Allison Pataki - The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

I cant count all the things that she has done for this city. Id take the odds she cant even remember them. Thus spoke reporter Roy Meacham about Marjorie Merriweather Post during a 1966 radio broadcast honoring the singular woman who serves as the subject of this novel. While Meacham was referring primarily to Posts philanthropic work as it related to her then hometown of Washington, D.C., I was so struck when I encountered this quotation because the statement hit on the very sentiment that I myself had felt many times over while researching and then writing about Marjorie Merriweather Post and her extraordinary life. She did that? She lived through that? She met him? She befriended her? She was there? She built that? Marjorie Merriweather Post lived her long life to the fullest; hers was a grand and epic story from start to finish, and it is my great fortune to write fiction inspired by her.

Speaking of living life to the fullest, there is enough information on Marjorie Merriweather Posts long, lavish, and layered life that one could write fifty novels about her, each with a different story arc and each stretching hundreds of pages. Marjorie lived and loved in such a way that her comings and goings (of which there were many) were noted to the day, sometimes to the hour. And unlike some of the long-deceased female figures about whom Ive had the privilege of writing, Marjories is a relatively recent lifeher third daughter, Dina Merrill, passed away while I was researching this bookand because of that temporal proximity, much of Marjories life is well documented and accessible.

So first, I offer my humble thanks and most profound respect to the historians, curators, biographers, and archivists who make the information pertaining to Marjorie Merriweather Post so readily accessible and abundant. These individuals honor and offer up the facts of Marjories life as a result of their countless hours of interviews, archival review, scholarly study, investigative research, and meticulous stewardship. I am a very thankful and humble beneficiary.

Nancy Harris, former oral historian and curator for Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens, is the reason I first stepped into Marjorie Merriweather Posts rarefied and inspiring world. A friend of my husbands family, Nancy gave me the first tip years ago. Do you know about Marjorie Merriweather Post? she asked me one Sunday at my mother-in-laws table. Im ashamed to admit that, when asked that question, I knew nothing about Marjorie Merriweather Post other than the fact that her name sounded vaguely familiar. Nancy then offered just a few fast facts: about the Post Company, about Marjories four very different and dramatic marriages, about how Marjorie lived like an empress with her world-class art collection and her capacious households. Years ago, as an undergraduate at Yale, I had taken a course on the history of American nutrition, and we had learned about the fierce rivalry between the Posts and the Kelloggs and their founding of Americas new breakfast industrya rivalry and a set of characters that would change life for all of us. So I was immediately intrigued. Nancy encouraged me to visit Hillwood, and that was the best tip of all. Since then, I have been obsessed, and I have thanked Nancy by sending her endless follow-up questions, everything from When did Scampi the dog die? to Why do you really think Marjorie and Ed Close split up? Thank you so much, Nancy, for your generosity and kindness and willingness to offer insight and support as I have worked on this book for years. I hope you do not regret giving that first tip.

Nancy Rubin Stuart has written the definitive biography that tells the story of Marjorie Merriweather Posts life in its entirety. Nancy spoke to countless family members and friends of Marjories, studied innumerable newspaper and journal articles, combed the archival family scrapbooks and letters and moreand the result is the brilliant and comprehensive work American Empress: The Life and Times of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Stuart provides direct quotes from fascinating interviews with Marjories daughters, grandchildren, friends, and colleagues that offer invaluable insights and perspectives. Stuarts work shines a light not only on the minutiae and daily details that made up the comprehensive whole of Marjorie Merriweather Posts life, but also fleshes out a portrait of her as a complex and compelling human. I cannot recommend the biography highly enough for all who feel moved by Marjorie Merriweather Posts life and are inspired to learn more.

The Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens is quite literally a sprawling treasure trove. When you walk into Marjories final and beloved home, you step into her world. You see the clothes hanging, crisp and tidy, in her closet. You see that her private powder room was an explosion of pink, because that was her favorite color until the end. You see the couch where she took naps, the Friendship Walk she cherished, and the pavilion where she hosted world leaders and society legends for dances and movie screenings. As her daughter Dina said of Hillwood when she visited it as a museum: Its as if Mother could walk in and sit down to dinner. If you have read this book and have come to understand the exacting standards of Marjorie Merriweather Post as a hostess and homeowner, then you know that that statement speaks volumes. At Hillwood, you see what mattered to Marjorie. Portraits of empresses may cover her walls, and letters from presidents sit atop her furniture along with rows of Svres porcelain, but the faces of her smiling daughters hang by her bed, and mementoes of her family and her many adventures occupy pride of place. Marjorie Merriweather Post came alive for me at that beloved home of hers. I would recommend not only a visit, but also checking them out on social media: @hillwoodmuseum on Twitter and Instagram.

My thanks go to Estella M. Chung, director of collections at Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens. Estella has given us a biography organized by themes in Marjories life, Marjorie Merriweather Post: The Life Behind the Luxury. Estellas other work, Living Artfully: At Home with Marjorie Merriweather Post, is a stunning compilation of photographs, handwritten notes, quotations, menus, and other original source material that once belonged to Marjorie and her daily world, each of which provides fascinating and precious insight into her life and legacy.

My gratitude and appreciation go to Mike Curtin, attorney for Marjorie Merriweather Post and her estate. Thank you for speaking with me about your memories of Mrs. Post, particularly her incredible attention to detail and meticulous care that were so evident in your working relationship with her.

My thanks go to the Historical Society of Battle Creek and Battle Creeks Church of Christ Scientist for their generous time and willingness to answer questions and share source material that proved invaluable as I worked to imagine and understand Marjories life as a girl. Many thanks also to my friend Amy Salas, who helped me to understand the feel of growing up in Cereal City U.S.A. and the legacy of the food empires that were built there more than a century ago. Also incredibly illuminating and informative as I worked to understand those early years of Marjories life was her fathers biography, C. W. Post, the Hour and the Man by Nettie Leitch Major.

I am grateful to the Greenwich Historical Society, and in particular curator and archivist Christopher Shields, who shared old maps of Marjories neighborhood as well as copious newspaper articles, and who answered questions about the Posts and Closes neighbors, the train lines, the boating culture, and more. Those materials and conversations allowed me to better understand Greenwich as a community during the early 1900s, when Marjorie lived there.