Actress, singer and showgirl.
Born Violet Halling Compton she began her stage career as an actress and singer on Broadway in musical comedies. In between her stage performance she was also a showgirl with the celebrated Ziegfeld Follies. A complete list of her work on Broadway, taken from the Internet Broadway Database are as follows:
Vogues of 1924 (Mar 27, 1924 - Jul 12, 1924), The City Chap (Oct 26, 1925 - Dec 26, 1925), Americana (Jul 26, 1926 - Feb 1927), Oh, Kay! (Nov 08, 1926 - Jun 1927), Funny Face (Nov 22, 1927 - Jun 23, 1928), Hold Everything (Oct 10, 1928 - Oct 05, 1929) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (Nov 27, 1929 - Jul 05, 1930.) Compton's film career included just two films, a short titled 'The Legacy' (1930) and 'Too Many Millions' (1934).
Compton was married four times the first to lawyer Charles Stanley Reed Riches from 1922-26. She met James J. Walker, then Mayor of New York City, who was attending a late November 1926 performance of Compton's in the musical comedy 'Oh, Kay!' The pair immediately became smitten with each other and quickly began an affair that led to Walker's wife filing for divorce in October of 1928 on the grounds of 'desertion.' Frustrated in her relationship with Walker, Compton rashly married producer Edward Duryea Dowling in February 1931 only to divorce him later that same year. This was an attempt to force the situation with Walker and it (eventually) worked. Following a protracted divorce settlement with Walker's first wife, Compton and Walker were finally married on April 19, 1933 at the city hall in Cannes, France. By this time Jimmy Walker had already been forced to resign as Mayor of New York City due to financial and ethics issues. The couple later adopted a girl and boy in the mid 1930s before she divorced him in March 1941. Her final marriage was in May 1942 to Theodore T. Knappen. She gave birth to her first biological child, a boy On January 19, 1944 shortly before her death from breast cancer at Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan.
*Son's name was Theodore Compton Knappen, as per Amelia Withington (47260774).
Born Violet Halling Compton she began her stage career as an actress and singer on Broadway in musical comedies. In between her stage performance she was also a showgirl with the celebrated Ziegfeld Follies. A complete list of her work on Broadway, taken from the Internet Broadway Database are as follows:
Vogues of 1924 (Mar 27, 1924 - Jul 12, 1924), The City Chap (Oct 26, 1925 - Dec 26, 1925), Americana (Jul 26, 1926 - Feb 1927), Oh, Kay! (Nov 08, 1926 - Jun 1927), Funny Face (Nov 22, 1927 - Jun 23, 1928), Hold Everything (Oct 10, 1928 - Oct 05, 1929) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (Nov 27, 1929 - Jul 05, 1930.) Compton's film career included just two films, a short titled 'The Legacy' (1930) and 'Too Many Millions' (1934).
Compton was married four times the first to lawyer Charles Stanley Reed Riches from 1922-26. She met James J. Walker, then Mayor of New York City, who was attending a late November 1926 performance of Compton's in the musical comedy 'Oh, Kay!' The pair immediately became smitten with each other and quickly began an affair that led to Walker's wife filing for divorce in October of 1928 on the grounds of 'desertion.' Frustrated in her relationship with Walker, Compton rashly married producer Edward Duryea Dowling in February 1931 only to divorce him later that same year. This was an attempt to force the situation with Walker and it (eventually) worked. Following a protracted divorce settlement with Walker's first wife, Compton and Walker were finally married on April 19, 1933 at the city hall in Cannes, France. By this time Jimmy Walker had already been forced to resign as Mayor of New York City due to financial and ethics issues. The couple later adopted a girl and boy in the mid 1930s before she divorced him in March 1941. Her final marriage was in May 1942 to Theodore T. Knappen. She gave birth to her first biological child, a boy On January 19, 1944 shortly before her death from breast cancer at Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan.
*Son's name was Theodore Compton Knappen, as per Amelia Withington (47260774).
