Monday, September 14, 2009

Billie Burke and Burkeley Crest


Mary William Ethelbert Appleton “Billie” Burke, best known as the good witch Glinda in the 1939 film version of “The Wizard of Oz,” began her film and stage career in 1907. She was 24 years old and already a star when she bought the Kirkham estate on Broadway in Hastings in 1910. The estate possessed a fine mansion that Billie re-christened Burkeley Crest. In 1914 Billie Burke and Flo Ziegfeld were married, and for a while they lived in New York City.

Their daughter Patricia was born in 1916, and it was at that point that the family moved permanently to Burkeley Crest. They decorated the house with Italian and English antiques and Chinese hangings. They installed a fully-equipped projection room where they could watch movies, and built a “playhouse” for their daughter that was modeled on George Washington’s Mt. Vernon. Flo loved flowers and had the gardens around the house planted with hyacinths and daffodils, 24 blue spruce trees, and an English box hedge at the gate. A staff of seventeen servants catered to the needs of the Ziegfelds, their guests, and their menagerie of animals that included deer, parrots, geese, pheasants, bears, ponies, and buffalo.


At the time, having celebrities like the Ziegfelds living in Hastings was the village’s claim to fame, as Stephen Zebrock recalled in an article written for the Hastings News in 1941.

The names of Billie Burke and Florenz Ziegfeld of course went hand in hand every time anyone mentioned Hastings. It seemed as though no one could ever speak of our village without invariably adding, “You know, that’s where Billie Burke and Ziegfeld live.” It even got so Aunt Mary Salaky from Perth Amboy made a special trip one Sunday – just to see if this fantastic tale was really true. Every time my mother would say ‘this’ or ‘that’ about Billie Burke, Aunt Mary would look at her skeptically and murmur, “Go on – it isn’t so.”

Steve Zebrock at age 12, standing in front of the gates of the Burke Estate


Finally, she could resist no longer and made the trip; as she stood in front of “Burkeley Crest” on South Broadway and took in the vast estate, she shook her head from side to side, chanting, “Florenz Ziegfeld, Bille Burke – right before my eyes.” Then turning to my mother as we walked back, “Just wait til I get back to Amboy and tell the others that I saw Billie Burke’s house.” We all looked at her, beaming with pride, while my mother added the burning remark, “Well, I told you so.”

Aunt Mary took on a bit of local pride from them on, and every time she went to see a Billie Burke movie she would preen herself and, at the same time, whisper to her companion, “I saw her house in Hastings – I really did!”
After the stock market crash of 1929 the Ziegfelds were left badly in debt. They closed up the Hastings establishment and moved to the west coast so that Billie could continue her career in the movies. Flo died there soon after, and in 1940 Billie sold the estate. Burkeley Crest was later demolished, marking the end of Hastings’ most glamorous era.

Billie Burke sitting at her desk in Burkeley Crest

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13 comments:

  1. Could you please tell me what streets are now found on or near where Burkeley Crest once stood? I understand that the land was developed after the mansion was demolished in the early '40s. Thank you for any help you may be able to offer.

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    1. Broadway and Farragut ave. Check the google map where it says Burke estate.
      I live in New york City but would love to tour area and see what is on the land now and check out the Hastings on Hudson area. I read that the historical society put together a nice do-it yourself walking tour. Do you know of any lead walking tours coming up?

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    2. nothing left to it. School system took over estate

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  2. Thanks for providing this information on your website about Burkeley Crest.

    A correction.

    Billie Burke was born in 1884, not 1886, which made her 26 in 1910. She reported 1886 in interviews to make herself look younger. According to the California Death Index, the Social Security Index, and records at Kensico Cemetery, she was born in 1884.

    I'm writing a book about her (and researched it).

    Have a nice day. Mike Radice, NYC

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    1. I live just across from the Burke Estate right now in Hastings on Hudson would love to see old photos and read stories about her and the property

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    2. It was a wonderful place. I stood by the same iron gates in the pic. She was sick and died in 72 if i remember. Met her in the 60's very nice person

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  3. I played on her estate when I was a kid. I also sadly watched the demolition of the building. Another loss

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  4. Hi, I was wondering if you can help me? I was wondering if there is any connection to Billie Burkes family being related to the last name White. Alfred, Renferd ? There is such a resemblance and I was told there is a connection. Thanks! Karen White

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  5. Does anyone have information regarding the companionship between Billie Burke and Alma Adhron?

    Alma is my husband's great-aunt. My mother-in-law has pieces of Billie's stage jewelry that Billie often gave to Alma for her nieces.

    I know that Alma was Billie's companion during Billie's marriage to Flo and after the birth of her daughter Patricia.

    If you have information please e-mail me at terrijayich3@gmail.com

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  6. Does anyone have information regarding the companionship between Billie Burke and Alma Adhron?

    Alma is my husband's great-aunt. My mother-in-law has pieces of Billie's stage jewelry that Billie often gave to Alma for her nieces.

    I know that Alma was Billie's companion during Billie's marriage to Flo and after the birth of her daughter Patricia.

    If you have information please e-mail me at jayichterri3@gmail.com

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  7. We moved to Ludllow Park in 1957..we lived on Franklin Avenue. The white house at the corner of Franklin and Sunnyside used to belong to the Barrymores and had we moved in a decade earlier I would have commuted with John and/or Lionel on the Grand Central railroad. We used to take drives along Broadway through Hastings and up to Tarryton. I knew that Burke and Ziegfeld, Elsie Janis and others had lived there and when we arrived (in the Fifties) it was just coming to the end of the Golden Era. We lived in the White House until 2002.

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  8. My mother, Helen Gawloski, DOB 01-06-1917, lived down by the new York Central Railroad tracks, and was a hand~maiden during the later Roaring Twenties. Billie Burke once asked my Grandmother if she would allow my Mom to accompany them on a European Tour but she declined that offer.

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  9. Hi, I've heard through family stories that Billie Burke had relatives either in the White family or Miller Family. Does anyone know more about this? Please email me at: BeaWallace@Juno.com

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