When actress Burke rented society matron/widow Brown’s home during a Chicago engagement, the drama offstage proved much more entertaining than the play. “O, the dirt, the horrible dirt,” Burke lamented after moving into the 22-room mansion with her daughter, servants and Scottish terrier. The insulted Brown, from her base at the Blackstone Hotel, tried to evict Burke early on a technicality, complaining that her tenant paid the $1,150 rent in $1 bills and gave the run of the place to “cats and dogs and . . . actors.” Brown lost the court fight but went on to be colorful in other areas–suing people, performing in a Berwyn vaudeville house and running for alderman.
Number of maids Burke traveled with (not including governess, butler and driver): 5.
Burke’s total screen time as Glinda the good witch in “The Wizard of Oz,” in minutes: 12.
Average length of eviction hearings in Cook County Circuit Court in 2002: 1 minute 44 seconds.
