Adelaide Hooker-Marquand (1903 – 1963) was the second wife and widow of John P. Marquand — author of the Mr. Moto spy stories and Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Late George Apley in 1938.
Diana and Tom were engaged 
in late 1960. Not yet graduated from Harvard, Tom rented a room in Cambridge at the Marquand home as did three other students. That was how Diana happened to meet Adelaide.
For well over half a century, Diana recalled how Adelaide’s chef, a burly Afro-American, would reign supreme in the kitchen. Typically wielding one of his largest knives he would warn, “Miz Marquand, you get outta mah kitchen or I gonna kill you!” (Most of her forays into the kitchen were for a bottle of wine that was really needed for cooking.)
When Diana told Adelaide how much her father enjoyed the Mr. Moto series, Adelaide had a copy of George Apley sent to him in Rochester along with an invitation to an engagement party she decided to throw for Diana and Tom.
On the day of the party, when Diana took Pa to the front entrance and he saw how opulent the home was, he began a traditional paternal ritual, in Italian, of reminding Diana the importance of being on her “best behavior in such surroundings.” As they entered, the lady of the house, Adelaide, descended from the second story … riding the “banister express” while facing away from them.
Diana fondly remembered that, just before reaching the bottom, “the old gal pivoted and staggered off, onto the plush carpet, rear-end first and managed to get out a slurred, ‘Welcome to my humble abode’ …” Diana, in Italian, told Pa, “Questa Madama Marquand.”
A few years ago the PBS 24/7 loop, Classic Arts Showcase, aired a clip of Peggy Lee performing where she told how, decades earlier, she was invited with a gentleman friend to go yachting with Humphrey Bogart who said, “There are a lot of dames in this town but very few good broads.” Hearing this Diana exclaimed, “He must’ve been thinking about Adelaide.”
July 2017