THE RAGGEDY END OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH ARISTOTLE ONASSIS and AN OPERA CAREER: MARIA CALLAS' LIFE ENDS AT ONLY FIFTY THREE

This post wraps up the coverage of Lyndsy Spence's devastating book about the life of Maria Callas though you'll have to read all the details I could not possibly include in this month's dedication to the opera star. 

Betrayed by Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas accepted that it was over with him. He married Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and a month later he called her and expected her to pay attention to him. She ignored him and phoned her and then he threatened to drive his car through the gates of her building. So she saw him but remained firm. Though the former First Lady and the Greek Shipping Magnate had a contract that she would spend two nights a week with him (implying sexual agreement) he expected Maria to have sex with him. Maria gathered her strength to consistently reject him.

Callas's career continued to be blotted with interruptions, changes of mind, and various reasons to cancel. She saw that she could not return to the stage because the public would always expect more of her, not less. An extraordinary tragic actress?  Would she shine in a film of Medea? 

A fortune teller told Maria that she would die young but would not suffer. (Her body double's costume caught fire and it was reported it was she! She was also firm in her opinion that her mother and sister were leaches when they called to express concern after hearing of the incident in the media.) For a film she lost weight to go down to130 pounds and also got an eye lift and did her best. Her film debut in 1970 was well received out of respect for her more so than the film. 

It seems that Maria Callas had a harsh awakening but had gained her perspective.

She told reporters that year that Aristotle Onassis had been an addiction and it was over.  Onassis turned himself into the victim and said Jackie made him unhappy and so their dynamic changed and Maria now called what she had with Aristo a platonic passionate friendship. However she was escorted by famous men and gained her more modern and independent outlook, Maria could not give up on the man. Jackie had spent 20 million dollars the first year of their marriage and Aristo was starting to hate his wife, but Maria, who had been with Aristo for nine years, gave in to him again. The marriage contract with Jackie allowed him a mistress!  But when he took up with Jackie again, Maria took an overdose again. She always claimed these were accidental overdoses.  This time the press got word and it was printed in Paris that she had overdosed. She sued to preserve her reputation.

Perhaps at this time Maria Callas' was at the height of her fame. Now the opera star said that she and Aristo were best of friends. Privately she was conflicted about him. She saw that he had a split personality. He said he wanted a divorce from Jackie but was also bound by their marriage contract so he cut her Jackie's allowance and started treating Jackie as he had Maria. Jackie made a life for herself in America as a response.  Maria wanted the world to know how badly Aristo had treated her though.

In 1971 she finally filed for divorce in Italy as a new law had been passed. It was rumored she would marry Onassis, who was also supposed to be filing for divorce. Maria Callas had finally grown into herself, dressed as she wished, wore pants and joked about her fat legs and wore her eyeglasses. Her self-acceptance - self-love - made her stronger to reject Aristo.

She knew some wanted her to come out of retirement and she hesitated and rejected one offer after another for stage and to make films.

She did sing at the Royal Festival Hall in a London Farewell Concert.

You can watch it here.  And as I watched it, I could not help but think that it was almost impossible to believe this woman had lived through so much. Beautiful, graceful and gracious, entirely professional, I can only wish that at some moment in time before her death in 1977, that Maria Callas had a sense of how far she had come and how much she had accomplished. The people around her tormented the perfectionistic Diva but one hopes that she learned to love herself.

Missy

Maria Callas 'London Farewell Concert' at the Royal Festival Hall with Giuseppe di Stefano, 1973

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MARIA CALLAS: NO PURPOSE IN LIFE - CODEPENDENT - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE : AND THE THREAT OF JACQUELINE BOUVIER KENNEDY

In Italy, Maria Callas' marriage remained valid, making it impossible for her to marry Aristotle Onassis, despite their purposeful but "jokey" lies to the press. Both had the Greek Orthodox church in their heritage and her marriage to Giovanni Battista Meneghini was not recognized by that church, but no matter. At forty-two years old, Maria was without a purpose in her life. She had given up singing. And she gave up her American citizenship and regained her Greek citizenship thinking that might further her desire to legally divorce. Living on the Greek island he owned, Scorpios, Maria could not hide the reality of their failing relationship from staff, Yet on that island, she felt she could hide from the world. Swiss cosmetic treatments did nothing to help Maria have Aristotle exclusively. Her desperation to have him was not attractive and on Scorpios he gave her a beating so bad she feared for her life.

Maria Callas kept forgiving and making excuses for Aristotle Onassis' behavior. Aristo was not in good physical condition, which worried Maria, and he was also abusing sleeping pills, drinking heavily, and giving himself steroids and taking other medications that he thought would improve his virility. Having overdosed herself in suicide attempts, Aristo's alcohol, cigarettes, and all the rest gave reason for her worry.

 

By the summer of 1966, Maria knew the relationship was ending. Aristo was still feuding with Ranier III over Monaco but also part of the Paris social scene. Onassis did not regard her or treat her as if she were his wife but as a courtesan. He felt no obligation towards her and wanted her to be independent of him. The press reported that they had split. In Venice, Italy, on the beaches of Spain, and on the ship, the Christina, she was no longer at his side. He might have purchased an apartment for her in Paris, though to save face she said she had bought it herself, but Ari hosted a dinner for Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in that city.  No other woman, from long ago or the near past was a bigger rival to Maria than Jackie. No doubt Maria lived around Aristo and for Aristo, but why didn't he set her free?

