- Sigourney Thayer
Sigourney Thayer (
24 March 1896 –2 November 1944 ) was an American theatrical producer, World War I aviator and poet.Early life
Thayer was born in
Southborough ,Massachusetts , the son of Rev.William Greenough Thayer , headmaster ofSt. Mark's School from 1894–1930, and Violet Otis.He was the brother of
Robert H. Thayer , a lawyer, naval officer and diplomat.After graduating from
Amherst College in 1918, he served inWorld War I as a pilot.World War I
Thayer was a 1st Lieutenant and pilot in the
1st Operations Group .Poetry
He wrote regular poetry for the
Atlantic Monthly , and his poem, "The Dead" has appeared in numerousWorld War I anthologies.He travelled to
Paris in 1921.Theatrical producer
* Last Night of Don Juan: The Pilgrimage, 1925
* Beau-Strings, 1926
* Damn the Tears, 1927
* Bridal Wise, 1932
*Keeper of the Keys , 1933Later life
He became an executive at
Vultee Aircraft .Thayer died in an automobile accident in
Allentown, Pennsylvania , and is buried at Southborough Rural Cemetery,Southborough, Massachusetts .Personal life
In December 1928, he married Mrs. Emily O'Niel Davies Vanderbilt of Manhattan, who in June 1927, in six minutes, divorced
William Henry Vanderbilt III , son ofAlfred Gwynne Vanderbilt who perished on theRMS Lusitania , in Manhattan. After her divorce from Thayer in 1929, she married writerRaoul Whitfield (1896-1945) on19 July 1933 , filed for divorce in February 1935, and shot herself dead at the Dead Horse Ranch near Las Vegas, New Mexico on24 May 1935 .In April 1931, he married Mary "Molly" Van Rensselaer Cogswell (
16 June 1902 -10 December 1983 ), daughter of Cullen Van Rensselaer Cogswell, a Manhattan socialite, and grand-daughter of General John Cullen Van Rensselaer. She was a society columnist for theNew York Journal , and wrote under the house pseudonym "Madame Flutterby", covering theLindbergh kidnapping . She wrote the first biography ofJacqueline Bouvier Kennedy , published by Doubleday in 1961.External links
* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=9971 IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information ] at www.ibdb.com IBDB entry
* [http://beck.library.emory.edu/greatwar/poetry/view.php?id=calendar_012 The Great War : Poetry : Poem - THE DEAD ] at beck.library.emory.edu "The Dead"
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801605,00.html] Death in Time magazine
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