Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On Empty Mansions 201

If you can be mobilized by that then i think it just shows to that we really dont need to worry about things like that. [applause] thank you all for being here. The authors will be finding books out on the mall. And i wish all of you a very good day. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] next from tucson, arizona, coauthors build dedman and paul newell present their biography together onq get clark. [inaudible conversations] okay. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the tucson festival of books. I hosted arizona illustrated on channel six, pbs for 23 years. And in 2011 i started my own business and my own radio show and we are on each weekday. Noon to one on the voice. And i would like to thank you all for coming out this particular portion of our festival. It is being sponsored by the city of tucson and arizona daily daughter. We thank them for their support. This presentation will last about one hour and we will have plenty of time as we carve out at least 20 minutes for all of your questions. And we will get some good answers to them. Please hold your questions until we get into the final portion of our program. Then the authors will be able to meet and greet you and find for their books and out of respect for your fellow fellow audience members we ask that you please turn off your cell phones and so i see some of the region to do that right now indeed. And today we want to welcome the coauthors of the bestselling book. It is called empty mansions the mysterious life of Huguette Clark and the spending of a Great American fortune. And bill dedman is an investigative reporter. Hes right next to me here. Investigative reporter for nbc news. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for his work in the series was called the color of money. This was a series of articles in the atlantic journal constitution on Racial Discrimination by mortgage lenders and middle income neighborhoods. In 2010 he introduced the public eris Huguette Clark in her empty mansions there with compelling series of narratives for nbc, which by the way became the most popular features in the history of nbcs news website. 110 million and mr. Paul clark newell. He has researched the clark family for 20 years. He said many conversations about the life and family of Huguette Clark. He also received a private tour of the private estate overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the Santa Barbara area. It is an ugly compelling story that i could not put down and so right off the bat i want to say congratulations to both of you. Im sure many of our audience members also have enjoyed the book as well. So lets begin with you. When did you first hear about huguette . It was 2009. My wife and i have houses on the brain. The house values have on in the financial crisis my wifes mother have moved from boston to new york area and we were struck as landlords and in boston we couldnt sell can sell our house. As renters looking for houses but unable to afford them, you have all been in a situation where you are worried about how to get enough Square Footage and how to ride the driveway that bargirls could ride their bikes on. And so we have houses on the brain. I was looking at the real estate listings just for distraction and saw well beyond our price range most expensive house in connecticut was priced at 34 million and then marked down to 25 million or it was a bargain. What a deal. [laughter] it was a cozy charmer with 14,000 square feet and 52 acres and a river. And i was curious who owned it. I imagine that it might be the chairman of general electric, perhaps. I worked and looked at the town website and i saw a note in the zoning records that said this house has been unoccupied since the owner bought it in 1951. And that didnt seem possible. So i went over the next eight to in the caretaker asked me, you know, im not seeing any clark members of the family. I get paid by the lawyer every month. Her lawyer in new york sent me a check. No ones ever lived here, theres no furniture in the house or to take care of it. It seemed more like a bird sanctuary. And as i was leaving he said has to question. Do you supposed to spend that all of these years . [laughter] well, i did not know. But it turned out that this was not her niceness empty house and she had a nicer house in california in Santa Barbara close to 100 million overlooking the pacific that she last visited in the 1950s and the legend was that partners were still at work and that the cars were untouched in the garage and i didnt believe that. But in the book you can see a picture of the cadillac limousine and the oldsmobile convertible booklet license plates with a 1949. And she had 50,000 square feet overlooking central park and three apartments, 42 rooms in new york city where the doorman said no, its at least 20 years we have not seen her. The elevator does not stop on her floor. And so that started a hunt to see what had happened to this reclusive woman who it turned out was tied to an amazing american family. Her father had been thought to be as rich as rockefeller in the early 1900 and was known as a genius in business but sullied his reputation in politics. And part we have the 17th amendment allowing for direct election of senators because clark was paying legislators to vote for him in montana. And he traded from memory and it was astonishing to think of the math, he had been born in 1839 he was 22 years old when the civil war began. He was born in the Martin Van Buren administration and his youngest child, born in 1906 in paris during the Teddy Roosevelt administration might still be alive one barack obama was president. She held a ticket on the titanic and she was alive on 9 11. So that is what began going out string of this of a search to find out what was her story and what had happened to her and why was much of her property being sold. And then you hook up with paul. When did that happen . This is after she died in 2011 at age 104. She was two weeks short for 105th birthday. One of the relatives introduced me to paul and said that you fellas might be writing