|
Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904 - January 9, 1995) was a socialite and philanthropist who ''Vanity Fair'' once called "the unofficial queen of Philadelphia's WASP oligarchy." She is most famous as the inspiration for Tracy Lord, the main character in the Philip Barry play ''The Philadelphia Story'', which was made into the film of the same name. Mrs. Scott was a longtime chairman and executive director of the Devon Horse Show and sponsored other events to raise money for the Bryn Mawr Hospital, her favorite charity. She was considered the epitome of Main Line high society and symbol of an aristocratic, free-spirited elegance. Hope Scott was one of the four children of Colonel Robert Leaming Montgomery, who founded the investment firm known today as Janney Montgomery Scott. Her mother was Charlotte Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery, whose family had made its fortune in banking. In 1923, Helen Hope Montgomery married Edgar Scott, an investment banker and heir to a railroad fortune. After her marriage, Mrs. Scott began to appear regularly on the New York Couture Group's annual list of best-dressed women. Her beauty and slim, angular figure (size eight throughout her life) was much admired, inspiring artists such as Cecil Beaton and Augustus John. Mrs. Scott became famous for hosting lavish parties at Ardrossan, the Montgomerys' estate in Radnor, Pennsylvania, where she entertained notables of society, government, and the arts, including W. Averell Harriman, Cole Porter, and Katharine Hepburn. Her son, Robert Montgomery Scott, was also a philanthropist, and after a long legal career served as president of the Academy of Music and, even more visibly, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. ==Early life and social environment== Helen Hope Montgomery was initially educated by a governess, later spending a short period at a girl's boarding school, the Foxcroft School in Virginia. She had begun riding at the age of four, and horsemanship was a major interest of hers throughout her lifetime. She was officially introduced to society as a debutante at Philadelphia's Assembly Ball in 1922. One of the oldest and most exclusive social gatherings in the United States, it has been held every year since 1748 and was historically reserved for members of the city's Social Register. Philadelphia was America's leading city in the 18th century and continued to be an important commercial center through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its upper class at that time embraced a form of the class-consciousness described by Edith Wharton in such novels as ''The Age of Innocence'', and the term WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) is said to have been coined to describe its members. Philadelphia society, more traditional than that of New York or San Francisco, consciously copied the manners and pursuits of the English aristocracy with private gentlemen's clubs, leisure pursuits such as fox hunting and rowing, and the annual debutante ball, held in the ballroom of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. As the beautiful daughter of an "old money" Philadelphia family, Helen Hope Montgomery received four marriage proposals the evening of her society debut, but did not accept any of them. The following year she met 24-year-old Edgar Scott, a grandson of Pennsylvania Railroad president Thomas A. Scott, at a Main Line dinner party. They dated only a dozen times before deciding to marry, but her parents insisted they wait nine months more. Their marriage was described as the society wedding of the year, and covered in minute detail by the press. The newlyweds moved into Orchard Lodge, a circa 1720 fieldstone house given to Mrs. Scott by her father as a wedding present, which is on the Ardrossan estate in Radnor Township. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Helen Hope Montgomery Scott」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|