James Paul Donahue Jr. (June 11, 1915 – December 6, 1966) was an heir to the Woolworth estate and a noted New York City 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 EF Hutton was an American stock brokerage firm founded in 1904 by Edward Francis Hutton and his brother, Franklyn Laws Hutton. Later, it was led by well known Wall Street trader Gerald M. Loeb. Under their leadership, EF Hutton became one of ...

(1877–1940), a co-founder of the brokerage firm E. F. Hutton & Co. He was also the first cousin 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 traditio ...

Barbara Hutton (1912–1979). Donahue was a high school dropout. He initially attended the Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey, 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 high ...

in Connecticut. 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. 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 denied his request. Thereafter, he returned to New York where he was sworn into the U.S. Army

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 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 ...

, were exclusively homosexual. In 1950, he was 35 when befriended by the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess. He claimed he had had a four-year affair with Simpson. This claim was verified by Lady Pamela Hicks, daughter of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 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