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| James Mont |
The Showman From the early 1930s and into the 1960s, Mont was one of the most prominent designers and decorators on the East Coast. James Mont, a notorious, possibly even murderous mid-century decorator was a suave, glamorous and loud and enjoyed flashy cars and the company of chorus girls.
Presumably, he was born Demetrios Pecintoglu in Istanbul in 1904. His father may have been a noteworthy painter in Turkey, and he himself may have studied art and architecture in France and Spain. By all accounts, he moved with his family to the United States in the early 1920's.
A local mafia capo, the story goes, stopped in an Electrical shop Mont was working with a girlfriend one day and was so impressed by the charming proprietor and his creations that he hired Mont to refurnish his house. Before long, Mont became the preferred decorator of Mafiosi, counting Frank Costello and "Lucky" Luciano as clients and friends. James soon charmed his way into the lives of many show business figures, including Bob Hope, and Lana Turner (who would later herself become entangled with the mob).
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| Mafia Boss Jonny Stompanato and Lana Turner |
Stompanato and Turner at a Hollywood
nightclub. Stompanato had been dating Turner when, on the night of April 4,
1958, police were called to her house, where they found the ganster stabbed to
death. Turner's teenage daughter Cheryl Crane, then 14, took the blame,
explaining that Stompanato had attacked her mother and that she had acted in
defense - an explanation accepted by the courts, where the death was ruled
justifiable homicide.
Mont's shady business connections would prove to be much less scandalous than
the damage his vicious temper would create. He was hot-tempered, and did a
stint in prison after assaulting a female colleague who ended up killing
herself. In 1937, he married twenty-five year old Korean-American actress Helen
Kim. Twenty-nine days after they were married, Kim was found dead in their
apartment. Though her death was ruled a suicide, it was always speculated that
Mont's temper may have played a role in her demise.
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| Mr. Helen Kim Mont married to James Mont. Photo in their New York apartment in 1937 (Press Photo) |
The back of the photo reads:
A spendthrift and a gambler, he was forever dodging creditors and tax collectors. Mont would each time rebound and continued to work into the early 1960s. But the taste of the time was working against him and his monumental scale of his work. His style began to seem overdone and in blunt contrast to the modernist clean decors.
Today, his work has been rediscovered by interior designers such as Kelly Wearstler. I love most of his work, and like to mix his lavish, exotic pieces to create individualistic and surprising rooms.
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| James Mont |
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