tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post1270930528244302081..comments2024-03-28T18:01:17.304-07:00Comments on Daytonian in Manhattan: The Walter Tower Rosen House -- No. 35 West 54th StreetTom Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13542224816886418433noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7502312000087595701.post-65644299474605723242014-04-12T19:34:50.209-07:002014-04-12T19:34:50.209-07:00I've been reading about Lucie Bigelow Dodge Ro...I've been reading about Lucie Bigelow Dodge Rosen recently, and it seems she was quite an interesting lady. After her mother, the very independent Flora Bigelow Dodge, had divorced her father for infidelity, she remarried Lionel Guest, a first cousin of Winston Churchill, and they moved to London with a teenage Lucie. Flora was an old friend of Mary Leiter, the American heiress who, through her marriage to George Curzon, had become the Viceirene of India, and Flora probably liked the idea of marrying a titled man herself. The New York Times has a few articles about what happened next, namely young Lucie's disappearance. Evidently Lucie just up and vanished from the Guest residence one day. She was eventually found living in a cheap London hotel, telling reporters she planned a career on the stage. Not long after being dragged home by Flora, she disappeared again, this time turning up in New York. Flora went to New York to bring her daughter back to London, but Lucie promised she would only run away again, unless she was allowed to stay with her aunt Grace Bigelow at her house on Gramercy Park. She also told people that her mother was trying to marry her off to an English nobleman, but she wasn't interested in marrying anyone but an American. Flora agreed and Lucie moved in with Aunt Grace. Less than two months later, the New York Times announced Lucie's engagement to Walter Rosen, and noted that her Bigelow relatives thought this must be a mistake as they had just spent time with Lucie at the Bigelow country place, and she'd said nothing about this man. Even her Aunt Grace believed it to be a false rumor. But Lucie had confided in her mother her intention to marry the older banker, thinking Flora would hate the idea. Instead Flora loved it and immediately called the New York newspapers from London to make the announcement without speaking to anyone else in the family. Of course it all worked out well in the end. Youtube, by the way, has a recording of Lucie Rosen playing the theremin, and there is a brief interview with Mrs. Rosen afterwards. She had a charming accent.Carolynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12816409176393824006noreply@blogger.com