read some of the note to me… most vitriol for HH and John Huston.” And Paige’s apartment being “cleaned and cleared out very quickly,” according to Melanie.
Melanie told me that that Paige’s mother (Donna) and sister (Constance) came the next day to pack up belongings. They gave a painting to Melanie before leaving.
Hefner received reports on a regular basis from employees about goings on at the mansion, its’ players and visitors. (PJ Masten)
Proximity: Paige lived in Westwood, a 10 minute car drive to Holmby Hills. The local police had a friendly relationship with Hefner and the mansion employees.
Many former LAPD officers became Mansion security for Hefner over the decades. This according to Secrets of Playboy. (PJ Masten).
The LAPD certainly knew who the hell Hugh Hefner was when they were greeted by Paige’s mural at her suicide scene 2 miles from the Playboy mansion.
As I continue to read and study the history of the LAPD, it’s for good reason they have Mythic status as a corrupt institution.
So really, it is not surprising that information unflattering to Hefner could be buried and made up to be like it just didn’t happen.
I am not in any way saying Hugh Hefner is directly responsible for Paige’s suicide.
But it’s all about the image.
Particularly at this date, when Bobbie Arnstein was arrested in Chicago on (exaggerated) cocaine smuggling charges just 9 days previous to Paige’s suicide.
Joni and Hef could have “believed” that by burying Paige’s story from getting out, they were helping Bobbie and Hef.
There was more motivation than usual to justify sweeping this incident under the rug.
PJ Masten in Secrets of Playboy talked about an awareness that negative press was to be avoided.
Jennifer Saginor, Secrets of Playboy and author of Playground said on the podcast Power,“Hef was always image conscious.”
I think the Playboy people including Hugh Hefner saw an opportunity to shut down the possibility of this news about Paige from getting out and they took it.
Jim Ellis, former body guard for Hefner in the early 1980s, said in Secrets of Playboy that his job was not only “protecting” his clients physical being, but “also their reputation.”
Why does Paige Young’s entry in the Playmate Book, say “drug overdose.” If they knowingly made that up, why that manner of death was chosen is beyond me.
END
Michael Brandon, too many. Cindy Manay brings nothing.
Looking at the list, so far have not found anything on Larry Fisher or a Gretchen Foster.
Steve Moress, listed below Joni-Hefner, opened a museum and shop of acrylic arts in 1974 at 2360 S. Robertson Blvd. It was open for several decades selling to interior decorators, but is now closed. I called several numbers for a “Stephen Moress” but none of them were working numbers. He’s about 80 years old now.
The following screenshots are from a real estate website and show the interior of Paige’s carriage house/apartment over a garage in Westwood, located down the street from the Mormon Temple. The apartment was built over a garage in 1940, it is where Paige lived the last years of her life and committed suicide. Among her belongings was a suicide note mentioning names she said were complicit in her downfall, a will, a mural proclaiming “Hugh Hefner is the devil,” and many of her paintings. A few unfinished. All her personal belongings.
These real estate photos are all the world has left of this particular place of what is old Los Angeles.
Unless there are photographs lying in some attic or perhaps in a landfill placed there decades ago?
In this case a carriage house over a garage built there in 1940 by Kathryn Eddy, who had appeared in some walk-ons in the Silents.
All original built-ins. (Visiting reminded me of another LA trip — I visited the place Paige was born as Diana Lee Cotterell: 1933 Griffith Park Blvd, originally a Christian Science Maternity center and the building was being torn down on the day I was there.)
The builts-in of the 800 sq. foot apartment were being ripped out the day I visited; the place was being completely renovated.
Meet Michael Butler
The next section provides information on the Michael Butler entry found in Paige’s phone book seen below. Top right below sister Connie Smashey’s contact information.
I believe he is the same Michael Butler who was the producer of Hair, the famous “Tribal Love Rock” musical producing several pop hits that endure to this day. Hair is a definitive part of what represents 1960s culture.