That is my question. Why was he so sadistic and mean that he wanted to break the will of one of the most talented and well known women in the world, while he pursued another?  He could be overly affectionate of Maria in public and then abandon her to visit with Jackie.  Maybe his judgement was clouded by lust but he proposed marriage to Jackie, negotiated with her brother-in-law Ted Kennedy for a financial settlement upfront; Aristo suggesting $3 million, she suggesting $20 million. He married Jackie.

Meanwhile Maria left for Las Vegas, where she overdosed. Then to Mexico, where she overdosed again. Maria Callas was falling apart psychologically, emotionally, and physically.

Onassis told Jackie he would protect her. To others he claimed to be behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy's brother Robert Kennedy.  Author Lyndsy Spence writes that Jackie was romantically involved with Robert at one time after the assassination. Onassis had been romantically involved with her sister, then Princess Lee Radzwill. The twists and turns of the involvements of these strong personalities is truly a Greek drama or perhaps the plot of a tragic opera. 

We see that exquisite pain is not reserved for the poor.

Missy

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MARIE CALLAS : "GOD HAS GIVEN ME TWO BIG CROSSES TO CARRY" : AN UNDERSTATEMENT IF THERE EVER WAS ONE!

In this post I'm conscious of developing some strong opinions about Maria Callas and her life. - Missy

In chapters 14 - 15 of Lyndsy Spence's book, we learn just how horrible the relationship between Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis was, an on and off again relationship in which he challenged her belief that it would work out in the end with affairs with other women, including Princess Lee Radziwill, the sister of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and then Jackie herself. Maria Callas came to realize that the man she called "Aristo" was a liar and manipulator who exaggerated his stories of his dramatic life for effect. This book gives us a devastating account of domestic violence and madness. Why did Maria allow Aristo to treat her with disrespect? He even beat Maria, sometimes badly. Was she so influenced by old Greek attitudes of how men treat women, how husbands treat wives?

In 1962, Maria was thirty-eight and had devoted her life to developing her operatic voice and her career. She wanted to be married to Aristo but was also always conscious of trying to have some control over her public image and the media. He played her like a yo-yo. When she said that God had given her two big crosses to carry, she meant her mother and her husband.  I'd add to that her father, her sister, Aristotle, the media, personalities associated with the opera including competitors, the courts, and people in the record making business, her ongoing struggles with weight and appearance and low self-esteem. There seemed to be no part of her life was peaceful.

Maria Callas began to give less than stellar performances, and to face that her career as a singer would be ending, yet there were options for recording (making records) and the possibility of staring in a film which also faltered. She would give her last opera performance at the age of forty-two.

This began an era in which Onassis wrangled to keep control of the principality of Monaco while Prince Ranier III prevailed. Onassis spun his web of deceit not only on Maria Callas, but on Princess Lee Radziwill, as he aimed to have the ultimate trophy wife -  Lee's sister, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.  Aristo believed that all women had sex for money and it was only a matter of how much.  He gave mistresses bracelets worth thousands as a goodbye gifts. Eventually he would give such a bracelet to Lee.

Maria Callas may have been a hypochondriac or she might have dealt with sexist doctors who made little of her complaints. She had surgeries for abdominal hernias and, in 1963, there's a possibility that she had another pregnancy or abortion, though this may have just been a rumor as she gained weight.

As her Mother continued to create embarrassment for her in order to financially gain from Maria, Maria and Aristo both seemed to have spoken to the media in ways that were not just from concern about reputation, but also to manipulate each other. They were co-dependent in this way and also, eventually, in the use and overuse of prescription drugs. While Mother was clearly unstable and wicked, something I felt conscious of as I listened to the audiobook is that Maria herself is cast as having to live with so much turmoil but is not outright called mentally ill or unstable herself.  I think she was, and I say that conscious of stereotypes of women, strong women, women who have earned their status and money, who are demanding. Was she independent? Emotionally she seems needy and dependent on the approval of Aristo.

Maria would eventually be emotionally blackmailed into providing some financial support to both her parents, and her mother was willing to attempt suicide to accomplish this. However, Maria seems to have been a hysteric; she too would attempt suicide a few times over Aristo.

Staff, including those aboard his ship, the Christina, were aware of Maria and Aristo as a couple, how they went from holding hands to have arguments, how he sailed without her or got her off the ship because another woman was taking a cruise with him. He would sometimes have Maria on board with her rivals, such as Princess Lee Radzwill, and then make a show of ignoring her. He disappeared for long periods of time when he did not contact her. Perhaps one of the most evil things Aristo did to Maria was play on her insecurities about her body, her weight, and her loss of weight, as she likely developed an eating disorder to become thin and then he'd claim to be attracted to bigger women. At one point she was keeping track of what she ate, each gram of food, knowing that the tiny feminine Princess was his ideal. (Actually he liked androgynous  women.) Author Lyndsy Spence writes that Onassis was also a good customer of the prostitutes of Parisian Madame Claude.

