There is nothing like stout Christians to make your eyes pop out. A book about Jackie Kennedy Onassis has become the who slept with whom in the family. And while it digs dirt in new and old directions, it manages to leave out some older tattle tales well-known in the 1960s. I don't promote this book as a serious biography, but it was great fun to read. Get your share of the Kennedy clan, the Bouvier family and Rudolf Nureyev leading each other an elaborate dance.
Jacqueline Bouvier was the wife of assassinated American president John F. Kennedy. She later married the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. The Kennedys converted the White House from being the abode of the President and his housewife into The First Household in the US. What had been a dumpy seat of government became a center for arts, culture, and fashion. The conversion touched all rooms including the bedrooms.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince was published by Blood Moon Productions. Depending on your point of view, it is scandal mongering fiction or biography filling in gaps into what you already knew. While Jackie Kennedy provides the lynch pin for the book, the story also touches John F. Kennedy (naturally), Lee Bouvier Princess Radziwill, Bobby Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy Junior by means of Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
According to the authors (and to Rudolf Nureyev in all fairness to them), the book claims that Rudolf Nureyev had an affair with Jackie Kennedy. Further, he also had affairs with Bobby Kennedy, Lee Radziwill, and John Junior. Are you shocked? Not really, if you belong to the older generation, I suppose. We all know that John F. Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn Monroe (among several hundred others), as had Bobby Kennedy. And I remember that it was a joint affair (called threesome, I believe).
You can take comments by Gore Vidal and Truman Capote to all this as proof positive, or as mere catty comments made in a pique. You can believe Lee Radziwill's denial of an affair, or ignore it. Whatever you do, you should still read the book. It is highly entertaining whichever way you look at it. And it will remind you of many scandals that were ripe at the time but got left out or are just mentioned in passing. There is a limit to how long a book may be, after all.
Why were they all falling for Rudolf Nureyev, the admittedly most famous ballet dancer of the world? He was a Russian émigré who made good in the world of capitalism. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century. And he was more American than most Americans; his unshakable self-belief of being the sexiest man alive translated into charisma. When he entered a room, you took notice. Combine this utter conviction with a dancer's trained body, and you get an irresistible package. At least we now know that American money bags and power mongers found it irresistible.
Further reading
Arthur Miller and the Witch Hunt
The President's Slaves
Digging for Gold in Europe
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| John F. Kennedy Jr. |
Jacqueline Bouvier was the wife of assassinated American president John F. Kennedy. She later married the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. The Kennedys converted the White House from being the abode of the President and his housewife into The First Household in the US. What had been a dumpy seat of government became a center for arts, culture, and fashion. The conversion touched all rooms including the bedrooms.
 |
| Rudolf Nureyev |
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life Beyond Her Wildest Dreams by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince was published by Blood Moon Productions. Depending on your point of view, it is scandal mongering fiction or biography filling in gaps into what you already knew. While Jackie Kennedy provides the lynch pin for the book, the story also touches John F. Kennedy (naturally), Lee Bouvier Princess Radziwill, Bobby Kennedy, and John F. Kennedy Junior by means of Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
 |
| John F. Kennedy Jr. |
According to the authors (and to Rudolf Nureyev in all fairness to them), the book claims that Rudolf Nureyev had an affair with Jackie Kennedy. Further, he also had affairs with Bobby Kennedy, Lee Radziwill, and John Junior. Are you shocked? Not really, if you belong to the older generation, I suppose. We all know that John F. Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn Monroe (among several hundred others), as had Bobby Kennedy. And I remember that it was a joint affair (called threesome, I believe).
 |
| Bobby Kennedy |
You can take comments by Gore Vidal and Truman Capote to all this as proof positive, or as mere catty comments made in a pique. You can believe Lee Radziwill's denial of an affair, or ignore it. Whatever you do, you should still read the book. It is highly entertaining whichever way you look at it. And it will remind you of many scandals that were ripe at the time but got left out or are just mentioned in passing. There is a limit to how long a book may be, after all.
 |
| John F. Kennedy Jr. |
Why were they all falling for Rudolf Nureyev, the admittedly most famous ballet dancer of the world? He was a Russian émigré who made good in the world of capitalism. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest dancers of the 20th century. And he was more American than most Americans; his unshakable self-belief of being the sexiest man alive translated into charisma. When he entered a room, you took notice. Combine this utter conviction with a dancer's trained body, and you get an irresistible package. At least we now know that American money bags and power mongers found it irresistible.
 |
| Rudolf Nureyev and Erik Bruhn |
Further reading
Arthur Miller and the Witch Hunt
The President's Slaves
Digging for Gold in Europe
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