Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Louise M. Davies FROM QUINCY TO WOODSIDE: MEMORIES OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS With Introductions by Cornelius Buckley, S.J. and Samuel B. Stewart An Interview Conducted by Suzanne B. Riess 1983 - 1985 <? Copyright 1987 by The Regents of the University of California All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between the University of California and Louise M. Davies dated March 4, 1985. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Louise M. Davies requires that she be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Louise M. Davies, "From Quincy to Woodside: Memories of Family and Friends," an oral history conducted in 1983-1985 by Suzanne B. Riess, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1986. Copy No. LOUISE M. DAVIES Photograph by Michael Collopy San Francisco Chronicle By Michael Taylor 6/23/98 Louise M. Davies was Davies, the quintes called sential San Francisco benefactor "Elan," who ** gave the city a $5 million sym meaning phony hall and showered millions "style," her more on local charities, died yes granddaughter t terday at the age of 98. - *.T5J said. '- "*~>v.3 Mrs. Davies died at The Se a quoias, retirement home in Por- medical center in San Francisco is tola Valley, not far from her be named, died in 1971. loved estate in Woodside. Mrs. Davies later said she and her Her husband, oil millionaire husband believed that their K. Ralph Davies, for whom the DAVIES: PageAllCoL4 From Page! went to convent school in Rio Vista person and a great friend after of the children should and, graduating, took a job as not receive a big orchestra," said Peter Pastreich a stenographer in Oakland ger inheritance than was for $25 executive director of the good for a week. sympho-' them. so k to And she decided to give ny "Getting know Louise and a Since the away great deal of the family for childhood, she had seeing happiness she got from tune. thought she would either her be a nun benefactions has been one of or a movie the "She was a actress and so, after sev pleasures of my life with pretty wild thing, en the kind of years in the anonymity of Oak San Francisco like The Unsinkable Molly Symphony." " land, she set out for Los Brown,' her Angeles to Nancy Bechtle, granddaughter, Lu the president of give movies a try. But her plans the cy Dreyer, said yesterday. "When symphony board, said, "She for stardom got sidetracked after was a she came into a room, you knew wonderful part of the Sym she was introduced to Da- there was a new and fresh ele Ralph phony. Probably the vies. crowning glo ment. used ry of her life was that They to call her 'Elan,' hall, and ev " time meaning 'style.' They were married in 1925. Al ery she walked in, she was he thrilled It was though didn't have much mon just to be there. She sat in the kind of style that ey, he was for the center of the front brought a novel candor to the working Standard row and Oil and had set his just got a real kick out of the stuffy world of the cloistered rich. already sights whole on the presidency of the thing." "She never a company. played role and By the of World she beginning War II, And Mayor Willie Brown said whatever she he said, thought, was vice president He the "Louise Davies which I spent was one of the greatly admired," her war years as petroleum adminis main benefactors of the cultural grandson, Ralph Davies Lewis, trator for Interior Secretary Har arts of San Francisco. said "When she She was tru yesterday. gave old Ickes. a for the ly generous woman. The money symphony hall, a money When the war she and her magazine asked her she ended, he re family made evidenc why gave turned to es itself hi 1 it. Standard Oil but was not Davies Hah 'Because I had it' is what , Ralph K she made Davies told them. She president of the company, so Medical Center and other was real grass roots, he quit and went out on his own. faculties around the tied right down to the ground." city." In time, he made millions Mrs. Davies is survived She was, in the words of a Jesu of by a dollars it by independently daughter, Maryon Davies Lewis, of priest who was clearly bowled buying oil concessions all over the world. San Francisco; five grandchildren over by