Dubbed by the media as a “hippie-millionaire”
A detailed description of Michael Butler and his upper crust background in article below by Eugenia Sheppard. It appeared in newspapers across the country in 1968, the year Hair opened. The year Paige Young was a Vietnam era Playboy Playmate.
Mary Blume wrote an eye-opening article about Butler in the LAT. Oct. 11, 1970.
Three marriages so far and a production company in LA “Natoma” And an avid polo player.
Page 1
Page #3 of the LAT article. Butler was and avid polo player
San Fran Examiner June 25, 1971
San Francisco Examiner, May 1, 1972
Like Paige and John Huston and Celeste, there was the “horse connection.”
END
Note below that David Shane right below a Geo. Roberts.
Shane is an important character from several other chapters. He was a man with a pornstache, business owner set up by his successful Beverly Hills business owner father and brother of Cici Shane (Mrs.John) Huston. He was a visitor to the LA Mansion and alleged holder or keeper, of Paige’s “sex tape.” See chapters with Shane in the title.
Nothing comes up for Gus Prall at the top left.
The Playboy Club moved from the classic 1960s-linked Sunset Strip to the hot and brand new, ABC Entertainment Center set in futuristic modern Century City.
Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City.
LAT Nov. 1, 1973. I think the CC Playboy Club opened earlier in the fall. Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City.
Charity performance of Cabaret was performed at the opening.
*Notice the advert below for the Classic Cat. They too present their take on Cabaret (June 1973)
Playboy Club,Ad for the Classic Cat Performance of Cabaret and A mexican restaurant actually named speedy Gonzales.
Marty Tregman is a long time realtor in Santa Monica, he doesn’t remember Paige. Jon Von Newman…. came up with nothing. Brian Wilson is a common name.
I was intrigued with the entry “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw”
I began researching it as I am doing with all the entries.
Turns out it played a not insignificant role in the 2nd Wave Feminist movement.
This FWHC was one of, if not the first, women’s self-help health centers in the nation.
There were many services that Paige might have used at the “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw,” as you will see through newspaper articles written at the time, both local and national.
A brief context of the times is important:
In the early 1970s, the Feminist movement was more active than ever.
More so even than the 1960s, despite publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in 1963.
1973: The Roe V.Wade case enabled a woman’ right to an abortion to become national law in January of 1973.
1972: The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced and 22 states quickly ratified. This same year Title 9 was made a law.
Domestic violence and rape crisis centers and phone lines opened and self-defense classes for women proliferated in the 1970s.
So did media conversations about equal pay for equal work, ending workplace sexual harassment, limited job opportunity, gender discrimination in housing and credit, and implementation of subsidized childcare and wages for housework.
1974 – Housing discrimination on the basis of sex and credit discrimination against women are outlawed by Congress.
1975: An influential book about sexual violence and rape, “Against Our Will” by Susan Brownmiller was published.
In this environment were many women weary and fed up with their treatment by almost always male doctors, OB/Gyns, as experts and authorities on their own female bodies, including the parts and functions that make up the whole woman.
The health and reproductive aspect of “Women’s Liberation” is symbolized by the worldwide success of the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” published in 1970 and now on its’ 9th edition.
You or someone you know may very well have a copy.
Women were talking about it and organized.
Please see article at right about the FWHC by Linda Zink of Long Beach.
2 such women were Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman, both mothers in the Los Angles area. Together they started the Los Angeles Feminist W0men’s Health Clinic and taught classes to women on how to be the expert on their own reproductive health, which of course, includes control of fertility.
Some examples of what was taught at the FWHC:
How to do a self-check on your cervix (pelvic exam) using a speculum and mirror, how to extract one’s menstrual period before it starts (explained in-depth below) treat one’s own female health concerns and conditions, self -insertion of an IUD, practice these procedures on other women and teach them self-care.
Quote below from LA Conservancy Website as part of their nomination for historic status of the FWHC building at 1027 Crenshaw.
