Lillian Lorraine: Ziegfeld's Girl
At 17 she stole the heart of Florenz Ziegfeld, who sought to publicize this newly discovered, elegant woman of the world into one of Broaway's biggest stars. Only that fiery personality descended deep into alcoholism and obscurity, and wouldn't dare to be mentioned by the likes of some showgirls and peers -- who knew her both personally and professionally. Her memory was obliterated for decades until justice was finally done, thanks to her biographer, Nils Hanson. Nevertheless, I'll discuss her here in my own fashion -- as is my specialty.
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Miss Lillian Lorraine was born Ealallean Muriel de Jaques on New Year's Day 1892 in San Francisco, California, where she spent the first fourteen years of her life. She was a descendant of Charles F. de Jaques and Mary Ann Brennan, who were of French and Irish descent. P.S. Here's an interesting fact: Her family moved out of San Francisco just six months shy of the 1906 earthquake.
In short, there are two types of people in show business: those who strive for the profession of their dreams, and those who strive for stardom. Lillian's motive was more likely sour, or was it her mother's? It seems that Lillian's temperance stemmed from having a privileged childhood and a stage-struck mother, who catered to her every need and more. Prior to moving to New York City to conquer Broadway, Lillian already had some theatrical experience. She made her debut at the age of four in Uncle Tom's Cabin at the Old Central Theatre in San Fran, playing the role of Little Eva. By the time she was in her teens, she had already turned into a glamorous socialite but would remain a struggling actress for most of her life. Undeniably, Lillian was famous at one point, but her fame only lasted so long until it began to fade.
After socializing with prominent circles and figures like Harold Frank Henwood, Charles Dana Gibson, Reginald deKoven, John Barrymore, and others, little Lillian became the new darling of New York or as some like to call it, the talk of the town -- whatever descriptor suits your style.
In 1906 she would become known to the public professionally as Lillian Lorriane after a series of runs in Gus Edward's play, Schoolboys and Girls while only 14 at the time. Edwards, a well-known composer, producer, and entertainer, launched a handful of careers including those of Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Groucho Marx, the Duncan sisters, and others. Critic Robert Spears said of Lillian's performance in a 1907 review, "A pretty young thing in the chorus line, Lillian Lorraine, is a knockout! She should go far!" And far she went.
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| From the official Lillian Lorraine biography: Lillian (center) and a bunch of lovely showgirls in Miss Innocence (1909). The second girl on the right behind Lillian is Florence Walton. Image courtesy of the Ziegfeld Club Archives. |
"She seemed to have that elusive thing we call personality. She was only a minor member of the chorus, a slender slip of a girl, but she had traces of a peculiar beauty. I found out her name, sent for her and engaged her for my next production... her beauty became the talk of New York.....men about town showered her with diamonds.... It was no unusual thing for her to receive flowers, night after night over the footlights, and then upon taking the bouquets to pieces afterwards, to find a diamond ring or a pin fastened to a cluster of American Beauties. " -- Ziegfeld reflecting upon his first impression of Lorraine in a 1912 Green Book interview.
In 1907, 15-year-old Lillian met the perhaps most important man in her life -- Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. -- the greatest Broadway impresario of all time who went down in history as, "The Glorifier of the American Girl." I believe we've established him considerably at this point if you've been reading along all this time. If you don't know the man, however, I just described him in a nutshell for you. It's been long said that Flo's first impression of Lillian was that she was the most beautiful young creature he ever saw, but she wasn't the only girl he paid the generous compliment to let's just say. Shortly after discovering her, an affair began between the two that would last for years. Lillian initially became a member of the Ziegfeld chorus, actually let me rephrase that, she became THE member of the chorus starting with Miss Innocence (1909). But because Ziegfeld was in love with her, he selected her to sing "Shine On Harvest Moon" -- originally a number performed and written by husband-and-wife Jack Norworth and Nora Bayes. And what exactly did Anna Held (Flo's common-law wife at the time) think of the new starlet? She raged with jealousy and left him an ultimatum, "Either she goes or I go!" Thus, Lillian was removed from the show, but rehearsals of the 1909 Follies began a month later and Lillian was back in for keeps. In the long run, the Ziegfeld/Held relationship perished.
Lillian became known to more audiences after singing, "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Up in my Aeroplane" in the '09 Follies. According to people who actually witnessed her perform, she had minimal talent but a lot of beauty and charisma. Regardless, the public adored her, and she was now becoming a household name in New York where she was catching the eyes of more than just Ziegfeld.
