Helen Hope Montgomery Scott

Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (April 8, 1904 – January 9, 1995) was a socialite and philanthropist whom Vanity Fair once called "the unofficial queen of Philadelphia's WASP oligarchy." She is most famous as the inspiration for Tracy Lord, the main character in the Philip Barry play The Philadelphia Story, which was made into the film of the same name as well as the musical film High Society. Scott was a longtime chairman and executive director of the Devon Horse Show and sponsored other events to raise money for the Bryn Mawr Hospital, her favorite charity. She was considered the epitome of Main Line high society and symbol of an aristocratic, free-spirited elegance. Hope Scott was one of the four children of Colonel Robert Leaming Montgomery, who founded the investment firm known today as Janney Montgomery Scott. Her mother was Charlotte Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery, whose family had made its fortune in banking. In 1923, Helen Hope Montgomery married Edgar Scott, an investment banker and heir to a railroad fortune. After her marriage, Scott began to appear regularly on the New York Couture Group's annual list of best-dressed women. Her beauty and slim, angular figure (size eight throughout her life) was much admired, inspiring artists such as Cecil Beaton and Augustus John. Scott became famous for hosting lavish parties at Ardrossan, the Montgomerys' estate in Radnor, Pennsylvania, where she entertained notables of society, government, and the arts, including W. Averell Harriman, Cole Porter, and Katharine Hepburn. Her son, Robert Montgomery Scott, was also a philanthropist, and after a long legal career served as president of the Academy of Music, and even more visibly, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Early life and social environment Helen Hope Montgomery was initially educated by a governess, later spending a short period at Foxcroft School, a girls' boarding school in Virginia. She had begun riding at the age of four, and horsemanship was a major interest of hers throughout her lifetime. She was officially introduced to society as a debutante at Philadelphia's Assembly Ball in 1922. One of the oldest and most exclusive social gatherings in the United States, it has been held every year since 1748 and was historically reserved for members of the city's high society. Philadelphia was America's leading city in the 18th century and became an industrial and commercial powerhouse by the 19th century.