New Britain Herald Newspaper, February 18, 1927, Page 27

Audrey Munson Whose Divine Form Brought Her Fame and Pitiful Figure, Impoverished, Jobless and Driven to Seclusion by Shattered Nerves Audrey Munson as she appeared at the height of her fame as a model for the world’s leading artists and sculptors follow Audrey Munson, once the world's most beautiful model whose shapely body has inspired some of the finest paintings and many of the most notable statues of recent years? Or have the broken “nerves” of this famous model caused her to imagine the curse that she says follows her con- stantly? Although only a few years ago the classically beautiful Miss Munson was sought by hundreds of artists, to-day, in a miserable little clapboarded cottage on the outskirts of Syracuse, New York, the one-time queen of the studios lives in seclusion, denying herself to all ealleu;'\mfiering, it is said, from a mel- ancholia that was brought on by her failure to get a job in any studid in the world. . Once Miss Munson was famed for her fabulously beautiful gowps, her'ermine coats and her jewels, but to-day, al- though still in her twenties, she walks listlessly around and around her cottage dressed in clothes that any farm woman might wear ani caring little whether her beautiful hair is combed or whether it falls in matted snarls down her back. Miss Munson’s version of her wretched plight and her downfall from the tri- umph of being the Venus of the studios to a woman cursed with ill luck and mis- fortune is the kind of story that every mother would like her stage-struck daughter to hear. So many mothers argue in vain with daughters who are intent upon forging their way to stardom and who believe that anything their parents tell them is just “old fashioned” because things like that don’t happen nowadays. If any one tells them that the girls on Broadway have to win the favor of the “Angel” of the show to taste success, they hotly deny it as a story made up by the sus- picious reformers. But Audrey Munson says that this is so and if a girl on Broadway inéurs the enmity of some of the men whose bank- rolls keep the shows going she may be barred forever from getting an engage- ment on the street that is never dark, and though she struggles for years to come back it is a losing fight and the poor little chorus girl never wins. Miss Mfnson believes that if it hadn’t been for the displeasure of a man known to all the Broadway showmen to-day, in- stead of living in a little one-story cot- tage she would be enjoying the fame and financial rewards that were hers when she was known everywhere as the “world’s most beautiful model.” Fame came to her overnight, Miss Munson says, and it went the same way. One night she thought she was on the way to great wealth and the next day she lost her engagement and every studio in New York was closed against her. Finally, after years of job seeking, she admitted that she was “broken” and that the ong who had cursed her had won. “The nearest to perfect figure in the world,” was the comment of artists when it became known that Audrey Munson was the beautiful model who posed for the sculpture at the Panama- cific Exposition. 'hat was the beginning of Miss Mun- son’s fame and from that time over a period of several years artists clamored DOES a relentless Nemesis really for her services, theatrical pro- ducers offered her alluring con- tract: and fashion houses made her beautiful gowns for the trifling return of her in- dorsement. Life was a won- derland existence and money seemed to come in basketfuls. Audrey Munson who had never known luxury be- fore got used to living like a prin- cess. Artists hurm- bly begged her to pose, celebrated people wanted to meet her and her mail became heavier and heav- jer with all kinds of invita- tions and contracts. She ad- mits now that some of her fail- ure was due to her being so unused to success. She believes that if she had the same road to go over again that, even though she was cursed, she could still retire with a comfortable fortune instead of suffering the added humilia- tion of poverty. When she went footsore from stu- dio to studio searching for work, she understood why the artists had worked so frantically and feverishly when she, as the famous Audrey Munson, ‘“the world’s most beautiful model,” had given them a half hour. Now when she needed money, they shook their heads and asked, “Why should we pay you to pose for us?” And then to Miss Munson’s amazement they showed her walls lined with drawings of herself. Here, she saw her shoulder, crudely outlined in charcoal. In another her glender throat swiftly traced in crayon and in a dozen others every part of her anatomy &o that, sure enough, they never would need her services again, At the height of her success as a model Miss Munson turned to the thea- ter. Posing in an artist’s studio for even half a day at a time was very wear- ing and nerve wracking and when pro- ducers who had heard of her much heralded beauty sought to star her she welcomed the opportunity. All they’asked of her was to display the curves of her remarkably beautiful body in costumes that were especially designed for her. She became, she says, a “clothes horse” and in sketch after sketch that was written for her, her role was only to walk on and off the stage in costumes so gorgeous that the audi- ence would gasp in amazement. So when her contract was broken, it was not, nor could not be, because of a lack of dramatic ability on her part. What really happened to her is just what - every mother with a budding actress in the family tries to point out The