Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1959)
Despite his immense wealth, Barbara Hutton's son is a level headed, serious-minded young man, says his starlet girl friend in this exclusive story. Family Weekly June 28, 1959 Lance R event low: fPtCi m i iirirz i RDdDD Soimsinir by Jill St. John I've known Lance Reventlow for three years. We've dated steadily for nearly a year. But only now do I feel that I understand him. I don't think many people do. Certainly not the newspapermen who refer to him as "Barbara Hut ton's poor little rich boy." Not the phonies who try to befriend him for what they can get out of him. Not his father, Count Kurt Haugwitz-Reventlow, to whom he hasn't spoken in 10 years. Lance is envied and pitied for his money: envied because people think he can spend any amount whenever and however he pleases; pitied because it has made him lonely and distrustful. From what I can tell neither is true. I've never asked him directly whether he really inherited $1 million on his 21st birthday two years ago, and can draw up to $500,000 a year in advance on the $50 million to $100 million inheritance that someday will supposedly be his. If this is true it doesn't show in his living. According to one recent story, he owns a $200,000 hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, an airplane, three expensive cars a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari, and a Scarab has a cook and butler, and buys me pres ents that would have made Diamond Jim Brady look like an unemployed orange picker. What the story failed to mention is that the Rolls Royce is 23 years old and was a gift from his mother; that he'll keep the Ferrari at least five years he drove his Mercedes six before he turned it in; that the Scarab was built by his own company for pro fessional racing purposes; that the Cessna 310 is used primarily to fly his mechanic -drivers from one race to the next; that his cook and butler work part time, and that the jewelry I wear was purchased almost entirely by myself. Don't get me wrong. Lance is no pauper. He doesn't pretend to be. "Some people are born with brown eyes! I was born with money," he once said. He spends his money cautiously. A few months ago, for instance, his company, the Reventlow Auto mobile Corp. which builds and races his Scarabs was invited to participate in a Honolulu competi tion. When Lance learned the cost of shipping the car to Hawaii, he refused to enter. , He runs his company on a strictly business basis, although he is conscious of his financial advantage. He is no hungry racer who has to accept any com petition that promises monetary rewards, or take chances in those he does accept. Lance spends money on himself even more care fully. Some time ago I practically dragged him to hi tailor because he hadn't bought a new suit in months. When I was at Lake Meade, Nev., as hostess and queen of the Sahara Cup Races, he refused to go near a nickel slot machine. He considers gam bling a waste of money. However, no matter how he feels about it, being Barbara Hutton's tn makes him the object of money -grabbing schemes. So far no one has put o p U I ts VX wsi. t 1 ' A 7 ft it.' v r - n I a .w... " . -. . - V r. .,. ::, i. V X t ci . - -.- a U'1' v I --HUM I M 1 i i t V .'T;5 . . . 5 . W . V - i -.a 5 Jill St. John and Lance have dated a year amid speculation of marriage. Lance Reventlow (right) and Gaston Andrey win race at Elkhart, Wis. Cm C L I Xlj ill J Heiress Barbara Hutton and her son get together only rarely. !. 10..,.. 3$XZ-' '.LAZI ' S '''I-'' anything over on him. I doubt anyone ever will. I know from experience! When I came back from Lake Meade, my heart was set on Lance's buying a cabin cruiser. I kept hinting how much fun some of our friends had with -theirs. I even talked him into visiting the Sports men's Show in Los Angeles. Just when I thought I'd talked him into placing an order, he grinned. "I can't afford a boat but I love the way you try to talk me into it," he said. Most of the schemes directed at Lance don't in volve business transactions unless one calls mar riage a business. Wherever we go, he's pursued by attractive, marriage-minded girls and aggressive, prospective mothers-in-law. The fact that I'm with Lance deters few of either category. When we first met, Lance used to shun any type of publicity gathering, such as premieres. Grad ually I persuaded him to change his attitude. For the sake of my career, I need to be seen in public, with or without Lance. Naturally the fact that I'm with him makes people want to write more about me. Lance realizes this, and while he'll tease me that I don't really want to become an actress, just a movie star, he now goes to publicity functions with comparatively little grumbling. I can't blame Lance for being somewhat wary of the attention he attracts, and the motives for it. He is never completely sure whether people are inter ested in him as a human being, or for his social and financial position. Despite this, he has a bigger cir cle of friends than anyone I know. His closest pal is Bruce Kessler, also a race driver. Generally speaking, Lance is not impressed by the Hollywood crowd. He once admitted sharing his mother's opinion that "Hollywood society is like going down a sewer in a glass-bottom boat." He does associate with a