Many apologies to my bloggie friends. I'll try to do visiting in this week! Today I'm recycling a post. I had to do some research on Bethesda Fountain in Central Park for a scene in my novel and was reminded of this sad story.
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| Audrey Munson |
I'm a history buff and I love research, so whenever I read something interesting in a novel that's supposedly factual, I enjoy looking it up so I can read more.
Most recently I learned about Audrey Munson, mentioned in Linda Fairstein's Hell Gate, a novel filled with all kinds of New York City history and trivia.
The tragic life of this model and silent screen actress intrigued me, so I had to do a little research on my own to satisfy my curiosity.
Audrey Munson (June 8, 1891 – February 20, 1996) rose to fame prior to World War I. She was known as "Miss Manhattan," "the Exposition Girl," and "American Venus." She was the model or inspiration for more than 15 statues in New York City.
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| Fountain of the Setting Sun |
Munson began suffering from schizophrenia, and at age 39 was committed to a mental institution. She remained there for the rest of her life, dying at age 104.
As many monuments and statues that Audrey Munson posed for, it's ironic that she herself, is buried in an unmarked grave.
Do you have some interesting trivia you'd like to share that you've found in fiction?
8 comments:
Huge congratulations with just about finishing Masquerade!! How exciting!!
Thank you for this info on this gorgeous woman! I can't believe that some murderer ruined her career just by association. Poor woman!! Oh but she lived to a grand old age!! And yet she now rests in an unmarked grave - how sad is that!? Shame the people she posed for (or their descendants!) can't at least get together and buy her a headstone!
Take care
x
Interesting information on such a great woman.
Yay on finishing Masquerade!
We haven't heard of her. Very tragic life.
Congratulations on the book!
Congratulations! Oh, my goodness- what a sad, sad way to spend such a huge chunk of her life. Wow!
She had no family to bury her. How aweful. But then again the mentally ill back than were put into homes and forgotten. How sad.
Hugs and chocolate,
Shelly
Congratulations on this new book and what an interesting woman. 104 year old nude model, huh?
That's a facinating story. I often wonder about people who may have been houehold names in their time buy may not be known beyond their generation.
Once when I was in Ireland, planning to move to India but not there yet, I saw a half Turkish half Indian woman on Irish TV. She claimed to be the daughter of a Turkish princess and an Indian prince who was lost in Paris in WW2 but said she met her father later in life. Her mother had died in Paris. Such a sad story. Twenty years later I was here in India, I picked up the newspaper and found that the lady belongs to a princely family in the same state I live in - and India is pretty big. This lady, Kenize Mourad, writes in Franch and her latest book, set in the historical city of Lucknow where I live, has been released here in English. I find that fascinating.
I had not heard of her, no.
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