Helen Gilmer Bonfils (November 16, 1889 – June 6, 1972) was an American heiress, actress, theatrical producer, newspaper executive, and philanthropist. She acted in local theatre in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Colorado, and on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, and also co-produced plays in Denver,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. She succeeded her father,
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils (December 21, 1860 – February 2, 1933) was an American publisher who made the ''Denver Post'' into one of the largest newspapers in the United States.Staff report (February 3, 1933). F. G. BONFILS DEAD; VETERAN EDITOR; ...
, as manager of ''
The Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...
'' in 1933, and eventually became president of the company. Lacking heirs, she invested her fortune into providing for the city of Denver and the state of Colorado, supporting the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, the
Bonfils Memorial Theatre, the
University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...
, the
Denver Zoo
Denver Zoo is an nonprofit zoological garden located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1896, it is operated by the Denver Zoological Foundation and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD ...
, the
Dumb Friends League Founded in 1910, the Dumb Friends League, based in Denver, Colorado, is the largest independent, nonprofit community-based animal shelter/ humane society in the Rocky Mountain region, caring for thousands of pets annually and accepting lost and re ...
, churches, and
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
s. Her estate endowed the
Denver Center for the Performing Arts
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...
. She was posthumously inducted into the
Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted.
History
There was a short-lived recogniti ...
in 1985 and the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 1999.
Early life and family
Helen Gilmer Bonfils was born in
Peekskill, New York
Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...
to American newspaper publisher
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils (December 21, 1860 – February 2, 1933) was an American publisher who made the ''Denver Post'' into one of the largest newspapers in the United States.Staff report (February 3, 1933). F. G. BONFILS DEAD; VETERAN EDITOR; ...
and his wife Belle Barton Bonfils. She and her older sister,
Mary Madeline ("May") Bonfils (1883–1962), had a strict
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
upbringing. In 1894 the family moved to
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
where Frederick ran legal lotteries, and in 1895 to
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, where Frederick and his partner Harry H. Tammen bought a newspaper that they renamed ''The Denver Post''.
In Denver, the Bonfils girls attended an elite private girls' school. Helen attended finishing school at the
National Park Seminary
National Park Seminary — later called National Park College — was a private girls' school open from 1894 to 1942. Located in Forest Glen Park, Maryland, its name alludes to nearby Rock Creek Park. The historic campus is to be preserved as t ...
in
Forest Glen Park, Maryland
Forest Glen Park is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland and a residential neighborhood within the Silver Spring census-designated place. The community is adjacent to Rock Creek, Rock Creek Regional Park, and to the Uni ...
. Frederick kept a tight rein on his daughters, forbidding them to date and warning them that "the boys were only out for their money". Helen became the "favored daughter" after May eloped at age 21 with a non-Catholic salesman, a move that estranged May from her family for decades.
Upon their father's death in 1933, Helen, who still lived at home, received $14 million from his estate. She received another $10 million bequest in 1935 upon the death of her mother, plus newspaper stock and possession of the family's
Humboldt Street mansion. May received only a $25,000 annual allowance from a trust, and sued her sister over her mother's estate. After a pitched, three-year legal battle, May was awarded $5 million cash from her mother's estate, some cash from her father's estate, 15% of the ''Denver Post'' stock, and additional real estate. The court case divided the sisters even further and they cut off all communication with each other.
''The Denver Post''
In 1933 Bonfils assumed the management of ''The Denver Post'' and served as secretary-treasurer of the corporation. Her flair for the theatrical extended to her ordering two dozen yellow roses to be placed in the lobby of ''The Denver Post'' to welcome her arrival; she drove to the building in a
Pierce-Arrow
The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901 to 1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial trucks ...
touring car bearing the Colorado license plate "#1". In 1934 she introduced a free summer series of Broadway plays and light opera staged outdoors at the
Cheesman Park Pavilion under the auspices of ''The Denver Post''. Starring Broadway performers in the lead roles and local players in lesser parts, these performances attracted up to 20,000 people per performance, and were staged every year until Bonfil's death in 1972.
In 1946 she hired a new editor,
Palmer Hoyt
Palmer may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land
* Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...
