Ostracism

In British Bermuda, U.S. tourists keep to the hotels and playgrounds, Negro residents keep to settlements like Pond Hill, and the eminent old white families keep to themselves--except when they are busy running the colony's commerce, government and society. Among the oldest and most eminent are the Outerbridges, who date from 1620. They are so distinguished and numerous that a somewhat tired joke describes Bermuda as "a series of islands connected by Outerbridges.'' Not lightly is an Outerbridge expelled from such venerable institutions as the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, the Mid-Ocean Golf Club, the St. George's Dinghy and Sports Club. But last week an Outerbridge was out. The explanation: Alexander Stuart Outerbridge, 34, had married a Negro singer from Broadway.

Stuart*Outerbridge started out a conventional scion of aristocracy, approved by all the first families, from the Triming-hams (Bermuda shorts) to the Trotts (hotels). He lived in the U.S. for a dozen years, first married Alice Wolcott, daughter of the chairman of the board of Pennsylvania's Lukens Steel Co.; they had four children. Then he quit a Pennsylvania advertising job and bought Bermuda's Swizzle Inn, a rum-punch spot, later added a nightclub called Angel's Grotto. The genteel ginmill business put him in contact with Manhattan cafe society and entertainment types, and he began spending less time with staid Bermudians, more with exciting Americans. By last December his wife had divorced him; he had been named corespondent in a divorce suit, and was dating Royce Wallace, caramel-skinned veteran of seven Broadway shows and Manhattan hotspots who had flown in to sing at the Grotto. On Christmas Eve he married Royce.

Since then, says Outerbridge, "there has definitely been a complete ostracism. My relatives speak to me on the street, but that's all." Royce explained seriously that "we won't go to the back door of Stuart's family's house-and things could be awkward in church, because he has a front pew." But Outerbridge wants to stick it out, even though "lots of people would like to break me. However, if I get through the slack season, I'll be all right. I think we've found happiness; Royce is a wonderful person."

* His mother was a Virginia Stuart, descended from an impressive roster of jurists and socialites--but not, as reported, directly from Confederate General James Ewell Brown ("Jeb") Stuart. Jeb apparently was a distant kinsman, a member of what Outerbridge's forebears joked was "the cadet branch of the family."

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