ARCHIVES
Bath-Room Romance Wrecks Billy Murray's Marital Ship
SAYS WIFE IS COP'S SWEETIE—ASKS DIVORCE
By Rodney F. Dutcher
New York, December 16,—Billy Murray's love ballads, relayed over the phonograph, have made thousands of girlish hearts flutter in the last 15 years, but the heart of Billy's own wife fluttered only for a big brass-buttoned cop in Freeport, N. J. [sic]
This is the burden of the song that Billy is singing in a Brooklyn divorce court—the chorus of which tells about a romance between Mrs. Grace Murray and the cop, Billy Combs, under the shower-bath in the Murray home.
Witnesses say that while Murray was out singing such favorites as "You Gotta See Mama Every Night," "All Alone With You In a Little Rendezvous," and other romantic ditties, Mrs. Murray and Combs were giving him plenty of support at home, by suiting their actions to Billy's melodious words.
The shower-bath romance is described in the affidavit of Anna Honkola, the Murray maid, who said she saw Combs around the house whenever she didn't see Murray, and that the cop's uniform frequently hung in the clothes closet."I noticed," said Anna, "that Mrs. Murray would take Mr. Murray to the train in their automobile and would bring Mr. Combs back to the house. I frequently would hear the shower going. I listened and would hear them under the shower. At other times Mrs. Murray would refer to Mr. Combs as her sweetheart."
While substituting in Murray's home, where he lived for days at a time, the maid said, Combs showed a marked preference for Billy's black and white shirts, although he wore them all at one time or another.
"Mr. Combs frequently kissed Mrs. Murray," the maid continued. "They would throw their arms about each other. She would sit in his lap and they would caress each other."
Aileen Stanley, another celebrated vaudeville and phonograph singer, who helped make her home town famous by her rendition of "Chicago," added her affidavit to Anna's. She has sung many duets with Murray and once visited his home. She told of a bathing party in Murray's house and described a dinner scene.
"Mr. Combs appeared at the head of the table in complete charge of the meal," Aileen deposed. "Sometime later he appeared in the room wearing his uniform and said he was going out on post.
Takes Lunch to Billy.
"About an hour later, Mrs. Murray said to me, 'what do you say we take some lunch to Billy—the poor kid is riding around all the time on his bicycle and he’ll appreciate it.'"
Followed a hectic search of Freeport, Aileen said, with Mrs. Murray "in hysterics until we found him. A scene followed when Mrs. Murray accused Combs of being unfaithful to her.
"I bring you chicken and drinks and find you down at another girl's house," Mrs. Murray said, according to Aileen.
Miss Stanley said she then tried to break up the romance and that when Mrs. Murray promised to behave herself, Combs pressed his gun against her head, and Mrs. Murray, knocking the gun to the ground, changed her mind. Both Combs and Mrs. Murray then wept and renewed vows of undying love to each other, Aileen said.
Mrs. Murray has brought a counter suit, charging cruelty and demanding temporary alimony. Murray, in his answer to this, said he was on a salary of $1,250 weekly and made other money on the stage, but that he had nothing but his salary because Mrs. Murray had taken all his money and owed $7,000 to creditors. The popularity of radio, he said, had made him afraid that his contract would not be renewed.Source: Atlanta Constitution, December 17, 1924, pages 1 & 12. Used with permission.