Dorothy Hale
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Hale was an American
socialite
and aspiring actress who committed suicide
by jumping off a building in New York City
. Hale was considered a remarkably beautiful woman with less remarkable talents who was introduced to high-society and luxury living. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful relationships, left her financially dependent on her wealthy friends. Artist Frida Kahlo
created a famous painting based on the incident titled The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.
. In 1919, after attending a convent
and a drama school, Hale left home to pursue a career. Her family hired detectives to find her, but she eventually returned when her funds ran out. With the assistance of friends, she eventually landed a job in the chorus of a Broadway
production of Lady, Be Good. While she was studying sculpture in Paris
, she married millionaire stockbroker Gaillard Thomas, son of the wealthy gynecologist T. Gaillard Thomas
; the brief marriage ended in divorce
.
She married Gardner Hale (1894–1931), in 1927. Gardner Hale was a fresco
, mural and society portrait artist, and the married Dorothy Hale continued moving in creative and expensive social circles. During this west coast period she socialized with artists Miquel and Rosa Corvarrubias
, Frida Kahlo
and photographer Nickolas Muray
.
. In the summer of 1935, Hale and her friend Rosamond Pinchot
, another New York socialite and aspiring actress, opened in Abide with Me
, a psychological drama written by their friend Clare Boothe Luce
. Though the three friends enjoyed the experience tremendously, the play was panned and it died quietly. Pinchot would go on to take her life by carbon monoxide poisoning
in January 1938.
cliff in December 1931, she was left in severe financial difficulties. No longer able to maintain her high-society lifestyle, Hale began to accept the largess of rich lovers and generous friends, such as Luce, to whom she was close. "We all believed that a girl of such extraordinary beauty could not be long in either developing a career or finding another husband. Dorothy had very little talent and no luck."
Hale repeatedly yet unsuccessfully tried to find work as an actress. In 1932, an acquaintance with Samuel Goldwyn
led to an uncredited role in Cynara
, as well as a minor role in Catherine the Great
(1934
). Her screen tests were dubbed a failure.
, a well-known New York cover artist; the still-married Russell Davenport
, a writer for Time
magazine; and Isamu Noguchi
, an up-and-coming sculptor, artist and designer.
Early in 1933, Noguchi and Hale took a Caribbean
cruise where he was introduced to many of her wealthy and influential friends from New York; many of them commissioned portraits, including Luce for a sculpture bust. Noguchi traveled to London
and Paris
with Hale, hoping to find more patrons. Noguchi had begun a portrait sculpture of Hale, but it was never finished and its present location is unknown.
In 1934, Hale and Luce accompanied Noguchi on a road trip through Connecticut in a car Noguchi had designed with Buckminster Fuller
, the Dymaxion
car. The threesome stopped to see Thornton Wilder
in Hamden
, Connecticut
, before going on to Hartford to join Fuller for the out-of-town opening of Gertrude Stein
and Virgil Thomson
's Four Saints in Three Acts
.
By 1937, Hale was involved in a serious romance with Harry Hopkins
, WPA
administrator and Franklin D. Roosevelt
’s top adviser. Anticipating a "White House wedding" Hale moved into Hampshire House, a 27-story apartment building at 150 Central Park South
, and began putting together a trousseau
, but Hopkins abruptly broke off the affair. Luce said in later years that the White House was not happy about the Hopkins/Hale engagement rumors, and that may have been the cause of the break. The gossip columnist
s who had been reporting the engagement rumors played up the cruel jilting, causing Hale great embarrassment. Hopkins would eventually marry Lou Macy, a close Roosevelt associate.
In 1938, another benefactor and abandoned suitor, Bernard Baruch
, advised Hale that, at 33, she was too old for a professional career and that she should look for a wealthy husband. Baruch even gave her $1,000 with the instructions, "... to buy a dress glamorous enough to capture a husband."
Hale became despondent over her stalled career, constant debt
, and unhappy love life.
