Dorothy Hale

Dorothy Hale (January 11, 1905 – October 21, 1938) was an American socialite and aspiring actress who died by suicide by jumping off of the Hampshire House building in New York City. Her husband's death, followed by several unsuccessful relationships, had left her financially dependent on her wealthy friends. The artist Frida Kahlo created a famous painting commissioned by Clare Boothe Luce, titled The Suicide of Dorothy Hale. In 1919, after attending a convent and a drama school, Hale left home to pursue a career. Her family hired detectives to find her, but she subsequently returned when her funds ran out.

She married Gardner Hale in 1927. Gardner Hale, the son of William Gardner Hale, was a fresco, mural, and society portrait artist. During this marriage, Dorothy Hale continued moving in creative, sophisticated, and upper-class social circles. In her west coast period, she socialized with artists Miguel Covarrubias, Rosa Rolanda, Frida Kahlo, and photographer Nickolas Muray.

Career Hale's stage work was limited to several seasons in stock companies and some work as a dancer and Ziegfeld girl. Pinchot went on to take her life by carbon monoxide poisoning in January 1938. After this, she was left in severe financial difficulties. No longer able to maintain her high-society lifestyle, Hale began to accept the largesse of rich lovers and generous friends, such as Luce, with whom she was close. "We all believed that a girl of such extraordinary beauty could not be long in either developing a career or finding another husband. Dorothy had very little talent and no luck." Noguchi traveled to London and Paris with Hale, hoping to find more patrons.

In 1934, Hale and Luce accompanied Noguchi on a road trip through Connecticut in a car Noguchi had designed with Buckminster Fuller, the Dymaxion car. advised Hale that at 33 she was too old for a professional career and she should look for a wealthy husband. Baruch even gave her $1,000 with the instructions, "to buy a dress glamorous enough to capture a husband." Luce was so offended that she seriously considered destroying it, but instead, she had the sculptor Isamu Noguchi paint out the part of the legend that bore Luce's name. Luce simply left the work crated up in the care of Frank Crowninshield, only to be presented with it again decades later, when Crowninshield's heirs discovered it in storage. The museum retains ownership, although the painting is frequently on tour in exhibitions of Kahlo's works.

In 2010, the painting was included in a "sweeping view" of Noguchi's career in the "On Becoming an Artist: Isamu Noguchi and His Contemporaries, 1922-1960" show at the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.

Portrayals and dramatizations

Stage play The Rise of Dorothy Hale, written by Myra Bairstow, premiered off-Broadway at the St. Luke's Theater on September 30, 2007. The play explores the life and death of Hale through the creative process of Frida Kahlo and questions whether Hale's death was a suicide or a murder. The original cast members were Emmy Award winner Michael Badalucco, Patrick Boll, Sarita Choudhury, Laura Koffman, Sarah Wynter, and Mark LaMura. The cast and playwright of The Rise of Dorothy Hale were featured guests of NASDAQ on October 18, 2007, to ring the closing bell.

Fictional biography Lady Be Good: The Life and Times of Dorothy Hale, written by former NBC News producer Pamela Hamilton, was published on March 31, 2021. Drawing on original research, the novel portrays Hale as a smart, talented, determined woman, upending the widely held belief that Hale was hapless. At the heart of the novel is Hale's friendship with Clare Boothe Luce and the life they led together in café society.