The Oregon daily journal., September 21, 1919, Page 65, Image 65

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Fashionable Newport's
Tournament with a
NEWPORT, Sept. 7.
HIRTY LOVE," another swift
serve from Mrs. Howard Gush
ing across the grass court of the
Newport Casino, a flash of orange and
white as the player followed up her game
their "forty love" and the love game was
won by Mrs. Cushing and her partner, J.
Gordon Douglas.
With this love game, the championship
for doubles of the Newport courts went to
the two partners who have been the most
observed of all observers all Summer at
the Casino.
Loud cheers and knowing smiles fol
lowed the winning of the sets in which
Mrs. Cushing, the beautiful widow of How
ard Cushing, the artist, and Gordon Doug
las, divorced husband of Mrs. Annls
Kountze Douglas, played against Mrs.
Arthur Scott Burden and Drexel Biddle,
the young -son of Craig Biddle, of Phila
delphia. Back of these exciting games lay an
other and very different contest, for all
Newport was keenly "on" to the fact that
Mrs. Cushing, the vibrantly beautiful
"woman in yellow" whose rare and amaz
ing coloring inspired her artist husband in
his best work, was being courted by way
of tennis by two prominent men of tha
colony, Williams P. Burden and J. Gordon
Douglas.
It is many moons since Newport has
been afforded so delightful a spectacle as
the perfectly open contest between these
two men for the love of a woman whose
beauty has been many times immortalized
on canvas by an adoring husband. Fol
lowing Howard Cushing's work from the
time of his' marriage it is easily seen how
his wife colored all his art. Even in
doing the mural decorations for Mrs. Harry
Payne Whitney's studio Mrs. Cushing was
her husband's theme. In the striking nude
on the dolphin, a panel that raised a storm
of gossip, the artist was still faithful to his
favorite model for her coloring and facial
characteristics as unmistakable. One ot
the last paintings he did of her was the
glorious "Woman in Yellow," and the por
trait is considerably talked of this Sum
mer by Newport.
The contest now engaging Newport's at
tention actually began last Summer, only
no one realized it, because Mr. Douglas
was then married and had no Intention ot
competing for the lady. w
Mr. Burden, however, was free to win a
bride, and began his drive soon after Mrs.
Cushing arrived at her Newport cottage.
"Winnie" Burden, as he is called by his in
timates, is a widower of wealth and much
social prominence, for he is a son of the
late James Abercrombie Burden pnd a
cousin of Evelyn Byrd Burden, Arthur
Scott Burden and Mrs. David Dows. who
was the lovely Gwendolyn Burden.
His wife was Xatica Rives, perhaps ths
.most beautiful girl that Newport ha? ever
married off. She was a daughter of the
late Oliver H. P. Belmont ty his first wife.
Not long after her marriage she was found
dead in her bed, and her husband ha3 never
been seriously interested in another
woman until Mrs. Cushing appeared on the
Bcene as a widow.
When Ethel Cochrane Cushing and
Burden joined up as tennis partners early
last Summer no one in the colony dreamed
that the beginning of a genuine ronance
was being staged. They placed v.-fully
good tennis, and won over all comers, even
against such veterans as Craig Biddle and
Mrs..Barger Wallach. But it was tennis,
and not love, that apparently occupied ihe
two principals. This season, however, love
and tennis are all mixed up with Burden
and Douglas attacking each other from
every vantage point. In a way Mrs. Cush
ing, while always the, prize for which they
are fighting, might also be likened to the
ball which is constantly being tossed
across the nets.
When the Beason closed last Aut,umn,
with Burden and the lady. winners, all the
women of the colony decided that Mrs.
Cushing had made up her mind to become
Mrs. Burden. Otherwise, why did sbo g' e
up all other social pleasures in ordsr to
join Winnie on the courts? And, un
doubtedly, her partner would have r-t-d a
clear field if Mrs. Douglas had not secured
a divorce and 30 left her former husband
free to fall in love once more.
