Her life intersected with some other women we have covered here including the Valtesse de la Bigne, who faked a noble heritage and ended up rich, in April 2018, and American lesbian in Paris, Natalie Clifford Barney, in September 2014.
She was a Courtesan who chose as an adult to start at the middle and made it to the top. But was she happy?
DO YOU LOVE MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN A ROMANTIC WAY?
Do you feel pressure to leave one of them?
QUESTION FOR MISSY
Dear Missy,
I'm an attractive woman but my boyfriend is an exceptionally attractive man. He even modeled for a while. He is perfect in every way. Over the last year or so, before Covid, we would go out to restaurants and theater here in New York City, which we both enjoy. I realized that a lot of the men who come up to us to say hello are gay. What worries me is his bromance with one particular man. I read around this and bromances are when two men bond as brothers of different mothers, something like that.
He and Dirk talk on the phone every day. They have known each other for years. So I'm the newer person in this triangle. Even when Teddy goes on vacations or out of town on business they talk on the phone every day. Sometimes when we are out dining, Teddy calls and Dirk talks to him in front of me at the table. I protested and Teddy tells me I'm too sensitive about all this.
I'm worried that Teddy is not being honest with me about his sexuality and that there is more going on with Dirk.
What would you do?
Helena
ANSWER FROM MISSY
Hello Helena,
I have always believed in and had platonic friendships, some of quite long duration, and I'm sure people can have friendships that are not sexual and that do not interfere with their primary relationship(s).
I'm also big on trusting your instincts though I know I have talked myself out of what I "knew" in the past.
So let's look at this without looking at the possibility that Teddy and Dirk are lovers.
It is rude for anyone to be taking calls while out dining with anyone. You should expect Teddy's full attention while dining out. Sure, if people come over to say hello or you invite them to have a dinner with you, that's different. That is about socializing, about etiquette. Some people think they're impressing you about how important they are by making and taking calls while dining. They are mostly impressed with themselves. So tell him you dislike it when he takes and makes calls while dining out because you look forward to these dinners as time for just the two of you.
I also suspect that Teddy is emotionally involved with Dirk. It's one thing to admire and be mutually supportive of a friend or a family member and another to prioritize over a woman you're really interested in. So I feel that be it Dirk or a lack of interest in you or just plain rudeness, Teddy just might be that fish that needs to be let off hook and thrown back into the sea.
It's just not safe for us, for our health, to be sexual with someone who may also be sexual with others, so many women today request tests for SDI's just in case, each and every time they have their check ups. You should do this. You might be able to get a conversation started with Teddy about sexuality by mentioning to him that you are doing this and ask him how often he gets tested. You don't say how your sex life is. Is he pleasing you? Is he with you in that moment? If not, let him go.
Remember it's not easy to be available when you yourself are all tied up.
Missy
ALL POETRY COM : THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY by GEORGE SMITH PATTON
Just one stanza :
So as through a glass and darklyWesterners who were raised in Christianity are told that there is one chance for eternal life and it's this life. Millions of Westerners, including some who consider themselves to be Christian, have decided that reincarnation - many lives - makes more sense. Many religions in the past and present do believe in reincarnation and also Karma - the idea that you reap what you sow. Many people believe that when they bring special talents, skills, or an expertise into this life it's because of their past life accomplishments. It's not easy to reconcile a special talent for war with spirituality for me, but General George Smith Patton believed he himself was reincarnated as a military strategist ... a genius at war.
A scene from the well regarded 1970 film, Patton, in which Patton reveals he remembers a battlefield and a past life...
EVOLS LIBRARY MANOA HAWAII EDU : BEATRICE PATTON'S HAWAII by Nancy J. Morris
This sixteen page paper, part of a longer one, is in a pdf file. And according to it, yes, Beatrice Ayers Patton, General George Patton's wife, loved Hawaii and in the years they were stationed there, 1925-1928 and 1935-1937, she learned much about the culture.
The couple lived a life of luxury in Hawaii, on base during the week, in smart hotels on the weekends. The men played Polo. They sailed, They partied with celebrities'. However, something in Beatrice made her most interested in the native culture, the pre-missionary Pan-Polynesian society, Hearing the old stories of the goddess Pele, ghosts, and so on, she wrote them down and began a serious study of the history and religion of the ancients which she would later use when she wrote books and became a published author.
EXCERPT: (page 80) Beatrice's collection of tales grew. Apueo, the Hawaiian owl said to be a messenger of death, flew into a Queens's Hospital ward. None of the patients were on the critical list, but in the morning, seven of the eleven Hawaiian patients were found unexplainably dead. The black magic arts of the kahuna, according some credence be a plantation doctor acquaintance of the Patton's, especially seized Beatrice's imagination. The doctor told Beatrice that at least six of his patients had been prayed to death.....
(Beatrice began to write poetry, short stories, and a novel, interwoven with Hawaiian themes. Love without End was partially autobiographical.)
