"Life Of The Party" 1994 OGDEN, Christopher (INSCRIBED) (SOLD)
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The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman
OGDEN, Christopher
Inscribed on note (laid in): To Nina (Griscom) by the author
Signed Note to Nina Griscom Laid In] Ogden, Christopher. Life of the Party: The Biography of Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman. First Edition. 1994. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition—there is tape residue on the flyleaf and an unintelligible ownership signature (?) also on that page. Laid in is a cover page from the pre-publication softcover version of the book. On its blank opposite side, Christopher Ogden has written, “Dear Nini, Thanks for your help in setting up my book gigs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both went very well. We had fun and moved books—the best possible combination. Thanks too for putting through the SF payment. Grab a [hardcover] book from Jack’s office & I’ll sign it when next I see you—which I hope won’t be long. Bests, Chris Og.”
[504] pp.
Little, Brown, and Company
1994
First Edition
9 1/2" x 6 1/2"
Fine/ Fine
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In this captivating, gossipy, withering biography, Time writer Ogden portrays Harriman--a major Democratic fund-raiser, backer of Clinton and currently U.S. ambassador to France--as a coolly calculating opportunist who parlayed her ambition into vast wealth and political clout by targeting rich and famous men. An English baron's daughter, Pamela Digby in 1939, at age 19, wed hedonistic, alcoholic Randolph Churchill and moved into Downing Street, where she helped her father-in-law, Sir Winston, by acting as an intelligence broker during WW II. Her second marriage to ebullient, barbiturate-addicted Broadway producer Leland Hayward put her in the vortex of the golden age of the American musical. She used the wealth of her third husband, the late statesman Averell Harriman, to resuscitate the Democratic Party's fortunes. Ogden catalogues Harriman's numerous liaisons (Edward R. Murrow, Elie de Rothschild, Aly Khan, Fiat auto magnate Gianni Agnelli, etc.) in this unauthorized tell-all based on months of interviews with her for a proposed autobiography that was abandoned.
Pamela Beryl Harriman (née Digby; March 20, 1920 – February 5, 1997), also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English political activist for the Democratic Party, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times: her first husband was Randolph Churchill, the son of prime minister Winston Churchill; her third husband was W. Averell Harriman, an American diplomat who also served as Governor of New York. Her only child, Winston Churchill (1940–2010), was named after his famous grandfather. She served as US ambassador to France from 1993 until her death in 1997.
Pamela Harriman has now been the subject of three biographies. This (the first) she initially not only authorized but initiated. After six months, she abruptly pulled out and did everything she could to prevent its publication. Nor was she pleased with the second one written by Sally Bedell Smith that appeared two years later. She was furious with anyone connected with it in any way. That included Nina Griscom’s mother, Elizabeth Rohatyn. One night at dinner in Paris, Pam raged at Elizabeth for permitting Bedell Smith to promote it at a New York Public Library event (Elizabeth was chair of the board). How fascinating that it has now emerged that two years earlier Rohatyn’s daughter had been involved with the biography Harriman detested even more. In any case, Pam had been expected to recommend Elizabeth’s husband Felix to succeed her as ambassador to France but instead urged President Clinton to appoint someone else to post, which he did. (Rohatyn had to wait another year before eventually landing the job.)
“Pamela is not a sulker. She cries when she is hurt or upset, but she does not wallow in self-pity. When she is angry, her mouth stretches taut and flattens across her teeth; her blue eyes turn the color of pond ice, steely opaque. When discouraged, she picks herself up, turns aggressive and seizes the next available opportunity.”
--Christopher Ogden