Here’s a short little ditty about Mr. and Mrs. Payne Whitney that you can add to your New York City history trivia collection. It will give you a fun story to tell while you’re walking past the Whitney mansion on Fifth Avenue at 79th Street…
On January 27, 1916, Mrs. Payne Whitney hosted a food bazaar in her home for the benefit of the Social Service Department of the New York Hospital (today’s New-York-Presbyterian Hospital). All types of “appetizing viands” were offered for sale, including fruits “arranged in the cubist effect” by artist Arthur Bowen. Davies.
According to The New York Times, in addition to the food, the event featured plenty of music–“the barnyard sort”–which seemed to please the large crowd in attendance. The performers, who were kept among the rare Italian statuary and tapestries in the red and gold drawing room, included pedigreed puppies and kittens, all placed in kennels in the corner of the room.
There were also crates of Japanese chickens and Leghorns, and a lone suckling pig that grunted contentedly all afternoon. The pig was reportedly owned by young John Hay “Jock” Whitney, who brought the pig from the family’s 438-acre estate, Greentree, in Manhasset, Long Island. The women adored the little pig, and called him “the pig in the parlor.”
During the event, Mrs. Whitney sold 500 copies of her cookbook, which she had compiled for the occasion. The book comprised old-fashion English recipes and valuable information for housewives.
Kittens and Puppies for Sale?
Although The New York Times does not mention why Mrs. Whitney had all the animals in her home, an article in the New York Herald in 1921 makes me suspect that the animals were sold to help raise additional funds for the hospital charity. In 1921, young girls, including the Whitney daughters, sold animals at Mrs. Whitney’s house to raise money for the Milk Fund.
Helen Hay Whitney lived in the Fifth Avenue mansion until her death on September 24, 1944, at New York Hospital. The government of France acquired the property in 1952.