; Prince del Drago of Italy
; painter Dorothy Swinburne, who was married to Admiral Luke McNamee
(President of the McKay Radio and Telegraph company); and Margaret Case (later Harriman, daughter of Frank Case
), an editor at Vogue
who would go on to write The Vicious Circle. After the party Hale went on to the theater with Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Morgan
to see the Stokes' play, Oscar Wilde
.
After attending the theater, Hale returned to her home — a one-room apartment with a kitchenette
on the 16th floor of Hampshire House — at about 1:15 am, leaving a large number of friends partying at the 21 Club
. She apparently spent the next four hours at the typewriter composing farewell notes to friends: one to Baruch expressing regret at not taking his advice; and one to her attorney, instructing how her estate and burial were to be handled.
At 5:15 am on October 21, 1938, Hale threw herself out of the window of her apartment. She was found still wearing her favorite Madame X femme-fatale black velvet dress with a corsage of small yellow roses, given to her by Noguchi.
Though the New York Times covered her death, accordingly, Hopkins believed that Baruch had used his influence to mute the reporting of Hale's suicide and diffuse his involvement in the affair.
In his interview for the Herrera book on Frida Kahlo, Noguchi would say of Hale:
, almost immediately commissioned Kahlo to paint a "recuerdo" portrait of their deceased mutual friend, so that in Kahlo's words: "her life must not be forgotten". Luce understood a recuerdo to be an idealized memorial portrait and was doubtless expecting a conventional over-the-fireplace portrait for her $400. After being shown in March in Paris, the completed painting arrived in August 1939: Luce claims she was so shocked by the unwrapped painting that she "almost passed out." What Kahlo created was a graphic, narrative "retablo
", detailing every step of Hale's suicide. It depicts Hale standing on the balcony, falling to her death while also lying on the bloody pavement below. Luce was so offended that she seriously considered destroying it; but instead she had sculptor Noguchi paint out the part of the legend that bore Luce's name. Luce simply left the work crated up in the care of Frank Crowninshield
, only to be presented with it again decades later, when Crowninshield's heirs discovered it in storage. She donated it anonymously to the Phoenix Art Museum
, where it was eventually outed as a Luce donation. The museum retains ownership, although the painting is frequently on tour in exhibitions of Kahlo's works.
In 2010, the painting was included in a "sweeping view" of Noguchi’s career in the “On Becoming an Artist: Isamu Noguchi and His Contemporaries, 1922-1960” show at the Noguchi Museum
in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
at the St. Luke's Theater on September 30, 2007. The play is a veiled analogy
to the life and death of Marilyn Monroe
, and questions whether Hale's death was suicide or a disguised murder
involving some of the power-brokers of the time.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
and aspiring actress who committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by jumping off a building in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Hale was considered a remarkably beautiful woman with less remarkable talents who was introduced to high-society and luxury living. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful relationships, left her financially dependent on her wealthy friends. Artist Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
created a famous painting based on the incident titled The Suicide of Dorothy Hale.
Early life
Hale was born Dorothy Donovan in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. In 1919, after attending a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
and a drama school, Hale left home to pursue a career. Her family hired detectives to find her, but she eventually returned when her funds ran out. With the assistance of friends, she eventually landed a job in the chorus of a Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of Lady, Be Good. While she was studying sculpture in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, she married millionaire stockbroker Gaillard Thomas, son of the wealthy gynecologist T. Gaillard Thomas
Theodore Gaillard Thomas
Theodore Gaillard Thomas was an American gynæcologist, born in Edisto Island, S. C., and educated in Charleston. He studied in Europe, principally in Paris and Dublin, in 1853-55, and began the practice of his profession in New York...
; the brief marriage ended in divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
.
