In a 1995 article, The New York Times reported that Manville would "pay the woman $50,000, pocket $200,000, get a quickie divorce and then, when he needed more money, he'd get married again." Manville owned the estate "Bon Repos" in the gated waterfront community of Premium Point on Long Island Sound in New Rochelle, New York. Manville soon began describing himself as a "retired businessman," or gave his occupation as "looking after my estate." While he reveled in the publicity surrounding his marriages, Manville sought privacy on his estate. He equipped it with burglar alarms, peephole doors, armed guards, a public-address system, a radio in every room, and 20 telephones. He called the estate his fortress, and often wore two heavy pistols on his belt. In June 1967, while Manville was in Doctors Hospital, three gunmen wearing black masks invaded his estate and stole an undetermined amount of cash, jewelry, furs, and clothing. Manville had been in ill health for several years, and his 11th wife, the former Christina Erdlen, was with him at the hospital when the estate was robbed. Later marriages In total Manville took 11 wives in 13 marriages. Though the record is confused, there were two remarriages among Manville’s first ten marriages. This extraordinary cycle of marriage and divorce was Manville’s claim to celebrity. He reportedly used marriage as a means of personal publicity. In a story appearing under his name in the American Weekly magazine in 1936, he made sport of his marital propensities and pledged that his next wife would be a blonde—almost any blonde. The next year he took out full-page advertisements in New York newspapers, publicly seeking a new lawyer to represent him in family disputes. In May 1931, he married as his third wife Avonne Taylor, a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl. She had been wed twice before. They separated after 34 days, and got a Mexican divorce that November. In 1933 she married actor Carlyle Blackwell. In October 1933, Manville married Marcelle Edwards, a showgirl with The Earl Carroll Vanities. After some separations and reconciliations, they divorced in October 1937 with a reported $200,000 settlement to her. In November 1941, he married Bonita "Bonnie" Edwards, a 22-year-old showgirl. They were divorced in January 1942. In October 1942 he married Wilhelmma Connelly (Billie) Boze, a 20-year-old actress. They were divorced in February 1943; Boze distinguished herself among Manville's former wives by steadfastly refusing