“Women’s Self-Help One clinic was the first in the nation and consequently placed the Crenshaw Women’s Center at the genesis point of the women’s self-help movement. Founded by Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman, the clinic became a model for the national movement. In 1972, the Center was raided by police. Ms. Downer had applied yogurt as a cure for a yeast infection and was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. She was acquitted and the platform and publicity of The Great Yogurt Conspiracy raised the consciousness of the nation and helped make woman’s clinics a national movement.”
The raid happened at 1027 Crenshaw.
746 Crenshaw was demolished in the 1980s.
The Great Yogurt Conspiracy received wide press coverage due to its’ humorous title and the absurdity of the charges.
“Carol Downer revolutionized the women’s health movement, learning how to perform abortions and vaginal self-examinations, and teaching other women how to, as well. In the early 70s, at a time when abortion, birth control, and fertility information was not widely available to women, Carol and some other women developed the practice of menstrual extraction, offering women a means to take control of their reproduction. She and her group, which incorporated as the Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) post-Roe v Wade, and travelled around the United States, equipped with vaginal speculums, teaching women about their bodies and reproductive systems. The FWHC also established the Women’s Abortion Referral Service, the first of its kind to offer pregnancy screening. From the website Feminist Current, an interview with Carol Downer conducted about 2 years ago.
Move to 746 mentioned below.
The “yogurt conspiracy,” arrest and acquittal caught the attention of cultural icons like Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug and Dr. Benjamin Spock, bringing national attention to these LA activists.
Last column in Zink article. 5/13/73
“Lorraine Rothman was a founding member of the feminist centered Self-Help Clinic movement and a major mover of many successful behind-the-scenes projects. With Carol Downer, she worked on the concept of menstrual extraction as a viable women’s home health care technique; and, in 1971, she invented the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit, which was patented n 1974……… Rothman’s collaborative relationship with Downer and the self-help clinic movement began when she attended an April 7, 1971 meeting organized by Downer to discuss women’s reproductive rights and abortion. At the second meeting, one week later, Rothman shared her idea of a safe home health care tool, demonstrating the prototype of the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit. Shortly afterwards, Downer and Rothman founded the Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) in Los Angeles; Rothman went on to open a second FWHC in Orange County, closer to her home and family. Over the next two decades, Rothman traveled widely, taking the Self-Help Clinic concept to women’s groups both in and outside the US....”Archived interview subject description at CSU Long Beach.
Therefore, if a fertilized egg had just been planted on the uterine wall, of course it would be suctioned out along with the rest of the menstrual material. If this was the case, indeed one would be preventing a birth. But you really wouldn’t know.
Several doctors are quoted below as being against menstrual extraction.
Carol Downer continues to lives in Eagle Rock and has been working in disability and immigration law for many years. She has lived a life of activism in the field of women’s reproductive rights and the peace movement.
For more details, please see the Carol Downer entry in the Embryo Project Encyclopedia.
END
Veronica told me she heard Paige’s death announced on the car radio as she was driving. What she heard caused her to pull over, too shocked to continue the rest of the way home. She tried later to call the radio station but was unable to get through.
Veronica met Paige at the Malibu beach home she shared with husband Frank.
Paige had been brought over to their home by Joe Rank, an art lover and collector who worked in radio and live close by.
Veronica never saw them together again but Paige and Joe remained friends and she thinks Joe did know about Paige’s background and family.
By the end of the 1970s Rank was the founder of a very successful clothing company. (More details at the end.)
Veronica said that Joe Rank knew Paige quite well and I should contact him.
I have tried, unfortunately with no luck. He would be in his 80s or 90s now.
The only place Joe or Joseph Rank turns up in newspaper archives is as a Spanish language radio station owner. And this is the same Joe Rank.
Veronica said Paige told her that Bill Cosby was an “art patron” and was helping her to stay in her Topanga Canyon cabin home and art studio.
