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A Chinese Diplomat on the Cap D’Antibes – Who Was It?

Posted: February 12th, 2015 | No Comments »

A little mystery I’m sure someone out there knows the answer to….

I just read Calvin Tomkins short and perfectly formed biography of the Murphy family, their interconnections with everyone from the Fitzgeralds to Picasso, Dos Passos, Diaghilev, Archibald McLeish etc on the French Riviera – Living Well is the Best Revenge.

In 1923 (or possibly 1924) the Murphy’s went to Cap D’Antibes, invited by Cole Porter. They liked it and stayed in the Hotel Du Cap run by Antoine Sella and his family. The hotel usually closed in the hot summer months (the Cap was not yet the fashionable resort it would later become) but Gerald Murphy persuaded the owner to stay open with a skeleton staff to accommodate him. It is mentioned that a Chinese family was staying there and were delighted as they also ended up staying for the summer. This family is never named, though other sources say the father was a Chinese diplomat in Europe.

Who were this Chinese family; who was the diplomat??? Anyone know???

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