Background
Simpson was born to Eleanora Myer Simpson and William Sloan Simpson in Dallas, Texas on October 18, 1916. Known as Betty during her childhood, she grew up in Highland Park, Texas, a town in the Dallas suburbs.
Simpson was born to Eleanora Myer Simpson and William Sloan Simpson in Dallas, Texas on October 18, 1916. Known as Betty during her childhood, she grew up in Highland Park, Texas, a town in the Dallas suburbs.
During her childhood, Simpson studied at the Sacred Heart Convent in the Torresdale neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Beard School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Orange, New Jersey. She graduated from Highland Park High School in University Park, Texas. Simpson then completed her undergraduate studies at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
Simpson served as First Lady of New York City during the mayoralty of William O"Dwyer. William Simpson, a colonel in the United States. Army, served with President Theodore Roosevelt"s Rough Riders during the Spanish–American War. He participated in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
Simpson"s grandfather, John R. Simpson, founded the Exchange Bank, which became the First National Bank of Texas.
Simpson worked as a television and radio personality. In December 1953, she began hosting a radio program titled The Sloan Simpson Show on WOR-Department of Administration and Management 710, a radio station in New York City.
The 25-minute talk show, which aired on weekday evenings at 9:05 pm, discussed fashion, current events, and celebrity gossip. The show aired nationally on the Mutual Broadcasting System, a national radio network, from 1954–1955.
Simpson"s television show with the same name, which ran on WWOR-television, began in January 1954.
WWOR-television canceled the show in April of that year. Simpson also made guest appearances on other television programs, including Leave lieutenant to the Girls (a talk show), Let"s Take Sides (a debate show), and One Minute Please (a quiz show). During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Simpson starred in roles in film and on television She played the character Harriet Byrne in the 1960 movie The Pusher.
Simpson also made guest appearances on The Philosophy Silvers Show on Columbia Broadcasting System-television and Naked City on American Broadcasting Company-television
After working as a fashion model for the John Powers agency, Simpson served as a fashion coordinator for Stern"s, a regional chain of department stores in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
She then served as a fashion consultant for the Flemington Fur Company. Simpson supervised the company"s fashion shows in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
In 1960, Simpson moved from the United States. to Acapulco, a coastal city in Mexico near the Pacific Ocean. She worked as a clerk in a hotel dress shop.
Simpson then served as a correspondent for Women"s Wear Daily, a fashion magazine, and she worked as a tour representative for Braniff Airlines.
Known by the community as the "First Lady of Acapulco", Simpson also ran a boutique. In February 1956, burglars broke into Simpson"s three-room apartment on East 52nd Street in Manhattan. The burglars stole jewelry valued at $5,000, which included diamond earrings and bracelets.
Their break-in occurred during a trip by Simpson to visit to her mother in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
Simpson married Carroll Dewey Hipp on November 10, 1938. O"Dwyer"s aids received 250 telegrams of congratulation on the couple"s wedding day, including one from President Harry Truman.
Sent from Air Force One, Truman"s telegram read, "Hearty greetings to you and to the woman of your choice and best wishes for long years of happiness." Simpson and O"Dwyer divorced in 1953.