Reshuffle

Last week Edward F. Hutton, uncle of Countess Barbara Hutton Mdivani Haugwitz-Reventlow, resigned as board chairman of General Foods Corp.* Of three possible reasons for his retirement only one was given in the official explanation: ill health. Still living quietly on his 16,000-acre South Carolina shooting preserve, Mr. Hutton intended to resign, said the directors, "when the evidence was sufficiently clear that the Depression was subsiding." Smart Executive Vice President Clarence Francis was upped one notch, and President Colby M. Chester was made board chairman and chief executive officer.

Mr. Hutton remained as one of General Foods' 16 directors.

Another explanation for Mr. Hutton's resignation might have been that as an anti-New Deal publicist he was sometimes misunderstood. His suggestion that Big Business "gang up" was interpreted as a bald plan to gang Franklin D. Roosevelt (TIME, Dec. 2). Though his sentiments were personal, the name Hutton has been linked to General Foods since he became chairman in 1923 and as a goodwill asset has lately shrunk in value.

Still another explanation might have been Mr. Hutton's divorce last autumn from Marjorie Post Close Hutton, only daughter of General Foods' founder, the late Charles William ("Postum") Post. Mr. Hutton's personal holdings in the corporation were relatively small (62,761 shares) and he drew no salary. Mrs. Hutton owns more than 500,000 shares, each of which pays her $1.80 in dividends annually. Her dapper, stockbroking husband was rich in his own right but many of the Huttons' Sunday-supplemented goods & chattels belonged to Mrs. Hutton. Since her divorce Mrs. Hutton has re-christened her Hussar, world's biggest sailing yacht, the Sea Cloud.

Marjorie Post inherited her father's energy along with his millions. A tall, handsome woman of 52 with a startling snow-white streak in her otherwise darkish hair, she is possessed of a whim of iron. Her first husband was Edward B. Close, whom she divorced in 1919.

Mr. Close now lives in Paris. Old Mr. Post liked his son-in-law so much that he left him a small fortune. Marjorie Post Close's marriage to "Ned" Hutton lasted 15 years. Last week she married for the third time. Her new husband is Joseph Edward ("Joe") Davies, 59, Washington lawyer, oldtime (1915-16) chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, onetime secretary of the Democratic National Committee.*

Day before the wedding newshawks found Bridegroom Davies at Manhattan's Hotel Savoy-Plaza, discovered that he had given his fiancee a diamond described as big as a 50-cent piece, reported him "extremely nervous." All arrangements for the ceremony and reception in Mrs. Hutton's huge private-elevator penthouse at No. 2 East 92nd St. were in Mrs. Hutton's capable hands. Few days before Mrs. Hutton managed to squeeze in the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Marjorie Post Hutton Free Food Station from which derives her tabloid title of "Lady Bountiful of Hell's Kitchen." Featured was a personality contest for girls, the winner receiving a big Hutton doll and a big Hutton kiss. Then the girls sang Mrs. Hutton a song ending:

To the needy and the hungry in our

land

It is you who give them all a helping hand.

As Hutton affairs go, the wedding was modest, though with the small number of guests the wedding cake, nicely matched to the bride's pink gown, came to $7 per slice. Only one private car was needed to carry the Washington delegation, which included Senator James J. Davis, U. S. Treasurer William A. Julian, Joseph Tumulty, George Creel, White House Secretary Stephen T. ("Steve") Early. At the reception they mingled with Bernard Baruch, Banker Sidney J. Weinberg, Publisher Ogden Reid, Mrs. Billie Burke Ziegfeld.

Newshawks were barred but bulletins, telephoned down to an obliging Hutton hireling, were popped through the grilled entrance. "Now they're walking down the aisle," he yelled. "Now they're being married. . . . It's all over and he kissed her twice, once on each cheek."

"Joe" Davies went to Washington from Watertown, Wis. in the days of the New Freedom. White-haired, black-browed, fluent, he was Woodrow Wilson's western campaign manager. Staying on in Washington through the lean Republican 1920's, he practiced international law, his clients including the Governments of Mexico and Peru. All the New Deal brought him was the job held by Dolly Curtis Gann's husband, who represented President Trujillo Molina of Santo Domingo in Washington. Currently Joe Davies is Dictator Trujillo's personal counsel.

Like Mrs. Hutton's, Joe Davies' affairs had to be reshuffled for the marriage. Mrs. Emlen Knight Davies divorced him last autumn after 33 years of married life. At the same time Mr. Davies' eldest daughter divorced her husband, Thomas P. Cheeseborough Jr. Thereupon Mrs. Cheeseborough became engaged to Senator Millard Tydings (TIME, Dec. 16). Thus for a step-mother-in-law the able senior Senator from Maryland will have Mrs. Marjorie Post Close Hutton Davies.

These somewhat Grecian developments have had social Washington by the ears for weeks. Additional classic overtones were introduced by the fact that they paralleled the divorce of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Wood ("Chip") Robert Jr. after 25 years of married life.

Chip Robert then married Evelyn Walker, beauteous, horsey daughter of Harold Walker, counsel to Standard Oil of New Jersey. Evelyn Walker Robert's brother, Aldace Walker III, married Joe Davies' daughter. Thus Joe Davies' son-in-law's brother-in-law is an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

Meantime socialite Washington got the idea that Joe Davies was bursting with diplomatic aspirations. Although the usual way to nail a foreign job is to play "fat cat" to the Administration in power at home, Joe Davies recently entertained French Ambassador Andre de Laboulaye and Italian Ambassador Augusto Rosso with their respective staffs at lavish stag dinners in Washington's Shoreham Hotel. Joe Davies' best bet seems to be the U. S. Embassy in Paris, for Jesse Straus, present U. S. Ambassador to France, is supposed to be ready to retire because of poor health. Some opposition for the Paris post might come from Anthony J. Drexel ("Tony") Biddle Jr., who is also rich and only Minister to Norway.

Having reshuffled her political affiliations along with her husband's, Mrs. Davies now has other outlets for her amazing talents. She could, if she would, back her prospective step-son-in-law, Senator Tydings, who is rated Presidential timber for the Democratic nomination in 1940. Last week, however, she merely whisked her new husband off to Nassau, there to board her Sea Cloud for a honeymoon cruise.

*General Foods puts out Instant Postum, Post Toasties, JellO, Maxwell House Coffee, Sanka Coffee, Grape-Nuts, Log Cabin Syrup, Swans Down Cake Flour. Minute Tapioca, Calumet Baking Powder, Baker's Chocolate. *Mrs. Hutton's daughter Eleanor was thrice married by the time she was 24. First husband was Playwright Preston Sturges (Strictly Dishonorable) with whom she eloped. No. 2 was French Poloist Etienne Marie Robert Gautier. No. 3 is George Curtis Rand, Manhattan agent for Bugatti automobiles.

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