Veronica thought it was “nice of Bill Cosby to help her out” and thought nothing sinister about it as Paige did not say anything sinister about Bill or the arrangement.
Veronica concurred with others I have interviewed, that Paige often walked around topless or nude. She remembers Paige being naked or topless playing in volleyball games and the “the beach boys” who hung around certainly appreciated it.
Veronica thought it might be explained by Paige’s personality which could be described as “High and Low” or “hi-lo.”
Veronica told me about an occasion that Paige used LSD and experienced a “bad trip.” Veronica stayed with Paige and helped her through the ordeal. Veronica was motherly to many of the young people who would show up at her home even though she was still young herself, in her 30s.
Her husband Frank enjoyed “collecting people,” wrote Veronica. And many young people would hang around their beach house socializing and playing.
I’m grateful to Veronica for her permission to use this image.
Veronica remembers buying groceries for Paige, at a store located at the bottom of “Fernwood & Topanga Canyon Dr.”
And the Safeway on Sunset & PCH, later Vons.
This happened about once a month for quite a while and the “2 friends would chit chat and catch up on news” and Paige never wanted more food than she could physically carry.
This was before her move to Westwood. After that Veronica didn’t see Paige as much but they frequently talked on the phone.
She remembers just vaguely: Paige telling her about her own art studio in Venice Beach, a block away from the beach. (See 2 chapters: Venice Beach, Richard Sample.)
(Dennis Hopper has a connection to Paige as he knew the artists that Paige knew, Larry Bell and in the same building: DeWayne Valentine. Robert Irwin lived across the street at this time. )
Paige sometimes expressed her suicide ideation in phone conversations with Veronica.
She did not discuss Hugh Hefner or John Huston, David Shane, Desmond Guinness or a”sex tape.”(See related chapters)
Several times Paige needed a ride to visit her sister, but Veronica never met the sister: Constance/Connie.
The last couple times the two friends had a phone conversation, Veronica noted an “echoey sound in the background like Paige was in a bathroom.” Veronica tried to lighten the mood by asking her about the echoey sound and said,”Paige are you already in heaven?” Paige laughed and they hung up the phone with Veronica feeling Paige was in a better space.
It would be the last time they spoke.
Paige one time had checked herself into the UCLA Psych Center but was released in a just a few days.
Paige told Veronica “she said she had cured all the patients at the ward.”
Veronica said she never believed that Paige would actually go through with the suicide.
Separately, Melanie told me about one time driving Paige to the UCLA Psych Ward. Melanie remembers Paige returning from the ward with a very strange character who acted violently but the women scared him off. Paige showed up with a gun and he bolted.
“In California we have a law (5150) that the police (or yourself if you may harm yourself) can commit you for 3 days to a hospital for psych care. If you are pronounced no longer liable to harm yourself or others or decide you want to leave voluntarily you can after three days.”
Paige probably took advantage of the 51/50 law, which began in California in 1967.
Veronica does remember before Paige’s suicide she had expressed not having enough money for paint and told her to just wait a few days and she would be able to help her out with that. But Paige was dead before that happened.
Lack of money was a recurring problem for Paige.
She did not know Paige to own a car, says Veronica.
Paige did not talk of her past or much about her future, she seemed to always exist in and speak in the present moment.
Melanie said does not remember Paige owning a car either.
I personally think Paige must have sold her yellow Mustang that was seen by Sample in Malibu 64-67, and seen by her cousin Christian/Chris in Sherman Oaks in 1964, when Paige made Chris a cup of coffee during his visit to her apartment.
Paige told Chris about her short lived marriage, (did not say the name Mark F. Segal to Chris) and impending divorce. She did not mention the violence and threats in her divorce papers to Chris, I told him and he said “Oh, she would not have put up with that.”
No one I’ve communicated with who knew Paige say they can remember a time when she talked about her childhood her family or her background. Veronica says Joe Rank may have known about Paige’s background.
