Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era

“Babe had what Wharton called ‘a craving for the external finish of life.’ This was not just smooth lacquer painted onto the surface of life but the very essence. Strip those externals, and what was there?”

When she meets Truman, Babe Paley is known as the most beautiful woman in the world. She uses her second husband Bill Paley’s wealth to catapult them both among the elite of New York City, highlighting the text’s thematic interest in Marriage as a Business Arrangement.

“Truman wasn’t ‘normal.’ He didn’t know or care what normal was. He probably was no more than ten or so when he began luring older boys into his bed.”

This passage reflects Leamer’s complicated relationship with his subject. Leamer unquestioningly accepts Truman’s version of his life story, even as he acknowledges the writer’s penchant for lying. Here, Leamer accepts Truman’s explanation that he was the one seducing older boys, rather than the victim of assault, leaving the power imbalance inherent in these relationships uninterrogated.

“‘Bill bought you,’ Truman told her. ‘It’s as if he went down to Central Casting. You’re a perfect type for him. Look upon being Mrs. William S. Paley as a job, the best job in the world. Accept it and be happy with it.’”

This passage reinforces the novel’s exploration of marriage as a business arrangement among upper-class elites. Although Truman knows that his friend Babe Paley’s marriage is emotionally unfulfilling and that her husband is unfaithful, he encourages her to stay married, pointing to the financial benefits of the marriage. The tension between the reality and appearance of these marriages fascinates Truman throughout the text.

“Truman saw in a woman’s projection of beauty an assertion of a life force, a mystical, magical thing that transformed all who touched it. He liked to be near such women, and he collected his swans the way others did Fabergé eggs.”

This passage reflects Truman’s complicated relationship with the swans. Leamer suggests he understood their obsession with aesthetics and the effort they put into appearances in a way other men could not, pointing to the text’s thematic interest in Self-Presentation as an Art Form. However, the reference to the women as jeweled treasures indicates that he does not always see them as individual people.

“Part of that vision had to do with California, an American metaphor for freedom and lives of endless promise. No one exemplified that promise better than the archetypal California girl […] Half a world away from the formal, couturier salons of Paris, the young California woman represented a new, casual, uniquely American style.”

Throughout the book, Leamer echoes Truman’s view of beauty and fashion as important pursuits worthy of careful consideration. This passage suggests that the celebration of Slim Keith as a classic Californian beauty was closely related to ongoing political debates about America’s identity in the post-war world.

“These magazines were publishing the most exciting new short fiction in America, and that was where Truman wanted to be. He did not seem to care or even notice that much of mainstream media looked down upon these magazines as serving a decidedly secondary audience: women.”

Leamer notes that Truman’s first published pieces appeared in women’s magazines like Mademoiselle and Harper’s Bazaar as evidence that Truman’s close relationship with women made him value and respect publications that other male writers might dismiss. Leamer consistently frames Truman’s close relationship with women as essential to his characterization.

“Pamela was the oldest child, but the roles of primogeniture laid out that her younger brother would inherit the estate and the title. If Pamela did not find a worthy husband, there were nothing but dispiriting possibilities out there—from tutoring positions to becoming the aging spinster aunt.”

Pamela Hayward’s romantic pursuit of rich, married men remains central to Leamer’s characterization of her. This passage highlights the practical reasons behind Pamela’s desire to marry rich, specifically the financial insecurity of her position as a woman. The references to in-home work and stereotypes of spinsterhood highlight the limited possibilities available to unmarried women.

“Randolph told a friend in Pamela’s presence he was marrying her because he feared he would die in the war and wanted to leave a male heir. As far as Randolph was concerned, Pamela was little better than a broodmare.”

Although Leamer maintains a critical tone in his discussion of Pamela’s pursuit of married men, he also highlights the difficult position in which her husband Randolph placed her. This passage suggests that, from the beginning of their relationship, Randolph was dehumanizing and cruel to his wife, making it impossible for their relationship to succeed.

“There are always casualties in such matters. In this case, it was young Winston who would be deemed illegitimate if his mother got an annulment so she could become Gianni’s Catholic wife.”