, to give the paper more journalistic integrity.
[ In 1966 she became president of the paper and asked ]Donald Seawell
Donald Ray Seawell (August 1, 1912 – September 30, 2015) was an American cultural and civic leader, born in Jonesboro, North Carolina. He was the founder of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. , a theatrical producer whom she had met on Broadway, to move to Denver and become chairman and publisher.
Theatrical career
Bonfils' first love was the theatre. She acted with the Elitch Stock Theatre, helped organize and performed in the Civic Theatre at the University of Denver, performed at the Bonfils Memorial Theatre, and also acted on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
under the stage name Gertrude Barton (her mother's maiden name).
With her first husband, George Somnes, she co-produced plays in Denver and in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
through the Bonfils & Somnes Producing Co. Among their hit productions were '' The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1938), in which Helen also performed. After Somnes' death in 1956, Helen co-produced plays on Broadway and in London with actress Haila Stoddard and Donald Seawell under Bonard Productions, and co-produced Broadway plays with Seawell under Bonfils-Seawell Enterprises. The latter partnership produced the successful Broadway musical '' Sail Away'' (1962), ''The Hollow Crown'' (1963), ''The Last Analysis'' (1964), and ''Sleuth
Sleuth may refer to:
* Detective
*Sleuth, collective noun for a group of bears
Computing
* The Sleuth Kit, a collection of forensic analysis software
*SLEUTH assembler language for the UNIVAC 1107
Entertainment and media
*Cloo
Cloo (stylized ...
'', which won the 1971 Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
.
Marriages
Bonfils met English actor and theatrical producer George Somnes when he was hired by the Elitch Theatre in 1936. They married that year, when Bonfils was 47. The couple – always referred to as "Helen Bonfils and George Somnes" – bought a condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
at River House in New York City and resided in Denver at the Humboldt Street mansion. In 1948 Helen sold the mansion to the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary and purchased the Wood–Morris–Bonfils House, a French Mediterranean Revival mansion at 707 Washington Street in the Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...
neighborhood of Denver. The couple's amicable personal and professional partnership ended with Somnes' death in February 1956 due to liver failure.[
Craving companionship, Helen turned to her chauffeur, Edward Michael "Tiger Mike" Davis. She married him in April 1959 at the age of 69; he was 28. Bonfils sued for divorce in December 1971] after 12 years of marriage, possibly to preempt any claim Davis might have to her estate. The divorce was granted on the grounds of cruelty.[ Bonfils retained the rights to her name, and Davis received the Wood–Morris–Bonfils House, $1.6 million in promissory notes, and $50,000 cash.][
]
Philanthropy
Lacking heirs, Bonfils invested her fortune into supporting culture, arts, healthcare, education, and humanitarian causes in Denver and the state of Colorado. She inherited the presidency of the philanthropic Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation after her father's death and between 1936 and 1973 distributed nearly $11 million.
This included the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, established in 1943 in memory of her mother. The blood bank eventually became self-supporting; as of 2004, the Bonfils Blood Center serves 115 Colorado hospitals and healthcare centers and has an operating budget of $57.8 million. Helen further established the Bonfils Tumor Clinic in her father's memory, finished and furnished the Holy Ghost Catholic Church at a cost of $1.2 million, and helped construct the Nurses' Home at the University of Colorado School of Medicine
The University of Colorado School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Colorado system. It is located at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, one of the four University of Colorado campuses, six miles east of downtown ...
.
In 1953 she dedicated the 550-seat Bonfils Memorial Theatre at 1475 Elizabeth Street, corner East Colfax Avenue, in memory of both her parents. As the headquarters for the Denver Civic Theatre, the $1.25 million theatre hosted plays, operas, concerts, lectures, films, and television shows.[ Helen acted there on numerous occasions. Considered "one of the country's most successful community theaters",] it closed in 1986 and was converted into a Tattered Cover bookstore in 2006. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2006.[
Bonfils also supported the ]University of Denver
The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...
, the Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932 by Julie Penrose and Anne Evans. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Ce ...
