Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [143]
60
drawing tiny boats and ships: “Reminds of Early Days,” letter from Herbert Kenny to Edwin A. Grozier, published in the Boston Post, June 1, 1921, p. 25.
60
Edwin often remained in Boston: Interview with Mary Grozier, March 7, 2003.
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Phillips Exeter Academy: Richard Grozier’s transcripts and pages from the 1905 Exeter yearbook, The Pean, were obtained through the school with the help of archivist Edouard L. Desrochers and assistant archivist Shelley C. Bronk.
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Richard was accepted at Harvard: The Harvard University Archive contains an extensive file on the academic history of Richard Grozier, including his complete transcripts and the remarkable letters written by him, his father, E. A. Wells, B. S. Hurlbut, W. G. Howard, and Joseph Ross.
60
Half were from Massachusetts: First Report of the Harvard Class of 1909, printed in 1910.
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fine wine and champagne: Interview with Mary Grozier, March 7, 2003.
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“Gold Coast”: Interview with Marvin Hightower, senior writer and archivist, Harvard news office, March 7, 2003.
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Vera Rumery: “Romance Disclosed: Newton High School Girl to Wed Harvard Man,” Boston Globe, November 24, 1907.
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“One of our teachers”: Hans Von Kaltenborn, “The College and the Press,” disquisition presented at Class Day 1909, reprinted in First Report of the Harvard Class of 1909, printed in 1910, pp. 235–36.
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“a very routine life”: Harvard Class of 1909, Fiftieth Anniversary Report, 1959. pp. 452–53.
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168 Brattle Street: “Mr. J. G. Thorp’s House on Brattle Street,” Cambridge Tribune, February 2, 1889, p. 1; information on the house and the neighborhood is also from the files of the Cambridge Historical Commission and the Cambridge Historical Society.
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Alice had found the house: Interview with Mary Grozier, March 7, 2003.
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editorial writer: “Bursting Golden Bubble Wins Gold Medal,” Editor & Publisher, June 4, 1921, p. 1.
Chapter Six: “An American beauty”
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James Michael Curley: There is no better source on Boston’s rogue mayor than Jack Beatty’s The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley, Addison-Wesley, 1992. For the period covered here, I relied most heavily on pp. 67–211. For Curley’s attack on the Post, see p. 209 and also the Boston Post, December 2, 1917. Also on Curley and John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald: Francis Russell, The Knave of Boston, Quinlan Press, 1987, pp. 1–84; Thomas H. O’Connor, The Boston Irish: A Political History, Northeastern Press, 1995; pp. 179–217; Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga, Simon & Schuster, 1989, pp. 244–52; and Kenny, pp. 163–173.
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Ponzi found himself rooting for Curley: Ponzi, p. 58.
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“By starving one day”: Ibid., p. 53.
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Meeting Rose: “Ponzi Relates Story of His Life,” Boston Post, August 9, 1920, p. 16. Also Ponzi, pp. 53–55; “Wife Tells of Ponzi’s Plans,” Boston American, July 31, 1920, p. 1; and Charles Merrill, “His Pretty Girl Wife Sorry When Ponzi Quit $50 Job,” Boston Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 8. Information about Rose Gnecco Ponzi also was gathered during interviews in April and May 2003 with John Gnecco, Rose’s nephew, who cared for her during the years before she died, and his sisters, Florence Gnecco Hall and Mary Gnecco Treen.
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four foot eleven: Rose’s height was confirmed by her nephew. Her pride in her weight comes from “ ‘Charlie’s a Born Aristocrat,’ Says Mrs. Rose Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 3, 1922, Special Feature Section, p. 1.
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“Time, space, the world”: Ponzi, p. 54.
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nephews and nieces to the beach: Interview with Mary Gnecco Treen, May 5, 2003.
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Imelde wanted to be sure Rose knew: “Mrs. Ponzi Loyal,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 9. Also Clarence White, “Mrs. Ponzi Says, ‘We Will Stay Here and Square Debts,’ ” Boston Globe, July 17, 1921.
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Saint Anthony’s Church: marriage license obtained from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Vital Statistics. Also church records from Saint Anthony’s, provided in April 2003 by church