Though Maria was capable of self-support and earned well enough to afford Swiss clinic cures, an elaborate and plentiful wardrobe, world travel, and the support of her parents, Aristotle Onassis was significantly richer. Like a Classic Mistress, Maria was gifted a Paris apartment, though she lived with him in his. She wore the clothes he bought for her.  Because her career decline coincided with her desire to be available to Aristo when he called upon her to cruise, she came and went as he wanted, often waiting for his attention. As the press demanded to know where the relationship stood, at different times both Maria and Aristo claimed they would marry and then said it was a joke.

Their relationship was co-dependent. It was also volatile. Aristo provoked Maria and manipulated her. She screamed at him in front of friends and business associates. Before Onassis screaming had been limited to what she wanted out of the operas she performed in. 

Maria lied to herself about her relationship with this destructive and cruel man, who wanted to even the score with Robert Kennedy, the Senator and brother of President John F. Kennedy.  Had Aristo used Princess Lee to get to Jackie? 

Even as he courted the widowed Jackie after the assassination of her husband, JFK, and showed her his private island Scorpios, Aristo did not let Maria go. It's my feeling that her adoration for him was something he needed. 

When her voice cracked during a performance and she started over, Onassis went backstage to congratulate her on her courage. As she attempted suicide in Paris, he found her and walked her around the apartment to keep her alive. But he had provoked her. That was when she found a love letter and gift of jewelry meant for Lee.

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MARIA CALLAS : METAMORPHASIS : THE END OF MARRIAGES andTHE BEGINNINGS OF A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH ARISTOTLE ONASSIS

In her early thirties, soprano opera star Maria Callas finally lost the weight  that had plagued her and became fashionable. On stage she wore gorgeous costumes but it was now the time in her life to dress for her fans, the international public. In 1954 Maria went to a Swiss clinic where she accepted a new type of weight loss medical treatment; Special shots to stimulate the weight loss and injections into her thyroid. She lost 140 pounds and developed an hour-glass figure. She also had her teeth capped and surgery to slim her upper arms and lift her eyes. She had spa treatments like massages and facials. But the more fascinating fiction was the rumor that she had swallowed a tape worm in a glass of champagne out of desperation!

Then Maria Callas went out shopping and bought in excess. She possessed hundreds of dresses, hats, and shoes.

She was recording. She was performing. Her new beauty attracted to her even more men fans. Yet she was very married, and by the Italian way of thinking, however her confidence improved with her appearance, however "flirty" she might be at times, she was off limits.  Even if her marriage was one of "convenience" and her husband was rumored to go for fat prostitutes?

By 1949, Maria may have reached her most commanding and demanding phase, the Diva phase, you could say. She was having issues with her contracts, lawsuits had started to fly, and she was cast in the press as not just difficult, but a tyrant. However, she was also doing interviews and performances on television. Would we in our feminist consciousness think she was too demanding? Hadn't she earned the right to defy her husband as agent?

Her reason for living was singing but, some realized that her voice was in decline. After years of training and exercise, the sour or shrill note was noticed. In the 1958-1959 contract era, Maria Callas was fired from the Metropolitan, the opera company in New York that had been her goal in coming to America all those years before because she hesitated to sign the contract. However, she made appearances in many other cities in America and Europe and these productions might not have been the Met, but they were sold out.

And Maria Callas still wanted a child. Time was running out. She spoke of remarrying after her husband died just as rumors that she was infertile swirled. She was married when, after a performance, she met Aristotle Onassis and his much younger wife, Tina, who invited them to sail on the Christina, the Onassis pleasure ship. This first invitation was declined. Aristo's marriage with Tina had been breaking before he met Maria. Tina had two children with Aristotle but was bored with the jet set life style and her husband's abuse.

A society hostess, Elsa Maxwell, got herself into the situation, encouraging the two towards each other, and told Maria to take everything in life that was offered her. Meanwhile, Onassis' attitude towards love was that all women eventually had sex for money - so to speak.  Not outright cash but in exchange for jewelry, gifts, travel. He pursued Maria, claiming he was married in name only. She was flattered to be pursued by a man with such ardor, passion and intensity.  Maria began to have serious problems with her husband who she now considered to have been pimping her - as her manager. As confrontations with her husband increased, Maria was also not taking Aristo's calls. However, she well knew that the Italian attitude laws regarding divorce put her at a terrible disadvantage and then there was her career and reputation both as a woman and an artist.

The Principality of Monaco figured into the romance. The tiny principality might not have been officially owned by Onassis but he owned the casino and so the income into Monaco. And his boat, the Christina, named after his only daughter, was docked in Monaco.

Another invitation to cruise came from Onassis, who had the famous British Winston Churchill and his family aboard the Christina. This time Maria Callas and her husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, accepted the invitation.

Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis had things in common. They spoke Greek together. She laughed at his jokes. They dined alone. The two of them went to a holy site of the Greek Orthodox church, the religion they both were raised in, knelt together, and received a blessing: Maria would consider this to be like a marriage. (Though not divorced, her Italian marriage was not recognized by the Greek Catholic Church.) Then, it was clear to others on the Christina that Aristo and Maria were having an affair. Tina Onassis used the situation to her advantage in asking for a divorce from Aristotle. But, had Maria misunderstood her seduction?  Aristo had told her of his sexual exploits and at the end of the cruise he gave her a bracelet which was his way when he was through with a mistress.

