Cobina Wright Sr.: I Hate Society Parties But I Throw Great Ones

A photo of Cobina Wright Jr. on the cover of the February 17, 1941, issue of Life Magazine. She's seated and wearing a formal dress with bare shoulders and a large flower on the front. Her hair is curled and she's smiling. A caption reads 'Hollywood Party.' — *Cobina Wright Jr. on the cover of Life Magazine, Feb. 17, 1941*

I have had at my disposal a vast fortune. Society, in the popular sense of the word -- I almost said tabloid -- knew me as one of its two leading hostesses; Social Registerite, and all that. I have been married, and that union was blessed with a darling child, my daughter. Cobina, Junior. Singing on both the operatic and concert stages I have known, with all their sweets and their heartaches; and I have sung to many radio audiences as featured artist.

In talking to the ambitious, talented girls I meet in radio circles, I find that all of them are keen to arrive at one, or perhaps at two, of the pinnacles I have known. All of them place professional achievement first, and most of them wish to have husband and child. Society -- at least one of those other distinctions -- as well. I want only one! And the distinction I wish to lose as rapidly and as completely as possible is all that's included in that term "Society"!

To be or not to be a Society woman -- that is the question that has haunted me persistently for lo this many a year. You would think that the Depression which swept away my fortune would have solved the problem for me automatically. But if that didn't do it, you surely would think that being dropped from the Social Register (I suppose because I work), besides a divorce, would settle the matter finally.

However, many of my society friends have shown that they possess a quality that the world in general gives them little credit for ... the quality of loyalty. They are the real aristocrats who have proven that it is I, Cobina Wright, that they sought -- and not my parties at Sutton Place and Sands Point. This has been an enormous comfort to me, and yet it leaves me with the same old problem on my hands: How to prevent my being "in Society" from overshadowing my career as an artist.

Because it may, I choose to get out of Society. And there you have it!

Although I have been a professional singer since I was 16 years old, I am better known as a hostess, both socially and for charity affairs. However, I must say that I do not feel slighted artistically.

I have known the great satisfaction that every singer feels as the result of favorable comment from the critics. In this country from coast to coast, as well as in Europe, such men as W. J. Henderson, Herman Devries and Walter Damrosch, to name only a few, have said very kind things about me in the press, for both my opera and concert work. And yet my name is better known as the promoter of Society Circus Balls, and for having entertained in my homes such figures as David Lloyd George, Lord Arthur Balfour, Theodore Roosevelt, Lord Robert Cecil, General John J. Pershing, Bernard Baruch, Arturo Toscanini, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Noel Coward, Beatrice Lillie, Fanny Brice and scores of others, whose names are family bywords.

Naturally, I had more fun personally at the smaller parties. At the larger affairs my time was spent chiefly in seeing that things went off smoothly, and that everyone was having a good time.

One party that I gave in my apartment on Sutton Place I remember as a distinctly enjoyable one. Among those present were Feodor Chaliapin, George Gershwin, Charlie Chaplin, James Cromwell (recently married to Doris Duke), William Rhinelander Stewart, Paul Kochanski, the late Ralph Barton, Prince Christopher of Greece, Mary Hoyt Wiborg, Mrs. Kochanski and Germaine Taillefere. Immediately after dinner Kochanski sent for his violin. Accompanied by Pierre Luboschutz, he played divinely. Chaliapin, who was in rare good spirits, became inspired, and he strode up and down the room singing from Boris Godunov. Then Charlie Chaplin ordered buns from the kitchen and performed his famous stunt with them. Leaping for the piano, George Gershwin played for him ... the party lasted until the wee small hours and Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt declared that she never had stayed up so late without noticing it.

At that time the late Mrs. Benjamin Guiness and I were considered the only ones in New York who held salons which included both artistic and social lights. However, all this entertaining never detracted from my artistic desires. Possibly it seemed so to many, but I worked just as hard at my singing when I was mistress of a vast fortune, as I do now. I would have strived even harder then had I not considered that my first duty was to my husband and to my child.

Later on, when my daughter was no longer a baby, I had a very important decision to make. Two offers came to me at the same time, both of them very attractive. One was from the late Otto Kann and Giulio Gatti-Casazza to sing with the Metropolitan Opera Company; the other from Arthur Honegger to tour the United States, interpreting his songs with symphony orchestras, with him at the piano.

It took me three days and a long discussion with Otto Kahn, who was a real friend and, I believe, a great admirer of my work, before I decided to go with Arthur Honegger. The roles which I wanted most, such as Tbais and Mehsamle, already had been contracted by the Metropolitan, so it seemed that the tour would mean more to me artistically. It proved a grand success, but I often wonder now if I had accepted the Metropolitan offer, would it not have helped me a great deal in my present radio work on Cobina Wright's Party, airing on CBS stations.

I know I have made many mistakes in my life. But I thank fortune that I am still a young woman with strength and vitality and a very optimistic outlook. I still hope to accomplish many fine and artistic things in my field. I live for my daughter, whom I work to educate and support. She is the greatest thing in my life, and I desire more than anything else in the world to have her proud of me always. She has given me the courage to strive hard in the face of adversity. I am trying to raise her to love people as I do, and to get a real joy out of everything she does. If I can achieve that, the change in our financial circumstances certainly will become of negligible importance.

For the immediate present I aim at making my radio programs better and better each week. I want to put into them more and more of what I have learned in the past, and to have each program teach me new things for the next one. I feel certain that if I can do this, that reputation of mine as a Society hostess will sink gradually into an obscure place in my life, and that a reputation as a hostess on the air will take its place. These are the things I hope to do.

Cobina Wright Sr. in Radio Guide, May 25, 1935

Old Time Radio · Cobina Wright Sr. · Cobina Wright Jr. · Charlie Chaplin · George Gershwin · Fanny Brice · Noel Coward ·

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