Chris Young already knew about it as they were family in each others lives in childhood when she was Diana Cotterell in Sherman Oaks in the 1950s. He last saw her right before the move to a chicken coop converted house near the east end of Malibu.
Chris said he and his mother were contacted by Connie, Paige’s sister, about the suicide. Chris remembers Connie had a cold and seemingly indifferent attitude about Paige’s death. He said this made he and his mother sick to their stomach and angry.
Aca Joe History
“Joe Rank, a Los Angeles broadcasting executive who had managed KMEX-TV, the Spanish language TV station in Los Angeles, moved to Mexico in 1973 to establish a printed tee shirt business on the beach resorts which were booming with international tourism. By 1978, Rank had shops in 75 stores in Acapulco, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Mexico City, plus tee shirt shops in 15 of the popular Carlos n’ Charlie’s bars and restaurants throughout Mexico.
In 1983, the name was changed to Aca Joe and product distribution was limited only to Aca Joe owned or franchised stores. The line was expanded to include pants, jackets, sweaters, and more than just tee shirts. After changing to this more exclusive distribution of the product, the stores were swamped with customers. Lines were formed in front of the stores with people waiting to get in at all hours of the day.
The success of Aca Joe did not go without notice by international investors, and soon a deal was made with American partners for the expansion of Aca Joe outside of Mexico. William Meyer became Rank’s partner in Aca Joe International and the first stores in the U.S. were opened in the Bay Area of San Francisco, with shops in Union Square, Sausalito, and the Stanford Shopping Center.
The U.S. shops were very successful, and to provide financing for expansion, the new U.S. company filed for listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Prospects for the future of the stores were bright, and in 1985 Aca Joe International was the fastest rising stock on NASDAQ” From the ACA Joe website.
Joe left LA and had moved to Mexico in 1973, before Paige killed herself.
I have not communicated with anyone who heard about Paige’s death through any media with the exception of Veronica who heard part of an announcement about it on the radio.
Away from the backyard and duplex.
I’m looking up from the alley. This window faces the building next door. There is a bit of yard between trees house and fence, I did not see that part. It’s where Paige kept the Akitas she wanted to breed and Melanie complained about them barking. LAPD reports talks about a man named DeWitt to whom Paige wrote instructions to take her dogs. (See chapter on death certificate.) Veronika thinks Paige was going to try and make money from breeding the Akitas.
These windows face the alley. Garage had storage in it but no cars says Melanie.
1973 #2 Meet the Hon. Desmond Guinness & His Mother Diana Mitford, her husband Oswald Mosley, his first wife Mariga. IGS. 1969 Flashback. Suzy Knickerbocker. LONG. 4/17/24
Posted on August 5, 2020
About two years into my research I subscribed to newspapers.com and found this article.
It was written by society columnist Jody Jacobs and published in the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 10, 1973.
Jacobs worked in this position for many years.
Ironically, this story involves another newspaper society columnist, Beverley Jackson of Santa Barbara, she is pictured to the left of Mrs. Louis-Dreyfuss.
I was able to email with Beverly Jackson a few years before she passed away at age 91 in 2020. Jackson had yet another career as a scholar and author on Chinese culture and fashion, along with working as a curator at the Santa Barbara Art Museum.
She did remember Desmond, but not Paige.
Beverley Jackson volunteered without my prompting, that “Desmond was always very discreet in these matters.”
What you see above, is the only mention of Paige Young in this article, besides her photo.
It’s chilling to know that Paige had only 6 months to live when this article appeared.
The rest of the Jody Jacobs article, discusses the many Santa Barbara society VIPs who attended this party for Desmond Guinness.
After reading the article I thought, who is this Desmond Guinness?
attending a party in his honor given by a Who’s Who of Santa Barbara?
I found his name most often written as “the Hon. Desmond Guinness.”
There is plenty of information about his family.
Let’s start with his family of origin.
*Please note: What I have written is a brief overview. The story of Desmond’s maternal side is the stuff of books. I will recommend a few for in-depth history.*
Hon. Desmond Guinness, as his last name indicates, is an heir to the famous Guinness brewery fortune.
