But he could not. Even when we had a nice home in California, with beautiful bay window, and the ocean, you can see Catalina Island and everything. He said, "No; at our house we had 30 people for dinner every day." It is awful. He never could get adjusted to it.

Mr. Jenner.

But he wasn't earning a living, was he?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; he wasn't. He was always--you see, I understand from talking to doctors--he was off for quite a while, which I didn't know. I didn't know it. And it never occurred to me. We were brought up maybe 200 years set back. This was the husband, and that is the way it is, and that is the way it is going to be, so whatever it is that is how it is going to stay. So it never occurred to me there could be different ways, something wrong with him mentally. In fact, my brother many times mentioned he should go to a psychiatrist and find out why he should have such an attitude, but I laughed at my brother.
Unfortunately, maybe I should have listened to him.

Mr. Jenner.

Tell us a little bit--you came to this country. Did you and your husband attempt to resort again to your ballroom dancing?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We were supposed to. We had auditions with Moss and Hart, very successful. And we were almost ready to have a contract in the Rainbow Room. And then I became pregnant with my little girl. And that really shattered us to pieces. We are awfully happy to have a child, but that was not the time to have the child. We had to leave everything in China, because we had to cross all Japan. So that was--at the time it was just like a tragedy. And after she was born, I could never dance.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, after the birth of your daughter, did you--what did you do to sustain your family?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I stayed home for 1 year. We just lived on whatever he made. Because I wanted to bring her up--I don't believe in nurses. I like to bring my own child up, train her for everything, in whatever a little baby should be trained.
And then if he could possibly make a little better, I would not go to work.
But then I saw he is not getting any better, but he is getting more and more depressed, and is getting worse. He just didn't care. He had that attitude, "I don't care." I said if that is his attitude, if I don't do something, my daughter will have nothing altogether. So I started to think. What could I do? I spoke English, but crazy pigeon English.
I couldn't do anything architecturally, because I don't know the terminology. I can automatically make the drawings, but I would not be able to render it. It would be impossible for me to have anything.
And then actually, without knowing anything, I became a model. I had two lessons, and I pretended that I was very experienced. I fooled everybody. And I somehow got a job as a model.
And then--at one place it didn't work out, because it was very depressing and horrible atmosphere. On Seventh Avenue it is no joke.

Mr. Jenner.

My daughter is a model.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Probably with a good firm.
I have a couple of firms that are fantastic. And then I switched to Leeds Ltd. And within 1 year, from modeling, from 25, I became in charge of the showroom, I was selling, I was selecting fabrics, and became a stylist.
And then gradually my salary was increasing and increasing, and I have been with them for 7 years.
But to start with, I worked 7 days a week. I worked even Sunday, until 1 o'clock--that is how hard I worked.
And the very same firm paid me in 1957 to design a collection for them, the same clothes I did 10 years ago--$500 for 5 days, for 4 1/2 days. So you see what you can do if you put yourself to it. Only in the United States.

Mr. Jenner.

A country of opportunity.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. If you want to.
That is what Marina--that is why I get mad with her. I told her, "Marina, look at me."
Let's not talk about Marina now.

Mr. Jenner.

I want to get to that. But I would like to cover this background first.

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