The_Poppy_March_2012.pdf - The Western Front Association

Charles Frohman died a month and a week short
of his fifty-ninth birthday. His body was later washed
ashore below the Old Head of Kinsale and it was later
determined that he was killed by a heavy object falling
on him, rather than by drowning. His body lay among
147 others awaiting identification, where a rescued
American, identified it from newspaper photographs.
His body, alone among all the others, was not disfigured.
His funeral service was held on 25th May 1915 at the
Temple Emanu-El in New York City and he was buried
in the Union Field Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens,
New York. Services were also arranged by some of his
stars in other American cities: by Maude Adams in Los
Angeles, by John Drew in San Francisco, by Billie Burke in
Tacoma and by Donald Brian, Joseph Cawthorn and Julia
Sanderson in Providence, as well as memorial services at
both St. Paul’s and the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
in London. Frohman was also eulogized by the French
Academy of Authors in Paris.
Links between people can go on and on!
For example:
Frohman promoted J.M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’. Barrie was a close
friend of Arthur Llewelyn Davies, who had five sons, one of
whom, George Llewelyn was killed in Ypres, on 15th March
1915. He is buried in grave 2.E.2 at Voormezeele Enclosure
No.3, Ruuschaartstraat 1-31 8902 Ieper, Belgium. His entry
in the CWGC records state:
DAVIES, GEORGE LLEWELYN, son of Arthur and Sylvia
Llewelyn Davies. Step-son of Sir J.M. Barrie, Bart, Model for
Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan’. Educated at Eton and Trinity College,
Cambridge.
Last photograph of Charles
Frohman on board the Lusitania
Also drowned on the Lusitania was Alfred Vanderbilt who
was travelling with Frohman. Alfred Vanderbilt owned a large
log-house retreat in New York State called ‘Sagamore’ www.
greatcampsagamore.org/great-camp-sagamore. In addition, he
owned the house opposite mine, also called ‘Sagamore’! This
house is on the river and is now owned by the singer Vince
Hill. My house is built on the opposite side of the road in what
was the kitchen garden.
Below is an interesting article on Vanderbilt’s last hours
on the sinking of the Lusitania http://rmsLusitania .info/pages/
saloon_class/vanderbilt_ag.html#family After the ship was
torpedoed, Alfred and his valet Ronald Denyer calmly assisted
several women and children to safety. Fellow passenger Oliver
Bernard, while searching for Stuart Mason, almost collided
with Vanderbilt in the A Deck saloon class entrance. Oliver
was surprised by Vanderbilt’s composure, and Oliver would
never forget the grin on the millionaire’s face.
Alfred was heard remarking to another passenger, “Well,
they got us this time, all right.” On B Deck, Second Steward
Robert Chisholm saw Vanderbilt “vainly attempting to rescue
a hysterical woman.” Chisholm shouted, “Hurry Mr. Vanderbilt,
or it will be too late!” Vanderbilt did not listen and continued
assisting the women and children. Thomas Slidell saw him put
a lifebelt on a woman’s shoulders and then walk away without
saying a word. The truth was that Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt,
the renowned sportsman and ladies man, did not know how
to swim. Even so, Alfred made no attempt to push his way
through the mad crowd and into a lifeboat. As it was, “men
of his standing were not supposed to panic” (Hickey/Smith,
223). One of the last people to see Vanderbilt was Owen Kenan,
on the port side near the verandah café. Owen jumped with
Denyer at the last minute but Denyer did not survive.
Nurse Alice Middleton, a second cabin passenger, is
thought to have accepted Vanderbilt’s offer of a lifebelt.
Vanderbilt helped her put it on, but before he could finish
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