{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Peaches Browning | image = Peaches Browning, 1935 (2).jpg | caption = Browning in 1935 | birth_name = Frances Belle Heenan | birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|6|23}} | birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|8|23|1910|6|23}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. | spouse = {{marriage|Edward West Browning|April 10, 1926|October 12, 1934|end=d}}<br>Three husbands, all divorced | occupation = Actress }} '''Peaches Browning''' (born '''Frances Belle Heenan'''; June 23, 1910{{spaced ndash}}August 23, 1956) was an American actress.<ref name=obit/> She was married to New York City real estate developer Edward West "Daddy" Browning (October 16, 1874 – October 12, 1934), when she was 15 and he was 51.
==Biography== [[File:Peaches & Daddy Browning Composograph 1.gif|thumb|A composograph of Peaches and "Daddy" Browning created by the ''New York Evening Graphic''.]] Browning and Heenan met at a sorority dance on the evening of March 5, 1926, at the Hotel McAlpin and immediately began a very public courtship, despite the difference in their ages. Browning was 51, and Heenan was 15. Browning, who reveled in publicity, paraded Heenan in front of the paparazzi cameras as he lavished her with expensive gifts (spending $1000 a day on shopping trips<ref>''Big Town, Big Time: A New York Epic: 1896-1998'' by Jay Maeper, Sports Publishing LLC (1998)</ref>) and took her to New York's finest restaurants in his distinctive peacock blue Rolls-Royce automobile. On April 10, 1926, mere weeks after they met, Peaches and "Daddy" were wed in the village of Cold Spring, New York, far from media scrutiny.<ref>''Peaches And Daddy'' Chapter XI, by Michael Greenberg, The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers Inc, 2008</ref> Both Peaches' father and her mother gave their permission for the marriage, which took place in part to thwart a campaign by Vincent Pisarra of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to halt their relationship.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} Peaches was the victim of an acid attack shortly before her wedding from an unidentified perpetrator.<ref name="Lee">{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Dan |title=Peaches: Who's Your Daddy? |url=https://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/peaches-browning-2012-4/ |website=New York Magazine |access-date=July 14, 2024|date=April 9, 2012}}</ref>
On October 2, 1926, Peaches and her mother loaded up their belongings and left the marital residence at the Kew Gardens Inn.<ref>''Peaches And Daddy'' Chapter XIII, by Michael Greenberg, The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers Inc, 2008</ref> Under New York law at the time, divorce was only possible if one party admitted adultery, so Peaches tried to obtain a legal separation, claiming cruelty. The White Plains, New York,<ref name="NYDailyNews">{{Cite journal |title=Child bride gets zilch from real estate mogul Edward West Browning |author=Mara Bovsun |date=June 12, 2011 |journal=NY Daily News |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/06/12/2011-06-12_peaches__scheme_but_a_child_bride_gets_zilch.html }}</ref> trial drew intense coverage by New York City tabloid newspapers such as the ''New York Daily News'', the rival ''New York Daily Mirror'' and the more disreputable ''New York Graphic'', which published a series of notorious composographs of the couple. Among the notable aspects of the case were Peaches' allegations of odd behavior by her husband, including the fact that he kept a honking African goose in their bedroom.<ref name="Lee"/> The phrase "Don't be a goof", which Daddy allegedly used as an insult to Peaches, came into national vogue, and later turned up in the lyrics of the title song from the 1936 Rodgers and Hart musical comedy ''On Your Toes''. The affair is referenced in the 1927 Gershwin musical comedy ''Funny Face'' and F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story "The Love Boat", published the same year.<ref>Restoring A Scandal to ″The Love Boat″: Daddy, Peaches and ''Tender Is The Night'' - Gregg Baptista in ''The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review'' Vol. 4 (2005), pp. 129-146</ref>
The judge accepted Daddy's version of the facts, ruling that Peaches had abandoned her husband without cause, and permitted him a legal separation without any obligation to pay alimony.<ref name="NYDailyNews" /> Peaches remained legally married to Browning until his death from a brain hemorrhage. She went on to have and divorce three more husbands. She also had an affair with Milton Berle.<ref name="Lee"/>
Peaches' notoriety gained her a career in vaudeville.<ref>"'Peaches' & 'Daddy' Browning", ''Liberty'', Winter 1974, p. 51.</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} She died at New York Hospital in Manhattan on August 23, 1956, at age 46, after slipping in the bathroom at her apartment.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Peaches Browning Is Dead at 46. Child-Bride Symbol of Twenties. Litigant in Publicized Divorce Suit Against Rich 'Daddy'. Succumbs After Fall |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/08/24/archives/peaches-browning-is-dead-at-46-childbride-symbol-of-twenties.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=24 August 1956 }}</ref><ref name="NYDailyNews" /> She was buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
== See also == * Child marriage in the United States * Marriage of Charlie Johns and Eunice Winstead
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *Greenburg, Michael, ''Peaches & Daddy'', The Overlook Press, 2008.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Peaches}} Category:1910 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the United States Category:Accidental deaths in New York (state) Category:Actresses from Columbus, Ohio Category:American stage actresses Category:Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery Category:American vaudeville performers Category:20th-century American actresses