James Paul Donahue Jr. (June 11, 1915 – December 6, 1966) was an heir to the Woolworth estate and a noted

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

socialite.

Early life

Jimmy Donahue was the second son of James Paul Donahue (1887–1931), the scion of an

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

family which had made a fortune in the fat rendering business (Retail Butchers' Fat Rendering Company), by his wife Jessie ( Woolworth) Donahue (1886–1971), one of the three daughters of Frank Winfield "F. W." Woolworth, founder of the Woolworth retail chain. His older brother was Woolworth Donahue (1913–1972) who brought a cheetah to Cannes following a safari. Donahue was a nephew of Edna Woolworth (1883–1917), a wealthy socialite and a nephew by marriage of Franklyn Laws Hutton (1877–1940), a co-founder of the brokerage firm E. F. Hutton & Co. He was also the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

and confidant of the American

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having tradit ...

Barbara Hutton Barbara Woolworth Hutton (November 14, 1912 – May 11, 1979) was an American debutante, socialite, heiress, and philanthropist. She was dubbed the "Poor Little Rich Girl"—first when she was given a lavish and expensive debutante ball in 1930 a ...

(1912–1979). Donahue was a high school dropout. He initially attended the

Hun School The Hun School of Princeton is a private, coeducational, secondary boarding school located in Princeton in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students from sixth through twelfth grades. Currently, the head of school ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, and after his parents were advised to remove him from there, he was shifted to the

Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private hig ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. However, he was expelled from that school at age 17. Following his expulsion from Choate he took tap dance lessons with the tap dance master

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Bill Robinson, nicknamed Bojangles (born Luther Robinson; May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949), was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid African-American entertainer in the United States during the f ...

. Despite his mother's opposition, he made a brief debut as a dancer in a Broadway musical production that closed ten days after its opening in September 1933.

Draft

In 1944, then 29-year-old Donahue was notified in Florida, where he has been flying with the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

for two years (and carried on the

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

reserve inactive list while flying with CAP), that he had been classified 1-A by his draft board and would be inducted. He fought reporting to New York but the

draft board {{further, Conscription in the United StatesDraft boards are a part of the Selective Service System which register and select men of military age in the event of conscription in the United States. Local board The local draft board is a board tha ...

denied his request. Thereafter, he returned to New York where he was sworn into the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

Career

Having been born into a wealthy family, Donahue never felt the need to earn a living, and indeed he lived lavishly, travelling the world with a valet in tow and staying at the most expensive hotels. He was known within his circle by the nickname "Jeem". A

playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

by nature, he was a gay man at a time when homosexual acts were illegal. Though press agents arranged for him to be seen with female escorts, his pursuits, until he met

Wallis, Duchess of Windsor Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...

, were exclusively homosexual. In 1950, he was 35 when befriended by the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his abdication on 11 December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a ...

and the Duchess. He claimed he had had a four-year affair with Simpson. This claim was verified by

Lady Pamela Hicks Lady Pamela Carmen Louise Hicks (''née'' Mountbatten; born 19 April 1929) is a British aristocrat and relative of the British royal family. She is the younger daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (formerly Prince Loui ...

, daughter of the

Earl Mountbatten of Burma Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 October 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. The letters patent creating the title specified the following r ...

, a cousin of the Duke of Windsor. Donahue died in 1966 at the age of 51. He is buried in the Woolworth Family Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donahue, James Paul Jr. 1915 births 1966 deaths Woolworth family LGBT people from Connecticut American gay men American socialites Socialites from New York City Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)

Early life

Draft

Career

References

Further reading

External links