Actress, singer and showgirl.
Born Violet Halling Compton she began her stage career as an actress and singer on Broadway in musical comedies. In between her stage performance she was also a showgirl with the celebrated Ziegfeld Follies. A complete list of her work on Broadway, taken from the Internet Broadway Database are as follows:
Vogues of 1924 (Mar 27, 1924 - Jul 12, 1924), The City Chap (Oct 26, 1925 - Dec 26, 1925), Americana (Jul 26, 1926 - Feb 1927), Oh, Kay! (Nov 08, 1926 - Jun 1927), Funny Face (Nov 22, 1927 - Jun 23, 1928), Hold Everything (Oct 10, 1928 - Oct 05, 1929) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (Nov 27, 1929 - Jul 05, 1930.) Compton's film career included just two films, a short titled 'The Legacy' (1930) and 'Too Many Millions' (1934).
Compton was married four times the first to lawyer Charles Stanley Reed Riches from 1922-26. She met James J. Walker, then Mayor of New York City, who was attending a late November 1926 performance of Compton's in the musical comedy 'Oh, Kay!' The pair immediately became smitten with each other and quickly began an affair that led to Walker's wife filing for divorce in October of 1928 on the grounds of 'desertion.' Frustrated in her relationship with Walker, Compton rashly married producer Edward Duryea Dowling in February 1931 only to divorce him later that same year. This was an attempt to force the situation with Walker and it (eventually) worked. Following a protracted divorce settlement with Walker's first wife, Compton and Walker were finally married on April 19, 1933 at the city hall in Cannes, France. By this time Jimmy Walker had already been forced to resign as Mayor of New York City due to financial and ethics issues. The couple later adopted a girl and boy in the mid 1930s before she divorced him in March 1941. Her final marriage was in May 1942 to Theodore T. Knappen. She gave birth to her first biological child, a boy On January 19, 1944 shortly before her death from breast cancer at Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan.
*Son's name was Theodore Compton Knappen, as per Amelia Withington (47260774).
Born Violet Halling Compton she began her stage career as an actress and singer on Broadway in musical comedies. In between her stage performance she was also a showgirl with the celebrated Ziegfeld Follies. A complete list of her work on Broadway, taken from the Internet Broadway Database are as follows:
Vogues of 1924 (Mar 27, 1924 - Jul 12, 1924), The City Chap (Oct 26, 1925 - Dec 26, 1925), Americana (Jul 26, 1926 - Feb 1927), Oh, Kay! (Nov 08, 1926 - Jun 1927), Funny Face (Nov 22, 1927 - Jun 23, 1928), Hold Everything (Oct 10, 1928 - Oct 05, 1929) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (Nov 27, 1929 - Jul 05, 1930.) Compton's film career included just two films, a short titled 'The Legacy' (1930) and 'Too Many Millions' (1934).
Compton was married four times the first to lawyer Charles Stanley Reed Riches from 1922-26. She met James J. Walker, then Mayor of New York City, who was attending a late November 1926 performance of Compton's in the musical comedy 'Oh, Kay!' The pair immediately became smitten with each other and quickly began an affair that led to Walker's wife filing for divorce in October of 1928 on the grounds of 'desertion.' Frustrated in her relationship with Walker, Compton rashly married producer Edward Duryea Dowling in February 1931 only to divorce him later that same year. This was an attempt to force the situation with Walker and it (eventually) worked. Following a protracted divorce settlement with Walker's first wife, Compton and Walker were finally married on April 19, 1933 at the city hall in Cannes, France. By this time Jimmy Walker had already been forced to resign as Mayor of New York City due to financial and ethics issues. The couple later adopted a girl and boy in the mid 1930s before she divorced him in March 1941. Her final marriage was in May 1942 to Theodore T. Knappen. She gave birth to her first biological child, a boy On January 19, 1944 shortly before her death from breast cancer at Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan.
*Son's name was Theodore Compton Knappen, as per Amelia Withington (47260774).
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