Beatrice was given a secret Hawaiian name and came to believe in the power of the Hawaiian gods. In her books she includes the art of black magic and a chant used by Hawaiian sorcerers to pray their enemies to death "MAY THE GREAT WORM GNAW YOUR VITALS AND MAY YOUR BONES ROT, JOINT BY LITTLE JOINT."
Was this the curse she may have used on Jean Gordon?
EXCERPT (page 85-86)
When Beatrice's niece, Jean Gordon, visited (Hawaii), Patton began a flirtation with the girl. Gordon was a recent Boston debutante, pretty, lively, and the best friend of Ruth Ellen, the Patton's daughter. Unwisely Beatrice did not accompany Patton and Jean on a horse buying trip to a neighbor island, and when the two returned, it was clear to Beatrice that the flirtation had become an affair. Beatrice forgave Patton, and the marriage survived.
AUBURN EDU - JULIA RAMSEY THESIS
Auburn University in Alabama offers submitted graduate thesis's online. Julia Ramsey was in the History Department and this is her thesis from 2011. Her paper is called "Girl" in Name Only: A Study of American Red Cross Volunteers On the Frontline of World War II." It's about a hundred pages and worth the read. It's about women using volunteer work as a way to expand out of the home.
I learned that Clubmobiles were vehicles driven by women who visited troops, bringing burgers, donuts, cigarettes, and other items to the men in a show of support. Because they were considered to be non-military, these women sometimes got closer to the action than women had in any capacity before. The volunteers were strong, independent, and capable, able to handle being surrounded by men who might flirt and wisecrack with them, but the Red Cross needed to portray them as Girls, nonthreatening, so that they themselves would not be attacked. (The Red Cross has managed to keep functioning due to its helpful, non-military reputation.)
A "Clubmobile" was thought of as a service club on wheels. The original plan was to provide more - movies, stage performances; think Bob Hope's USO shows to entertain the troops.
Try this on. The troops were likely to see action. These visits were a brief escape from the knowing that they might die.
The first Clubmobile went around the London area in October of 1942. Soon they would go to the European continent. They were jeeps, buses, and trucks. Some carried a movie theatre on wheels. American military leaders such as Dwight Eisenhower saw the goodness in this work and wanted their men to have Clubmobile services.
Page 9 and 10 EXCERPT: (There are photos too!)
The Clubmobile that would be predominantly used on the European continent consisted of a converted 6 X 6 GMC truck equipped in the front half with a doughnut frying machine, six coffee urns, a working sink, running water, a water heater, and a portable field cooking range.
The back half of the truck contained a clubroom with books, a phonograph and speaker, and folding bunks for the women to sleep on when unable to return to their base at night. .... Each vehicle carried a fifteen day supply of doughnuts and coffee and was staffed y three ARC women, who were responsible for driving, preparing and serving the doughnuts and coffee... Before deployment on the continent, the women staffing Clubmobiles endured a rigorous training period in England where they received instruction in driving and repairing their vehicles.
Camilla Shand
Camilla Parker-Bowles
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. (She was entitled to use Princess of Wales, but since that title was so associated with Princess Diana, she didn't.)
Camilla, Queen Consort, or King Charles III...
We all knew that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain had a dynamic role on the world stage to fill and that she could not live forever. She passed the other day and I look forward to watching her funeral, if it is viewable to the public like her husband, Prince Phillip's was. With years more on this earth than most people get, Elizabeth managed to greet the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, a couple days before her end. Now there is no question that Queen Elizabeth II's oldest son is the King, which happened automatically, and so all those years of discussion over his being punished by having had Camilla as his mistress while still married to Princess Diana is over. In a year or so he will have a Coronation. It would be considered rude to do so sooner, when so many are mourning.
Camilla has deserved being Mistress of the Month here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO twice.
April 2016
JEAN GORDON
1915-1946
Jean Gordon was the daughter of Beatrice Ayers, Patton's half-sister - the sisters having different mothers. Family ties being what they were, Jean, whose father had died when she was only 8, spent vacations with Beatrice and George Patton and their family. The Patton's daughter Ruth Ellen, who was her same age, was a best friend. Jean was a bridesmaid in her wedding and that of her sister, so she was a close friend. General George Smith Patton was born in 1885 and thirty years older than Jean. You might think that maybe he was a father figure to her. A father - be it biological or step - and a father figure are not the same and that's important to know.
The question of whether or not Jean and the very high-profile General were involved is controversial as is for how long the relationship endured. Basically, the family said yes it happened, but some biographies about him by those who perhaps wished to keep him on his pedestal cast doubt, even say he was just bragging. It's my suspicion that the family would know more about his personal life than those outside the circle. Perhaps Jean Gordon's existence in the General's life was also kept secret because it's been said that the General claimed to have "had" her since she was seventeen, and so the relationship would have gone on and on and a seduction could possibly have happened when she was a bit under the age of consent. Years put in, it would no longer be "just a fling."
