"La Côte Basque, 1965" contained a dizzying array of thinly veiled caricatures of the women he had grown closest to over the years including Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Lee Radziwill, and Ann Woodward.
Before the days of influencers and social media stars, there were the Swans, an elite group of socialites, each with their own signature style and air of mystery.
That mystery did not last however, and in 1975 they watched in horror as their deepest, and in some case darkest, secrets were leaked by one of their most trusted confidants — Turman Capote.
That is when the "In Cold Blood" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" author published an excerpt from his novel "Answered Prayers" in the pages of Esquire.
"La Côte Basque, 1965," named for the restaurant of choice for the ladies who lunched in New York City at the time, contained a dizzying array of thinly veiled caricatures of the women he had grown closest to over the years including Babe Paley, Slim Keith, Lee Radziwill, and Ann Woodward.
Capote quickly found himself persona non grata in New York society, and that fall from grace is the focus of the new Ryan Murphy series "Feud: Capote vs.The Swans," premiering Jan. 31 on FX.
Here is a look at the key players.
- Barbara "Babe" Paley was one of the famous Cushing sisters, the three daughters of a renowned brain surgeon. One sister would go on to marry an Astor and another a Roosevelt, while Babe married an oil heir, Stanley Mortimer. She worked as an editor at Vogue for nearly a decade before leaving her job when she married her second husband, television executive William Paley. A heavy smoker, Babe was diagnosed with lung cancer one year before Capote published "La Côte Basque, 1965," and would die from the disease in 1978 at the age of 68 having never repaired her fractured relationship with the author.
- Nancy "Slim" Keith was the epitome of California cool, known for her blonde hair and athletic abilities. She had been thrice married by the time she met Capote, first to director Howard Hawks and then producer and agent Leland Heyward before settling down with her third and final husband, Kenneth Keith. That marriage would also end in divorce by 1972. She never spoke to Capote again after he published "La Côte Basque, 1965," and like Paley died of lung cancer at the age of 72.
- Lucy Douglas “C.Z.” Guest was the one Swan spared by Capote and did not appear in the excerpt published in Esquire. She became a fashion icon known for her simple and clean-cut style. In 1944, she married British aristocrat Winston Frederick Churchill Guest at Ernest Hemingway's estate in Cuba and the two remained together until his death in 1982. She was an avid gardener and horse rider who largely shunned the spotlight, and the mother of socialite Cornelia Guest.
- Ann Woodward was a model who married banking heir William Woodward Jr. Because of her lower-middle class background she was initially shunned by society, including her own mother-in-law, but eventually worked her way into the good graces of the ladies who lunched. Then, in 1995, she killed her husband after she mistook him for a burglar, she told police. A grand jury voted not to indict her but the incident featured prominently in Capote's excerpt. Days before it was to be published, Woodward took her own life by ingesting a cyanide tablet.
- Caroline Lee Radziwill was the least famous of the Bouvier children thanks to her big sister Jackie Kennedy Onassis. An aspiring actress, she appeared in a television adaptation of the Otto Preminger film "Laura" that featured a screenplay written by Capote. She married three times, most notably to second husband Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł. And while she did appear as a character in "La Côte Basque, 1965," Capote portrayed her in a glowing light.
- Joanne Carson was the second wife of talk show host Johnny Carson and a woman who stood by Capote's side until the very end, quite literally as the author passed away while staying at her Los Angeles home in 1984. They remain together even to this day, as Carson is interred next to Capote at Westwood Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Capote would die before managing to complete his novel "Answered Prayers," and the three published excerpts were instead released as a novella after his passing.
