Receiving marriage license in Santa Monica on morning of wedding day, Jack Denison happily kisses Dorothy after signing.
Jack Denison kneels in prayer before wedding.
It had taken Jack more than four years to get Dorothy to say yes, and maybe because it was a second marriage for both or took too long to come about. The bride war a gown of white mousseline de soie and Chantilly lace, designed by Berman of London. The dress was ballerina-length, with a V-neckline, three-quarter-length pouffe sleeves and a full skirt. She carried a modest bouquet of lilies of the valley and violets.
They were married in the ancient Greek rite ceremony at Los Angeles St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral and 200 attended. Dorothy was attended by Mrs. Gerry Branton and Miss Mary Denison, sister of the groom, while his brother, William, was best man.
w/ Nat King Cole
Thirty minutes after the wedding began, the pair were Mr. and Mrs. Jack drove his bride away in his sleek Lincoln Continental. There was no reception and Nat King Cole and wife Maria were the only topflight celebrities who had attended.
En route to the airport, the newlyweds stopped at a quiet restaurant, had dinner, toasted their oneness in champagne.
Denison, a Canadian of Greek descent, was born in 1934 and was employed at both the Waldorf-Astoria and the Astor hotels before moving to Los Angeles three years later. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Denison worked as a matre d' at the Flamingo. He met Dorothy at the Rivera.
At 36, Dorothy she and Denison announced they would adopt a Negro orphan and a Greek orphan, a boy and a girl, in the near future.
Poses with new wife, mother-in-law, actress Ruby Dandridge.
Jack reveals plans to sister Mary, Gerry Branton, brother William.
Nat King Cole and wife Maria congratulate new groom.
In quiet wedding dinner Jack and Dorothy share champagne.
Four hours after leaving Los Angeles in a four-engined jet plane, the pair touched down in New York, where they honeymooned.
Asked whether his wife would be booked to sing at his Hollywood club, the 46-year-old Greek-Canadian, who began his career as a waiter at New York's Waldorf -Astoria and won a Navy commission in World War II combat, retorted: "It's entirely up to my partner."
Dorothy met Jack at the time she was on the rebound from an on and off relationship with Otto Preminger.
Denison was well known as a womanizer.
In her divorce papers to Jack, Dorothy accused him of extreme cruelty, claiming he struck her on many occasions. During her marriage to him she started to drink heavily, take many kinds of pills, lose her health, lose her money, and become less and less successful in her career as each month passed by.
Jack sent Dorothy flowers after each performance she had at the Rivera. Denison also went out of his way to see that she was comfortable.
Dorothy signing autographs at the premier of the 1959 film "Porgy and Bess"
w/ Dorothy
Nicknamed the 'Silver Fox', Denison was tall, dark, handsome and always well-groomed and he was a very sympathetic listener.
In 1959, when Dorothy married Jack she was earning a quarter of a million dollars a year.
The club that Denison ran became a financial disaster because he lacked management skills. Jack Denison sold the restaurant that bore his name. The restaurant was located in Beverly Hills. Telling JET magazine in 1960 that he was going to get into the business of selling ball point pens that lit up. What a loser.
Also telling JET magazine in 1962 ' I feel I love my wife as much as the first day I met her, if not more.' 'And i'm hoping in the near future we can work it out.' Also mentioning about his finances, 'I made enough money to sustain two average people very well.' What a liar. All of this was mentioned after the couple divorced. He was so arrogant and full of himself. Goes on to say, 'After all, the average family can live on seven, eight or nine hundred dollars a month. But our living standard was in the $2,000 a-month bracket. I couldn't make enough here to tell my wife she didn't have to work. The old man has got to be a breadwinner in a marriage.'
They made a good couple. But she should not give any man control of all her money!
ReplyDeleteHe was a wolf
DeleteThey were not a good couple. He abused her physically, verbally, and financially.
DeleteShe was a fool for the white man.
ReplyDeleteHer friend Geri said that Dottie adored beautiful people...that's how he got her.
DeleteThe classic story. The forbidden fruit. The Master at his best & the Black female Conquered & Defiled. Sister, sister here we go again. Does Thomas Jefferson come to mind. Heed history or it repeats itself.
DeleteUsing your logic, she was also a fool for the black man. Her first husband, a black man, dogged her out and their daughter.
DeleteWe all make messed up choices… abuse is abuse but that Jack Denison was a pure bum and a thief .. modern day I would have bust his ass GOOD!!! And good riddance
ReplyDeleteWhat ever became of Jack Denison? What was his life like afterwards?
ReplyDeleteI worked for Jack Denison and his brother Billy at the Copper Cart for 5 years starting in 1972. Jack could be very charismatic and also very tough. Jack seemed to be pals with that culinary union boss (Al Bramlet ?) who was eventually snuffed out for not paying up to have a restaurant fire-bombed during a union contract dispute. I saw Jack and Bramlet meet several times at the Copper Cart. Jack died from an overdose of sleeping pills-supposedly. His wife said he thought he was invincible and had trouble getting to sleep and took more and more pills. She found him dead in the morning. She was a shrewd one herself so who knows what happened?
DeletePS: Jack Denison died in 1976 from that sleeping pill overdose
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