Bryan Guinness, the 2nd Baron Moyne and father to Desmond, poet, playwright and author.
Desmond’s mother was a controversial woman named Diana Mitford, from the equally controversial English society family of 6 eccentric, beautiful, intelligent, gracious and scandal prone sisters, 2 of them followers of Hitler and other fascists. The family was cash-poor and title-rich, something not uncommon then from what I understand.
Desmond’s parents Bryan Guinness and Diana Mitford on their wedding day in 1929. Pinterest. Diana was 18, Bryan, 24. The couple was part of the “Bright Young Things.” a group of Aristocratic Bohemians in 1920s London.
There are several books published about the Mitford family, the sisters in particular.
One was a main source I used for this chapter Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler’s Angel by Anne De Courcy. The family photo is scanned from the book.
Tom Mitford was a soldier in Burma and killed in battle in 1945 only weeks away from the war’s end. “It was loss the family never recovered from,” wrote his sister Diana to a friend.
Diana with her first two sons, in the mid-1930s. Desmond and Jonathan Guinness. Desmond was the younger of the two boys. National Gallery website.
Desmond and his brother didn’t grow up with their mother Diana; she divorced their father when the boys were toddlers.
She met Sir Oswald Mosley and was smitten. Diana Guinness soon asked Bryan Guinness for a divorce.
Mosley was an aristocrat and served in the British House of Commons from 1918-1931. He ran as a Conservative, an Independent and then Labour Party. He was finally defeated when he ran with his “New Party.“
Oswald Mosley founded the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932, after visiting with Mussolini.
He organized his own version of the fascist Blackshirts of Italy when back in England.
“Organized along paramilitary lines, they wore black shirts and patrolled cities to fight socialism and communism by violent means. In 1921 they were incorporated into the Fascist Party (see fascism) as a national militia.” Oxford Reference
The BUF was banned by the British Government in 1940.
When Diana Mitford Guinness and Oswald Mosley met through mutual social circles in 1932, he was already married to wealthy society woman Lady Cynthia Curzon since 1920.
Tom Mosley and Cimmie had 3 children, the youngest born in 1932.
Mosley was a philanderer and an ambitious one at that.
He had affairs with both Cimmie’s sister and their stepmother.
Apparently he was irresistible to women? The answer is yes according to historians.
photo from the book by Anne de Courcy.
Mosley was a powerhouse and convincing speaker.
Mosley declared to Diana that he would not divorce his wife, yet Diana went ahead and filed for divorce from husband Bryan, Lord Moyne, who adored her. As Cimmie did of her nicknamed “Tom.”
Diana asked Bryan for only enough money to live on.
She returned the Guinness family jewels and kept only the jewels Bryan had gifted her during their marriage.
And just like that Diana became Mosley’s mistress.
Diana did see her Guinness sons on a fairly regular basis and apparently was a decent enough mother when she was with them.
Cimmie was increasingly stressed because she felt threatened by Diana’s divorced, unattached status, and all the time she was spending with her husband.
What Diana did not understand was that Cimmie had realized that her husband’s feelings for Diana were more profound than any other liaison…and that Cimmie would be sharing him on the deeper level which she had assured her was hers alone.
Apparently Diana and Mosley were pretty brazen about appearing in public together.
This affair was gossiped about amongst the titled crowd.
“From Diana’s point of view, Mosley had been unfaithful from the start of his marriage and even if she gave him up would continue to have liaisons with other women. If Cimmie had come to terms with all the affairs, she reasoned, why should she not do so with Diana? from the book Hitler’s Angels.
Many of Diana’s old friends, family members and acquaintances shunned her, yet she kept a group of loyal supporters. This included several male admirers, due to her renowned beauty and charming personality. including Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh.
