“…Edward Browning was 51 when he met Frances ‘Peaches’ Heenan at a sorority dance. She was 15. They were married on her 16th birthday. The marriage lasted less than a year during which time she spent approximately $1,000 a day in New York department stores. I’d hardly call this a model marriage.”—Ann Landers, January 6, 1970.

Thus begins and ends the saga of Peaches & Daddy. But there are so many questions surrounding the story of this Roaring ’20’s couple.

At the age of 41, Edward W. Browning, who by this time practically created the New York skyline, married Nellie “Adele” Lowen. Unable to have children of their own, they adopted two young girls under the age of five. Marjorie was adopted by Adele, only. Dorothy “Sunshine” was adopted by Browning, only. When their marriage dissolved, almost a decade after it began, the children were separated.

This is where the curious behavior of Edward W. Browning truly begins. He decides that “Sunshine”, now eight years old, should have a playmate. So he advertises to adopt a “Pretty, refined girl, about 14 years old…” and requests a photograph. He is deluged with letters from destitute parents of young girls and girls, themselves, looking for a better life.

He also begins a gregarious social life, frequenting sorority gatherings, which is how he met “Peaches”.

The scandal of his divorce, quickly followed by the public spectacle of the “Cinderella” adoption lottery woke up the tabloid press of the day. The addition of a 15 year old love interest, sparked a fire under them.

New York’s Evening Graphic, which started the careers of Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan, began a relationship with Edward Browning and “Peaches” that would last throughout their courtship, marriage and estrangement. Each using the paper against the other while the tabloid press reaped the rewards.

Michael M. Greenburg does a wonderful job in weaving together the biographies of all the characters involved with the legal aspects in play and the birth of tabloids.

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