Manville Mausoleum

Tommy Manville
April 9, 1894 – October 9, 1967

Tommy Manville (Thomas Franklyn Manville, Jr.) was the Paris Hilton of the mid 20th century: he was famous for being famous. Like Hilton, he inherited a lot of money. In his case he was an heir to the Johns-Manville asbestos fortune. Unlike Hilton, he had a predilection to marriage. From his first marriage to chorus girl Florence Huber in 1911 to his last, to 20 year old Christina Erdlen in 1960, he was married a total of 13 times to 11 different women. Marriage became a sort of a sport to him and he won whatever he was trying to win by securing a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. By all accounts the playboy reveled in his ability to lure young blond women into his lair, marry them then rapidly divorce them. He married Macie Marie Ainsworth in August 1943. They were together for 8 hours of connubial bliss before separating. They got a divorce two months later in October 1943.

Manville’s fortune was not guaranteed from birth. In fact his early marriage antics caused his father to cut him off and Tommy had to take a job at the Pittsburgh facility for $15.00 a week. But his father relented and when the elder Mansville died he left Tommy approximately 10 million dollars (about $125 million today) certainly enough for him to maintain an extravagant lifestyle. Too bad reality TV hadn’t been invented yet. Tommy Manville would certainly have been a star.
Text and photo © Douglas Keister Visit Doug’s Author Page

[address cemetery=”Kensico Cemetery” street=”Mount Pleasant” city=”Valhalla” state=”New York” zip=”10595″]