Goddess of Love Incarnate. Leslie Zemeckis
my birthday.” Which it certainly was not, though it was only two weeks away. The next night was the “Captain’s gala” but it was Lili who would be celebrated.81
As Lili entered the dining room on Sunday, May 24, the band struck up “Happy Birthday.” She was wearing a dress she had made. The bust was tight and the skirt full, barely brushing the floor in layers of sky blue, purple, deep maroon, and shell pink tulle. She smiled, delighted to have stolen the captain’s party.
EVERYONE RAISED THEIR GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE TO TOAST HER NINETEENTH birthday. Guests wore party hats, Lili a pillbox. The menu read, “Special Dinner Given to Miss Marie Van Schaack on the occasion of her Birthday.” Her guests at her table were Mrs. Walter M. Holdstein, Miss Bettie Maranteete, Mr. Erwin Schaefer, Mr. M. Luizzi, Mr. J. L. Lindner. There was no mention of Maxwell, no doubt assigned to a different table.82
The meal began with beluga malossol caviar, followed by consommé, frog legs, duck with an apple and raisin dressing accompanied by green peas and potatoes, followed by an avocado pear salad, and finally a chocolate soufflé birthday cake. Lili would keep the menu carefully pressed into her scrapbook for years until finally ripping the page out and sending it to a fan.
When the cake was wheeled out, another rousing “Happy Birthday” rose from the room.
“Beautiful Cheri.” Maxwell handed her a beautifully wrapped gift. The card read, “In memory of the pleasant and amusing evenings with infinite love to continue.” It was a delicate gold bracelet, presumably her first piece of jewelry from an admirer.
She ached to continue to live in this “grand setting.”83
But reality was fast encroaching. As tug boats slowly pulled the boat toward the English coast and a waiting fiancé, twinges of “old loyalty” pinched at Lili.84 She didn’t want to hurt Cordy, but she wanted Maxwell. Lili gathered her things, wrapped her coat around her shoulders, and hopped on the transporter boat that would take her to her unsuspecting fiancé, unsure if she would ever see Maxwell again.
CHAPTER EIGHT
While she missed the aquiline-nosed Maxwell, it was exciting to again be with Cordy. The newspapers snapped photos of the young couple everywhere they went. Piled together with two of his new teammates from the Hackney Chiefs in the back of an open landau, Lili beamed as fans cheered.
“Willis Van Schaak [sic—she seemed to vacillate between “Marie” and “Willis,” maybe unsure of who she was or else to hide from Maxwell, who was still unaware of her engagement to Cordy] is now in London to marry U.S. Speedway champion Cordy Milne . . . wedding next Saturday. Miss Van Schaak flew from Los Angeles to New York to catch liner for London.”85
Cordy treated her well and it was a turn-on for Lili to be in the spotlight that spilled onto her. She liked knowing other women wanted her fiancé. However, her heart remained elsewhere. Lili would honor her commitment, yet her intention was to return to California, divorce Cordy, and then return to England to marry Maxwell. For some reason she felt honor bound to go through with the marriage and then break it off, instead of letting Cordy down beforehand.
She spent the next few months following Cordy to various speedways as he raced with the Hackney Chiefs. She also spent equal amounts of time alone and bored while Cordy hung at pubs with his teammates reliving their victorious seconds on the track.
Quickly she tired of the routine. She wanted to go dancing at night, but Cordy was too tired or wanted to hang with his friends.
Lili found her own place to be alone. The Lyons Corner House was a chain of upscale art deco tea shops with a live band. She could sit for as long as she liked, eating rich cream puffs. Idle, with no friends and no work, panicking as the wedding day approached and missing Maxwell, conflicted about Cordy, whom she no longer even wanted to kiss, she found herself eating dozens of cream puffs as she devoured British Vogue. She gained twenty pounds.
Lili at her marriage to Cordy
While the press was still speculating about whether Edward would make Mrs. Simpson his queen, Lili prepared to wed. The white wedding gown she had sewn was forsaken and instead she opted for a black silk dress, claiming she wanted “to be different.”86 It could have easily been a reflection on her nuptials or the fact she had gained too much weight to fit into her intended wedding gown.
On a warm, rainy afternoon, Saturday, July 25, 1936, Lili stood next to Cordy in Hackney Wicke Stadium and exchanged rings.87 It had been Cordy’s manager’s idea to “stage” the wedding at the site of his impending race. The papers back home showed Lili’s picture and acknowledged that “Mrs. B. Clark” (Alice) had to write her approval as Lili was considered a minor.88 A reception for five hundred was held at the Hackney Wick Club.
It would not be the last time a wedding and headlines fused together for Lili.
AFTER THE CEREMONY THE NEWLYWEDS POSED FOR PHOTOGRAPHS IN front of a borrowed limousine while fans pelted them with rice. Lili held a long spray of flowers. She looked like a young, happy bride. She was all of that, except for happy.
In her French biography, Lili claimed to beg off sleeping with Cordy on their wedding night with the excuse that it was her time of the month. She didn’t want sex with him, despite Cordy threatening he would have to find another woman as the days of abstinence turned into weeks.
Lili hoped marriage would change Cordy and they could move to a more private apartment, one that didn’t have her sharing a communal bathroom in the hall with strangers. She longed to be back on the SS Manhattan. They began to argue over little things. Cordy kept to his routine of races and hanging with teammates. He didn’t want to take her to shows and plays and ballets. And he didn’t want her going on her own. She didn’t have her own money and depended on Cordy for everything. He insisted on paying for things directly. She resented it. Was this her adventure? There was a whole exciting world in London and she was missing all of it.
Lili began to see Maxwell while she continued to beg off sleeping with Cordy (she might have started seeing Maxwell prior to the wedding). She reveled in how Maxwell thought her “mysterious” because of the game she played with him, disappearing and reappearing days later. She recalled how she pushed the “role” of an enigmatic woman as far as she could with him.89
Cordy, never immune to a pretty face, took care of his sexual needs through the willing fans that appeared at the tracks. Women loved his boyish charm and daredevil ways packaged in an unassuming manner. Cordy must have been mystified by his bride. She wasn’t like the sunny Marie from Pasadena, the sweet girl he had fallen for. This girl moping around the apartment had changed. She was moody and secretive.
During Cordy’s out-of-town competitions Lili stayed behind and met with Maxwell for lunches.
Whether he eventually found out about Maxwell or not, Cordy was fed up with Lili and plotted his revenge.
One morning when Lili was out he invited a pretty young thing—probably a fan—back to the apartment. He delayed getting the girl into bed until he was sure Lili would be returning. They were in the midst of making love when Lili blithely walked in, shopping bags in hand.
Cordy jumped up. The girl screamed and dived under the sheets.
They waited for Lili’s explosion.
Lili turned around and closed the door behind her. Presently they heard quiet banging coming from the other room. A teapot whistled as the naked girl reached for her bra and slip. She stayed under the covers wiggling into them.
“Some tea?” Lili breezed through the door, a tray filled with scones, jam and cream, a pot, and cups.90 She placed the tray on the foot of the bed as the two stared at her astonished. Without so much as another word Lili left the apartment.