Mabelle Gilman Corey (December 4, 1874 – November 14, 1960) was an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

. She had an affair with William Ellis Corey which led to the dissolution of his marriage, and they later married.

Biography

She was born Mabelle Gilman to Charles Henry Gilman and Jeannette R. Curtis in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

.She gave different birth years at different times in her life, making herself appear younger as she aged. In the

1880 United States Census The United States census of 1880 conducted by the Census Bureau during June 1880 was the tenth United States census.1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity s ...

. Mabelle consistently gave her birthday as December 4th on all her passport applications. By 1906 she had shaved a decade off her age in her United States passport application and listed her birth as December 4, 1884. By October 7, 1915, she was using December 4, 1887, in her United States passport application. Gilman attended

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. She studied voice under Julie Rosenwald. She would later make her forte in musical comedy.

Broadway

She first appeared on the stage in London at the Comedy Theatre on July 11, 1896, as Rosa in '' The Countess Gucki''. In September 1896 she made her Broadway debut at Daly's playing O Kinkoto San in '' The Geisha'' (opened September 9, 1896). She played Lucille in '' The Circus Girl'', Juno in '' The Tempest'', Alice in ''The Runaway Girl'' (opened August 25, 1898) with James T. Powers and parts in ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'' and ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

''. Gilman was in "In Gay Paree" (opened March 20, 1899), "The Rounders" (opened July 12, 1899), '' The Casino Girl'' (opened March 19, 1900) and ''The King's Carnival'' (opened September 9, 1901). She went to London to the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

and opened ''The Casino Girl'' in London on July 11, 1900. Back in New York for the 1902 season she starred in ''The Hall of Fame'' (opened February 5, 1902) which had a great run. She closed out 1902 in ''The Mocking Bird'' (opened November 10, 1902). In 1903 Gilman was the heroine in ''

Dolly Dolly may refer to: Tools *Dolly (tool), a portable anvil * A posser, also known as a dolly, used for laundering * A variety of wheeled tools, including: **Dolly (trailer), for towing behind a vehicle **Boat dolly or launching dolly, a device fo ...

'' which she also performed at the Avenue Theatre in London on October 1, 1903. At the Comedy Theatre (the first London theatre she appeared at in 1896) she was seen in a comic opera playing the title role in '' Amorelle''.

Marriage

Gilman in 1905 was one of the top musical comedy stars on Broadway. In this year she first met William Ellis Corey during an engagement of ''The Mocking Bird'' in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Corey was a millionaire, having made his fortune in steel. He was president of United States Steel. Corey had a wife Laura and a son Allan. His wife Laura, unable to divorce William in Pennsylvania and retain custody of her son or receive a settlement to support herself and her son, traveled to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

, to be granted a divorce from William. After satisfying the six-month residency requirement Laura filed for divorce, resulting in full custody of Allan and an unprecedented $3,000,000 (approximately $ today) settlement. Pittsburgh society threatened to shun Corey if he married Mabelle. Mabelle and William Corey married on May 14, 1907. Corey had bought his new wife a chateau in France, valuable jewels and had given her one million dollars all as a wedding present. Corey's Reno divorce from his first wife Laura and subsequent marriage to Mabelle help put Reno on the map as a destination for quickie divorces.

Europe

Mabelle and her sisters Eunice and Pearl had all studied voice from Jean de Reszke, a noted tenor. Mabelle entertained high-profile guests to the Corey chateau in the years before World War I. She had plans for grand opera but her new duties as matron took up time for her preparations. She developed a dislike for her home country the United States, complaining of ''too much noise''. Mabelle also said American men are more worried about accounts receivable, stocks, and bonds rather than their wives. The marriage to William Corey deteriorated and divorce came in 1923. While living in France, she was taken captive by the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

s in 1940 and was placed in an

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

near Vittel, but was released in 1942 after all female prisoners over 60 years of age were freed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corey, Mabelle Gilman 1874 births Mills College alumni 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses Singers from California Actresses from San Francisco Year of death missing