American Beauty, Noted Philanthropist, Nazi Collaborator ? The Life of Florence Gould
St. Martin's Press
February 2018
On Sale: February 20, 2018
Featuring: Frances Gould
400 pages ISBN: 1250092213 EAN: 9781250092212 Kindle: B074DYJKLV Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
A revealing biography of Florence Gould, fabulously
wealthy socialite and patron of the arts, who hid a dark
past as a Nazi collaborator in 1940’s Paris.
Born in turn-of-the-century San Francisco to French
parents, Florence moved to Paris, aged eleven. Believing
that only money brought respectability and happiness, she
became the third wife of Frank Jay Gould, son of the railway
millionaire Jay Gould. She guided Frank’s millions into
hotels and casinos, creating a luxury hotel and casino
empire. She entertained Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo
Picasso, Joseph Kennedy, and many Hollywood stars, like
Charlie Chaplin, who became her lover. While the party ended
for most Americans after the Crash of 1929, Frank and
Florence refused to go home. During the Occupation, Florence
took several German lovers and hosted a controversial salon.
As the Allies closed in, the unscrupulous Florence became
embroiled in a notorious money laundering operation for
fleeing high-ranking Nazis.
Yet after the war, not
only did she avoid prosecution, but her vast fortune bought
her respectability as a significant contributor to the
Metropolitan Museum, New York University, and Cornell
Medical School, among many others. It also earned her
friends like Estée Lauder who obligingly looked the other
way. A seductive and utterly amoral woman who loved to say
“money doesn’t care who owns it”, Florence’s life proved a
strong argument that perhaps money can buy happiness after all.
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