ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602160099
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: G-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY ROBERT ALOTTA
PAINFULLY RICH: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty. By John Pearson. St. Martin's Press. $23.95.
John Pearson's "Painfully Rich" could be better titled, "Spoiled Rotten." Whichever the title, the book is the story of the trials and tribulations of the dysfunctional Getty family.
J. Paul Getty, scion of the clan, died in 1976. He was survived by five ex-wives, an assortment of mistresses, three sons and a motley collection of daughters-in-law, former daughters-in-law and grandchildren. He was a man who lived his life for himself; everyone else was subservient to his desires, his wishes.
His selfishness, Pearson tries to convince us, came from his desire to prove himself to his father and mother. When his father died, Big Paul, as he was known to his family, expected to get the lion's share of the millions the father had gained through drilling for oil wells. But the father sensed that Big Paul was not the businessman he could be and turned the bulk of the estate over to the Sarah C. Getty Trust. The trust was named for his mother, and she controlled it until her death.
Because his background equated prosperity with virtue, Big Paul attempted to create his own fortune. He did so and became the world's richest man.
Pearson's book becomes "painful" when he deals with John Paul Jr., known as Little Paul. Little Paul was a flower child. He protested the Vietnam War, wore long hair and beads and became a drug user. He and his father did not communicate because the old man didn't want to be associated with a member of his family who had such a horrendous habit. Even when Little Paul's son, Paul III, was kidnapped in 1973, Big Paul wanted no involvement. The kidnappers, who cut off the young boy's ear to show they were serious, could not believe that the richest man in the world would allow this to happen. Big Paul finally agreed to help but only to the extent of lending his son the amount of money he deemed necessary.
Little Paul went clean almost a decade after his father's death. He found redemption in donating money to the British government, preserving some of the empire's past, plugging money into soccer and other forms of largesse. For all his donated money he was made an honorary knight.
The words to a Beatle tune, "Can't Buy Me Love," tripped through my mind while I read this book. Money is a blessing to those who know what to do with it. It is not a blessing for those who have it dropped in their laps. "Painfully Rich" should make extremely painful reading for the Getty heirs. For the rest of us, it is a cautionary tale.
Robert Alotta is an author-historian, who lives in Harrisonburg.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: John Paul Getty II displays his honorary knighthoodby CNBinsignia.