Sunday, September 4, 2011

Ethel Stewart Elliott, Champion Alimony Queen & Shopaholic Extraordinaire – 1911


NOTE: In 1911 the average annual income in the United States was $520. Here are a few consumer product prices to put this figure into context:  pound of butter was 34 cents, a half gallon of milk was 17 cents, a pound of round steak was 18 cents, a pound of potatoes was 22 cents and a brand new car was $750.

***

FULL TEXT:

HERE’S THE MILLION DOLLAR ALIMONY GIRL

• She Was an Actress, Married a Rich Man, Learned Extravagance, Was Divorced, (Jot a Million Alimony, But Couldn’t Stop Spending Money, So Now She Is “Broke.” •

◊•◊•◊•◊

NEW YORK, Nov. 21.—The “million dollar alimony girl”— Ethel Stewart Elliott—went into bankruptcy the other day, giving as her main asset unpaid alimony amounting to $28,000.

Eleven years ago as Ethel Stewart, dancing in the extravaganza “Chris and the Wonderful Lamp” she danced her way into the heart of John Love Elliott, millionaire mining man.

For a few years they were happy. Then came the break and – divorce in 1907. Elliott at that time, it is said, settled $1,000,000 on his wife and allowed an extra $28,000 yearly to support her and her daughter.

In the years since then Mrs. Elliott satisfied her craving for fine clothes, for travel and a life of ease. The million dwindled away and now she’s “broke.”

◊•◊•◊•◊

Here are some of the debts listed in Ethel Stewart Elliott’s bankruptcy petition:

For dresses, hats and furs …………...  $11, 600
Underwear………………………….……. 672
Shoes ………………………………….….. 16
Music lessons ………………...………….. 310
Cab hire ……………………….………… 205
Saddle horses ………………….……….… 88
Jewellry ……………………….….……..1,391
Toys …………………………….………... 64
Rent ……………………………….…... 2,166

◊•◊•◊•◊


[“Here’s The Million Dollar Alimony Girl,” The Tacoma Times (Wa.), Nov. 21, 1911, p. 1]

***


For more revelations of this suppressed history, see The Alimony Racket: Checklist of Posts

***

No comments:

Post a Comment