the Brown Derby. She knew the Mizner boys from her San Francisco days and was linked romantically in print to Wilson's brother Lans. Another memorable appearance was as Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, in a costume party in Paris, and yet another gala that she hosted had her pet boa constrictor, Kaa, as the guest of honor. Her crowning achievement as “Entertainer of Entertainers” which received press all over the world would be “The Dance of all Nations.” The program that evening featured the very frank “Salome” dance, the curious Vienna Viggle, and the “cannibal” dancer Dogmeena, whose costume consisted of coconut oil and a red sash, and who enthusiastically danced in La Danse des Igorrotes. Crocker, appearing in pearls “that would clothe a baby and ransom a king,” delighted the company when she danced La Madrilena, an Argentine tango (then denounced and forbidden by the Catholic Church) with one of her most recent admirers. A little later, with a twelve-foot snake twined round her neck, she appeared in La Danse de Cobra. When her guests backed away from the snake's emerald eyes and darting tongue, she exclaimed, “It's as gentle as a powder puff." Because of her frenetic and lascivious lifestyle, Crocker was shunned by much of New York society including some members of her extended family. The public, however, was mesmerized by her. The Philadelphia Inquirer named her "The Most Fascinating Woman of Her Age" and "The Queen of Bohemia." The Bohemian set in New York worshiped her. They were spellbound by the adventurous stories of the well-traveled heiress. They were impressed by her bevy of young male admirers. They were inspired by the guest lists at her gatherings, which were brimming with both illustrious and infamous merrymakers. She sometimes cohosted events with Bohemian artist friend Edmund Russell, who was a well known "Delsartean" lifestyle coach, an actor, an apostle of Madame Helena Blavatsky, and Aimée Crocker's portrait painter. Later years In 1910, Gouraud died of an acute attack of tonsillitis. The devastated heiress was hospitalized in Paris. Later that year, a publicity tour for her first book catapulted her into the spotlight. For the next 20 years she was America's most eccentric personality whose every move made headlines. She changed the spelling of her name from “Amy” to “Aimée” for the book and moved her children to an estate in Paris dubbed “The House of Fantasy.”