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Shining Light on an Era’s Darker Side Shining Light on an Era’s Darker Side
(about 4 hours later)
LONDON — In death, as in life, she made the news.LONDON — In death, as in life, she made the news.
When Mandy Rice-Davies, a onetime model and nightclub dancer, died at the age of 70, the photographs of her as a notorious teenager, propelled to fame, envy and opprobrium in one of Britain’s most salacious Cold War sex scandals, again filled the front pages — all bouffant hair and mascaraed eyes.When Mandy Rice-Davies, a onetime model and nightclub dancer, died at the age of 70, the photographs of her as a notorious teenager, propelled to fame, envy and opprobrium in one of Britain’s most salacious Cold War sex scandals, again filled the front pages — all bouffant hair and mascaraed eyes.
In 1963 she was cast in a starring role in the so-called Profumo affair, when a government minister, John Profumo, was found to be sharing a mistress, Christine Keeler, with a Soviet defense attaché. Ms. Keeler was also sharing lodgings and other adventures with Ms. Rice-Davies. The government teetered. Mr. Profumo quit. Ms. Rice-Davies went on to lead a post-scandal life in Germany, Spain, Israel and Britain that included business ventures, acting roles and three husbands.In 1963 she was cast in a starring role in the so-called Profumo affair, when a government minister, John Profumo, was found to be sharing a mistress, Christine Keeler, with a Soviet defense attaché. Ms. Keeler was also sharing lodgings and other adventures with Ms. Rice-Davies. The government teetered. Mr. Profumo quit. Ms. Rice-Davies went on to lead a post-scandal life in Germany, Spain, Israel and Britain that included business ventures, acting roles and three husbands.
But her death on Dec. 18 evoked much more than a vicarious return to moments that defined their times.But her death on Dec. 18 evoked much more than a vicarious return to moments that defined their times.
As the scandal unfolded, Ms. Rice-Davies offered an impudent rebuttal of an old order, an emblem of Britain shaking off the moral straitjacket imposed in the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria, hurtling into the Swinging Sixties. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones joined the raucous chorus of liberation. The generations shifted.As the scandal unfolded, Ms. Rice-Davies offered an impudent rebuttal of an old order, an emblem of Britain shaking off the moral straitjacket imposed in the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria, hurtling into the Swinging Sixties. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones joined the raucous chorus of liberation. The generations shifted.
But there was a much darker side.But there was a much darker side.
Unbridled sexuality, as the land is now discovering, took many forms beyond the miniskirts of the designer Mary Quant and the gyrations of Mick Jagger. And, as Britain looks back now on an era that began in the ’60s, hindsight has come to focus on stories of the sexual abuse of young people, implicating entertainers, television personalities — most notably the former disc jockey and television presenter Jimmy Savile — and, it is slowly emerging, members of the establishment from the uppermost circles of power.Unbridled sexuality, as the land is now discovering, took many forms beyond the miniskirts of the designer Mary Quant and the gyrations of Mick Jagger. And, as Britain looks back now on an era that began in the ’60s, hindsight has come to focus on stories of the sexual abuse of young people, implicating entertainers, television personalities — most notably the former disc jockey and television presenter Jimmy Savile — and, it is slowly emerging, members of the establishment from the uppermost circles of power.
When Ms. Rice-Davies hit the headlines in 1963 in the trial of Stephen Ward, a society osteopath accused of pimping for the aristocracy, the newspapers described her with more than a Monty Pythonesque nudge and wink as a “good time girl,” an epithet that would probably not reach the bar of political correctness a half-century later. She was cheeky and saucy and sparky. As an age of class-driven obsequiousness came to an end, she once remarked, “I’m afraid I had no deference.”When Ms. Rice-Davies hit the headlines in 1963 in the trial of Stephen Ward, a society osteopath accused of pimping for the aristocracy, the newspapers described her with more than a Monty Pythonesque nudge and wink as a “good time girl,” an epithet that would probably not reach the bar of political correctness a half-century later. She was cheeky and saucy and sparky. As an age of class-driven obsequiousness came to an end, she once remarked, “I’m afraid I had no deference.”
Most famously, when told in court that Lord Astor, a prominent society host, denied having a fling with her, she replied, according to one version of her response, “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”Most famously, when told in court that Lord Astor, a prominent society host, denied having a fling with her, she replied, according to one version of her response, “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?”
But through the more censorious, protective prism of modern times, molded by successive scandals in which the trust of young people has been cruelly betrayed in discreet apartments and young offenders’ homes, at hospitals and on the premises of the BBC, her story would probably be told differently — a 16-year-old runaway and high school dropout who moved in with a rich man many years her senior, the so-called slum landlord Peter Rachman, and joined Ms. Keeler in all manner of shenanigans.But through the more censorious, protective prism of modern times, molded by successive scandals in which the trust of young people has been cruelly betrayed in discreet apartments and young offenders’ homes, at hospitals and on the premises of the BBC, her story would probably be told differently — a 16-year-old runaway and high school dropout who moved in with a rich man many years her senior, the so-called slum landlord Peter Rachman, and joined Ms. Keeler in all manner of shenanigans.
Britain on the cusp of 2015 makes harsher moral judgments, and it has a much keener sense of juvenile vulnerability.Britain on the cusp of 2015 makes harsher moral judgments, and it has a much keener sense of juvenile vulnerability.
One thing, though, seems to have endured. In 1963, Mr. Ward’s trial was widely perceived as what Ms. Rice-Davies called a “stitch-up” that made him the scapegoat for the transgressions of the elite. When she arrived in London after leaving home in Birmingham, she entered what Libby Purves, a broadcaster and writer, called “that louche, nightclubby ’60s world where the establishment met lowlife, assuming it could get away with anything under a code of patriarchal discretion because it always had before.” One thing, though, seems to have endured. In 1963, Mr. Ward’s trial was widely perceived as what Ms. Rice-Davies called a “stitch-up” that made him the scapegoat for the transgressions of the elite. When she arrived in London after leaving home in Birmingham, she entered what Libby Purves, a broadcaster and writer, called “that louche, nightclubby ’60s world where Establishment met lowlife, assuming it could get away with anything under a code of patriarchal discretion because it always had before.”
That sense of impunity has survived. A half-century later, an effort to hold an official inquiry into historical sexual abuse that would reach high into British society has stumbled because successive candidates to lead it were found to have dinner-table ties to those they were supposed to scrutinize. The inquiry was delayed. The establishment had time to close ranks. Well, it would, wouldn’t it?That sense of impunity has survived. A half-century later, an effort to hold an official inquiry into historical sexual abuse that would reach high into British society has stumbled because successive candidates to lead it were found to have dinner-table ties to those they were supposed to scrutinize. The inquiry was delayed. The establishment had time to close ranks. Well, it would, wouldn’t it?