humble wooden cottage on the outskirts of Above —Audrey Munson in a pose which reveals the great beauty that brought her wealth and fame and later cursed her with poverty and broken nerves Syracuse, New York, where Miss Munson is waging a losing battle with the curse brought on by her great beauty At the left—Miss Munson’s form was the inspi- ration for ‘De- scending Night,” one of the fa- mous sculptures at the Panama- Pacific Ex- position § k. e Another photograph of Miss Mun- son taken before she fell a victim of the curse which she says gives her no peace as the probable fate of many an over ambitious girl v of the higher-up and who rebufls vances. The night Miss Munson2onfesses that all her bad luck dates from, she waiting in her dressing room in a New se beauty attracts one in the show bhu his unwelconic iness ad Copyright, 9% by John The next num- a fashion show written for the r on the program wi 1t been veautiful model. A maid was laying out a half dozen gorgeous gowns and Miss Munson was hurrying into her first costume, a very snug bathing suit, when the door was pushed open and a handsome man in evening clothes, familiar to Miss Mun- son and to all who know the show busi- ness in New York, stepped in. s Munson was at first too fright- ened to speak. Quickly she grabbed a negligee and held it before her half- naked body as she whispered, “Go away. Please go awa o The handsome intrnder came closer to the pretty model and looked search- in her eyes and then said sternly, “Do you mean that? When Miss Munson only nodded hes head, his face reddened as he turned and snapped his shoulder, “I'll make you remember that for a long while.” The next day Miss Munson was told that the fashion show had closed. At first she didn’t associate the termination of the vt with the affair of the previous nig! York vaudeville theater. especial b b over con However, she was some- what amazed to hear that an act which had been drawing great crowds to the theater should suddenly be taken off the But Miss Munson antici ficulty in getting another en- gagement. “She tried several but they th bills de up for a long ance and eve bills. ed no dif- “The Genius. of Creation,” a famous piece of sculpture at the Panama-Pacific Exposi- tion for which Miss Munson posed during the days of her world-wide fame There was nothing to do, she decided, S hat the but PRl ened bright The day tly surpris ged. She thou 1 to return to being an artist’s model The next day she started out to visit Al artists for whom she had posed before she had become so famous. But nowhere was gv'rv any work. and ear was beginning to discouraged. ed very odd to gers iinst fashion shows an The artists didn’t seem interested and finally one of the artists who had once been glad to get her for half an hour told her that every artist for whom she had posed had made so many sketches of her that they never would need her again. But Miss Munson believes that the gentleman who ealled on her so infor- mally in her dressing room was the man who turned the tide of her fortune and that his influence on the Great W, Way ex the studios. Never her t would seem so they wouldn't be pu zain for a long time. several months of :» more and more Lopele; n was convinced at ast that she 1ld for a t fat » curse of her grea remembering ful night in h time oom er and t was clear r that tended rement in even to artists’ never n eng ater. after that night in the theater Miss Munson posing in the studio of an artist who later told her would never need her services again was she able to get a contract in the theaters and all the artists who had once been begging for her time acted as though they had never heard of her. Although she had risen to the triumph of being termed the most divinely formed woman in the world, her rare beauty has brought her only ill luck. Even though her figure has been the model for some of the world’s finest sculpture, it is her fate to be, while still a young woman, deserted and jobless. There are many permanent monu- ments to the beauty of the world’s most beautiful model, but these are little com- pensation for the meager reward they brought the woman who posed for them. New Yorkers see Miss Munson in the statue of Civic Fame which tops the Municipal Building. There is also the very elaborate stained glass composition by J. and R. Lamb in which Miss Mun- son appears as a winged angel. In the George Vanderbilt country home at Bilt- more, North Carolina, is an enormous tapestry for which Miss Munson pesed. -On the New York Cus- toms House is a particularly beautiful statue for which Miss Munson was the model. And there are hundreds of other statues throughout the country which ¥ Munson inspired. But while Audrey believes that all her bad luck was due to an unwelcome caller 'in her dressing room, there are hundreds of girls on Broadway who point out that such a Nemesis as Miss Munson claims has followed her is impossible, for the reason that man enough power to prevent a girl from ever get- ting back on Broadway. At any rate, Miss Munson's present predicament is a hard one to fathom. In the lonely woman who paces from the stoop of her cottage to the henyard and back hour after hour it is hard to see much likeness to the beautiful girl who only a few years ago was the toast of the world’s leading artists and sculp- tors. Some people say that Miss Munson A has suffered a complete nervous break- down and that aer possible come-back to the world of pearls and motor cars becomes more and more impossible every day that she morbidly thinks of the “curse” brought upon her by her great beauty. no has