She married Gardner Hale (1894–1931), in 1927. Gardner Hale was a fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
, mural and society portrait artist, and the married Dorothy Hale continued moving in creative and expensive social circles. During this west coast period she socialized with artists Miquel and Rosa Corvarrubias
Miguel Covarrubias
José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud was a Mexican painter and caricaturist, ethnologist and art historian among other interests. In 1924 at the age of 19 he moved to New York City armed with a grant from the Mexican government, tremendous talent, but very little English speaking skill. Luckily,...
, Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
and photographer Nickolas Muray
Nickolas Muray
Nickolas Muray was a Hungarian-born American photographer and Olympic fencer.-Biography:...
.
Career
Hale's stage work was limited to several seasons in stock companies and some work as a dancer and Ziegfeld girlZiegfeld girl
Ziegfeld Girls were the chorus girls from Florenz Ziegfeld's theatrical spectaculars known as the Ziegfeld Follies , which were based on the Folies Bergère of Paris....
. In the summer of 1935, Hale and her friend Rosamond Pinchot
Rosamond Pinchot
Rosamond Pinchot was an American socialite, stage and film actress.-Early life and career:Pinchot was born in New York City, the daughter of Amos Pinchot, a wealthy lawyer and a key figure in the Progressive Party and the niece of Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot...
, another New York socialite and aspiring actress, opened in Abide with Me
Abide With Me (play)
Abide with Me is a 1935 play by American playwright Clare Boothe Luce....
, a psychological drama written by their friend Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and U.S. Congresswoman, representing the state of Connecticut.-Early life:...
. Though the three friends enjoyed the experience tremendously, the play was panned and it died quietly. Pinchot would go on to take her life by carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...
in January 1938.
Personal life
When her husband's car went over a Santa MariaSanta Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...
cliff in December 1931, she was left in severe financial difficulties. No longer able to maintain her high-society lifestyle, Hale began to accept the largess of rich lovers and generous friends, such as Luce, to whom she was close. "We all believed that a girl of such extraordinary beauty could not be long in either developing a career or finding another husband. Dorothy had very little talent and no luck."
Hale repeatedly yet unsuccessfully tried to find work as an actress. In 1932, an acquaintance with Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
led to an uncredited role in Cynara
Cynara (film)
Cynara is a 1932 romantic drama film about a British lawyer who pays a heavy price for an affair. It stars Ronald Colman, Kay Francis, and Phyllis Barry and is based on the novel An Imperfect Lover by Robert Gore-Browne.-Cast :...
, as well as a minor role in Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great (1934 film)
Catherine the Great is a 1934 British historical film based on the play The Czarina by Lajos Biró and Melchior Lengyel, about the rise to power of Catherine the Great. It was directed by Paul Czinner, and stars Elisabeth Bergner as Catherine, Douglas Fairbanks Jr...
(1934
1934 in film
-Events:*January 26 - Samuel Goldwyn purchases the film rights to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the L. Frank Baum estate for $40,000.*February 19 - Bob Hope marries Dolores Reade...
). Her screen tests were dubbed a failure.
Affairs
Numbering among Hale's ill-fated lovers were Constantin AlajalovConstantin Alajalov
Constantin Alajalov was an American painter, and illustrator.-Life:He immigrated to New York City in 1923.He became a citizen in 1928....
, a well-known New York cover artist; the still-married Russell Davenport
Russell Davenport
Russell Wheeler Davenport was an American publisher and writer.Davenport was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the son of Russell W. Davenport, Sr., a vice president of Bethlehem Steel, and Cornelia Whipple Farnum....
, a writer for Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine; and Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, an up-and-coming sculptor, artist and designer.
Early in 1933, Noguchi and Hale took a Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
cruise where he was introduced to many of her wealthy and influential friends from New York; many of them commissioned portraits, including Luce for a sculpture bust. Noguchi traveled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
with Hale, hoping to find more patrons. Noguchi had begun a portrait sculpture of Hale, but it was never finished and its present location is unknown.
