Inside the Many Mansions of America's Richest Couple: Harrison Williams and Mona von Bismarck

[@garywait3231]

I enjoyed all the houses, especially the Manhattan one. But even more, I appreciate the background information you so graciously provide about the people who lived in them and called them home Many thanks!

[@barrya8981]

I’ve always liked the architecture of Delano & Aldrich.

[@garywilliams7454]

@garywait3231 I'm another Gary. I have always seen people who need to have these kinds of luxury homes and multiple homes to be quite odd. A need for a house six times larger than one needs, a desire for wealth. These things are pleasant to look at but wealth does not make happiness. Now at 75 and living in a European country, My happiness comes from doing things for others and having a dog and I get unconditional love from the dog. A good example of the desire for wealth and power would be idiot the Americans elected on November 5 with his big house in Florida with 100 rooms and his craze for power. Watch the USA economy go down the drain in 2025. This is the first president in history who is a convicted criminal, a felon, who belongs in a prison cell and not in Washington. Someone said, "You can't have a criminal record if you work at MacDonald's but you can be president of the US."

[@thedivineenergy]

*I find myself comfort watching your videos. I think a lot of it has to do with your voice and inflection. May you and everyone you love have a wonderful holiday. 😃🤗*

[@lisadolan689]

Oh Ken has the most divine voice. His pronunciation and inflection are divine. I could listen to him describing ‘cement drying’! 😂♥️

[@MinhFong-p6m]

I am loving the precise language you are using to describe the features. Gorgeous language that really enriches the tours. Unusually great.

[@rickyt3961]

Always fascinating! Thanks for sharing 🏛️

[@slarson8044]

I love your videos, especially when you provide such interesting background information.

[@bar10ml44]

Another discovery. I thought myself smug believing I knew all the wealthy of this era. You have humbled me.

[@michaelsommers5503]

A lyric from "Ridin' High," a song in Cole Porter's 1936 Broadway musical "Red, Hot and Blue": "What do I care if Missus Harrison Williams is the best dressed woman in town ..."

[@beago0810]

Loved them all. The architecture was stunning.

[@laken1804]

I wish that there were more pictures of the gardens. I like beautiful gardens in houses.

[@cmecre8629]

wonderful episode. awesome woman. and that necklace, wow.

[@bethbartlett5692]

Apparently Mona understood reality and didn't give up on her objective.

[@Laura-i2r9r]

Liked both the Manhattan House and the Long Island Estate a real Beauty . As always the History lesson is always helpful too . Wow she married enough times !! A lady with very expensive taste . Thanks Ken and Happy Holidays to you and your family ❤😊🙋‍♀️🎄☃️🎅🏻❄️

[@traluf1466]

What stood out to me was that on the floorplan of the Long Island mansion, the relationship of the front door, stairs, and hall was identical to that of the movie set house of Von Trap in the Sound of Music.

[@evelynzlon9492]

The reason why her house was Von Trap is because she married a Bismarck. I previously learned that her birth name wasn't Bismarck. Rather she married a Bismarck for prestige and he took her for a ride. That sounds like something a Bismarck might do. No offense. Otto himself is a vampire who's still alive. Curiously he was supposedly penniless but this rich lady blatantly used her wealth to entice him to marry her. Otto once presided over the entire international African colonial system. The Bismarcks are actually very dangerous people whether they're rich or not, so the advantage of marrying them is that the brunt of any systematic violence is the next chick's problem.

[@fatimateresa19]

One of them was really well know in Marbella 90,s social circles. Now they live back in Germany. Nobody talks bad about them.

[@georgemcdonald6665]

Bismarck lived in the gate house as a tenant!

[@evelynzlon9492]

@@traluf1466 If Bismarck wanted to get into her pants, moving into her gate house was the smartest possible move. Statistically most people marry someone who lives down the street. He had access to government information and he knew all the information how to get into her pants. Plus did anyone notice he looked like a silent film vampire? Otto von Bismarck was literally a vampire. Present tense. He's still alive and the whole bit. I wonder if that one was a vampire too. I definitely am not although I used to intentionally bite my mother's nipple while breastfeeding. I'm not sure how much of the vampirism is hereditary and how much is choice.

[@williamtyre523]

Great story, I'm surprised I haven't heard about this couple before. My favorite was the Long Island estate BEFORE it was remodeled, especially the spectacular staircase wrapping to either side of the main entrance.

[@johnscanlan9335]

I often visited the house they had in Manhattan on Fifth Avenue and 93rd Street when it used to be the home of the International Center of Photography. It was genuinely beautiful!

[@CatherineRay-o3v]

She had great taste. Like all of them. Love the history

[@devonna6171]

I loved the photos at the end of the reel…was it her French home? With the wrought iron stair railings? Gorgeous!! Other than that, the Manhattan home was absolutely my favorite.

[@frostpond]

Mona B is buried at Locust Valley Cemetery (as is Little Edie Bouvier), buried in a Balenciaga gown.

[@vickiephilpitt7697]

When seeing the indoor tennis court, the first thought was the one in the Humphry Bogart, Audrey Hepburn & William Holden movie "Sabrina". 😊

[@angelmarcano6747]

I like the Manhattan home, and I'm glad that it's the one that still standing it would have been sad if they were all gone.

