Irene Hayes

Irene Hayes (born Lillie Irene Leslie Hayes, September 28, 1895 – September 16, 1975) was an American florist and musical theatre actress. Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, she grew up in Manhattan, Salina, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. She made her Broadway debut as a chorus girl in Miss 1917, and subsequently appeared in the Broadway revues The Love Mill and the Ziegfeld Follies in 1918.

Hayes abandoned her career as a Ziegfeld girl to become a businesswoman. She established her own florist business, Irene Hayes, Inc., in Manhattan in 1920 on Park Avenue. By 1929 she had gained a national reputation as one of America's leading woman florists who catered to New York's elite society. Lillie Irene Leslie Hayes was born on September 28, 1895 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Her parents had immigrated to the United States from England, and by the time of the 1900 United States Federal Census the family was living in Manhattan. She had one sister, Marjorie. At the time of the 1910 United States Federal Census the Hayes family was living in Salina, Kansas. Irene spent time living Kansas City, Missouri before moving back to New York City with the hopes of becoming a film actress. she returned to Broadway the following month as Mrs. Vandermill in the premiere of Alfred Francis and Earl Carroll's musical The Love Mill at the 48th Street Theatre.

At the time of her marriage to her first husband, the actor Robert Taber, on August 16, 1918 Hayes was working as a Ziegfeld girl in the Ziegfeld Follies. Her marriage to Taber did not last, and she married her second husband, Warner F. Russell, on April 14, 1928; a wealthy stock broker in New York whom she successfully sued for divorce in Chicago in 1930.

In her early life in New York Hayes worked a number of odd jobs, including working as an automobile salesman and as an employee in a florist shop. The shop became a favorite among the New York elite,

Hayes's floral business had a large number of celebrity clients, and she was described as a famous florist in national magazines like Life. Her organization merged with other florist businesses, becoming Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe, Inc. in 1960, and later Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe Lemoult, Inc. In 1970 she opened a third location in New York City at 470 58th Street. Solomon was previously married to another Ziegfeld Follies girl, Helen Gallagher Solomon. When her husband died in 1963 she inherited Gallagher's Steakhouse which she ultimately sold to Jeff Brody as she was unable to maintain both her floral business and a restaurant. She died of an apparent heart ailment at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, New York City, aged 79 and was cremated at Ferncliff.