Throughout the novel, Leamer centers his exploration of Parenting Among the Social Elite in Mid-Century America on the ways in which the swans were inadequate parents, ignoring their children when they became impediments to their social goals. Leamer presents this attitude towards children as standard at the time, rather than an anomaly.

“Money, in astronomical amounts, is their instrument—they require it as a violinist requires a violin, a painter, paint. Without it, they are creatively impotent; with it, they fuse material elements—from food to fine motors—into fantasies that are both visible and tactile.”

This passage includes a direct quote from Truman that reflects his belief that wealth is an essential part of the formation of culture. Leamer’s depiction of the swans suggests that wealth becomes less important as a marker of culture as the 1960s progress into the 1970s and the democratization of fashion and culture made women like the swans less compelling to the general public.

“As the Nazi theorists saw it, Gloria’s Mexican blood fouled a pure Aryan line going back centuries. When Gloria married, the Aryan racial laws had not yet been cast in concrete, and being married to such a highly placed husband, Gloria had to be accepted.”

This passage reflects the novel’s central interest in wealth as an important driver of culture. Despite the growing culture of racism and institutionalized violence in Nazi Germany, Mexican-born Gloria is able to join the elite of German society because of the wealth of her husband even though she notably does not denounce her German connections after the war.

“Gloria desperately wanted to have a career, and she was trapped and humiliated by her husband. Everything she did was marvelous, but nothing was hers. She used to say, ‘I’m a well-dressed housewife.’”

This passage references a direct quote from a close friend of Gloria Guinness who believed that she was the saddest woman in the world. Leamer’s depiction of Gloria centers on the transactional nature of her marriage to her husband. Gloria’s glamorous but emotionally lonely life reflects the book’s thematic interest in the inherent gender inequality and paternalism of many socially elite marriages.

“Mailer feared he might have to fight their way out. But Truman was the mark of coolness. He walked straight through the back of the bar and sat down. Mailer thought if he had to live like this, he would be pulsating adrenaline from morning to night and would ‘die of adrenaline overflow.’ But this was Truman’s life.”

Throughout the book, Leamer follows conventional depictions of Truman, describing him as “flamboyant” and openly gay. This passage acknowledges Truman’s bravery in living his life authentically in a time before homosexuality was widely accepted in the United States. For Leamer, the fact that Truman displayed more confidence than the more traditionally masculine presenting writer Norman Mailer reinforces Leamer’s image of Truman’s self-possession.

“‘What’s wrong with women inspiring others to higher standards?’ C.Z. asked. ‘Think of all the beautiful works that Marie Antoinette and Madam Pompadour inspired from artists and artisans.’”

This passage reflects C.Z. Guest’s openly elitist nature, which Leamer attributes to her upbringing in one of Boston’s oldest and wealthiest families. Accused of spending inappropriate amounts of money, C.Z. compares herself to the French queen Marie Antoinette, whose court was so extravagant it catalyzed the French Revolution. Leamer represents C.Z. as oblivious to the irony of comparing herself to such a controversial figure.

“She was obviously placed on earth to amuse and comfort him, as decorative and unimportant as the dumb girls who aid the magician to do his tricks on the stage. Like all inferior people, she must by every means be kept in her place, for her sake, above all.”

In this passage, Leamer excerpts Luigi Barzini’s 1965 book The Italians, which as a description of Gianni Agnelli’s worldview. Leamer positions the misogyny reflected in this passage as representative of the attitude of many elite men in the mid-20th century. As a result of these attitudes, marriages among upper-class elites were often financial arrangements based in imbalanced power dynamics.

“They began at a lesbian bar, moved on from there to a gay bar, and finished the evening at the Jewel Box, a club with female impersonators. Mrs. Nye had never seen such sights in her life, and she had much to tell her lady friends.”

