Rosie, Golden Girl: A Woman you Should Know
She was beautiful. She was courageous. She survived the Great Depression, burlesque, Nazis and a vicious kidnapping. Her name was Rosie Rowland, known theatrically as Rose Zell (and many variations on that spelling. Her scrapbooks note her as Rose Zell), and later Baroness.
Rosie was a cute and vivacious blonde, born to loving parents on March 8, 1917, in Xenia, Ohio. Her parents were Ida, who had supposedly spent time on the vaudeville stages and father Alvah. Rosie was the youngest of her three sisters; Lorraine, Thelma and Betty.
By age four Rosie joined her sisters (minus Lorraine) and a couple other girls on stage, dancing, possibly singing and acting. It was vaudeville and anything goes. Vaudeville shows consisted of singers, musicians, acrobats, comedians, pretty girls, wrestlers, and any odd and charming act. The sisters hustled and trouped and earned the family some money. But vaudeville was dying and soon the act broke up. So, hello burlesque. Under the supervision of another adult the sisters traveled to New York and worked in burlesque, still considered tawdry and seedy. Never mind a girl had to eat and wasn’t doing anything but dancing, albeit sans clothes. Burlesque. They neglected to tell their parents exactly what they were doing. Eventually their parents left Ohio and moved to New York to discover the truth and to get jobs themselves.
By 1934 Rosie, now Roz Elle (or again some variation), was dancing on Fourteenth Street earning $3 a day, working 5 shows a day, 6 on the weekends, dressed in gold paint. Only. She was talked into the act by being told the paint would cover her as much as if she was wearing a fur. Either way she was a sensation. Seven days a week she poured gold paint on and off for audiences who couldn’t believe their eyes.
Sister Betty, a “vivacious red-head” as one paper reported was stripping her way towards becoming a Minsky star. Sister Dian (formerly Thelma) was a blonde, ethereal beauty, called “Society’s Favorite” who was, unbeknownst to them all, dancing towards death.
Eduard-Jean Empain was born 1917. His father, Baron Empain was a wealthy Belgian industrialist. He would develop the Paris Metro, start his own bank amongst many other businesses that brought in the gold. He was an extremely wealthy man. When Jean was 26 his father died leaving him his fortune and title.
A handsome playboy the new Baron married Mathilde Marie Hoffman whom he had a daughter with in 1933. But Jean wanted a son and heir and the two divorced.
Meanwhile Rose Zell was discovered by burlesque impresario, Nils T. Granlund, who is loosely credit with having invented the modern nightclub. He saw in her slim golden beauty star power and enticed her with a raise to $60 a week, signing her to perform at his Irving Place Burlesque. Rose Zell could only wear her gold paint for 45 minutes at a time before having to wash it off or risk death. Many performers doing something similar had and would die. N.T.G. made sure a tub, and buckets of water were standing by backstage so she could scrub off the toxic paint after every performance.
Rose Zell was such a long running success that when the manager of London’s swanky Dorchester House, Clifford Whitley saw her he spirited her across the Atlantic to perform for international audiences. The Dorchester was a luxury hotel where the likes of Somerset Maugham hung out and performer Danny Kaye performed. Rose Zell and “Les Girls” performed midnightly for packed audiences. Patrons from Paris, Berlin and beyond flocked to the floor show to see “Goldie,” including thirty-two-year-old Baron Jean Empain who took a suite at the Dorchester. By now it was said Empain’s yearly income was $10,000,00.
After seeing her act, the multi-millionaire persuaded Whitley to make an introduction. He was instantly smitten, or as he claimed, “It was love at first sight.” Rose Zell was seventeen. The next night he invited her to a party and from then on was seen squiring her around London. When he finally returned to Belgium, she followed two days later.
The two went to Egypt. They traveled through the Belgian Congo for 6 weeks of decadent Gatsby-esque parties and hunting. There was a bit of trouble getting Rose Zell back into England, because apparently “Dancer” on her passport was suspect. But the Baron pulled some strings, and all was A-Okay.
As often happens to many burlesque performers of that era, once Rose Zell was engaged, she quit or was asked to quit the stage. Never again would she undulate naked for strangers and applause. Also began the white washing of her career. Her mother told reporters she had gotten into dancing to straighten her legs and she performed only in cabaret. She also told the newspapers that Rose Zell had dutifully called and asked permission to marry (she was still underage) and of course, Mama Rowland agreed. At the time Ida was managing a Manhattan Beach Hotel.
Seemingly Cinderella had found her prince. Except it wasn’t as simple as that. Remember the Baron wanted a male heir. There was at least one other woman vying for the title of Baroness. A Miss Baby Siegfried Knudsen who had consulted a fortune teller for a love portion. The potion failed to work its magic and Miss Knudsen would sue the fortune teller, apparently broken-hearted. The Baron was believed to have told Rose Zell, amongst others if one of them gave him a son he’d marry her.
Though the Baron married Rose Zell in a civil service in 1936 in Budapest, he had not decided it would be permanent. Fortunately, in November of 1937 Edouard-Jean (known as Wado) was born and at the bedside of the recovering mother the pair were legally wed.
The next years would have their highs and lows for the couple. Rose Zell’s sisters, Betty and Dian would go on to entertain thousands. Tragically, Dian would die in 1944 of a weakened heart due to a bought of scarlet fever as a child. She was only twenty-nine. Betty would have a decades long career, becoming known as “the Ball of Fire.” Betty would remain close with Rose Zell, often sailing to Europe to be with her at her sumptuous château, just 30 kilometers outside of Paris, Château Bouffémont. The home was huge and gilded with wide staircases, antiques and acres of land surrounding it. Sadly, during WWII while the Baron was injured and locked in a concentration camp, Rose Zell saw her beloved Château taken over by the Nazis and she was forced to flee to Vichy. Though Dian begged her to come to America, even sending money, Rose Zell could not as she was not allowed to take her son out of the country him being a Belgian citizen. And she would not abandon him.
When the Baron died in 1946, Rose Zell married his cousin Edouard Empain. No need to change the stationery. She was still Baroness Empain.
There would be more heartache for Rose Zell, when her son was kidnapped in 1978, held for ransom, tortured and had his finger cut off. It would, reportedly, mark him for the rest of his life.
Betty Rowland always assumed Rose Zell would be there for her and vice versa. When burlesque dried up and Betty had her own difficult times Rose Zell helped out. They would have a house together in France and live there. Rose Zell promised Betty a place in her will. Sadly, it would not happen as such . . . for more of the story read or watch “Behind the Burly Q,” the history of burlesque.d
