Tommy Manville

Tommy Manville
Manville (center) at the Stork Club in New York City (1944)
Born	Thomas Franklyn Manville, Jr. April 9, 1894
Died	October 9, 1967(1967-10-09) (aged 73)
Resting place	Kensico Cemetery, New Rochelle, New York
Residence	Manhattan, New York City New Rochelle, New York
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessperson
Parent(s)	Thomas Franklyn Manville (father)

Thomas Franklyn Manville, Jr., universally known as Tommy Manville (April 9, 1894 – October 9, 1967), was a Manhattan socialite and heir to the Johns-Manville asbestos fortune. He was a celebrity in the mid 20th Century, by virtue of his large financial inheritance, and his 13 marriages to 11 women. This feat won him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, and made him the subject of much gossip. The termination of his marriages usually ended in widespread publicity and huge cash settlements.

Born in April 9, 1894, Thomas Franklyn Manville, Jr. was the son of the founder and chairman of the Johns-Manville Corporation. His grandfather was Johns Manville. According to his own account, Mr. Manville did not get on well with his father from an early age. He said that his father repeatedly disinherited him but relented as often and finally willed him enough money for life. Among other roles, his father Thomas F. Manville became a director of Consolidated National Bank in 1904.

Determined to wed, Manville was 17 years old in 1911 when he met Florence Huber, a chorus girl, under a Broadway marquee. They were married five days later. The bridegroom's father, traveling from Europe to the United States, said he would have the match annulled when he reached New York. His son arranged a second wedding ceremony in New Jersey, tried to have another in Maryland and said that he would, if necessary, remarry his bride in most of the then 46 states. When his father shut the family treasury against him, young Manville took a $15 a week job in the family's Pittsburgh factory in order to get along.

His first marriage lasted 11 years, though a final separation in 1917 continued until divorce in April 1922. He took his father's 22-year-old stenographer, Lois Arline McCoin, as his second wife in September 1925. The next month his father died and left him about $10 million of a $50 million estate. The son's wife charged desertion in 1926 and received a settlement of $19,000 a year. She died in 1929.

Manville soon began describing himself as a "retired business man" or gave his occupation as "looking after my estate." His subsequent brides were the following: Avonne Taylor, a Follies girl, in May 1931. She had been wed twice before, They separated after 34 days and were divorced that November; Marcelle Edwards, a showgirl, married him in October 1933. They were divorced in October 1937 after a $200.000 settlement; Bonita Edwards, a 22-year-old showgirl, wed Manville in November 1941. They were divorced in January 1942; he married Wilhelmma Connelly (Billy) Boze, a 20-year-old actress, in October 1942. They were divorced in February 1943. Miss Boze distinguished herself among Mr. Manville's former wives by steadfastly refusing to take any money in settlement; Macie Marie (Sunny) Ainsworth wed Manville in August 1943. She had been married four times by age 20. They were separated after eight hours and divorced in October 1943; the eighth bride was British born Georgina Campbell, 27 whom he married in December 1945 at age 51. The two were separated when Mrs. Manville was killed in an automobile collision in 1952 while driving to have breakfast with her husband at "Bon Repos". "We have been friends," Mr. Manville said of his wife at the crash scene; In July 1952 he married Anita Frances Roddy-Eden. She obtained a Mexican divorce in August and accepted S100,000 in lieu of alimony; his 10th wife was a 26-year-old Texas showgirl Pat Gaston. They were married in May 1957 and divorced in November of that year. Though the record is confused, there were two remarriages among these ten. Manville's married his 11th wife, 20-year-old Christina Erdlen, in January 1960.