Photo: Bee Palmer seated in second row, third from left, with the cast of Ziegfeld’s 1918 Midnight Frolic on Broadway.
Later, it was discovered that the whole thing was a publicity stunt. Jack Kearns, personal manager of Dempsey was trying to get the champ an acting role in aVaudeville’s stage production. He thought a scandal of such magnitude would help Dempsey in getting an acting role. It did not work. Bee and Al separated over this controversy. In February 1922, Bee and Al made up. Ironically, a few weeks later, Al Siegel began an affair with singer Sophie Tucker. But Bee Palmer was not exactly a saint. She was well-known as a “party girl.” Peers accused her of “sleeping her way to the top.” In 1928, Bee Palmer divorced Al Siegel. In 1933, Al Siegel began a new affair with his student, the future star of the era, Ethel Merman. In 1935, Al Siegel married Yvonne Devoe. Al Siegel, 82, died July 25, 1981 in Laguna Beach, California. In December 1933, Bee Palmer married the 20 year old Jack Fina who had a hit with “Bumble Boogie.” Jack Fina died May 13, 1970 of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. In 1967, Bee Palmer made headlines again when she fell into a downtown Manhattan building construction ditches, while feeding stray cats. Animal lovers and cats owners rushed to the Roosevelt Hospital where Bee Palmer was hospitalized, and many protested against the building owners, waving huge signs and banners in front of the main entrance of the hospital. It was a riot! Bee Palmer died on December 22, 1967 in New York from a breast cancer. She was 73 years old. Her hits included the 1919 “I Want to Shimmie”, the 1926 “What Can I say After I say I am Sorry”, the 1932 “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues”, and the 1934 “Don’t Leave Me Daddy.” She performed with the biggest orchestras of the era, including the legendary Paul Whiteman Orchestra, the Frank Trumbauer Orchestra, and she appeared at the Carnegie Hall on December 23, 1928. She will always be remembered for her extravagant parties and love for life.Continues Next