Fast forward to 1912, Lillian was officially a star by now, appearing in multiple Ziegfeld productions. Much of her shrewdness was also revealed in numerous high-profile stories. One of my personal favorites was the time she got into a fight on stage with Fanny Brice in 1911. At the time, Fanny was going out with a charming man named Fred Gresheimer, but she was more than infatuated with him, however, she genuinely had her hopes up that their courtship would bloom into a lasting marriage. Since the two were roommates while on the road, Fanny began to open up about some of her feelings about him with Lillian. You know, just typical girl talk. Well, she decidedly showed her a picture of him in a bathing suit one night from a letter she received and Lillian instantly became smitten with him. What was supposed to be Fanny's husband ended up being Lillian's lover. And since she stole Fanny's beau, who now felt betrayed by the way, led her to take revenge by stepping on her train of a costume upon entering the stage during a performance. Lillian reacted by cussing at her emphatically and Fanny swung at her in defense, ultimately prevailing. It was reported that the fight was so intense it got a little bloody. As a result, Lillian dismissed herself from the show and went on a two-week vacation.
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| A foot-long series of shots of Lillian, ca. 1915. |
She was involved in some scandalous affairs, had a penchant for drinking, and got into trouble multiple times. Her alcoholism was one of the big factors that ended her whirlwind romance with Ziegfeld, other than marrying Gresheimer (Fanny's former boyfriend). The other flaw with Lillian was that almost all of her relationships were complex, which is no surprise as noticed with Ziegfeld. Her marriage to Gresheimer ended in divorce shortly after they were married, but they later remarried again in 1913 before finally divorcing for good some three months later. Lillian would not remarry until 33 years later to Jack O'Brien, an accountant she had met while being hospitalized. They remained together until Lillian's death, although they were never legally married. They most likely lived together under common-law marriage.
She tried her hand at the movies for a time, appearing in roughly 10 pictures. Unfortunately, all of her cinema work is nowhere to be found now. After trying out pictures for a while, Lillian returned to New York for a few performances in the 1918 Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic. After nearly 10 years of being with the Follies, Lillian gave her final performance in 1920. In 1921, she had reserved plans to star again in a new show for Ziegfeld but tragedy struck. While walking to a waiting car on 129 West 50th Street, she slipped on an icy sidewalk and injured herself badly. From then on, she was not physically able to perform onstage anymore and her health declined. During her final years, she completely disappeared from public view and battled alcoholism, arthritis, and poverty. On April 17, 1955, she peacefully died in her sleep at her Manhattan apartment on 666 West End Ave. Due to her death not being publically announced till four days later, a whopping amount of three people attended her funeral. She was first buried in an unmarked grave, but her friends had her body recovered at a family plot in The Bronx, where she continually rests today.
In 1936, she was played by Virginia Bruce under the pseudonym "Audrey Dane" in the biographical film about Florenz Ziegfeld, The Great Ziegfeld. Susan Gallagher played by Lana Turner in Ziegfeld Girl (1941) was also modeled after her.
When Ziegfeld passed away in 1932, she commented:
"God knows, I'm far from perfect. I've made lots of bad choices of the men in my life but Flo Ziegfelf was the only man I can honestly say I both loved and respected. If we'd married it probably wouldn't have lasted and that would mostly be my fault. Flo was decent and caring in so many different ways and sometimes, I'm sorry to say, I just didn't fully appreciate him. I guess it's no secret that sometimes our relationship was pretty stormy, but let me tell you, no matter who started the argument, we always made up, and even up to today, we stayed the best of friends. I'm hurting too much to say anything more but there is one thing I don't want to leave unsaid and that is, everything that has been good in my life I owe to Flo Ziegfeld. I'm feeling very empty and very, very sad." (Billie Burke says grrr!)
I must admit, reading this made me gain so much pity for her. Hopefully, she is at peace now no longer suffering from her earthly sorrows. Lillian may have not made the best of decisions, but she certainly led an interesting life. Her time as a Ziegfeld girl was by far, the most fascinating period of her time here on earth. After all, "Once a Ziegfeld girl, always a Ziegfeld girl."
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| The beautiful Miss Lorraine captured by Alfred Cheney Johnston for the 1918 Follies. Image courtesy of the Ziegfeld Club Archives. |
Fellow Ziegfeld girl Muriel Hanson Merrill remembered her sweetly, saying, “Everybody liked her and I guess there were plenty who envied her as well. She was fun and easy to work with and even though I was only a specialty dancer, she, as a principal, always treated me as though we were equals.”
She is written all over this particular chorus:
Life was beautiful then
I remember when I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again