Empty Mansions

door-to-door in a Bavarian town.
    Cable of October 6, 1964, to Mrs. Edith von Arps, Burgkunstadt, West Germany:
    Rumpelstiltskin house just arrived. It is beautifully painted but unfortunately is not same size of last porridge house received. Instead of front of house being 19¾ of an inch wide it is only 15½ inch wide. Please make sure religious house has front of house 19¾ of an inch wide. Would also like shutters on all the windows. Would like another Rumpelstiltskin house with same scenes with scene where hay is turned to gold added as well as scene before hay is turned but with wider front and also wooden shutters on every window. With many thanks for all your troubles and kindest regards. Huguette Clark, 907 Fifth Ave NYC
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    Rudolph Jaklitsch, born in Austria-Hungary in 1910, immigrated to New York from Yugoslavia before World War II and fought in the U.S. Army during the war. Trained as a cabinetmaker and restorer of antiques, Rudolph was hired by Huguette after the war to work on her dollhouses. When the houses arrived from their makers, Huguette would send them to Rudolph’s apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, for modifications. His wife, Anna, made the little curtains.
    Their daughter Linda Kasakyan recalls the frequent phone calls at home in the evening. It would be Madame Clark with an idea for a change to one of her houses. Then five minutes later, another instruction. The phone might ring six times in a night. Rudolph would say, it would be so much easier to know what she wanted if he could sit down with her. But she would talk with him only on the phone or through her apartment door. Rudolph worked for Huguette for thirty years and saw her only twice.
    His daughter said it bothered Huguette terribly if the measurements weren’t right. She liked to place dolls in the houses and move them through various activities—drinking tea, walking in the garden, having conversations. Sometimes, however, the ceilings in the houses weretoo low for the dolls. One time Huguette called Rudolph with an urgent problem:
    “The little people are banging their heads!”
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    In her dollhouse building, as in her many other art projects, Huguette blended an artistic sensibility and imagination with a meticulous drive for precision, a commanding self-assurance, and an overwhelming generosity.
    Even as an adult, she was not happy with the fables and fairy tales as they were written, often excising the unpleasant parts. On August 16, 1962, she cabled instructions to Manon Iessel, a renowned French illustrator, who was helping her with illustrations for a story house:
    Thank you for your kind letter. I would like that the Sleeping Beauty house tale not continue after the kiss as I do not like the rest of the story. I also would like an interior staircase going from the first to the second floor, and a detachable garden with rose bushes (with thorns) placed in the garden and on the surrounding fence. Also, the house should be able to be opened on one side, but not the garden side. The figurines should be sketched according to the models you received, in color, with some fairies wearing pointy headdresses
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    In the rest of the story, Sleeping Beauty and the prince marry and have children. An ogress demands that the children and princess be cooked and served to her, though they are saved. Disney’s animated films also left out that part, agreeing with Huguette’s editing.
    Huguette also ordered dollhouses from Au Nain Bleu in Paris. When she didn’t get what she wanted, she’d send it back, politely but firmly. For example, in a cable to Au Nain Bleu dated June 14, 1963, she wrote:
    Received the wall and garden. Unfortunately, they are useless. The door for the wall being in front of the elevator, it is impossible to open it. This door should open into the kitchen. The second-floor windows are not necessary as there is so little space to place the furniture. The window to the left of the door is the only one that is well-placed. Themeasurements of the garden are not the same as in the model I sent you, and the sides are too short. I am sending it back to you. With all my thanks. Huguette Clark
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    She desired not only the dolls and dollhouses but also the accessories that gave the appearance of daily life. For a breakfast scene, she cabled Au Nain Bleu asking for tiny French breads: croissants, brioches, madeleines, mille-feuilles, and turnovers. But she wasn’t done. In a May 7, 1956, cable to the