her, "a tornado of compas Ralph Davies ran and five great-grandchildren. sionate energy." But it was the eventually kind American President Lines and the Services are of energy and compassion scheduled for 10 Natomas Co. a.m. at that to Mrs. Davies seemed like sec Friday St Pius Church ond nature. Mrs. Davies continued her hus 1100 Woodside Road, Redwood band's tradition of City. "I had the money, and we cer giving away millions. tainly needed that hall," she said in In 1980 of the symphony's new home 1990, on the eve of her 90th on Van she was Ness Avenue, the big show birthday, interviewed in case her home in that was ultimately named for Woodside and confid her. ed: "I'm just learning after all these years that I have a lot At first, she gave $4 million for quite of money. Isn't that the hall's construction. She later something?" "She had no gave an additional $1 million when idea how much she was more bills from the contractors worth," Dreyer said, "and came in. when she found she And then, in a gesture to out, became a fill benefactor to the San . hall with quality music, she big Francisco." ponied up $3 million to attract top In addition to contributions to flight visiting conductors. the symphony and the medical ' she All this came from' a woman center, also.gave $1 pillion to the who grew up on a farm in Plumas University of San Francisco. County and rode her buckskin po Yesterday, symphony officials to ny, Dolly, school. When her par mourned her passing. ents got divorced, Mrs. Davies "Louise M navies was a oraat TABLE OF CONTENTS Louise M. Davies INTRODUCTION by Cornelius Buckley. S.J. i by Samuel B. Stewart iv INTERVIEW HISTORY vii BRIEF BIOGRAPHY xi I LOUISE STIVERS 1 Small Town Girl 1 Interest in Acting 4 Convent School 6 Memories of Quincy and Sacramento 10 Healings and Helping 13 Other Family Members 15 Jobs, and Father 18 Meeting Ralph Davies 21 Drawn Together 23 II DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL 28 III RALPH K. DAVIES 34 Early Influences 34 Personality and Ambition 37 Mother Davies 41 The Year in England. 1928-1929 43 Parting from Standard Oil and the Washington Years 46 IV COMMUNITY 51 The Children, and Family Traditions 51 Stanford and the Business School 53 Rubicon Beach, and Architects 56 Alice Meyer and Frank Buck 58 Woodside, House and Garden 60 An Unforgettable Party, and Lucien Labaudt's Murals 63 Designer Houses. Foreign Families 67 V MORE ABOUT RALPH 70 Letters from Washington 70 Harold Ickes and the Oil Brotherhood 72 Publishing, Experimenting, Fears 77 A Liberal Streak, and Loyalty to Friends 81 Medical Center, and the "Giving Business" 84 Western Art. and the Ranch 86 VI LOUISE DAVIES 1 OWN INTERESTS 89 Daughters' Education. Debuts 89 Nursing, and Mothering 91 Independence 95 Opera and Symphony Openings 99 Cystic Fibrosis Benefit Fashion Show 103 Mrs. Santa Glaus 105 Elementary Education 108 The Catholic Church in the Community 109 Night Thoughts 110 Protocol of Volunteering, and Fundraising 112 Keeping Busy The Nuns from St. Patrick's 120 Going to the Symphony with Alice Buck 121 Symphony Fridays 121 Lunch Clubs and Fortune Tellers 125 Musicians' Lives 128 Last Thoughts 130 APPENDIX A. Mrs. Ralph K. Davies from Ralph K. Davies As We Knew Him 133 B. "A Shining Debut for Davies Hall," from San Francisco 146 Sunday Examiner & Chronicle C. "Louise M. Davies and the Joy of Giving," from 151 Symphony Magazine D. A Sampling of Awards and Honors 154 INDEX 161 INTRODUCTION By Cornelius Buckley, S.J. I was both flattered and honored to have been asked to write a few introductory remarks to Louise Davies' memoir. At first I planned to describe this close and dear friend of mine through quip and anecdote. I thought about recounting in a good-humored way my first meeting with this family friend when she came to Paris where I was living some twenty years ago. Readers of her memoirs would have enjoyed learning how, in a matter of a few days, she became a succes fou all over the West Bank at the vernissage of a young artist, who to this day owes his success to her generosity; at a sidewalk cafe, which easily could have fit into the First Act La Fille du raiment; and in the center of the bustling, night crowds flowing down the Boulevard Saint-Germain to the Seine and beyond.