In 1934, Hale and Luce accompanied Noguchi on a road trip through Connecticut in a car Noguchi had designed with Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
, the Dymaxion
Dymaxion
The word Dymaxion is a brand name that Buckminster Fuller used for several of his inventions. It is a portmanteau of the words dynamic, maximum, and ion....
car. The threesome stopped to see Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
in Hamden
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, before going on to Hartford to join Fuller for the out-of-town opening of Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
and Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson
Virgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
's Four Saints in Three Acts
Four Saints in Three Acts
Four Saints in Three Acts is an opera by American composer Virgil Thomson with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. Written in 1927-8, it contains about 20 saints, and is in at least four acts...
.
By 1937, Hale was involved in a serious romance with Harry Hopkins
Harry Hopkins
Harry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
, WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
administrator and Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
’s top adviser. Anticipating a "White House wedding" Hale moved into Hampshire House, a 27-story apartment building at 150 Central Park South
Central Park South
Central Park South is the portion of 59th Street that forms the southern border of Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It runs from Columbus Circle at Eighth Avenue on the west to Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue on the east...
, and began putting together a trousseau
Trousseau
Trousseau may refer to:*A dowry*The outfit of a bride, including the wedding dress or similar clothing*A name for the Bastardo grape in some regions*A white mutation of the Trousseau grape, known as Trousseau Gris...
, but Hopkins abruptly broke off the affair. Luce said in later years that the White House was not happy about the Hopkins/Hale engagement rumors, and that may have been the cause of the break. The gossip columnist
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
s who had been reporting the engagement rumors played up the cruel jilting, causing Hale great embarrassment. Hopkins would eventually marry Lou Macy, a close Roosevelt associate.
In 1938, another benefactor and abandoned suitor, Bernard Baruch
Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier, stock-market speculator, statesman, and political consultant. After his success in business, he devoted his time toward advising U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt on economic matters and became a philanthropist.-Early life...
, advised Hale that, at 33, she was too old for a professional career and that she should look for a wealthy husband. Baruch even gave her $1,000 with the instructions, "... to buy a dress glamorous enough to capture a husband."
Hale became despondent over her stalled career, constant debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
, and unhappy love life.
Farewell party
The evening of her death, Hale informally entertained some friends; she had told them that she was planning a long trip and invited them to a farewell party. Among the guests at this informal "last party" were Mrs. Brock PembertonBrock Pemberton
Brock Pemberton was an American theatrical producer, director and founder of the Tony Awards.Pemberton was born in Leavenworth, Kansas and attended the University of Kansas. Before becoming a producer he was a press agent in New York...
; Prince del Drago of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
; painter Dorothy Swinburne, who was married to Admiral Luke McNamee
Luke McNamee
Luke McNamee was a United States Navy Admiral, businessman, and the 10th and 12th Naval Governor of Guam. He served in the Navy for 42 years, during which time he held multiple commands. During the Spanish–American War, he earned the Navy Cross, and later the Legion of Honour...
(President of the McKay Radio and Telegraph company); and Margaret Case (later Harriman, daughter of Frank Case
Frank Case
Frank Case was an American hotelier and author. He owned and managed the Algonquin Hotel during the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table and wrote a number of books about his experiences with the hotel and the Round Tablers....
), an editor at Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
who would go on to write The Vicious Circle. After the party Hale went on to the theater with Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan, Jr.
John Pierpont "Jack" Morgan, Jr. was an American banker and philanthropist.-Biography:He was born on September 7, 1867 in Irvington, New York to John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. and Frances Louisa Tracy. He graduated from Harvard in 1886, where he was a member of the Delphic Club, formerly known as the...
to see the Stokes' play, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (play)
The play Oscar Wilde, written by Leslie & Sewell Stokes, is based on the life of the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde in which Wilde's friend, the controversial author and journalist Frank Harris, appears as a character...
.
