Eleanor's Pursuit: The Marital Misadventure of 1911 That Triggered Sensational Headlines and a High-Stakes Courtroom Battle

When Eleanor Pendleton met Louis M. Ream in 1911, it was love at first sight. She was a Broadway actress known for her beauty and dancing ability in musical comedy productions during the early twentieth century. Louis was tall, dark, and handsome and, as she soon discovered, the youngest son and presumptive heir of Norman B. Ream, one of America’s wealthiest men. The problem for Eleanor, as she learned after eloping with Louis, was her father-in-law’s deep-seated aversion to the theatre; he...