When the tennis teams were made up
for this year's tournament, Newport got a
shock, for instead of Winnie, they found
Douglas paired off with the "Woman in
Yellow."
"How can this be? Is Ethel done with
Winnie?" asked more than one woman
in the colony.
"No, indeed!" still others would reply,
"we hear she just wants a change, she la
afraid of a one-man partner."
It developed speedily that Mrs. Cush
ing and Douglas had been playing together
quite a lot over at Forest Hills and on one
of the private courts in New York. New
port was puzzled and when puzzled the
colony is never"satisfied until it learns the
reason why. Everything Is fairly plain;
o
Most Thrilling Heart
Famous Artist's
Beautiful Widow as the
Prize and Two Tennis
Croesuses as the
Battling Knights
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The Former Mrs. J. Gordon Douglas, Who Recently Secured a Divorce.
to-day. The whole thing in a nutshell is
that the lady, when approached by both
o the men in the guise of suitors, decided
to play one oft against the other on tha
tennis courts.
It was not a case of "if you love me, be
my husband," but "if you make me cham
pion, then you may be "my suitor." All,
during the Spring the lady played on New
York courts with first one man and then
the other. She wanted to play fair and so
gave Douglas her Mondays and Burden her
Tuesdays and so on.
After several weeks, Mrs. Cushing evi
dently decided that Douglas proved the
better partner and so she settled on him
as her Summen. playmate. In making her
'decision, she put it squarely up to Douglas,
however that he must carry her to victory
this season on the Newport courts or all
would bo over between them. And never
has man worked harder than Douglas to
fulfill his lady's demands.
Early birds, twittering on the big elms
that shade the Casino courts have heard
strange sounds from two early players.
Father Robin may not have understood
what 'Hove all ' or "thirty love" meant, but
Mother Robin understood and was also
interested in the bits of flashing color that
constantly streaked across the grass under
her tree top nest. Could it be a scarlet
tanager. or a brilliant Baltimore oriole?
No, second glances proved the streaks to
be Mrs. Cushing clad In a trim white linen
suit, topped by her iragnificent red-gold
hair, left unhatted in the brilliant sunlight.
Swift and sure of her game as she played
with Douglas, winning "love" in nearly
every count. - -
What the robins knew, all of Newport
soon learned, and many commiserating
glances were cast Mrs. Burden's way. But
In a way the lady gave her former partner
his chance, for she took to motoring with
him on late afternoons. It seemed as
though she wanted him to realize that
while she must play tennis with Douglas,
she wanted to keep his devotion as well.
Dear me, but the colony was in a fer
ment when it discovered these motoring
"two somes!"
"Which is the most serious," fair ladles
asked over their tea cups, "tennis doubles
or motor two somes?" But no answer
come from those most concerned.
In between-times, Mrs. Cushing, who has
a large fortune and a charming house out
on the rocks near Bailey's Beach, kept up
her social end by giving small dinners and
luncheons and always her two playmates
were among those present.
While that part of New York society
which goes to Lenox, Bar Harbor and other
places than Newport .in the Summer waa
intensely surprised to hear of Mrs. Cush
ing's change of partners. It was not sur
prised to hear that the artist's widow had
cut loose entirely from the semi-artistic'
crowd that had gathered round her during
Howard Cushing's life time.
Having been born a Boston Cochrane,
daughter of that doughty New Englander
Cochrane, the was born to stern Puritan
traditions. Her sensational, even bizarre
coloring (her eyes are the same warm
golden red as her hair and her pallor is
that of old ivory) placed her apart from
the girls of her class. Wherever she went,
Ethel Cochrane was the star beauty and
no one wondered whn Howard Cushing,
also a Bostonian, but already a painter of
C) 1019, International Feature Serrice, In
. W? wan ,n YclIow the Famous Portrait of the Beau
tiful Mrs. Howard Cushing by Her Noteci Husband
That Gave Her the Title.
distinction, fell In love with the flaming . a proposition, with the men
young debutante. an home and the women
After their marriage the Cushings made relieved from war work.
