So what did Jessie do with her new-found freedom? She headed to the bright lights of Broadway, of course.

Costello scored $2,400 for the rights to her life story and another $1,100 to appear on stage for four days. An adult performance hall offered her a very lucrative deal to do burlesque for ten weeks – but Costello found it unsophisticated and declined.

Jessie granted interviews with a young Ed Sullivan of The New York Daily News and Walter Winchell of The New York Daily Mirror. Even Hollywood called, offering her roles in silver screen features.

The media darling lived lavishly and spent her money like there was no tomorrow. But fame is a fickle beast. Soon, the offers dried up and it wasn’t long before Jessie was forced to find work as a hostess at a pub, struggling to keep her family together.

Jessie Costello’s 15 minutes of fame were up.

She spent the rest of her life in New Hampshire, living off the meager pension provided to widows of war veterans. Jessie made headlines one final time, when a local farmer asked for her hand in marriage. She turned the man down, apparently due to his modest lifestyle. “I shall climb again,” she reportedly said.

Jessie Costello died on March 15, 1971. The spectacle of her funeral reportedly drew a crowd of 200.

[via New England Historical Society; Strange Company; Boston Public Library]

Images courtesy of the Boston Public Library

Drop Dead Gorgeous: The Scandalous Trial of Jessie Costello

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