After attending the theater, Hale returned to her home — a one-room apartment with a kitchenette
Kitchenette
A kitchenette is a small cooking area.In motel and hotel rooms, small apartments, college dormitories, or office buildings a kitchenette usually consists of a small refrigerator, a microwave oven or hotplate, and, less frequently, a sink...
on the 16th floor of Hampshire House — at about 1:15 am, leaving a large number of friends partying at the 21 Club
21 Club
The 21 Club, often simply 21, is a restaurant and former prohibition-era speakeasy, located at 21 West 52nd Street in New York City.-Environment:...
. She apparently spent the next four hours at the typewriter composing farewell notes to friends: one to Baruch expressing regret at not taking his advice; and one to her attorney, instructing how her estate and burial were to be handled.
At 5:15 am on October 21, 1938, Hale threw herself out of the window of her apartment. She was found still wearing her favorite Madame X femme-fatale black velvet dress with a corsage of small yellow roses, given to her by Noguchi.
Though the New York Times covered her death, accordingly, Hopkins believed that Baruch had used his influence to mute the reporting of Hale's suicide and diffuse his involvement in the affair.
In his interview for the Herrera book on Frida Kahlo, Noguchi would say of Hale:
She was very beautiful girl, all my girls are beautiful. I went to London with her in 1933. Bucky (Buckminster FullerBuckminster FullerRichard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
) and I were there the night before she did it. I remember very well she said, 'Well that's the end of the vodkaVodkaVodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
. There isn't anymore.' Just like that you know. I wouldn't have thought of it much, except afterward I realized that that's what she was talking about. Dorothy was very pretty, and she traveled in this false world. She didn't want to be second to anybody, and she must have thought she was slipping.
Frida Kahlo painting
Hale's friend Clare Booth Luce, an ardent admirer of Mexican artist Frida KahloFrida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
, almost immediately commissioned Kahlo to paint a "recuerdo" portrait of their deceased mutual friend, so that in Kahlo's words: "her life must not be forgotten". Luce understood a recuerdo to be an idealized memorial portrait and was doubtless expecting a conventional over-the-fireplace portrait for her $400. After being shown in March in Paris, the completed painting arrived in August 1939: Luce claims she was so shocked by the unwrapped painting that she "almost passed out." What Kahlo created was a graphic, narrative "retablo
Retablo
A Retablo or lamina is a Latin American devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art....
", detailing every step of Hale's suicide. It depicts Hale standing on the balcony, falling to her death while also lying on the bloody pavement below. Luce was so offended that she seriously considered destroying it; but instead she had sculptor Noguchi paint out the part of the legend that bore Luce's name. Luce simply left the work crated up in the care of Frank Crowninshield
Frank Crowninshield
Francis Welch Crowninshield , better known as Frank or Crownie , was an American journalist and art and theatre critic best known for developing and editing the magazine Vanity Fair for 21 years, making it a pre-eminent literary journal.-Personal life:Crowninshield was born June 24, 1872 in Paris,...
, only to be presented with it again decades later, when Crowninshield's heirs discovered it in storage. She donated it anonymously to the Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix art museum
The Phoenix Art Museum is the Southwest United States' largest art museum for visual art. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western...
, where it was eventually outed as a Luce donation. The museum retains ownership, although the painting is frequently on tour in exhibitions of Kahlo's works.
In 2010, the painting was included in a "sweeping view" of Noguchi’s career in the “On Becoming an Artist: Isamu Noguchi and His Contemporaries, 1922-1960” show at the Noguchi Museum
Noguchi Museum
The Noguchi Museum, chartered as The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, was designed and created by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1985 to preserve and display his sculptures, architectural models, stage designs, drawings, and furniture designs. It is a two story museum...
in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
Stage play
A play based on Hale's suicide, The Rise of Dorothy Hale, was written by Myra Bairstow and premiered Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
at the St. Luke's Theater on September 30, 2007. The play is a veiled analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
to the life and death of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, and questions whether Hale's death was suicide or a disguised murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
involving some of the power-brokers of the time.