In 1958, public lore held that Gerald Ives’s granddaughters were out reveling as he lay dying. Margaret Ives offered her own account: she plotted one perfect night to coax her withdrawn sister Laura Ives back into life by sneaking her to a Cosmo Sinclair concert. To avoid paparazzi, Margaret enlisted Daniel the head gardener and his truck, obtained wigs from their mother Doris “Bernie” Bernhardt’s studio, and had the housekeeper buy off-the-rack dresses. They slipped past photographers at the House of Ives gates and, after a decoy handoff and a stop at a crowded burger joint, made their way by cab to the Pan Pacific Auditorium.

At the burger joint, the sisters joked about Cosmo, their father Frederick “Freddy” Ives’s showmanship, and stepfather Roy’s quiet nature, while Margaret privately reflected on love, family, and her protective devotion to Laura. Arriving at the venue, they blended into a star-studded crowd. As openers performed, anticipation built until Cosmo appeared, sending the audience into a frenzy. Despite Margaret’s initial skepticism, both sisters were swept up by the spectacle, dancing, laughing, and sharing a flask as Cosmo’s charisma electrified the hall.

During Cosmo’s hit “A Girl Back Home,” he knelt at the stage edge and held a fan’s hand, triggering a dangerous surge. The crowd compressed; Margaret was struck near the eye and briefly lost sight of Laura. After a struggle, a security guard and the Ives driver Darrin pulled Margaret toward the side where Laura stood against the wall with a bleeding, likely broken nose and a dazed expression. Darrin insisted they leave immediately amid police intervention and chaos.

Outside, paparazzi descended. Margaret tried to stop a photographer from capturing Laura’s injured face, drawing more cameras before Darrin bundled them into the car. En route, Margaret learned Laura had told Gerald about their plans; Darrin, sent by the house, revealed Gerald did not have long. Laura broke down, and they raced home.

At the House of Ives, the doctors were departing; Gerald had been dead for twenty minutes. Laura collapsed in grief, and that night she cried herself to sleep beside Margaret, who could offer only repeated assurances of presence: “I’m here.”

The next morning’s headlines condemned Cosmo’s “depravity” and blasted the “Socialite Sisters” for “cavorting” as their grandfather died. Margaret, already angry at Cosmo’s role in inciting the surge, was notified by butler Briggs that Cosmo Sinclair himself had arrived uninvited. Margaret planned to confront him, but upstairs Laura, her nose reset and spirits shattered, refused to see him, saying she could never listen to his music again because it would always mark the night she lost her dearest friend. Laura asked Margaret to get rid of him, and Margaret went downstairs to do so.