Ten years younger than her husband, but still an "older man," Aristo became Maria's obsession. Back home in Milan she immediately asked her Giovanni for a divorce. Since she was an American citizen, Maria wanted to have a fast American divorce, which, at the time, was fastest in the state of Alabama. (Tina Onassis too would consider Alabama.) Maria's husband was not going to let her go easily.  He showed his character by using threats of International shame to keep her married to him. To the public she stated that Onassis had nothing to do with the divorce. Maria's horrible mother threatened to put a curse on her, again not concerned with her daughter's happiness, only that Maria continue to earn and keep her family in money. As rumors of the affair became international, Maria threatened to kill her mother.

Was Ari the real reason for demanding a divorce - finally - when her marriage had been a disappointment to her as a woman? According to Lyndsy Spence, whose book Cast a Diva, is the prime reference for my posts this month, here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot, Maria did become pregnant by Aristotle Onassis.

I'm aware from other books that this has been a controversial question.  Some suggest that Maria had a baby in secret and the child was adopted.

In 1959 Giovanni Battista Meneghini did file for a legal separation from Maria Callas.  The Italian law was in his favor and if she remarried without an Italian divorce, she might be considered a bigamist. Italy had been of great importance to her opera career. She worried that if she had a child, her husband would take it from her. Onassis wanted her to have an abortion and it was rumored his wife, Tina, had abortions as well. Maria had wanted a child for years and so it must have been crushing when, around her fourth month, she either had an abortion or a miscarriage.

In Monaco Arstoi and Maria and been photographed dancing together. She announced that they would marry, which he dismissed as a joke. By 1961, Onassis had gone on cruises on the Christina without Maria but also with her. There were opinions that she was loosing her voice, but could any opera singer go on for decades? Onassis became verbally abusive of Maria, and it was her weight and her looks, the things she had so little confidence because of, that he picked on.

It occurs to me that Onassis was one to enjoy the pursuit of a woman and that Maria seems to have been far more serious about him than he was to her. Did he ever actually love her?

I will continue on in the next posts about Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis...

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MARIA CALLAS : MARRIED TO GIOVANNIE BATTISTA MENEGHINI : FROM SUCCESS IN ITALY TO ARGENTINA : SHE WANTED A BABY MORE THAN HER CAREER

Maria Callas and  Italian, Giovannie Battista Meneghini: The couple were married from 1949 to 1959. They met when she began to succeed in Italy as an opera singer. Giovanni was an older man and quite rich - an industrialist. He took control of her career, gave her love and career support - at least at the beginning, and sent her off to South America, but denied her a child she wanted. In fact, their marriage might not have been sexual. During their marriage, Maria went by the name Maria Megneghini Callas.  

Married in a traditional way, to Giovannie Battista Meneghini, Maria considered herself her husband's property. He remained in Italy when she began her work in the opera in Argentina in 1951. In Italy, early in her marriage, Maria intended to be something of a homemaker, collecting recipes and setting the table. She wanted a baby but Giovanni said to become pregnant would mean loosing a year of her career. She wanted a baby anyway and was reluctant to continue to sing. Still, the opera singer fulfilled her contracts. 

Hard on herself, Maria didn't like her own voice and dowdy looks. She didn't shave her legs. She walked without gracefulness. Her weight continued to be an issue. 

On top of all that self-loathing were the selfish manipulations of her mother and sister. Her mother was typically unsympathetic, accusing her of not caring about her own family. They said she owed the public. Maria's mother continued to emotionally abuse her, claiming that Maria owed it to her to give her "joy." Her father worked various jobs and was accused of being a lay-about by her mother but Maria ignored his faults while her mother hammered the point that he was a good-for-nothing. Then there was her mother's illness and lack of any health insurance. While her parents remained married in name only, Maria dreaded the idea of actually having to live with either of them again. It's clear that they wanted her to not only have a career, but earn the money to support them, and didn't care about what would give her personal joy. Mother wanted a monthly allowance but Maria gave gifts and repaid loans. Mother wanted Maria to buy them a house and upgrade their lifestyle. Her sister's demands added to the pressure. Marie was emotionally blackmailed by her family. She thought her mother was still able to earn herself a living, if only she chose to.

In 1950, Mexico City, Maria suffered heart palpitations, breathing issues, sleeplessness, and other ailments. Was it all psychological?  

Maria Callas would give another decade to the marriage and her career but the tangle of divorce may have been initiated because she met the man she considered, in today's way of thinking, as her soul mate, the one she was meant for : Aristotle Onassis, the Greek born, Argentina based multimillionaire who had worked his way up into shipping. A megalomaniac with disturbing ideas about women and how women should be treated, "Aristo" would increasingly become Maria's reason for living as he career declined.

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MARIA CALLAS : HER TEACHER-MENTOR NEGOTIATES FOR HER BUT INSISTS SHE IS TOO FAT : THE YOUNG MARIA LIVES THROUGH WARTORN GREECE

Chapter 3 of Lyndsy Spence's book, Cast a Diva, delves on the very beginnings of Maria Callas' professional career and with the demands of her teacher-mentor at the Athens Conservatory, where she was as a scholarship student of sorts. Because she still needed income, Maria later stated - though the teacher-mentor later denied this - that lodging with the woman meant paying for the roof over her head with housekeeping and dog walking duties. While the Diva-in-training dreamed of someday singing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where she had been born, her teacher threatened to dump her as a student if she did not improve her appearance. Loose weight, dress better, fix your hair; these were the expectations.  After all, she was being groomed to be a star.