Cimmie conveniently died in 1934 following a bout of peritonitis, allowing Diana and “Kit,” as she called Oswald, to marry in 1936. Mosley decided to wait 2 years after his wife’s death so as not to appear vulgar. Diana went along.
Hitler attended the secret wedding of Mitford and Mosley and the reception took place at the home of Joseph Goebbels.
Within the Hitler circle, Diana hit it off in particular with Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph.
From the book by Anne De Courcy.
De Courcy has also written the biography of The Curzon Sisters entitled “The Viceroy’s Daughters.”
Unity Mitford shot herself in the head when Britain declared war on Germany. She survived but had limited mental capacity until meningitis killed her in 1948.
There is a recently published biography by author Lauren Young: Hitler’s Girl: The British Aristocracy and the Third Reich on the Eve of WW2.
During WW 2, Mitford and Mosley were considered a threat and placed under British house arrest; 3 years in Holloway Prison followed by house arrest until 1949.
Diana Mitford Guinness Mosley gave birth to 2 more sons, Max and Alexander, with Mosley.
Desmond and Jonathan Guinness did visit their mother in prison, and apparently got along fine with their stepfather.
These would be the circumstances the Guinness and Mosley boys would experience their mother for a long stretch of their childhoods.
The Mosley boys had financial struggles that the Guinness sons just did not. Mosley was tight fisted with money when it came to his sons with Diana.
And Diana didn’t have much money independently of her husband. She did have some steady income from Guinness and shared it with her sons.
The couple lived out their years in France and Ireland after the war as they were highly disliked in England.
but Diana called her husband “Kit” because her beloved only brother who was cut down in his youth by war, was named Tom.
Tom Mitford was a Nazi sympathizer as well.
I have no idea why a dramatic series or feature film about the Mitford sisters and their parents, hasn’t yet been produced. The storyline provides all the elements of high melodrama: birth, death, war, marriage, divorce, innocent children, betrayal, treason, political intrigue, adultery, scandal, high society, wealth, royalty, and eccentric English personalities. (Not all the sisters were Nazis. One was a Communist and 2 were writers. One sister had a tragic love life)
The BBC series Peaky Blinders features Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford in a storyline.
See interview with “Lady Mosley” on Thames TV youtube channel. Recorded in the 1970s.
END
1954: Desmond Guinness
has grown up and gets married to the beautiful Hermione Maria-Gabrielle Von Urach, who had German royalty and titles on her father’s side. Her English mother was institutionalized when “Gabrielle” was only 6 years old. At age 18, Gabrielle became known as “Mariga.”
This beautiful young couple shared a love of architecture, history and had no need to work for a living.
1954 wedding day of Desmond and Mariga Guinness.
Desmond and Mariga purchased the decaying Leixlip castle of Ireland, restored it and made it their primary residence.
Leixlip village was established by the Vikings and Adam de Hereford, a follower of Strongbow, built the castle. It is located in County Kildare and has an interesting history.
The plasterwork in the Library dates from the mid 18th Century. The carpet is French Savonnerie. A treat in the Drawing Room is the large 18th century Dolls House that originally came from Newbridge House and drawings of the six Mitford sisters by William Acton
Desmond Guinness at Leixlip Castle Ireland. Photo by Slim Aarons.
(Cropped)
The couple were known for giving fabulous high society parties in Leixlip. The couple produced two beautiful children Marina and Patrick, evidenced in a famous photo taken by society photographer Slim Aarons, seen below.
Features of Leixlip Castle include, The Front Hall, which boasts a 17th century Brussels tapestry depicting Theodotus offering the head of Pompey to Caesar. The Dining Room is furnished with Chippendale Chairs and Bavarian tapestries. From DiscoverIreland.
Together the couple founded the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) in 1957/58, dedicated to preservation of Irish Georgian castles and Irish castles in general.
Mariga and Desmond were able to restore several more historic castles and published books on the topic.
I found in my research that Desmond toured the US extensively to fundraise for the IGS from about the mid– 1960s through the 1980s. I read dozens of articles about his visits in the newspaper archives.