, the Denver Symphony Orchestra
The Denver Symphony Orchestra, established in 1934 and dissolved in 1989, was a professional American orchestra in Denver, Colorado. Until 1978, when the Boettcher Concert Hall was built to house the symphony orchestra, it performed in a successio ...
, the Denver Zoo
Denver Zoo is an nonprofit zoological garden located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1896, it is operated by the Denver Zoological Foundation and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD ...
, the Dumb Friends League Founded in 1910, the Dumb Friends League, based in Denver, Colorado, is the largest independent, nonprofit community-based animal shelter/ humane society in the Rocky Mountain region, caring for thousands of pets annually and accepting lost and re ...
animal shelter, the Denver Community Chest/United Way, and many churches and synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
s.[ In 1948 alone, the Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation distributed more than $1.4 million to churches of different denominations. Helen also underwrote college scholarships for men and women totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Upon her death in 1972, both the Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation and the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation ceased acting as private charities and diverted all funds to a permanent endowment for the ]Denver Center for the Performing Arts
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...
. Donald Seawell became chairman of the board of the new foundation and guided the expansion of the Denver Performing Arts Complex
The Denver Performing Arts Complex (also referred to as the "Arts Complex") is located in Denver, Colorado and is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The DCPA is a four-block, site containing ten performance sp ...
. By the 1990s, the downtown complex had grown to four square blocks and encompassed eight theatres with capacity seating for 9,000.
Later years
Bonfils became embroiled in a drawn-out legal battle in her later years. In 1960 her sister May sold her ''Denver Post'' stock to newspaper baron Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr.
Samuel Irving "S.I." Newhouse Jr. (November 8, 1927 – October 1, 2017) was an American heir to a substantial magazine and media business. Together with his brother Donald, he owned Advance Publications, founded by their late father in 1922, wh ...
on the condition that the stock could never be resold to Helen. With this stake in the company, Newhouse attempted to take over the paper, and Helen sued him. The court case dragged on for 12 years and concluded six months after Helen's death, when an appeals court overruled the district court's ruling and prevented Newhouse from taking over the paper. However, the $5 million spent on attorney fees drained the newspaper's coffers and in 1980 ''The Denver Post'' was sold to the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Company
The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000.
History
It had its roots in the Mirror Printing and Binding House, a commercial printing company founded in 1873, and the ''Los Angeles Times'' ...
.
Bonfils was hospitalized for the last six years of her life at Saint Joseph Hospital, where she and her entourage occupied the entire top floor. She died on June 6, 1972, at the age of 82. She was buried in the Bonfils family vault at the Fairmount Mausoleum
Fairmount Mausoleum is a public mausoleum at Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. The building was designed by architects Frederick E. Mountjoy and Francis W. Frewan. Constructed in 1929 and opened in 1930, the Fairmount Mausoleum contains th ...
alongside her parents and first husband Somnes.[ Her sister May, who had predeceased her in 1962, was entombed in her own mausoleum a short distance away from the rest of the family.
]
Posthumous
Bonfils was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
The Colorado Women's Hall of Fame is a non-profit, volunteer organization that recognizes women who have contributed to the history of the U.S. state of Colorado. As of 2020, 170 women have been inducted.
History
There was a short-lived recogniti ...
in 1985. She was named to the inaugural class of the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 1999.[
Bonfils' life and work were recounted in two biographies published after her death. They were: ''High Altitude Attitudes: Six Savvy Colorado Women'' by Marilyn Griggs Riley (Big Earth Publishing, 2006)][ and ''Papa's Girl: The Fascinating World of Helen Bonfils'' by Eva Hodges Watt (Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2007).] A stage play, ''The Bonfils Girl'' by Mike Broemmel and Seth Holley, premiered in Denver, Colorado, in 2016. It stars Cathy Washburn in the title role and is directed by Rich Beall.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonfils, Helen
1889 births
1972 deaths
Actresses from Denver
Broadway theatre producers
American theatre managers and producers
The Denver Post people
American women business executives
Philanthropists from New York (state)
People from Denver
People from Peekskill, New York
20th-century American philanthropists
National Park Seminary alumni
20th-century American women