Evening star., 1952-02-14
Woman those Beauty
Was toasted by Kings
Now Lives in SquaIor
By Golt MocG Gowon
North Americas aewspupsr Alliune

Norm American NeWspupsE Aliiunee
PARIS, Feb. IA. Caroline otero
- the fabulously wealthy and
beautiful Queen Of Paris" In the
days Of Kaiser Wilhelm. King Ed
ward VII of England and Car
Nicholas Of Russia--llas been dig
covered starving on the equivalent
of SIS a month In q "cold-water,
lone-roon walkup" at the French
Palm Beach" Of Nice.
All three monarchs made spe-
|cial visits to Paris to see Nina, as
they called her. and attend her re-
|ceptions when the Spanish born
singer and dancer had an en-
tourage Of Is servants. and q for
mer Spanish grandee and diplo-
mat as her private secretary. She
lived in q mansion near the Bots
de Boulogne; her carriages were
the most magnificent in Paris:
her horses the highest stepping.
Boldini, the fashionable painter
in that era. decorated her draw
ing room: Renoir painted her por-
trait; Paquin dressed her in
models he usually reserved for
duchesses. Now she lives on q
can Of milk a day.
Was PrecociOus.
When she was IL, she looked
like 18. and her mother. because
of Ninas precocious beauty, mar
ried her off to an Italian count,
80 years her senior. She ran
away from him to France in her
teens to go. on the stage and her
title gave her a passport to So
ciety.
The Gar gave her a crown
jewel every time he came to Paris.
Italy's Poet Gabrielle D'Annu1zio
wrote poems about her.
Her court comprised an the
great names Of France and the
cosmopolitan world: artists,
writers. diplomats. politicians, and
clubmen. Aristide BRAND was one
Of her closest friends.
In 1926, she was hawking her
memoirs to buy herself and an
nuity. She lost her fortune
gambling at Monte Carlo and by
unlucky investments on the advice
OF the Gear and BRAND.
i
Poor Investments.
She made her last appearance
on the stage in Paris In 1918 in
Carmen" at the Opera Comique.
She wanted to retire, she said,
before I have lost my beauty. ("
She bought Russian securities for
81. 100000. BY 1926, when these
were worthless. she could only
scrape together enough 20 buy
herself an annuity Of 1000. The
German occupation and the de-
valuation Of the franc reduced
that to $3.50 q year.
Gambling was her passion and
her ruin. On her first visit to
Monte Carlo. she won $63 900 on q
run Of luck. This money laid the
foundations OF her debut iii Paris
society. q She had everything
beauty. wealth, artistic TALENT. q
title and brainsl She could elay
a man with q fash.
If you were not so ugly, I, she
told BRAND, II could be crazy
about your You ought 10 be Id
the Government. = Brand replied,
and became her friend for life.
Luck Ran Its Course.
Popular rumor claimed that ETA
Belle Otero" was responsible for
1.-THE ''entente cordiale'' that Kins
Edward WI made with France
ljust before his death--the friend.
ship that paid of In 1914.
Nina thought that her luck
would hold forever. but when she
had lost her home, jewels and her
magnificent villa in Nice. to pay
her gambling debts. she knew that
her run Of luck had ended.
Today, when she leaves her cold
room to warm herself In the Medi-
Iterranean sunshine, she passes un-
noticed In the crowd. Her nearest
approach to the luxury Of yester-
years, is a bench on the fashion
liable promenade. outside the swank
hotel Of Nice. the Negresco. where
thousands Of GI's have stayed
since the war ended.
She never has wined or dined
there with any Of them. This
generation never has heard Of the
woman whose beauty once was the
toast Of three capitals.
They would not believe it, II
she told them, that the gray.
haired old woman In the shabby
cloth coat. summing herself on
the sidewalk bench. once was
dressed only In silk, satin and
mink. her neck encased with Ia
strings of pearls. AT night she wore
a bolero Of diamonds valued by
Cartier at $1.500.000.