One of the pleasantest ways in which a man of wealth can lose money is to back a ballet troupe. Distinguished losers at ballet in recent decades have included the Aga Khan and Sir Basil Zaharoff (original Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo), Cincinnati's yeast king, Julius Fleischmann (Universal Art, Inc.), Manhattan's rug widow, Lucia Chase (Ballet Theatre), Boston's department-store prince, Lincoln Kirstein (American Ballet). Last week another prospective loser cheerfully bet his chips: Chilean-born George de Cuevas, onetime Marqués de Piedrablanca de Guana, who married the late John D. Rockefeller's granddaughter, Margaret Strong.
Balletomane de Cuevas' initial stack amounted to $250,000, for...
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