few entertainers, though Gary Crosby, singer Jimmy Boyd, anil George Burns' and Grade Allen's son, Ronit, at whose home we first met. My initial impreaekm ccmAnmd vhat I'd been told: he seemed cold, shy, dietanl It took me quite while to find out that he wa simply reserved. I'd heard a lot about Lance's diult childhood: the headlined custody battle his parents fought over him; the endless stream of stepfathers (after Bar bara Hutton divorced Lance's father she had pre viously been married to Alexis Mdivani she be cam the wife of actor Cary Grant, Prince Igor Troubetzkoy, Porfirio Rubirosa, and Baron Gott fried von Cramm); the years in boarding school as a ward of the court when his parents couldn't reach an agreement about who should raise him. Except for a resentment against his father be cause of the custody battle and the financial settle ment he received from Lance's mother Lance has developed no feeling of insecurity, harbors no bit terness or disillusionment. He looks at his mother's many marriages with deep concern for her. Of all her husbands, the only one he cares for is Cary Grant, who has no obligation toward him yet treats him like his own son. Whenever Lance is sick, and he has been plagued by illness since childhood mostly asthma, which kept him out of the Army Cary always calls or visits him. Lance considers himself fortunate in also having found a second mother. Like Cary Grant, she has no obligation toward him, yet Bruce Kessler's mother, Nina, is probably as close to him as I am. Certainly she is with him whenever needed like the morning he underwent minor surgery last Summer to relieve a sinus condition. The operation was scheduled for 8 a.m. I figured if I got to the hospital by 10, I'd be there before he came out of the anesthetic. Nina Kessler arrived at 7:30 and stayed all day. Every time Lance is ill and doesn't call her promptly, she'll lovingly bawl him out, no matter who's around, and he loves it. In spite of seeing little of his own mother, Lance is extremely fond of her. I could tell when we met not long ago. , - I was in New York to help publicize "The Remark able Mr. Pennypacker" when Lance came into town from Nassau where he had just won the Interna tional Grand Prix as well as the Governor's Cup the first time in 30 years this has been done by an American. He told me his mother was staying with his cousin, Jimmy Donahvie, on Long Island. He wanted us to get acquainted. Never in my life have I Uh more scared than during the hour drive to H. Donahue's home. "Do you think she'll like ?" I kept asking Lance. "Of course, she will," ht assured me repeatedly. When I persisted, he finally burst out, "Oh, be quiet and stop worrying!" I found JBarbara Hutton to be a warmhearted, charming woman. And I think she approved of me. If she didn't, she put on a most convincing show! She treated Lance like somOon her own age, rather than as a son. And when h way with her, Lance appeared far more mature than his 23 years. One reason Lance has become a well-adjusted young man is that despite everything that's hap pened he has developed a marvelous sense of humor. He has told me many times, "If you can laugh at yourself, you can laugh at anything." Another reason is a degree of self-sufficiency that makes him independent of others. He can work all day on his cars, by himself. He will read for hours, on every possible subject but particularly medicine. As a result, he's acquired a good education al though he attended only two months of college at Pomona which he considered a sort of "Western Ivy League." He's the brightest boy I've dated. For someone supposedly born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Lance is extremely capable of looking after himself. The most wonderful room in his hill top home is the kitchen, which he uses expertly. One night we had a steak at one of Los Angeles' better restaurants which served a flaming, peppery kind of sauce that looked like Bearnaise, but wasn't. Lance tasted it, smacked his lips, and wondered aloud what ingredients it contained. The next time he cooked dinner for me at his house he almost always cooks, I never do we had steak with the identical flavorful sauce. Lance is pleasant to be with for many reasons. He's tall, handsome, doesn't get drunk, seldom loses his temper, and when he cusses he does it in a foreign language! His anger blows over quickly. Usually he feels sorry afterward and tries to make up for it with a gift. But contrary to what's been reported by the press, Lance has never given me an expensive fur coat or a 20-carat diamond ring. His presents have -included a huge stuffed dog with a card addressed, "to a big child," a watch, and a car hi-fi set which he took from his Ferrari. What are my own feelings toward Lance? They should be quite clear, considering I haven't dated anyone else for months. However, we have never discussed marriage ex cept once when a columnist reported mistakenly, as usual that Lance would inherit $5 million the ' day he acquired a wife. "Why don't you marry mm for your money?" I teased him. Replied Lance with a grin, "For that much money IH do anything but marry!" If he ever changes his mind, there's little doubt that he would make a wonderful husband with or without his money. 0 O family Weekly, June it, J959 Family Weekly. June tS, 1959
