Playgrounds: Ripple, Ripple, Little Stars

With a stick in the wet Florida sand, Architect Addison Mizner once drew the outlines of Spanish mansions, clients gave approval on the spot, and construction crews were soon at work on such Palm Beach palaces as Playa Riente, home of Oklahoma Oil King Joshua Cosden, and El Mirasol, where Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury ruled vacationing society. Meanwhile, Addison's brother Wilson and Super-Publicist Harry Reichenbach fleshed out the Mizner principality by adhering to a golden Reichenbach rule: "Get the big snobs and the little snobs will follow."

Last week, 35 years later, many...

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