Sacramento Union Sun, Sep 10, 1922; p. 30.

It would seem that the lovely young Dorothy Deacon, formerly of Boston but now the Countess De Palffy, decided to outdo her hostess—Princess Odescalchi, formerly Donna Labouchere from London—at a fancy dress ball in Rome at the Barberini Palace. Not only did Dorothy’s costume leave very little to the imagination, but she arrived at the ball being pulled by two snarling, snapping leopards.

To say the crowd was taken aback is to put it mildly. The scanty costume was one thing, but the leopards were altogether over the top. The general rule of thumb for grand costume balls is that the hostess is the Queen Bee. The Princess Odescalchi’s social standing had been on the wane (or so the gossip columns intimated) and the grand ball, albeit a bit out of her price range, was one way to gain back her prominence. Enter the cheeky, younger (and probably prettier) Dorothy, led in by leopards; she was a very hard act to follow.

Everything would have been fine if Count Pallfy, Dorothy’s husband, had simply kept quiet, knowing that discretion is the better part of valor. He did not, however, and was overheard saying disparaging things about his host and hostess. (As an interesting added point, Dorothy used to be Princess Radizwill and Pallfy's ex was another American heiress—Eleanor Jenckes Roelker. In the end, our good Count was married eight times, trading title for pounds with each new nuptials.)

He told everybody he met at the clubs and at the races that he most certainly would not be among those present at the Odescalchi costume ball. And before anybody could ask him why, he would tell them. He declared he never would cross the Odescalchi threshold in the Palace Barbarini because, he declared distinctly, the prince was a traitor to his country, having sold himself to the Allies during the war.

On top of all of this, the Countess arrives at the ball with her leopards.

Not to be outdone, the Prince decided that a suitable response to these insults would be to say dreadful and scandalous things about the Countess Palffy a.k.a. Dorothy Deacon. He intimated that little could be expected of an American heiress, ex-Russian Princess, and now a Hungarian Countess who entertained Austrian and German diplomats in Switzerland soon after fleeing the war in Italy.

As insults were traded, the only logical course of action was, you guessed it, a duel. (The Prince had already successfully won another duel, also stemming from disparaging remarks about his Brooklyn Bride or the Dollar Duchess, as she was also known.) The Count, however, declined the duel and was instantly branded a coward.

After all of this mess, there was nothing left but to defer to the Court of Honor, a venerable Italian institution. The Court of Honor sided with the Princess, castigating the Countess and giving the leopards a firm pass.

With all the controversy swirling around them, all the Count and Countess could do was retire to Hungary while the social scene settled down. Needless to say, the current Countess Palffy was less than amused, especially when her arch-rival the Princess enjoyed the romantic moment of her husband offering to duel with rapiers for her honor and virtue.

Seriously, what is not to love about the 1920’s!

Dorothy Deacon aka Princess Radizwill and aka Countess Palffy

(It’s possible to read a full account of this incident in several newspapers of the times. The Sacramento Union Sept 10 1922 and the Buffalo Times Sept 17 1922.)

-Bird Jones