Although some sources say this relationship Patton had with a much younger woman happened when he was about fifty and only went on for a year, other sources point to the evidence that it was more serious, more enduring, and more threatening to his wife personally and his marriage in general, than anyone let on.
Why is that so?
As a famous and important man, Patton's biographies were probably written to focus on his military prowess and positive masculine qualities. The soldiers, citizens of the United States and our Allies, looked up to him and maybe if the truth came out that he wasn't also a perfect husband or that another woman was responsible for supporting him emotionally and psychologically during the war, it would have hurt that reputation.
Born in Boston, Jean was called a "socialite." The Patton's were rich. The Ayers - Patton's wife's family - were rich. Jean's mother's father was a rich industrialist. As such, Jean was a member of the Vincent Club and the Junior League, a volunteer organization comprised of elite women. She was expected to marry well and had many opportunities to meet men. They were upper class people who kept to their set. After all this man was considered one of the toughest military men in history and his accomplishments in war were outstanding for the United States and her European allies.
Jean was a Red Cross volunteer, a "donut girl", one of hundreds of patriotic young women who wanted to give support for the troops. Though Donut Girls served refreshments to troops, officially a Donut Girl is an American Red Cross Clubmobile Staff Assistant. *** .The Donut Girls were recruited by the Red Cross and were usually college graduates, single, and with the type of personality that could withstand hardship as well as the deal with men. In other words Jean was not silly, delicate, or overly sensitive.
Jean had accomplished much before she began to do this volunteer work. Besides an education, her training included what we used to call Powder Puff Mechanics - checking oil, filling the gas, and changing a flat tire. The Donut Girls were not fluff. Many who applied were rejected as not having the toughness to endure.
What is especially strange about this relationship is that Beatrice Patton, the General's wife, supposedly went to see Jean after his funeral, looked her in the eyes and pronounced a Hawaiian (Kahuna) curse that she learned while living in Hawaii. Very soon afterwards, Jean reportedly committed suicide in New York City, only 30 years old, and was found with photos of the General laying around her. The other story about her suicide was that she was indeed depressed over the end of an affair but it was some young officer who had jilted her and not the General.
The Patton's had long before World War II, been stationed in Hawaii, from 1925-1928 and then from 1935 - 1937. Beatrice loved Hawaii. But how did she learn a curse?
General George Patton was an American war hero, involved in World War I and credited with winning in the European theatre against the Nazi's in World War II. He was called "Old Blood and Guts" and he earned that accolade for his strategies and leadership but also the bloodshed it required to win. War is hell and many soldiers lost their lives fighting, not just the Americans, but Allies, and enemies.
There was the Holocaust being played out in Europe in which millions of innocent people - Jewish and not - people who were not soldiers signed on to fight in an army - were murdered. It had to be stopped.
Although I don't think there will be peace on earth in my lifetime, I'm partial to peace. I feel as if when there is a war, nobody really wins. Humanity doesn't win. The polluted and destroyed earth doesn't win. I hope for a continual de-escalation of conflict, more communication and understanding. What I'm getting to here is, I suppose I don't understand men like General George Patton though I suppose they have proven themselves to be necessary. I also know I'm lucky to have lived without war on my turf. I rely on our military to protect my nation. I wonder how George Patton kept going when many of us can be slayed by everyday stress - anxiety and depression. What contributed to his enduring ability to go on and on? What kind of private life, if any, did the busy General who was so often out of town in the business of the military, have? Was the presence of Jean Gordon in his life what made all the difference?
GENERAL GEORGE PATTON
Image from Wikimedia
Jean was only 30 when she committed suicide, reportedly by putting her head in the oven within weeks of being cursed by General Patton's wife. One report has two aunts of hers saying that when they claimed her body, they found a note that said something like "I will be with Uncle Georgie in heaven and have him all to myself before Beatrice arrives." That sounds like a rather childish statement for a 30-year-old of Jean's caliber, but maybe it's true. And I'm confused by reports of her suicide as a head in an oven and laying on a floor with photos all around you - two reports - seem rather incongruent.For all that he survived as a military man, George Patton died a couple weeks after having been paralyzed in an auto accident and it seems he knew it was his end. Two women lost a man they loved when he died. This month we'll explore a bit more about the Patton's, their time in Hawaii, Jean Gordon, World War II, and the Donut Girls and their world.
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All Rights Reserved
References for this month's posts come from multiple sources, some of which will be linked to, or excerpted.
If interested in other World War II references here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, in the archives you'll find topics such as the Mistresses of Holocaust Hero Schindler, Eva Braun the Mistress of Adolf Hitler, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy, who lost her husband and brother in World War II, and Pamela Digby Churchill Harriman, who during the war was something of a tourist guide to Americans in England. Bring up their names by using the search feature embedded in this blog!
If you're interested in Hawaii, JANE LAHILAHI YOUNG KA'EO : MISTRESS OF KING KAMEHAMEHA III of HAWAII and BEARER OF HIS SONS was our subject June 2021
An American Military man who successful and became famous.
No, his wife was not at all happy. Not at all...
