She was born Albertine Willis Marlowe in Hopkinsville, Kentucky in November of 1899. Babe was the only daughter of Walter and Grace Marlowe. When she was a child her family moved to New York City. At the age of fifteen she was arrested an charged with stealing $1000 from a family friend. Two years later she was cast in Flo Ziegfeld's show Miss 1917. Then she appeared in the Broadway musicals Tumble In, The Canary, and Sally. She was briefly engaged to William Harbeck, a childhood friend, and Captain Frank Covell of the British Army. Babe joined the Ziegfeld Follies in 1920. The auburn haired beauty quickly became popular with audiences. While performing in the Midnight Frolic she wore an elaborate costume that included lit candles. During the 1920s she worked as a model and posed for Vogue magazine. In June of 1929 she married Arthur Wheeler, a tin plate millionaire. Their daughter, Patsy, was born in 1934. Babe and her husband owned lavish homes in New York and Palm Beach. The couple divorced in 1945 after sixteen years marriage. She received a large sum of money in the divorce settlement.