This same teacher-mentor advocated for her to have income from the Greek National Opera, where she was signed for two years. Maria was to have a job - a steady income - and have her voice protected as she studied by not appearing in their productions. It was a way to get her in and expose the student to the behind-the-scene ways of the opera. Her contract was negotiated as she continued to study at the Athens Conservatory and live with her teacher-mentor. The teenager's career was being carefully managed or she was being controlled.

Her first advocate, her mother, Litsa, complained that Maria only spent her income on music, pastries, and ice cream and was out of control of her eating, just as her teacher-mentor arranged for her to have hairdressing, manicures, and dress making. 

Then war interfered in everyone's lives. In late October 1940, when Maria was about seventeen, the Italians invaded Greece and the Greco-Italian War began. Maria and her family thought to flee to Cairo, Egypt, but Maria was an American citizen and not allowed to leave Athens, which was relatively safe. She was called "That American Bitch" as she began to realize her own talent and fight for herself. She did get parts in the opera in Athens, despite her teacher-mentor's pleas that she be "protected." Then World War II began when in 1941 Germany invaded. When there was a bombing and air-raid sirens went off, the sensitive Maria would vomit. They stayed in Athens.

Still under the age of eighteen, having conspired with her mother to lie about her age, Maria did not report to the Conservatory when she was sexually assaulted and almost raped by a fellow student (never identified).  At home her mother was not sympathetic, only mentioning that if he had raped her then she would have had to marry him and end her career.

Such attitudes are crazy-making to us in Western culture in 2024, but are not unfamiliar to all of us who have experienced some form of sexual harassment during our careers. 

Her world was small. At the conservatory other students called Maria fat and ugly and boys teased her as unattractive. Her mother continued to sew Maria clothing. Maria might have been eating out of garbage cans. In the 1941-1942 era there were food shortages, rationing, hunger. The family ate bread. This too could put weight on and gave Maria the appearance she was not famished. Olive oil and potatoes were procured on the black market by the man who was Keeping her sister and the family. There was always rumor about who was a collaborator because someone had food. People began to die of starvation and eat horses and donkeys.

The Nazi's took control of the National Opera and then Maria lost her contract and income. She had borrowed money from them and then later that year she was reinstated and given the opportunity to be an understudy. Those who had been so mean to her were kept out of the loop.

It was snowing and cold and there was no heating fuel.  The Red Cross reported it. Jews were deported from Thessalonika. 

Yet, opera went on, three hundred miles from Athens, in Thessalonika, where there was begging and prostitution. Maria's virtue was suspect.  So was her sister's and mother's.  Were they involved with Italian officers? Maybe Maria fell in love with an officer? Or perhaps Maria simply was gifted and had not succeeded against all odds without being touched? It's believed that she came home with money for singing for the Italians, though her own mother assumed it was from prostitution.

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MARIA CALLAS : WE REVISIT THE GREATEST OPERA SINGER - DIVA and MISTRESS OF SHIPPING MAGNATE ARI ONASSIS

Mistress Manifesto, as a Google Blog, began in 2009 and, before I got up to speed, I chose Maria Callas as my Mistress of the Month. These days I feel that this dynamic woman deserves more and better coverage, especially as actress Angelina Jolie chose to portray her in film. So I will repost a couple items from the past and continue on with the book Cast a Diva by Lyndsy Spence, which will be the primary references for this month's posts.

Maria Callas was a famous and esteemed opera singer, some say the greatest, called The Queen of the Opera during her career, who had a soprano voice and three octave range; She is also known for her dramatic vocal interpretations. She was  born in the United States as an American to Greek immigrant parents but thought of as Greek because of her heritage and because the she went back to Greece with her mother and sister as a pubescent teen and there began her voice training. (Eventually she would give up her American citizenship and become a Greek citizen again while desperate for a divorce.) As a teen, she had entered talent contests and appeared on amateur hours, was made to lie about her age, and borrowed records from the library to imitate other opera singers.

Beyond a stellar career, Maria Callas is known as the Mistress of the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, a reportedly fiery relationship. Did she want to marry Ari? I've always heard that to be true and it's something we will certainly explore. Onassis was married, divorced, and went on to marry the ultimate prize perhaps, the widow Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, wife of the assassinated United States President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, though they divorced famously as well. Maria had also been married, to an older man who took advantage of her and had been divorced. Maria was Onassis' mistress before and, other books have stated, during his marriage with Jackie. 

Cast a Diva - The Hidden Life of Maria Callas by Lyndsy Spence, is not the first book I found interesting by author Spence. She also wrote a book about Doris Delevingne called The Mistress of Mayfair, which I reference here when I elected Doris to be Mistress of the Month in August of 2018. This month however, I will be posting based on chapters as I'm listening to the audiobook while also taking notes. Cast a Diva is reviewed on various book sites on the Internet as presenting Callas as a feminist icon; wonder if I will agree with that notion? That said, Maria Callas has also been associated with tragedy - personally and publicly.

