Monday, Sep. 11, 1944

The Roman Social Season

Roman high society was taking the war bravely last week.

"The first night I was here," reported Vogue's Correspondent Anis Mead, "I was taken to a party where I saw at least a dozen Italian people I knew. . . . Every one longed to know what people were wearing in America. ... It ... might have been Paris, or London, or New York -- any place where you find those inter nationals who are still interested in inter national fashion, gossip and an international way of life. The setting was beautiful. Shining silver, crystal, well-groomed footmen, candlelight, soft music. The women were dressed with taste, with charm. . . ."

At the Marchesa Tarleto Zucchini's, the talk was of fashions. Peplums will be worn this year. And the most nondescript of buff tweed suits--startlingly--with a magnificent sable coat. The startling is what often gives the fresh touch for 1944.

Of course, you have heard about the Marchesa Sconciatura and her chauffeur?*

Oh, how can you? . . . I know that it simply isn't so.

And afterward, they say, he was surly. . . .

Wrote Correspondent Mead: "Only the food was missing. Dinner, when the dining-room doors were finally thrown open at 10 p.m., consisted of small pieces of bread on which were dabs of Spam, corned beef and Vienna sausage. ... No one mentioned food. It almost doesn't exist for civilians at the moment. . . . They say the Germans were very correct: no drunkenness, few troops; no noise."

At the Princess Cicogna's the talk was about Allied officers. The English and American officers are darlings too. So helpful. So impressionable. Lieut. General Mark Clark came to dinner. Brigadier General Edgar Erskine Hume, too, who ran that A.M.G. thingamajig.

And to think that some of them have never been much beyond Chicago before.

Oh, delenda est Chicago!

Of course, you have heard about the Marchesa Sconciatura and her chauffeur? . . .

Really, my dear. . . .

Wrote Correspondent Mead: "As you go from lunch party to cocktail party to late dinner, you realize that these people live more beautifully, possibly, than any people in the world. . . . You go to dine at Count Borromeo's and find that he has discovered an early 18th-Century gold and white vaulted ceiling, uniting five rooms, so he has torn down the walls to make one room--27 yards long--that he partitions off partially with screens into various dining-and sitting-rooms, leaving the superb ceiling to create a decorative unity between them all. "You go to a buffet supper at Count Bonzi's bachelor quarters and find dining and dancing and everything going on in one lovely long ballroom, overlooking one of the dramatic hills of the city, from which weakling children used to be thrown in the hearty days of the Republic."

At the Countess Uva Spina's the talk was about how the Americans in Roman society had somehow managed to survive the war and the Nazi occupation right in Rome. Even Signora Pallavicini--Margaret Roosevelt that was.

Is she related to the Hyde Park or the Oyster Bay Roosevelts?

Genealogically to both--alas.

And the Princess Lydia Pasto Hotchkiss Cucurbitaceo--the department store, you know. And the Countess Vitetti--the former Natalie Coe of Long Island and South Carolina. And the Countess Roberti--old Ogden H. Hammond's daughter. And Marchesa Vastezza--the former Bobbie Belchers of New York. And Baroness Carogna--the former Josephine Paddle-ford of Waukegan and Washington, D.C. And the Countess del Sgombro--who was Daphne Zugsmith of St. Paid. And of course, the Marchesa Sconciatura, who was the former Bridget O'Hare of Worcester, Mass.

That makes me think, have you heard about the Marchesa Sconciatura and her chauffeur?

Ah, questa guerra terribile! In war, manners are always the first sacrifice.

And, besides, the man is a brute. . . .

Wrote Correspondent Mead: "The women are beautifully dressed. I never thought that prints could be so seductive, but made into simple, low-necked dresses, worn with bare brown legs, and Tripoli-tanean sandals, they lose all that stuffy, towny look that prints too often have. . . 'Gabriella Sports' is now owned by Countess di Robilant [the former Carolyn Kent of Asheville, N.C.], who . . . makes most of the dresses. . . . There's beautiful, pure silk shantung to be had here (all fabrics are fabulously high-priced), which she uses in lovely colour combinations. . .

"The pretty Princess Galitzine is starting a new made-to-order house on the strength of the Americans' arrival. Here made-to-order dresses cost about $90. They still use copies of Schiaparelli prints, but no new fabrics can be had from the north. . . . The Baronne de Reutern is designing amusing false jewellery. Since metals are out of reason here, she has used such mediums as horsehair and coloured silk cords on which to display the stones."

At the Countess d'Impudizio's the conversation snagged on business. It seemed that Major Paid D. Shriver, Regional Property Control Officer at Rome, reported home that 40 American firms with Roman investments representing some $30,000,000 had spent the whole war in Rome in the best of health. The firms included'' American Express, Otis Elevator, International Business Machines, General Electric, Eastman Kodak, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Brothers and a dog track.

Speaking of dogs, have you heard about the Marchesa Sconciatura's chauffeur?

Then the gossip is true?

Yes, the Marchesa is terribly upset. It seems the man joined the Partisans.

The Partisans--my dear, how awful for her!

Quite. But an A.M.G. officer gave him a good dressing down, so he's back driving for her again.

You mean, she took him back?

Yes, she said she would let him work another month and then decide what to do with him.

My dear, whatever for?

Why, she must have someone to drive for her.

Yes, I suppose if one has anything to drive a car with, one must have someone to drive it. Questa guerra terribile!

Last week Rome's social season was in full swing.

* From here on, TIME thanks' Gaetano Salvemini and the Nation, Aug. 19, 1944.

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