Irene Hayes (1896 â€" September 16, 1975) was a Ziegfeld girl and
businesswoman who owned Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe, a leading
Manhattan florist, and Gallagher's Steak House after the death of her
husband, Jack Solomon.She bought the florist Wadley & Smythe on Park
Avenue, adding her name, as no new businesses were allowed on Park
Avenue at that time. "The right flowers do a lot of good and the wrong
ones work mischief," she would often say. "I honestly believe that
flowers, or rather the lack of them, have the power to change the map
of the world. Do you think Nero would have burned Rome if he had been
surrounded with the peace and gentleness of mimosa, lilies and acacia?
I could mention any number of tyrants whose lives would have been less
violent if only they had loved flowers."An active participant in the
Manhattan social scene, she was a good friend of the Nordstrom
Sisters. Until her death in the 1970s she always had a table at the
Ziegfeld Ball and made her home in Manhattan at her apartment on
Sutton Place.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.
businesswoman who owned Irene Hayes Wadley & Smythe, a leading
Manhattan florist, and Gallagher's Steak House after the death of her
husband, Jack Solomon.She bought the florist Wadley & Smythe on Park
Avenue, adding her name, as no new businesses were allowed on Park
Avenue at that time. "The right flowers do a lot of good and the wrong
ones work mischief," she would often say. "I honestly believe that
flowers, or rather the lack of them, have the power to change the map
of the world. Do you think Nero would have burned Rome if he had been
surrounded with the peace and gentleness of mimosa, lilies and acacia?
I could mention any number of tyrants whose lives would have been less
violent if only they had loved flowers."An active participant in the
Manhattan social scene, she was a good friend of the Nordstrom
Sisters. Until her death in the 1970s she always had a table at the
Ziegfeld Ball and made her home in Manhattan at her apartment on
Sutton Place.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.
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