Image from Wikimedia

I think Maria Callas was distinctively beautiful.

MARIA CALLAS

Maria Cecelia Sophia Anna Kalogeropoulos

1923 (New York) - 1977 (Paris)

The early years of the life of Maria Callas were not easy or simple and had a profound effect on her psychology. Her parents were Greek immigrants to New York City in 1923. Maria's pharmacist father had career difficulties as an immigrant and her parents did not get along. It's suggested that her father was a womanizer or that her mother, "Litsa" thought herself and her family to be above his in status. Maria's mother decided that her two daughters were essential to her survival and the three of them went back to Greece in 1937, basically ditching her husband and their father. So Maria had little to no parenting by her father from that point. Her husband, Giovanni Battista Memeghini was an older man, and so was Aristotle Onassis. I can't help but wonder if she was vulnerable to older men because her father was so distant.

Maria's mother was emotionally abusive to her and there were serious questions about her mental health with suggestions that she was unstable, a narcissist, had borderline personality disorder or even schizophrenia. A brother had died and her mother wanted another son so Maria was an unwanted daughter. Maria had an older sister, Yakinthi, and their mother forced the girl into a relationship with a man, to become a Mistress to someone who would not only Keep her but financially help the whole family. This man supported all three of them for some time. This sacrifice on her sister's part also lead to a tangled and difficult relationship between Maria and her sister. With career success, Maria Callas found herself supporting her mother, and contributing to the support of her father and sister as well. They cared little for her personal happiness.

It could be said also that Maria's mother believed in her and promoted her as a child and had the ambition that Maria would someday support them all and free her sister from a dutiful pairing. Mother recognized that her daughter, Maria, had exceptional singing talent. Her mother begged for singing lessons for Maria, demanded she give her all to practice, and she allowed Maria to go without any education past about the eighth grade. No doubt in my mind is that this lack of education and constant focus on vocal training instead of academics was part of the deep insecurity Maria felt. In 1939 Maria Callas began to study at the Athens Conservatory and the perfectionist Maria had a fabulous career for some time.

Perhaps though, it was Maria's weight, along with the fraught relationships she had with her mother and sister, that caused the Opera Diva even more emotional issues as a young woman. The Diva was self-conscious of her myopia and acne, and it's said that she only felt loved while singing. Yet, Maria tapped into her wild range of emotions and feelings as an opera singer, and was unafraid of having an "ugly" voice if it was appropriate for the mood of a song. It was her ability to interpret the drama of a scene that, along with her exceptional voice, brought the audiences to tears and ovations. She said she wanted her voice to reflect "the atmosphere and thousands of colors."

Maria Callas married a rich industrialist, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, and was married for a decade from 1949-1959 to this husband who acted as her agent and manager. The Italian divorce laws at the time would make it near impossible for her to escape this marriage and this man's machinations. Like her family, in particular her mother, he proved to be only interested in her career and the fame and money that could buy them a good life.

There was Maria and then there was Callas, a private woman and a celebrity. She disagreed with feminism and the end of gender roles. "I failed to fulfill myself as a woman" she said, referring to her desire to have a child never fulfilled. 

During this month, I will not focus on the details of Maria Callas' opera career, though I realize that many a opera fan or Maria Callas fan is interested in those details. I assure you that the book does follow her career closely. For our purposes here, we want to focus on her relationships with men, and how it is that she chose to remain faithful to the unfaithful Aristotle Onassis. How is it that she was considered his mistress?  Was it simply because he would not marry her?  Because she clearly could support herself well but he was richer? Was it his attitudes towards women in general, which most modern women would find to be revolting? Her relationship with Aristotle Onassis, whom she called "Aristo" was an extreme example of emotional and psychological abuse and domestic violence. Years went on in which an Italian divorce was not granted. Both Aristo and Maria at times lied to the press that they would marry and then claimed they were joking.

Maria Callas died at the age of fifty-three after a life typified by the highest highs and lowest lows. It's quite possible that using a certain drug illegally - though is some parts of the world it was legal - meant a slow suicide. She had withdrawn into her apartment, was estranged from her family and husband, and after her death her mother, sister, and husband would split her clothing and furniture among themselves.

Stick with me as we learn together about the life of this stellar personality and talent, through the vision of author Lyndsy Spence!

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DORIS DELEVINGNE, VISCOUNTESS CASTLEROSSE HAS RANDOLPH CHURCHILL and WINSTON TOO?

From the article by Lyndsy Spence

...  Randolph, too fell under her spell and they began an affair. ‘I hear you’re living with my wife,’ Castlerosse bellowed down the telephone not long after they were married. ‘Yes, I am,’ answered the younger Churchill, ‘which is more than you have the courtesy to do.’ 

It appears that there is some evidence that Winston was not just having Doris come over to sit while he painted her.

THE GUARDIAN : SECRET AFFAIR - WINSTON CHURCHILL and DORIS DELEVINGNE  Good photos add to this article!  A documentary in 2018 included the information that yes, Churchill had succumbed and had an affair with Doris.

