As a child, he was playmates with the lumber heiress Dorothy Stimson Bullitt, who grew up near to the Collins' home.
A profile of Collins published in a 1930 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described him as "swarthy" and "good-looking" with "Celtic blue eyes and a ... slight British accent".
[8][9] Collins often played on his privileged upbringing to engage in witty commentary that was "extremely audacious in a well bred manner".
In 1934, after driving back to Seattle from New York City, he declared in a newspaper interview that the United States was "too big", remarking that "New England is about right ... and the Pacific Coast would make a nice, other Italy" but that he didn't see any use for the rest of the country, implying the Midwest.
[8][10][6] Collins' 1928 novel Rome Express is based on the life of his contemporary, and fellow wealthy Seattle cosmopolitan, Guendolen Plestcheeff.