[@denisesmith2745]

My favorite is the Palm Beach home. Oh, to have that as my home in that location ❤

[@jennymauger]

Phenomenal woman, thansku🙏🏼

[@johnvonundzu2170]

Very well put together video - full of good info & images. If I had a choice of portraits of Mona to hang on my wall I'd pick the one @2:45 by Boutet de Monvel over the Dali one @2:50 any day. Monvel was commissioned to do a room of murals at Oak Point, but the project fell through (depression related? - his work was very expensive).

[@michaelpiccolo770]

I lived in nearby Mill Neck and in Palm Beach. It was interesting to learn of Oak Point. My friend lives there as it is a subdivision today.

[@ILikeDemocracy7]

Great job. Thank you.

[@stlouisix3]

Mona 'von Bismarck' had an outlandish life haha.

[@shoelady6457]

Love it when women live life on their own terms.🍾🥂

[@jerrys9226]

Oak Point looked like a high school from the outside,but the interior was exquisite. I liked the floor plan.

[@vulpo]

Lifestyles of the idle rich. This is a great argument for estate taxes.

[@garywilliams7454]

@vulpo I agree totally

[@MeMeDaVinci]

The Manhattan house, by far. She seemed to want to amass more, so she could do more... she's a person whose history is worth looking into. I wonder what happened to her son.

[@chrisvanderveer-w9r]

she was really cutting back in the end a vlilla and a Parisian town house, Only 90 million left boo hoo, LOl. Like 1 billion today At least there was still a Monet in th dining room! haha

[@debbralehrman5957]

Thanks👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@esleyhamilton4056]

Delano is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, not the second.

[@lawrencesiskind3554]

That Manhattan mansion, the Willard D. Straight House, back in use as a private residence for a billionaire, used to be the home of The International Center For Photography, more recently moved downtown. Mona could certainly land them, couldn't she? Von Bismark was her secretary at the time of Williams' death. How the mighty do fall! I think you should think again about your pronunciation of "Delano," of "Delano and Aldrich," since that architectural firm is certain to come up often in discussions of New York structures at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Think Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[@monl3807]

I wish your videos were longer.

[@stevekim3217]

I enjoy seeing all the videos of the Wealthy. I also keep in mind that none of them took anything with them. Was it worth it??

[@anaobrien5986]

I hope she left her estates to her son . I would never trade my son for riches .😢

[@jec1ny]

I liked the Long Island home, before it was renovated.

[@gimmejr]

Gave up custody of her kid for money.

[@laken1804]

She badly needed that money.

[@user-sy3dg1vk4x]

BEST WISHES FROM RAVINDER TALWAR JALANDHAR CITY PUNJAB INDIA

[@jill-ti7oe]

👍

[@bradbradshaw-i4n]

i thought john rockefeller was the richest person in the world at this time.

[@vincenthaegebaert1854]

What happened to her son?

[@azabujuban-hito-dake]

Probably deceased now

[@mikenixon2401]

Good report and tour on your part, Ken. Thinking about some of the people behind these mansions has become difficult. I do not want to post my negative prejudices on your channel out of respect to you and other viewers. I'll be careful.

[@josephsf2452]

$90,000,000 in 1953 is worth $1,064,035,955.06 today

[@Dao0253]

👍❤🇨🇦

[@margaretstutzman6866]

I agree all I could think of was her poor little boy that was replaced by winding staircases, dog statues, velvet sofas etc. Poor woman!

[@azabujuban-hito-dake]

Rich woman !

[@bifeldman]

Money and taste.

[@heatherjones6647]

What happened to her son after she sold him?

[@kellykevorkian651]

Henry and Mona’s son, Robert Henry, the son she’d left behind, grew up to be a bit of a playboy. While involved with Tyrone Power’s estranged wife, former actress Linda Christian, Robert wanted to buy her jewels worth $132,000 from Manhattan’s Van Cleef & Arpels. He hatched a plan to sell bogus shares in a Louisiana oilfield and used his mother’s name, claiming she’d invested $500,000. There was no oilfield, and it’s doubtful Robert ever met his mother after she left Milwaukee. His investors soon caught wind of the scheme and stopped payment, causing Robert Henry’s checks to Van Cleef & Arpels to bounce. Robert fled the country. An eight-count indictment was brought against him by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “It’s believed Robert was exiled to the island of St. Croix by the family,” says Talg. When she died in 1983, Mona left some $25 million to a foundation that would bear her name forever. She was considerably less generous to son Robert Henry Schlesinger, leaving him $1 million. In real, uninflated dollars, this was less than the $500,000 she had received back in 1920 in return for abandoning the only child Mona would ever have.

[@fatimateresa19]

She wouldn’t have been able to keep him so at least she was not left destitute. It was a different time for women.

[@asylumlover]

KEN, IN SOME WAYS THIS IS JUST ONE MORE PATHETIC SOB STORY, BUT AS FOR THE HOUSES, THEY SEEM RELATIVELY LOW KEY COMPARED WITH MANY OF THE OTHER HUMDINGERS THAT YOU'VE COVERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IN ANY CASE, LONG LIVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@vickilindberg6336]

Maybe it's the photography but I'm not really impressed by their taste.

[@8bitorgy]

Pearls for pigs

[@abfab2517]

she only got 1 son?