Editing Barbara Hutton (section)

==Early life==
Born in [[New York City]], Barbara Hutton was the only child of Edna Woolworth (1883–1917), who was a daughter of [[Frank Woolworth|Frank W. Woolworth]], the founder of the successful [[F.W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth]] five-and-dime stores. Barbara's father was Franklyn Laws Hutton (1877–1940), a wealthy co-founder of [[E. F. Hutton & Company]] (owned by Franklyn's brother [[Edward Francis Hutton]]), a respected New York investment banking and stock brokerage firm.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.investmentnews.com/galleries/forgotten-facts-about-the-great-brokerage-titans | title=Forgotten facts about the great brokerage titans - InvestmentNews | access-date=October 27, 2020 | author=stewart | publisher=investmentnews.com}}</ref> She was a niece by marriage of cereal heiress [[Marjorie Merriweather Post]], who was for a time (1920–1935) married to E.F. Hutton; thus their daughter, actress-heiress [[Dina Merrill]] (born Nedenia Hutton), was a first cousin to Barbara Hutton. Merrill related on [[Biography (TV program)|A&E's ''Biography'']] that for a time Barbara lived with them following the death of her mother and abandonment by her father.<ref>Barbara Hutton; a candid biography - Page 17</ref>

Edna Hutton reportedly died on May 2, 1917, age 33, from suffocation due to [[mastoiditis]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Hutton Found Dead. Daughter of F.W. Woolworth Suffocated in Her Room at the Plaza|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/05/03/archives/mrs-hutton-found-dead-daughter-of-fw-woolworth-suffocated-in-her.html |quote=Mrs. Franklyn Laws Hutton, who was Edna Woolworth, daughter of F. W. Woolworth, was found dead in her apartment at the hotel Plaza on May 2, 1917. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 3, 1917 |access-date=December 3, 2011 }}</ref> but rumor persists that she committed suicide by poison in despair over her husband's philandering,<ref name="Plunkett-Powell, Karen p. 131"/> especially as the coroner decided that no autopsy was necessary.<ref>Pitrone, Jean Maddern; F.W. Woolworth and the American Five and Dime: A Social History, McFarland, p.59</ref> Four-year-old Barbara discovered her mother's body; the trauma haunted her for the rest of her life.<ref>Gressor, Megan & Cook, Kerry (2005). She never truly got over the trauma [https://books.google.com/books?id=uWuLNjXXOF4C&pg=PA260 ''An Affair to Remember: The Greatest Love Stories of All Time''], p. 260. Fair Winds Press.</ref> After her mother's death, she lived with various relatives, and was raised by a [[governess]]. Hutton attended Miss Hewitt's Classes, now [[The Hewitt School (New York, New York)|The Hewitt School]] in New York's [[Lenox Hill]] neighborhood and [[Miss Porter's School|Miss Porter's School for Girls]] in [[Farmington, Connecticut]]. She became an [[introvert]]ed child who had limited interaction with other children of her own age. Her closest friend and only confidante was her cousin [[James Paul Donahue Jr.|Jimmy Donahue]], the son of her mother's sister.<ref name=site>{{cite web |url=http://www.paulbowles.org/photosjanebowles.html |title=Jane Bowles, Libby Holman Reynolds and Barbara Hutton |work=The Authorized Paul Bowles Web Site |publisher=www.paulbowles.org |access-date=2007-04-13 |archive-date=2019-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216112141/http://www.paulbowles.org/photosjanebowles.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Jimmy Donahue inherited a portion of the Woolworth estate with Barbara and also grew up to have notorious, and public, drug, alcohol and relationship problems.

In 1924, Barbara Hutton's grandmother Jennie (Creighton) Woolworth died and bequeathed to her $26.1 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=26100000|start_year=1924}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). Another $2.1 million in stock from Edna's inheritance was placed in a separate trust - both trusts were administered by Franklyn Hutton. By the time of her 21st birthday in 1933, Barbara Hutton's father had increased her inheritance to $42 million ($966,549,230.77 in 2023{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}) not including the additional $8 million from her mother's estate, making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.<ref>Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story</ref>

In accordance with New York's [[upper class|high society]] traditions, Barbara Hutton was given a lavish [[debutante|débutante]] [[ball (dance)|ball]] in 1930 on her 18th birthday, where guests from the [[Astor family|Astor]] and [[Rockefeller family|Rockefeller]] families, amongst other elites, were entertained by stars such as [[Rudy Vallee]] and [[Maurice Chevalier]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://madame.lefigaro.fr/celebrites/barbara-hutton-la-vie-scandaleuse-dune-heritiere-croqueuse-de-diamants-et-de-maris-020721-197220|title = Barbara Hutton, la vie scandaleuse d'une héritière croqueuse de diamants… et de maris|date = July 11, 2021}}</ref> The ball cost $60,000, a veritable fortune in the days of the Depression. Public criticism was so severe that she was sent on a tour of Europe to escape the onslaught of the press.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Columbia |first1=David Patrick |title=What a Swell Party it Was! |url=https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/what-a-swell-party-it-was/ |website=[[New York Social Diary]] |access-date=26 December 2022 |date=January 19, 2021}}</ref>

She lived in the family home at 4 East 80th Street<ref name="DianeTuman">{{cite news |last1=Tuman |first1=Diane |title=New York's Woolworth Mansion Listed for $90 Million |url=https://www.zillow.com/blog/new-yorks-woolworth-mansion-listed-for-90-million-37724/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303000347/https://www.zillow.com/blog/new-yorks-woolworth-mansion-listed-for-90-million-37724/ |archive-date=2014-03-03 |access-date=December 26, 2022 |publisher=[[Zillow|Zillow Porchlight]] |date=March 20, 2011}}</ref> on the [[Upper East Side]].