In the chapters describing the writing of In Cold Blood, Leamer accepts Truman’s narrative (found in the book) that he was the first queer person to visit Kansas when he travelled there for a research trip during which he faced extreme prejudices. However, this passage suggests that a thriving queer community existed in Kansas City before Truman arrived, and that even the conservative elite, such as Kansas Bureau of Investigations chief Harold R. Nye and his wife, were fascinated by what they saw.

“‘Just got the cable,’ Truman replied on a post card. ‘Bless you! Now let’s keep everything crossed—knees, eyes, hands fingers!’ Six days later, he wrote to Perry a different tale: ‘I’ve only heard about the court’s denial. I’m very sorry about it. But remember, this isn’t the first set-back.’”

This passage reflects one of Truman’s defining qualities: his willingness to lie to those around him in order to achieve his goals. In this instance, Truman hopes accused murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith will be executed to give his book In Cold Blood a satisfying ending. However, in order to maintain his relationship with Smith, Leamer asserts, he lies and pretends to support the accused murderers’ appeal.

“As for Pamela, Marella did not know her and did not want to know her. The last thing she wanted to do was to have lunch with her husband’s former mistress. […] Slim had even more reason to be upset than Marella. She could not abide breaking bread with the British siren whom she believed had shoplifted her husband, and she hardly said a word to Pamela.”

This passage is taken from one of the book’s climactic scenes, as Truman arranges a lunch with all of his swans, including some with long-standing grudges. The episode demonstrates the complicated web connecting these women: Pamela was the long-term mistress of Marella’s husband before she had an affair with Leland Hayward while he was married to Slim. Leamer highlights Truman’s manipulative nature in organizing this lunch.

“As part of his editorial duties, he hauled her off to parties up dank staircases to grubby apartments where poorly dressed writers drank cheap wine. Jackie would have found such excursions a worthy adventure. Lee found them disgusting and far beneath her standards.”

Leamer characterizes Lee Radziwill as a woman consumed by jealousy for her sister Jackie, who became First Lady of the United States. Ironically, Leamer confirms her worst fears by perpetuating the comparison of Lee to her sister and finding her inferior throughout the text.

“Although Lee still bore his name, she had moved on and found a new lover, Aristotle Onassis, a man with animal vitality and a great fortune. Not so much self-educated as uneducated, there was a raw immediacy to the man that was exciting and dangerous.”

This passage reflects Leamer’s tendency to replicate the elitist perspectives of his wealthy subjects in his text. His description of Onassis as uneducated compared to Lee Radziwill is ironic, given the fact that Lee also never completed a formal education beyond high school. The description of Onassis as “animal” and “raw” reflects an elitist perspective on his working-class background.

“Truman took a deliciously bitchy dig at a weak spot in each woman’s armor: their serial divorces. He referred directly to each women’s multiple marriages, calling Gloria ‘Gloria Vanderbilt di Ciccio Stokowski Lumet Cooper.’”

Leamer emphasizes Truman’s tendency to betray his friends as one of his defining characteristics. In this passage, he betrays one of his oldest friends, Gloria Vanderbilt, by openly criticizing her many marriages in print. Leamer attempts to correct this behavior in his own writing by referring to the swans by their first names, rather than their often-changing last names.

“[Truman] seeks attention and sympathy by serving up half-believed lies to total strangers. Strangers because he has no friends, and he has no friends because the only people he pities are his own characters and himself—everyone else is an audience.”

This passage references Truman’s blistering critique of the playwright Tennessee Williams, which Leamer identifies as an appropriate description of Truman himself. Although the swans consider Truman to be their friend, this passage suggests that he is only using them as material for his writing. Ironically, when Truman betrays the swans, they are able to move on to other friends, while he remains friendless.

“They estimated the ashes would sell for between $4000 and $6000. Instead, they went for an astronomical $45,000. […] What a marvelous set piece Truman would have made of this tale.”

As this passage suggests, Leamer interprets the division and sale of Truman’s ashes decades after his death as evidence that his life and legacy continue to be valuable well into the new century. Like Truman’s fans, Leamer seems to be more interested in Truman’s celebrity than an undisturbed afterlife for his book’s subject.