How Mr Selfridge was ruined – byhis lust for the Cheeky Girls of their day
THEY have been described as The Cheeky Girls of their era and their hedonistic lifestyle scandalised the public in the 1920s.
Now the incredible story of how retail tycoon Harry Selfridge – the man who founded the famous London department store – was financially ruined because of his obsession with twin dancers Jenny and Rose Dolly is to feature in the new series of Mr Selfridge.
Harry, played by Jeremy Piven in the show, was a 67-year-old wid- ower in 1925 when he fell under the spell of Jenny and Rose, known professionally as The Dolly Sisters.
For a decade, the highsociety beauties would become a serious drain on the Selfridge fortune. The women, both divorcees, loved to gamble and Harry is believed to have forked out an incredible $4 million to support their habit – the equivalent of about $ 55 million, or £36 million, today.
He also lavished the best furs, jewels and evening gowns on them.
Andrew Davies, the dramatist who created the hit ITV series, said there was no doubt Harry’s obsession with the sisters played a part in his financial downfall. It would culminate with him being sacked as chairman of the store he had founded back in 1909.
Davies said of the sisters: ‘They were the equivalent of The Cheeky Girls - they are the better act and were outrageously sexy. I think Harry’s relationship with The Dolly Sisters was the beginning of his downfall because he was mixing his personal money with company money.
‘The girls were a drain on him financially but made an even bigger dent on his reputation. People trusted his judgment less because he was such a fool for them.’
Harry definitely slept with Jenny and once offered her $10 million to marry him, but it is not clear if he bedded Rose. His great-grandson Simon Wheaton-Smith said: ‘After his wife Rose died in 1918, Harry took an increased interest in the fairer sex. His appetite for the ladies might have allowed him to have intimate relations with both, but my mother only told me about the relationship with Jenny.’
The sisters’ rags-toriches story began in Hungary and continued when they moved to the United States. It would later inspire a Hollywood biopic, The Dolly Sisters, starring Betty Grable in 1945. Now rising stars Zoe Richards and Emma Hamilton will play the twins in Mr Selfridge in the New Year.
The girls made their professional reputation as dancers on the vaudeville circuit and by 1916 were earning $2,000 a week – the equivalent of $45,000 or £30,000 today.
After starring in silent movies they moved to Europe where they were never short of male admirers, meeting Selfridge while performing in London. But it was their love of gambling which so entranced – and scandalised – the public.
Shortly after Harry asked Jenny to marry him in 1933, she was involved in a car crash and was forced to sell her jewellery collection to pay for costly plastic surgery operations.
When her money ran out, Harry stepped in to help, but he never realised his dream of marrying her. Jenny recovered from her injuries but suffered from depression and hanged herself in 1941. Rose died in 1970, aged 77. Mainly due to the sisters, Harry’s fortune had rapidly declined and, broke and owing the taxman £250,000, he lost his hold of his trading empire before finally being forced out of Selfridges entirely in 1941. Given a reduced pension, he lived in a rented flat and died penniless in 1947.