Seven years and going strong, more popular than ever, corralling 600 of the young and beautiful polo fanciers, who wish there were more events of this sport of kings in our athletic-centric city.
The Veuve Clicquot champagne “pour” never stops before, during and after the game, which this year’s match included Argentinian soccer superstar and Ralph Lauren model Nacho Figeroas and his winning Black Watchman team. They, indeed, were the draw during the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic at our Will Rogers State Historic Park (his ranch and home) in the Pacific Palisades.
Sponsored by the Gallic champagne house of long repute, the afternoon amasses funds to restore and preserve the playing field named for the favored humorist of the 1930s. It was aw-shucks Will who claimed, “I never met a man I didn’t like … Common sense ain’t common.”
Polo, played on horseback, is the sport of kings and princes, of sultans and maharajas. Brits turn out in summer finery on bright and sunny weekends. Notably Queen Elizabeth II applauding such players as husband Prince Philip, son Prince Charles and grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry.
We attended several matches not far from London during the month of June, both with player Prince Charles. Hosted by Dunhill, we shook hands with the white-gloved Queen, and savored those coveted minutes of proper lightweight banter.
Legend prevails that polo originated in Persia during the 5th century BC, later becoming the favorite for the emperors of Byzantium and ruling Indian dynasties.
British settlers in the Argentine pampas during the 1870s fell in love with the sport. Today, Argentina’s the mecca of polo.
In the Hollywood of long ago, polo players included Fox chief Darryl Zanuck, Clark Gable, Walt Disney, Gary Cooper, David Niven, Tyrone Power, Spencer Tracy.
The famous Polo Lounge with its elegant polo mural behind the bar at The Beverly Hills Hotel is considered a tribute to polo playing Will Rogers.
Some decades past we arrived in Beverly Hills to pursue our Town & Country assignments about The Beverly Hills Hotel (Pink Palace In Paradise) and Alfred Hitchock (How To Murder A Lamb Chop). Cary Grant invited us to luncheon at the Polo Lounge, where he ordered the Neil McCarthy salad (a variation of the Cobb Salad).
He mentioned that the day before he’d been in receipt of a telegram from a Vogue magazine editor who was profiling him, asking, “How Old Cary Grant?”
He wired back, “Old Cary Grant Fine, How You?”
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Murmurs of Mafia being involved are surfacing about the trashing of His car this week, and the inelligibility of voters (thousands dead) registered in Indiana.
History books have recorded that Papa Joe Kennedy enlisted the Mafia to win the election for his son John.
Time was when mothers told their youngsters, “Flattery will get you everywhere … ”
The New World mantra now is: “Lying may reward you with the keys to the White House … ”