EXCERPT : Churchill spent four holidays with Castlerosse ... in the south of France during the 1930's when he was out of office.  During this time Churchill painted at least two portraits of his lover - he only ever painted one of his wife, Clementine 0 and they continued to meet at her home back in London. ... "My mother had many stories to tell about (the affair) when they stayed in my aunt's house in Berkeley Square," Doris's niece =, Caroline Delvingne, recalls in the Delevingne family's first televised interview about the affair.  "When Winston was coming to visit her, the staff were all given the day off. ... But when war threatened and Churchill's career revived, he ended the relationship.

According to this article, Doris went to America, New York, where she was not able to continue her lifestyle.  She was not that old, in 1942 when the War came, she was desperate to get back to England and is said to have used one of Churchill's paintings to remind him of their affair.  He arranged a rare seat on a plane to get her there.

Love letters that Doris wrote to Winston surfaced in the 1950's and were shown to Clementine.

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DORIS DELEVINGNE BECOMES MRS. BROWNE - VISCOUNTESS CASTLEROSSE

 

Valentine Edward Charles Browne was not the heir apparent of an Irish earldom.  His brother was. But when his brother died, his parents had to consider the son who they thought not well of. They had never liked him or approved of him. They didn't even like the way he looked or that he showed no signs of physical elegance like they did. It must have been tough growing up with such disapproving parents.* When his brother died, the title was his to do with as he pleased and what he pleased. Valentine decided to work for a living as a Journalist.

'In those early days, Castlerosse and Doris were destined not to meet. While he frequented the Saint James nightclub in Mayfair, she slipped through the doors of the Four Hundred and Ambassador nightclubs with Gertie (the actress Gertrude Lawrence) and their louche set.'

Castlerosse had just gone through some romantic disasters and his confidence was low but he was not a target for a seductress like Doris - at first. Perhaps there was a before and after inheritance Valentine?

In 1928 Doris married this unattractive man, though she seemed to be the embodiment of a Gold Digger. She, at about age 28,  became Viscountess Castlerosse. The woman had exceeded the expectations of women born into the middle class as she had been and was now a titled member of the aristocracy. And though, yes, she had slept around, and yes, she had allowed some men to spend a lot of money to make her happy, she was still young, and the marriage might have given the impression that Doris had just been sleeping around in search of a good husband..

Now, I'll carry the story a little further with the help of very interesting website I found called THE MITFORD SOCIETY. I note that Doris' story varies a bit from one book or article to another, but  THE MITFORD SOCIETY : DORIS DELEVINGNE THE CONSTANT COURTESAN  is a blog that is created by Lyndsy Spence, the author of the book The Mistress of Mayfair! In this article, there is no mention of Doris having worked or having a business. She is portrayed as without guilt for numerous sexual liaisons but also strategically working her way up. (Never the less, I can say that I adore this blog and see that the author is much interested as I am.)

Valentine Edward Charles Browne, 6th Earl of Kenmare, Viscount Castlerosse from 1905 to 1941 was "Fat, nasty, and broke, though she cared little for is financial status, for she herself had become rich from the money she hoarded off her rich admirers, she set her sights on his title and his castle in County Kerry.... Quite tellingly, they married in secret, for Castlerosse was too afraid to tell his parents that his wife was a haberdasher's daughter from Beckenham. Still, marriage meant nothing to Doris and she peddled on with her seduction of rich men - her husband, after all, needed the money."  *** 

* My opinion

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HOW DORIS DELEVINGNE GOT CALLED "THE GIRL WITH THE GLOVES" and OWNED SEVERAL HUNDRED PAIRS OF SHOES

 

As Doris Delevingne climbed socially to mingle with high society of the 1920's, she went about London town with her best friend and co-conspirator, an actress named Gertrude Lawrence and established a second hand evening gown business that catered to the needs of actresses and showgirls. There's a rumor that for a short time she tried out being a chorus girl herself, however it is thought that she was working more as a Hostess. There were underground clubs in London in those days and one of them was in Grafton Galleries, an art gallery by day and nightclub after dark. While partying there, Doris was always seen wearing opera gloves. These are the classic gloves that come up past one's elbow and are usually worn with sleeveless dresses. She wore white opera gloves. Or she wore black ones. (Many other colors were available.) And so when people saw her across the room they would identify her as "the girl who wore gloves." Gloves were required of the women who danced there, not on stage, but on the floor with patrons of the club.

Gertie's friends were considered to be "Cafe Society, ' a rarified social group composed of international socialites and aristocrats who were known to one another personally, or by reputation. She also wanted to rise in society.

Want to know more about the history of gloves? This VINTAGEDANCER.COM GLOVES site has an impressive story and pictures.

According to the book The Mistress of Mayfair, Mayfair being a part of London known to be posh, by Lyndsy Spence, Doris' first serious affair was with Stephen "Laddie" Sanford, a polo player worth 40 million pounds.  She went shopping with his largesse and bought 200 pairs of custom Italian shoes, wearing each pair no more than four times.  She bought silk stockings by the dozen and wore them only once. What did she do with all those "worn" shoes and stockings? She gave them to chorus girls who could not afford them.

Laddie was educated at Cambridge and was an American who had become famous for winning the 1923 Grand National, which is a National Hunt horse race held in Liverpool where horses leap over 30 fences.  he set up a house in London and Doris moved in, only to find that Edwina, Lady Mountbatten was competing to get Laddie. When Edwina won that bout, Doris moved on to Sir Edward MacKay Edgar, closer to 50 than her 20-something, he was also rich enough to buy anything he wanted, including his title.

