The Baron of Botox · Imperative Entertainment

Special Preview Episode: Elizabeth the First. The Taylor Burton Show

November 17, 2022·32 min·2 clips

Elizabeth Taylor turned a 33-carat Nazi-linked diamond into her signature 'fuck you' to the Krupp family.

The preview opens with multiple sources describing Elizabeth Taylor's relationship with jewelry, framing it as both passion and identity. A speaker describes the Krupp diamond — a 33-carat Asscher-cut stone once owned by the Krupp family, Nazi munitions suppliers — and Taylor's reported framing of her purchase as a symbolic reclamation: 'a big fuck you to the Nazis, now it's on a nice Jewish girl.' Taylor attorney Barbara Berkowitz describes the theater of Taylor removing the Krupp diamond in a jewelry store, causing the salesman to shake and the security guard to lock the doors and close the curtains against the crowd gathering outside. The Taylor-Burton diamond acquisition is recounted in detail: a 69-carat pear-shaped stone that Richard Burton wanted for Taylor, which Aristotle Onassis outbid him on at auction. Burton subsequently approached Cartier, who had won the diamond, and paid an additional $50,000 with the agreement the stone could be displayed in their windows temporarily. Art book editor Ruth Pelteson describes Richard Burton's 'natural eye' for beauty and great art, arguing that some of Taylor's most spectacular jewelry pieces were Burton's gifts. The episode then pivots to Taylor's business acumen. A source describes Taylor's advice to always negotiate for jewelry rather than money, reasoning that commissions extracted the cash but no one could take back a physical piece. The role of business manager Jess Morgan is mentioned; he reportedly said that during the Taylor-Burton era, Elizabeth was 'running the show' despite public perception of the relationship as Burton-led. Taylor's Cleopatra negotiations are described: she demanded and received an astronomical fee, the production nearly bankrupted Fox, and she subsequently incorporated her own production company to loan herself back to studios at higher rates. An anecdote — sourced to a now-deceased individual — describes Taylor calling Marilyn Monroe to offer to walk off the Cleopatra set in solidarity after Monroe was fired, with Monroe declining but appreciating the gesture. The preview closes with a note that Taylor's greatest chapter — presumably her AIDS activism — has yet to come.

As heard by us

A jewelry-centered portrait of Elizabeth Taylor that keeps glamour at the center.

The piece stays with Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry and the glow around it, which is where it feels most alive. The best moments come from the close attention paid to familiar pieces, even a brooch, and from the way beauty is treated as part of the story instead of simple…

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Why you'd press play

If you want Elizabeth Taylor through the jewelry and glamour that defined her, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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