Memoir Blog #9 First of the Free Spirits

From 1963 onwards Manhattan’s social events were considered incomplete without the presence of Christina Paolozzi, the daughter of an impoverished Italian Count and a wealthy New York socialite. Christina, referred to in the society pages as “The first of the Sixties free spirits”, provided an invigorating breath of fresh air to those New Yorkers who had managed to shake themselves loose from the moralistic shackles of the 1950’s.

Christina Paolozzi, my very special friend

To the majority of them, however, who remained judgmental and bound by strict codes of behavior, Christina managed to provide insult after insult. Her initial shock was to conduct a very public affair with a married man. And he was not just any married man. The man in question was Yul Brynner, the bald-headed Russian actor who was then at the height of his fame, following his successes in “The Magnificent Seven” and “The King and…