User:Teblick/Frances Raymond

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Frances Raymond (died June 23, 1901)[1] was an American actress and author. She was also known as Minnie Raymond[2] and Martha Schaffer,[2]

Raymond was the daughter of Frederick Lapzieu of Brooklyn.[3]

Career[edit]

Raymond's acting career ended in 1894.[4] She acted with the Frohman road companies[1] and had been performing in The Girl I Left Behind Me in Memphis when she and the management parted ways. Management of Charles Frohman's company said that she had been incompetent, while she said that she angered a company official by resisting his advances.[5]

Turning from acting to writing, Raymond spent almost three years working on a novel, Maylou, which the G. W. Dillingham Company published in 1897. Critics attacked the book's plot and style, compounding its lack of success while creating "a sort of ephemeral notoriety" for it.[5] That lack of success led to her becoming "melancholy and morose".[6]

Personal life[edit]

In 1892, Raymond married businessman Franklin Raymond Wallace, Some time later "she discovered that Wallace was a married man with a daughter nearly as old as herself."[1] He settled a lawsuit that she had filed by promising to pay her $100 per month. By 1896, she said that he had stopped those payments. Therefore, she sued him for $50,000.[1] Later, Raymond felt deserted by a young doctor whom she had "loved deeply"[6] after he had paid "marked attention" to her for two years before telling her that he intended to marry someone else.[3]

Death[edit]

On June 23, 1901, Raymond died of asphyxiation in her New York apartment.[6] She committed suicide by inhaling gas[7] in her New York City apartment after she had closed off the keyhole and the space under the door and removed three of the chandelier's four gas burners.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "She Asks for $50,000". The Anaconda Standard. Montana, Anaconda. New York Journal. August 3, 1896. p. 3. Retrieved October 1, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ^ a b "History of a Week". The Marshall Statesman. Michigan, Marshall. August 7, 1896. p. 7. Retrieved October 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ a b "Fair woman sought peace in death'[s embrace". The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 6, 1901. p. 1. Retrieved July 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "$50,000 for a Broken Heart". Buffalo Evening News. New York, Buffalo. July 30, 1896. p. 38. Retrieved October 2, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ a b c "Takes Her Own Life After Years of Failure". Star Tribune. Minnesota, Minneapolis. May 7, 1901. p. 1. Retrieved July 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c "Pathetic Life Story". The Daily Republican. Pennsylvania, Monongahela. June 26, 1901. p. 2. Retrieved October 1, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ "Actress and Authoress Committs Suicide" (PDF). The New York Times. New York, New York City. May 6, 1901. Retrieved 2 October 2018.