the same book, you should get together. And im very glad that we did. Paul, can you tell us a little bit about how you what did you known what was it like growing up about huguette . Very little. As a matter of fact even then and right up to the time that bill invaded her privacy, she was virtually unknown. Her father had been a very famous american tycoon. Clark county is named in the valley. But even his name had faded. So its not an unusual name like rockefeller. But im sure that was partly because he didnt leave tracks or a big legacy in terms of philanthropic activity or other ways in which his name specifically was standing as one of the great, i guess today we call it a billionaire. But in his time, hundreds of millions of dollars. Was the first time that he spoke with huguette . The first time was in 1990 or. And i have been chipping away for some time in terms of the general Family History of focus more on her father. Partly because there was so little known about her and at the time i was not even informed that she was still living. And that applied with many other places within the family. We had many other family members who one or two i recall specifically, they said thought i saw her once about six years ago at a funeral. And i didnt have an opportunity to actually talk with her, but i think that i saw her. And so that is how completely link the table had been. Ville, lets start with mr. Clark and the little bit about him. Mackey was remarkable. He 50 american archetype of middle income farming family that moved to iowa when the civil war began. Shortly before construction started he went west of colorado and then up to montana territory. He was mining gold and eventually became involved in merchandising. He was a merchant delivering the mail and selling eggs and pick axes to minors. Lending money at two to 5 per month. And he became the owner of some minds in montana. Even though he had a wife and young children, he went back to Columbia University to study geology and he learned a great deal and he got wealthy with silver and zinc and gold. Eventually his biggest earning was in arizona. It was the most lucrative copper mine in the world in early 1900. He own it outright with more than 99 of the shares traded and he got into railroads are to build a railroad connecting los angeles to Salt Lake City and on to the east. Opening the port of los angeles. He is a visionary in that regard. Along the way he needed a watering stop for his railroad to store water and pick up supplies and that became las vegas, which he auctioned off at its founding in 1905. But he sullied his reputation from the politics and soon the early 19 hundreds he was in all the magazines covers. A wellknown figure in new york and across the country. Lampooned in cartoons and often ostentation. He had a huge Art Collection and would throw open the doors of his mansion in new york city to allow the public to tour the five art galleries. That was his family home in new york city. 121 rooms for a family of four. That is the circumstance that she grew up in after coming over from paris and 1904. There were the two children. Huguette was the youngest. Yes. In the first daughter and her sister died tragically. Yes, her sister died just short of her 17th birthday of meningitis. This is well before penicillin. The family had great concerns and they had a quarantine cower in the top of the mansion. Yet they grew up in a household with a lot of fears. Fears of kidnapping rap the forefront. And her sister was an outdoors girl and the girl scout. So after she died the family donated the First National Girl Scout Camp, in new york city. Some of you may have gone to Girl Scout Camp there were the clerks gave more than 100 acres for that camp. And huguette wouldve been an early teenager at the time that only sibling died in a one conversations begin with you and huguette, had huguette gone into the hospital at that time . Yes, she had probably been several years in doctors hospitals, which at that time was a hospital that celebrities patronize. If she liked the visit so much, you said that she stayed . Yet. Her residence literally became a hospital. Exactly. Yes. But she was in pretty bad shape when she went into the hospital. Yes, she had some medical issues they were not potentially chronic problems and they could be dealt with effectively at that time. Out of somebody disappear off the radar screen a map why are they not being remembered . Until your work. The lack of philanthropy is the key thing. Theres a lot of negative things you could say. But he plastered his names name is on leverage across america. So he more. But clark was philanthropic the extent that he gave his Art Collection in washington dc and theres a building there. A clerk told in narrative faces the museums collection of european art. But the house was torn down and the businesses were sold and the common name and its really a failure of succession of maintaining of a reputation. He worked so hard to build a reputation in society when he was alive. Also the male heirs kept dying in the and the great hope for a while was that his grandson named tertius, he died in an airplane accident of the parkdale and his wife saw the plane go down from there works. And he was with lindberghs friend and they were practicing flying as he had flown across the atlantic unable to see out the front. And there was a line with she and her halfsister sold off the business in the late 1920s and early 1930s. So there was no legacy left. Im going to let you go up to the microphone over here. We have an audio. Why dont you describe how you reached huguette to call you back. Im going to have bill go over to this microphone right here. Okay, over at this one. And then he has some visuals for. Are we going to start with the audio clip . Okay. To return to this point, one of the first experiences that i had confirming she was still living was at the museum in washington he were as bill noted clarks fine Art Collection was assembled and is out there today. Its a museum that is about a half walk from the white house. So its nicely located within washington dc and i visited that in late 1994 and went through the