1932: Movie Star's Former Wife Recovering at Hotel Hilton

03/29/1932

Mrs. Grace Smith Tibbett, former wile of Lawrence Tibbett, actor and opera singer, was recovering at Hotel Hilton today from injuries received late yesterday when she lost control of her automobile 20-miles west, of Deming, N. M.

Her companion, Mrs. Stoddard Atwood of Bakersfield, Calif., was not hurt.

The front left tire of Mrs. Tibbett's car blew out, causing the car to swerve. The car knocked down two telephone poles and six fence posts.

“It’s the luckiest thing in the world for us that we weren’t killed,” Mrs. Tibbett said.

Mrs. Tibbett is en route to Chicago and New York from her home in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Mrs. Tibbettt refused to talk about her former husband, who has been called the “successor to Valentino in feminine hearts.”

Tibbett is one of the few great singers lured into motion pictures. He made his debut on the screen in “The Rouge Song,” in which he played the part of a dashing, laughing, singing bandit.