DEATH RIDDLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 February 1942, Page 4

DEATH RIDDLE

NOTED ENGLISH BEAUTY. “QUEEN OF MANNEQUINS.” England’s most famous mannequin, known to a very large public as “Gloria,” was found dead in her flat at Wymering Mansions, Maida Vale, London. She had apparently been dead some days. Police took charge of bottles found in the flat. It is believed that she died from an accidental overdose of slimming tablets. Her Siamese cat, Simon, was in the flat with her. Gloria had the reputation of being the world’s most photographed woman. Her picture appeared in some newspaper or magazine every day for five years. In 1937 it was estimated that she had been photographed 500,000 times. Her name was given to a leading make of car. ■ She had been called the “Queen of Mannequins,” and was considered one of the world's loveliest women. More than 1000 men had asked her to marry. She started as a mannequin with Selfridge’s when she was 22, about 14 years ago. Her name then was Mrs Pizer. A Yorkshire girl, her maiden name was May Kenworthy, but the firm re-christened her Gloria, and it was as Gloria that the world knew her. Apart from her “still” photographs, cinema audiences saw her in advertising films. Her private life was something that Gloria always kept strictly apart from business. After her marriage to Mr Pizer had been dissolved she became Mrs Jackson, the wife of a film company’s London representative. Mr Jackson died a year or two ago, and then she became Mrs Lane. Her husband is in the Army. Mr A. H. Williams, a former director of Selfridge’s, who discovered Gloria, said in an interview: “She was not merely a beauty. She had a lovely nature and everyone in the store liked her. She left in 1935 to start her own agency.”