Talk:Gwen Le Gallienne

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It's worth noting that the noted sculptor Roland Hinton Perry (January 25, 1870 – October 27, 1941) fathered daughter Gwen (who grew up to be a noted sculptor in her own right) when he was just four years of age. Perhaps this remarkable fact is worth being prominently featured in the articles about both father and daughter! Gwen Le Gallienne took the last name of her stepfather, the writer Richard, who married Gwen's mom after she broke up with Mr. Perry. The article about Richard Le Gallienne makes a point of discounting rumors that Gwen was a love child of her mom and Richard, pointing out that Richard was born in 1866, and Gwen in 1874. But if Wikipedia and its footnotes are to be trusted, sperm counts are apparently higher among four-years-old boys than among eight-year-olds—or they were in early 1870s anyway. I have been unable to find any reference to Gwen's mother's date of birth, but if she really was Gwen's mom, she seems to have had a taste for much much younger men. Perhaps Gwen's origins are even more mysterious than any of these articles are admitting. 106.69.71.227 (talk) 08:37, 24 October 2018 (UTC) I've found ancestry.com info for Gwen's actual birthdate, around 1898 (contact me through evekahn.com).[reply]

More on Date of Birth[edit]

As Eve Kahn pointed out in her Talk contribution above, the assignation of 1874 as the birth-year of Gwen Le Gallienne is rather hilarious.

What is it based on? The reference given is to the Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford Univ. Press, 1959), but if one takes the trouble actually to click on the link it only mentions Gwen as having drawn a portrait of Richard, with no birth date given for her.

References number [11] and [12], both from the late '20s, describe Gwen as a "27-year old" and Eve as 28; these references are reasonably contemporary. The two photographs to which links are given were taken in 1925 and "1920-1930", respectively, and both show a woman in her twenties and certainly NOT in her fifties.

Doubts about the paternity of Gwen were almost certainly based on Roland Hinton Perry's own doubts - it is perfectly possibly that Richard Le Gallienne and the then Mrs. Hinton Perry were already acquainted (or more) by 1900 (or even 1898, another birthdate one can find for Gwen). It might also explain Perry's unwillingness to pay alimony to his ex-wife, a refusal for which he spent a much-publicised spell in debtors' prison in 1909.

Some recent publications, however, seem to have taken this Wikipedia article as gospel and consequently give 1874 as Gwen's birth year. (One of the dangers of Wikipedia's increasingly authoritative standing.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.141.11.122 (talk) 17:41, 9 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Corrected Date of Birth[edit]

After making the above comment in response to hers, I exchanged emails with Eve Kahn. She had found census entries from 1910 and 1912, which give Gwendolyn's age as 12 and 14, respectively, and her place of birth as "France". On the basis of that, and the evidence I mentioned above, Eve changed the birth date to "c. 1898" and removed the spurious reference to the Dictionary of National Biography. She or I might add further information as and when it becomes available. MsohniCam (talk) 12:20, 27 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]