Desmond was warmly welcomed at numerous US high society and historical society gatherings; he would present lectures and slideshows to promote his books about Irish architecture, history, design, and of course to support the IGS.
His visits were covered by local newspaper society columnists who would write about the society folk’s attendance at either a lecture, party, luncheon, cocktail party, dinner, or some combination of, in honor of the Hon. Desmond Guinness.
I’m including a only a few of many newspaper examples from 1969.
I picked 1969
out of the many years Desmond travelled the US because it’s the same year Paige Young was touring the US and Canada for Playboy promotion.
Desmond visited towns one may not have expected him to: Des Moines, Shreveport, and the Corning Glass Center in Ithaca, New York.
“Suzy”
aka Suzy Knickerbocker, was a syndicated society columnist for over 50 years and worked for many different newspapers.
The following article from 1969 informs the reader about her interesting career climb.
Daily News Nov. 19, 1969. A typical example of a Suzy column. Mentions the infamous Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mrs. Claus Von Bulow and Barbara Hutton marries a Prince.
Suzy owned her specialty: European society types, with or without titles, Royals and would-be Royals.
Suzy K. wrote adoringly about Desmond (mainly) and Mariga several times.
Desmond Guinness had a busy schedule of traveling to fundraise for IGS for decades.
Return to 1973 Santa Barbara
Desmond had already been the houseguest of Douglas Campbell in Los Angeles for 2 weeks when:
Paige appeared as the date of Desmond Guinness at a series of high society parties over a weekend in Santa Barbara.
It was described by LAT society writer Jody Jacobs as a season of cloudy, grey and rainy weather.
This Suzy syndicated column below, appeared just 2 days later on October 12.
The timing is intriguing to say the least, Desmond is seen out with a date, Paige Young, and his divorce is announced in these Suzy articles only two days later.
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Was Desmond feeling unencumbered that evening in Santa Barbara, knowing his pending divorce would soon be newsworthy?
1973 before the separation:
Desmond’s date with Paige in California was just 5 months in the future. So is the announcement of his and Mariga’s divorce. Desmond would marry this “pretty English cousin Penny”mentioned in the last few sentences, in the 1980s.
Did Desmond and Paige spend time in Los Angeles together?? Or Ireland? More on that to appear here soon.
Paige Young would be dead in 3 weeks.
Desmond and Marina appeared in Raleigh, NC on or around March 28th, 1974, see article below. And Desmond was in Miami just on the 19th.
In the lower 2nd column, writer describes Marina’s lovely velvet and brocade dress. This is the dress she is wearing in the LAT photos with Beverly Hills designers and art patrons Beegle and Tony Duquette, seen below.
This article is unusual because it brings up the uncomfortable subject of Desmond’s mother Diana Mitford and step-father Oswald Mosley.
Notice the comment and story about Stanley Kubrick!
Raleigh News and Observer March 29, 1974.
Desmond was in LA around this time too so he would have been cross country traveling frequently.
Desmond is back in Los Angeles, this time with his daughter Marina. This visit coincides with the time Paige Young was contemplating suicide.
It is interesting that Desmond visited Los Angeles twice, 6 months apart.
The following article by Suzy, was published 10 days before Paige’s suicide. Desmond in bold.
According to Paige’s neighbor Melanie, Paige was afraid of a sex tape/film being seen by certain people or a certain person, and that “Cici Huston’s brother,” was a phrase Paige threw around a lot in connection to the tape. (David Shane) He had possession of the tape and would not hand it over to her.
I have to wonder if at least one person in Paige’s mind was Desmond Guinness (and his crowd?)
He was photographed with Paige in Santa Barbara in October of 1973.
Desmond and his number to Leixlip Castle and his brother Jonathan Guinness were listed in Paige’s phonebook found at the time of her suicide.
This indicates she saw Desmond outside of the their dates in Santa Barbara.
See chapter on Paige’s phone book.
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