collection and talked with the archivist there and she told me that huguette was alive. So that was interesting to hear. Still alive, but they werent exactly sure where she lived. They thought she was still in new york. But they had no direct contact with her and her attorney, who at that time had been returning for 15 years or so, he was the intermediary the people talk to and generally the answer was not possible. However, he acknowledged to the archivist that he had never met huguette. And he had been her attorney for all of these years. Beyond that point another 10 years or so, succeeded by another attorney who is affiliated in the same firm never met her until i think after she i think he did meet her once just prior to the time that she died. So that is how alone and have protected huguette boys. She was very isolated. So i thought to write her a letter. And i prepare the letter and asked that he send it along to huguette. But i think that i would hear back from her . Frankly, no i did not. I do not think i would be likely to happen just raised upon their lifestyle is thus as we knew it. But it was within 10 days of that but i found a message on my answering machine and i was sometimes a way for days at a time, i did have easy contact my answering machine. And there is a message for me that this is huguette. And so she talked briefly am not occasion and said i want to speak with you and very much i would like to have you be available so i can talk to you. So i was delighted by now. Then frequently frustrated and that she left messages with no return number. And just happen to reach me quite a few times when i was away and the only way i would have record of her conduct was through the answering machine. So later in the year of 1994, i wrote to her and told her that i was going to be in new york city and id be happy to talk with her. So was there to meet some of the members of the clark family, even the fairly distant relatives of hers. The descendents of senator clark. And so i scheduled a meeting with one of her just enough years who was of dual citizenship and primarily a french citizen and at that time was part of the Council General representing france and the consular. Not the embassy, but the consulate in new york city. He was within blocks of we thought she was residing in this 15,000 square foot apartment. I got an the gunslinger and city. Had a late dinner that night and the phone was ringing as i got in that. So i picked up the phone and she said this is huguette. Shes actually my cousin. But she knew that i had wanted to meet with another cousin of his who is known to huguette commode should never met him. [inaudible question] yes . Oh, thank you. [inaudible question] we speak into the microphone. Hello, this is your aunt you called. So anyway im getting long time. The fever went down and everything is much better. And thank you for the pictures. Your daughter is beautiful. And your little grandson is adorable. So at that point the answering machine had timed out. I detect kind of a french accent. I was her first language. Yes. Is important that the senator had all of his children to have him speak several languages and push hard for his education for them. And he was a very important part of her life growing up smashers born in paris in 1906. Perhaps she was named for victor hugo. Huguette, as you know. Her mother, you have to realize, there was quite a difference in age between mother and father. Her mother was 39 years younger than her husband. And they have two daughters, which they appear always thought of themselves as french and they were born in paris and then came to america to that great house in new york city. Which is no longer there. Wreck and after the father died, he was quite reserved and private but a public figure and the show he won and they were quite public as a family in terms of holding fundraisers in our house and after he died great mansion was torn down. It was too expensive to operate or for anyone else to own. And so there were 31 bathrooms if you wanted to use it every day of the month, uk. So its one down and 27 after the father died and mother and daughter moved down the street to separate apartments in the same apartment building. Seventyseven fifth avenue new york. Overlooking the conservatory pond where stewart raced to rowboats. I was told that my be fictional. Im not sure. But they lived very quietly. Mother was interested in Chamber Music and huguette was a collector and a builder of dollhouses and a student of japanese history and she commissioned japanese model buildings of tea houses and palaces and residences and at 50 to 80,000 talking with an artist in japan who would go to get pictures at the back of the palace and then the men so that they could work on their design and to get the fabrics just right. She was a meticulous and quiet artist. She took a lot of photographs and was a clip or of cameras. She had her passions. But the requisite that he deemed to be in line with her mothers, not going out much. And they were rarely seen in public in the 30s or 40s. In the 50s she went to the french consulate of consulate of the street for the christian to your fans and shows that would be there because she wanted to study the fashions for her dolls. And she went out to have her violin restrung and she was a collector of paintings by renuart. And she had passions but they were very private inside artistic wise. And so we dont know that she was out of the house at all in the 60s or 70s or 80s. But she stayed there in 1991. She is still writing checks out this time . And i guess im her generosity was great. You know. Most of her generosity was private. A spectacular example of that is her nurse and a half ago. A filipino immigrant who was randomly assigned by a Home Health Agency to work for this woman is a private duty nursing on her own. She was a dangerous working 12 hours a day seven days a week for many years. Then they moved to three eighthour shifts and during the 20 years that they had served her, her family received 31 million in gifts during this 20 years. And so who was most convenient situation in brooklyn. There was no evidence that she was pestering h