It was after these temporary Mistress gigs that Doris met the man she would marry,

As for her jewelry collection that would eventually come from exclusive jewelers such as Cartier and Schiaparelli. Those she didn't give away like shoes and stockings.

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DORIS DELEVINGNE : THE GIRL WITH THE BEAUTIFUL LEGS : VISCOUNTESS CASTLEROSSE : AN EARLY 20TH CENTURY FOX

In August 2018 I profiled Doris Delevingne as one of the Mistresses of the Riviera and which used Mary Lovell's book as a primary reference. I'll be focusing on this unconventional woman more this month!  The surname Delevingne has origins in French Belgium but she was raised British.

DORIS DELEVINGNE

Jesse Doris Delevingne

Photo appeared in Turkish Media SonSoz

"The Girl With The Gloves"

1900 - 1942

Married Valentine Edward Charles Browne, Viscount Castlerosse in 1928

and became

Viscountess Castlerosse

Doris Delevingne was a woman born into a modest family without great riches but with aristocratic yearnings. Even elite women of her generation rarely were educated and were moved towards marriage rather than careers. She was not close to her parents and didn't come from a big warm family. Perhaps she realized that if she wanted to have an interesting life she would have to make it happen on her own. Unlike her mother, she was able to complete what would be considered to be grade school in the United States. However, as a young woman she defied expectations. She set up her own business in what was called "the rags trade," second hand, used clothing, a trade dominated by Jews. 

An actress named Gertrude Lawrence, reportedly rather crude, was her first inspiration. Together the friends worked on themselves, such as attempting to have a more pleasing voices, though they both used foul language, and dressing in the latest fashions. Associating with actresses and chorus girls, Doris's business focused on reselling evening dresses but she was ambitious for herself - especially for good jewels. Doris was forthright with her opinions and the men she was attracted to were attracted to her; rebels, playboys, the unconventional people. She was discreet about naming her lovers and became predatory towards men. Did she use contraception? Yes. (There was also an element of society that used doctor-provided abortion, not saying she did.) However, some of her liaisons became known - and one of them was the married Winston Churchill.

One of her first conquests was the then Prince of Wales, who threw parties at Saint James palace. She mingled with the aspect of British aristocracy called "the adulterous set." (Think swingers.) But she did not evade marriage entirely. Instead she married badly.  Her husband was no inspiration for faithfulness.

In my previous single post that focused on Doris as one of the Riviera set, this is what I said:

MISTRESS DORIS DELEVINGNE: THE MODEL WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR

In the summer of 1932, Maxine opened her villa for limited occupation. Located at the Golfe Juan between Antibes and Cannes, it would be open for the May to October season and rarely had more than 10 guests at a time but guests also brought their own staffs to stay.

Her best friend became Doris Delevingne, aka Doris Lady Castlerosse, who at 19 became a model, known for her gold hair. There was a saying about the sexual Doris that went, "An English Woman's castle is her bed."  Doris fell for an American Polo Player who had no title but was rich, Stephen "Laddie" Sanford.

As his mistress, Doris was set up in her own smart little Park Lane apartment where she was looked after, though Laddie started another affair years later with her neighbor there.  But when they split she got a good settlement!

Doris moved on and became the mistress of a Canadian financier who bought her a house in Mayfair, London. She had servants at the house and a chauffeur to drive her Rolls.

At 25, she was using the money she received as gifts from her lovers to make investments and also had a clothing business.  Doris also opened a hair salon in the Chaps Elysee, Paris.

Doris liked to go shopping in Italy and would return with hundreds of leather shoes because she wore her stockings once and a pair of shoes only 2 or 3 times. She'd give her once worn stockings away to the less affluent daughters of the aristocracy who couldn't afford them.  The flapper style suited her and so did wearing the flapper style without underwear.

Doris was well liked.  She was warm hearted, clever and witty and made a party ignite.  She never made quips at someone else's expense. She seemed to have unlimited energy as she went to Court Balls and Country House weekends..

She made the sign of the cross, saying "Tiara, Brooch, Clip, Clip!"

Then in 1926, Doris met Valentine Castlerosee, the Earl of Kenmare heir.  He may have been near 300 pounds and have a boisterous personality but he thought Doris was sexy and elegant. They went out in London, Cannes, Deaville, Monte Carlo, and then they married.  She got the title Viscountess Castlerosse.

The marriage was a disaster. He gambled and his debts grew.  He had a temper. They both spent excessively on clothes. He was unfaithful but also jealous when she was. He wanted to proceed with a divorce due to her adultery but his mother told him not to: she wanted to save the family reputation.

Cara Delevingne, the model, is her great niece. 

    

The primary reference for the above re- post is the book "The Riviera Set" by Mary Lovell

One of the references for this month's posts.

The Mistress of Mayfair

Men Money and Marriage of Doris Delevingne by Lyndsy Spence

Doris's life came to an end in 1942, not long after she returned to England after appealing to Winston Churchill to help her get a seat on a plane so she could leave America, where she was not a success.  She commit suicide by poison in a hotel room.

Let's together learn more about this notorious seductress!

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