New Britain Herald Newspaper, November 8, 1929, Page 35

\ » 0 5 P - / ¢ bulbs = A 3 of the = < ¢ 3 RES fotoa o4 . ' : 74 ” e ADS & ¥ 7 Y, [ /e ' ] = ) ollars .quabpie o1 roadwaus €rsian Iien N N : : 1 ¢ ‘[\';lrikin:“finnpxth of ] f Wealthy New York Banker. Ny After a Sensational Series of Romances, ‘, ¥ % il Vot e 455 Horse. Vera Leight- 2 d 3 / R . d O [ B « *,5% my rl's £100,000 A LY 5 e Breach of Contract N Y Pretty Vera Retired---Only to Bob § Naen . Up With a Strange $100,000 2 TEN years ago Vera “Kittens” S . G Leightmer came out of the t A t Middle West in search of fame ul alns 3 and fortune among the Broadway in- ‘ 4 Y candescents. She found fame, certain- ‘I o = 2 3 ly, but, apparently, she believes fe! ih M II a ~ i) tune eluded her, hence her astonis \ e l Ionalre 7 $100,000 suit for breach of contract = ntly against venerable Jeffer- Bank Wh , son Seligman, one of New York’s i : _ftnrnmos bankers and Social Register er O * 1tes. s Some of the exciting episodes during B . d d & ose ten vivid years were described recently by “Kittens” with amazing e rlen e § frankness on the w stand in the § New York Supreme Court. They were { links in the chain of events that led § L to her hearts-and-dollars squabbl er. 4 . with the kindly old millionaire banke . < R They included charges that white- * i At Left: Henry Clews, 3 haired Mr. Seligman first promised to Jr., Who Also Knew Q\ 1 X Y marry her and later d that he Pt “Kittens.” ,‘wg-, P N A would find a younger andsomes L § ;i"g = husband for her. They told how he had 3 once signed an a ment to pay N ; $100,000 n monthly i 3 i had failed, after a while, to k N . the instalments. §¥ But more important than the was the picture presented E v tens’ ” story in e s 3 5 bohemian life in New ] It was a story of rou 3 ture moving along at a b o 1 pace, and of one of the most unu —. iages in Broadway's hectic > . ’ Kitten: , when she 2 anxious to succeed on t N an artist’s model. She § lustrous dark eyes and hair. They called her she went cause she loved luxury and lov 1 pay y sit curled up on cushion i allments . world go by. Later, her Broadway o would and society friends lengthened the f prom- nickname to “Persian Kitten,” be- s t con- 4 cause that tleek and beautiful animal Wn up, is the most luxury-loving of the feline § ) family. i But if “Kittens” wanted to sit hack § on the ¢ and watch the world N 1 } go hy 't allowed to have Gossipers H ) self the cen sharp- § gging her N , not because of “Kit- J because he was ty, 3 going abroad ; » vulgarity of f y ssful in { Helen ' 3 returned to ) United States. fering from I insidious _ravages J abereulosis, died 3 -hearted in ! . “Kittens” re- I in Paris. Then { after a lapse A ¢ e once more i ; . nes of new | i a portrait paying close atten- in the French capital. b ’ iled to reciprocate in full measur e love, the tem- pestuous it was charged, | . Brondway's “Persian Kitten"—Vera Leightmer Brody—With the Shadow 5 of a Kitien Behind Her Slim Figure. This Is Vera's Latest Photo: It Shows the Girl Who Startled A 5 New York and i« With Her Unconventional Romances A P ‘ in a Characteristic Pose. g : After that retired to ob tral figure in « woman approached her, complimented ing work. He told her, | . S nental 7 excitement after a lier on her freshness and charm and ‘h a beautiful girl o . ani to New York, where ¢ % other during the ten askdd her (so Kittens ied) if she e to work and h il ) ; ke v'v]m.: in 4,x§.‘n\\.‘->. ) L years. would like o meet a nice rich man. dertook to become her gu y \ hen suddenly came the few g Her first adven- “Kittens” gazed‘at her with wonder- ~ assuring her of a lovel ture, as she describes ing eyes and . . . met the rich man. He ment, plenty of clothes, jewels N it, came in 1919 /s turned cut to be Jefferson Seligman. and spending money. outraged ¢ she sat in the lobby To “Kittens,” in that,day now long So far as the public was con- " He has of a fashionable past, the elderly banker assumed the cerned, “Kittens” Leightmer New York hotel. heroic proportions of a kindly gentle- didn’t exist until one Summer r And from this im- - man, a benevolent benefactor ready to when she rented a portant happening give anyone in need a helping hand. Great Neck, Long all the others seemed Indeed, Seligman enjoyed some -such —occasion was a party in he f to stem, either di- reputation long before he met “Kit- her chum, Isabelle Br of i rectly or indirectly. tens.” a champion of the Philadelphia. It was a harmless L “Kittens” w, Iow he espoused the little affair, but fro a < sixteen and un- cause of an unfortunate girl who was rivulet of ir i and gossip known to the Broad- picked up on the street by a member that eventu: to break » world. As her of the vice squad and dragged into forth i ver of pub & o wandered court. city. It seems a neighbor ¢ i d A across the lobby a And in those haleyon days when a ed to police about the noise B 3 beautifully gowned coach-and-f was seen more fre- in the cottage and a raid fol- “Kittens” and Elias Brody, { quently on Fifth Avenue than a Ro) lowed, fourteen e police the Impetuous Hungari H [] Royce town car, there was the fre- transferring the mer kers to Portrait Painter. This Plotograph Was quent spectacle of Seligman strolling the local j: Made Just After Their Sensational Court- A ’ the Avenue, eyeing all horses and. They subsequently were re- ship and Marriage in Paris. whenever he deemed it necessary leased and acquitted of disorde: loosening the check-reins that made ly conduct charges, but the re v horses uncomfortable. He was one of sions of the party were felt by Se : Y v the most ardent workers in the r < man when he was served with pa = X proof He has b ' of the Society for the Prevention of in two damage suits, one brought by old gen st the nam Cruelty to Animals. the owner of the G Neck cotta Meanw ? The humanitarianism of Banker and the other by a person who tten” \ % Seligman began to im- a New York apartment to * r acqu { o) ) Strange and Exotic Willy Droste, the press itself upon “Kit- Both suits, aggregating exotic W ropean Dancer Who Tried to M tens” Leightmer when, for back rent and dame low-faced : 3 P & “Kittens” Leightm He Is Shown Here according to her claims, ings and were aimed at Seligman a: name for himsclf upon th rt of Estc A * g in the Modernistic Doorway of His he waved aside with a ‘“guardian” of “Kittens.” European capitals resulte - % “Dungeon Castle,” Which He Built in laugh all her urgent re- The banker, on that occasion, let t But “Kittens, while, “Kittens” he B . New York's’Greenwich Village. « quests for aid in obtain- world know in his own words that “I'm ing Droste as muc - Newspaper Fealure Service, 1929, b . » . i 4 i i S { § N . S a5 B AR A S