Peaches Browning

Peaches Browning (June 23, 1910 – August 23, 1956), born Frances Belle Heenan, was an American actress, most famous for her failed marriage to New York real estate mogul, Edward West "Daddy" Browning (1875–1934). The story became one of the most sensational scandals of the Roaring Twenties.

On June 23, 1926 (her sixteenth birthday), mere weeks after meeting the 51 year-old Edward Browning, Peaches and "Daddy" were wed. Later that same year, Peaches tried to obtain a divorce during which the White Plains, New York^[1] trial gained repeated coverage by New York city tabloid newspapers such as the New York Daily News, rival New York Daily Mirror and the more louche New York Graphic, which published a notorious composograph of the couple.

The story was soon picked up by the national newspapers and the couple became well known in US popular culture of the time. Among the notable incidents were her allegations of her husband's odd behavior including the fact that he kept a honking African goose in their bedroom. The judge agreed with his version, ruling that Peaches had abandoned her husband without cause, and cut him free.^[2] Peaches' notoriety gained her a career in vaudeville.^[3] She was managed by Marvin Welt (1883–1953), one of the first theatrical agents to demand a percentage of total ticket sales for some of his clients.

When Edward Browning died in 1934, Peaches was awarded $6000 as a widow's portion.

Peaches went off into vaudeville and onto three more husbands, before she slipped in her bathroom and died in 1956, at age 46.^[4] She is buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

References

1. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/12/2011-06-12_peaches__scheme_but_a_child_bride_gets_zilch.html
2. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/12/2011-06-12_peaches__scheme_but_a_child_bride_gets_zilch.html?page=1
3. ^ "'Peaches' & 'Daddy' Browning", Liberty, Winter 1974, p. 51.
4. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/12/2011-06-12_peaches__scheme_but_a_child_bride_gets_zilch.html?page=1

Further reading

• Greenburg, Michael, Peaches & Daddy, The Overlook Press.

Persondata
Name	Browning, Peaches
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1910
Place of birth
Date of death	1956
Place of death