New Yoric their Winter residence and went Mrs. Cushing and Douglas
to Newport for the Summers. The wife'? faced the strongest dou-
coloring and personality became tho bles In New York and
painter's inspiration and he used her al- Philadelphia society this '
most exclusively as his model. Sometimes year and won "love" nearly
he painted her in brilliant crimson, again every time. So many
in emerald green, still again he made her "loves" did they win, in
famous as the "Woman in Yellow." fact, that they are called
In one of his portraits Cushing empha- the "love couple."
sized the Oriental strain that was oftime3 Every day during the
apparent in his wife's beauty, and then old tournament' Mr. Burden
Bostonians delved back in their memories betook himself to a court
in an effort to discern how Ethel Cochrane in .1 far corner of the Casino and practised
came by this strain. They did not appre- steadily some very hard smashing serves,
ciate the Imaginative power of the artist! Every time "love" was called on the cham-
In their New York home the Cushings pionship court he winced and drove the
gave informal semi-Bohemian parties and ball3 harder against his professional op-
gradually gathered a following of the ponent none of his friends would stand
painters and allied arts about them. But up against him. It was too plain that
always Mrs. Cushing was strong for her Winnie was out for a killing!
social life, and in Newport clung only to "What makes Winnie Block by himself?"
the conservative element. ask all the pretty debs and sighing young
And now she is all for this one social matrons,
element and has dropped all others. Mr. "That's easy," explain the men. "Burden
Cushing died very suddenly two years ago, Is traln'nS himself to challenge Douglas
and his widow has worn aapurning until for a two some In which the victor shall
this Summer. It is doubtful, however, :f gain the poils "
she ever jgoes back to the exotic colors that RftH ho,n(r r0vtt,w nf MM
Now this would prove a most thrilling
wind-up of the whole contest. The two
men, standing about equal in the sight of
law and man, might fight for the lady over
the tennis court! Newport believes firmly
that late in the month, after the crowd has
left the colony .that the two men will meet
in Just such a duel, the winner being left
to woo the lady, unchallenged "by the loser,
for a specified period. Then, if no definite
decision has been made by the "woman In
yellow," the other man may go to it' once
lariv anri ho nartnara AoMa ?rtm tltAtv m0r6.
tennis prowess the two men stand about Newport Is watching the whole affair
an even chance. Burden has somewhat wIth KIee'uI eves. for there is a good deal
the best of it financially, and. of course, he of amusement in the whole thing, and then
ia a bona fide widower, as against Gordon's tnere ' the element of chance to be con
divorce. But what Is a divorce nowadays sidered, and on this Newport has one last
between friends? Mrs. Cushing is too ord to say:
liberal minded to let that be a detriment. "It is always possible, of course, that
No, It is the tennis that must decide. Ethel may choose .neither the winner nor
Burden carried her to victory, last Summer, the loser, but an entirely different man of
and here Douglas has done the same this whom we know nothing! We do know,
year. It looks like a stand-off, but it not however, that she will marry again, be
after all. Last year's tennis, with thc best cause she is the type of woman over which
men off to the war, was not nearly so stiff men go mad!"
Great Britain BlgDU Betcrred.
Cushing loved to have her wear and in
which he always painted her.
There is no telling, of course, what effect
a second marriage will have on the lady,
for other men than the painter-husband
have raved over Mrs. Cushing's choice of
colors, not realizing that if left to herself
she would wear pastel shades entirely!
And it happens that both Mr. Burden and
Mr. Douglas are keen on bright colors.
Newport is giving mighty little heed to
the color question, all its attention is
focused dn-the one, thrilling problem of the
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Natica Rives,, the Late Mrt
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The Oriental Eyes of Mrt. Cuahinc-
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