Peaches n Sugar

Guest Post by Lona Manning

(A Clews note: Once Anna Nicole died, all the crime historians scratched their heads for a moment and then noted a precedent for her bizarre life and death. Clews came up with a comparison to Dr. Zeo Zoe Wilkins, calling her "the Anna Nicole Smith of the '20s." But crime historian and freelance writer Lona Manning came up with yet another mercenary siren and tabloid superstar and shares the story here. Thanks, Lona.)

She was famous for being famous. The blonde, blue eyed and buxom headline-grabber married a wealthy man old enough to be her grandfather. When he died, she fought for a share of his estate. Her once-voluptuous figure turned rotund and she fought a battle with the bottle. Her death was sudden and mysterious.

Anna Nicole? Nope. “Peaches” Browning.

Frances Heenan, aka Peaches, was a New York shop girl earning $15.00 a week when she caught the eye and then the affections of Edward W. Browning, “Daddy” Browning to you, a New York real estate developer.

Browning was by no means publicity-shy, even before his marriage to the lovely “Peaches.” A natty dresser who somewhat resembled the man on the monopoly board, Browning claimed to be 51, which, inverted, gives you the age of his blushing bride, “Peaches.”

No lithe flapper, Peaches was a buxom little dish who seemed marked out for notoriety and drama. Shortly before her marriage to Browning, someone, believed to be a disappointed suitor, threw a mixture of acid and chloroform on her as she slept, burning her neck and chin. This tragedy did not prevent the marriage.

Mrs. Heenan, “Peaches’” mother, gave her blessing to the match and to further show her approval, she moved in with the newlyweds.

But the May-November couple did not live happily ever after. Six months into the marriage, “Peaches” was out, bound for a career on the Broadway stage, and suing for a separation from “Daddy” on the basis of cruelty.

Browning counter-sued for desertion, as journalist Damon Runyon put it, he wanted to "shake 'Peaches' from the Browning family tree." The estranged couple squared off in a New York courtroom. Browning’s lawyer tried to introduce Peaches’ diary, to show that she was already a “woman of the world” before her marriage. The judge disallowed it, at which time a sigh rose in the crowded courtroom.

(Photo from the Chicago Daily News archives, Via)

During his testimony, “Peaches,” swathed in diamonds and furs, frequently dabbed at her big blue eyes with a handkerchief as she detailed her brief but bizarre marriage, including the time her groom brought home a large goose.

Peaches was awarded a separation and $300 per week alimony. She slimmed down and went on the vaudeville circuit. After Browning died in 1934, she sued for one-third of his estate. She remarried and divorced three more times. Her fourth husband filed for an annulment on the grounds that she wasn’t divorced from her third husband.

In 1956, Peaches slipped and fell in her bathroom. She never regained consciousness and died in hospital. The police deemed her death mysterious and ordered an investigation and an autopsy. Death was pronounced due to brain hemorrhage, cerebral compression and liver failure. She was 46.

***

"One minute she's all over the papers and the next day? Gone!"

--Gypsy Rose Lee on Peaches Browning

For more juicy gossip on Peaches, see Wikipedia and Find A Grave.

Comments

[clancy sigal]

A query: can Laura James or anyone help me do some research on the criminal subculture of the Old West l880-1907ish? I'm working on a project in which thieves, burglars, safecrackers and their ilk regarded their trade as almost as respectable as the ordinary world. I'm especially interested in how boys were recruited into the profession.

Locale: Canada to San Francisco, anywhere west oif the Rockies about until the SFrisco earthquake.

Anyone recommend books, forums etc?

Clancy Sigal (professor emeritus, USC)

[Laura]

Try the links on this page:

http://www.soapysmith.net/page12.html

That is a great guide for the subject you're interested in.