Barbara Barondess(1907-2000)

Came from a wealthy Russian Jewish family. Although she was born in New York, she and her family moved to Russia in 1908. During the 1917 Russian revolution, they fled to Poland. Both she and her father were shot and wounded during the flight. In Poland the family was jailed for a while as suspected Russian spies. Because she was an American citizen by birth, they were allowed to travel to the US.

[After purchasing two Renoir paintings for Greta Garbo at auction]: She was the tightest, most miserly figure who ever lived. She paid for the paintings that day, but never paid me my commission. I never asked for it. I knew she was a tightwad. She used people and rarely gave anything back.