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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
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* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
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* *
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* Issue 20 -- August 1994 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
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* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
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Mini-Reviews: Munn and Martinez
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Did James Kirkwood Kill Taylor?
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Hollywood Social Events 1914-1922
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Wallace Smith: February 15, 1922
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
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TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
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Taylor, a top film Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
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death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
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scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
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(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
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murder on Hollywood and the nation. Primary emphasis will be given toward
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reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it for
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accuracy.
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Mini-Reviews: Munn and Martinez
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Two books recently crossed our path for the first time. THE HOLLYWOOD
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MURDER CASEBOOK was written by Michael Munn, published by St. Martin's Press
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in 1987, and devotes a 25-page chapter to the Taylor murder ("William Desmond
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Taylor: The All-Star Murder Mystery", pp. 18-42). The author appears to have
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made a concerted effort to produce the most error-filled Taylor case recap of
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all time, blindly accepting and magnifying the errors in previous recaps,
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distorting film history, and containing an utter disregard for the facts of
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the case. This book's chapter on the Taylor case is worthless and should be
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avoided (except perhaps by Taylor case buffs who might want to engage in a
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trivia contest to see who can find the most errors). It contributes nothing
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but disinformation. Aside from the many standard errors and absurd rumors
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found in recaps of this nature, here are two of the author's exceptional
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mistakes: He gives the date of the murder as November 1, 1922--nine months
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after the actual murder date. He also states that perhaps Zelda Crosby killed
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Taylor. (In reality Crosby committed suicide in New York in 1921, so I assume
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the author is suggesting that she turned into a zombie, rose from her New
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York grave, walked across the continent to Los Angeles, and killed Taylor.)
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On a scale of 0 to 10, this recap gets a 0.
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Slightly better is the chapter, "In Those Silent Days," in MURDER IN
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NORTH AMERICA by Lionel Martinez, published by Wellfleet Press in 1991. The
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author mentions the Kirkpatrick and Giroux books, and briefly discusses the
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theories they propound. But much of this recap is still old absurd errors:
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that Sands and Denis Deane-Tanner were the same person, that Minter was
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really 30 years old at the time of the murder, that Taylor was shot twice,
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etc. Characters are still slandered--for example it is stated that after
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Mabel Normand was knocked out (in 1915), Sennett uncermoniously dumped her
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body on Fatty Arbuckle's porch. [1] But perhaps because this recap is briefer
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than the one by Munn, there are far fewer errors. On a scale of 0 to 10, this
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recap gets a 3.
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The Munn and Martinez recaps should both be skipped. For a short recap
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of the Taylor case, "The Director" in TRUE CRIME: UNSOLVED CRIMES from Time-
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Life Books (True Crime Series) is still the best yet, far surpassing any
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other short recaps of the case we have yet encountered.
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Did James Kirkwood Kill Taylor?
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Leroy Sanderson suggested that perhaps actor/director James Kirkwood was
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a co-conspirator in Taylor's death, either committing the murder or assisting
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Charlotte Shelby.[2] In the decade following the murder, there was never a
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whisper of suspicion against Kirkwood; his name first surfaced publicly in
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connection with the case during the 1937 Grand Jury investigation, when
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Margaret Shelby revealed that Kirkwood had impregnated Mary Miles Minter
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(resulting in a 1917 abortion), and that Charlotte Shelby had for many years
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kept love letters written by Kirkwood to Mary.
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Reporters went scurrying to locate Kirkwood, and found him acting in a
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stage play in Michigan. When questioned about the Taylor case, Kirkwood
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stated: "Looking back fifteen years, I can't even be positive I was in Los
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Angeles at the time [of Taylor's murder]."[3] This sounds like an evasive
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answer, but the truth is that Kirkwood traveled a great deal throughout his
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movie and stage career. He truly could not remember where he was on a
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specific day so long ago.
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But contemporary newspapers do reveal Kirkwood's whereabouts on the
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night of the murder. In mid-1921, he went to Europe, traveling to England,
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France and Italy, acting in European films like "The Man From Home.". On
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December 18, 1921, the NEW YORK TELEGRAPH reported Kirkwood was in Paris.
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Other press items indicate that Kirkwood finally returned to the USA on the
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Aquitania, docking in New York on February 3, 1922--one of his fellow
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passengers was Cecil B. DeMille. [4]
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So two days earlier, at the time of the Taylor murder, James Kirkwood
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was on an ocean liner in the Atlantic Ocean. He had not been in Hollywood
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for many months prior to the Taylor murder, and he clearly was not involved
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in the murder in any way.
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When examining the historical material on the Taylor case, it is
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impossible to determine with certainty who killed Taylor. But it is sometimes
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possible to determine that certain individuals like James Kirkwood did not
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kill Taylor.
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Hollywood Social Events 1914-1922
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The book WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER contains information verifying
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Taylor's presence at some social activities in early Hollywood. However, then
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as now, most press attention was focused on the stars and not the directors.
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So there were many other social events in Hollywood which Taylor probably
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attended. It is reasonable to assume Taylor was present at most of the
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following events (all of the items below were datelined from Southern
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California):
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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March 21, 1914
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MOTOGRAPHY
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The Photoplayers Club of Los Angeles held their second annual ball at
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the huge Shrine Auditorium on St. Valentine's night. It was a brilliant
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affair in every respect and benefitted the Photoplayers artistically and
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financially. From the time the band struck the first stirring strains for the
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impressive grand march with its beautiful women and handsome men and the
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wonderful dresses to the time the last of the boys returned to the club to
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discuss the function by the rising sun, there was no hitch with the possible
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exception that the floor was uncomfortably crowded at times. It is no use
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giving a list of "those present" for everybody who was anybody "don't you
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know" graced the ball with his or her august presence.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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March 21, 1914
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THE CLIPPER
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Nearly two thousand members of the moving picture colony around Los
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Angeles, Cal., gathered on the evening of Saturday, Feb. 28, 1914 in the
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large ballroom of the Virginia Hotel, Long Beach, Cal, as the guests of
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Messrs. H.M. & E.D. Horkheimer, proprietors of "Balboa Feature Films" the
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event being an invitation celebration of the opening of the extension of the
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Balboa studios at Long Beach, Cal. Prominent players, producers and camera
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men engaged in dancing until the small hours of the morning, and special
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electric cars conveyed those who lived in Los Angeles to their destination,
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from the beach city.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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September 20, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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The Photoplayers' Club is looking up and the supper last Wednesday was
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splendidly attended. Larry Peyton, recently returned from San Diego, was in
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the chair, and a capital programme was provided. The well-known actor, Howard
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Scott, was the guest of honor.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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October 11, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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We had a great supper at the Photoplayers' Club last Wednesday, although
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the pleasures were tinctured with some reserve, for it was virtually a good-
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by dinner to Henry Walthall, who is leaving for the East. How we do hate to
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see him go, for Wally is one of the most lovable of fellows as well as being
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an accomplished motion picture actor. We made it very clear to him that he
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was leaving some good pals behind.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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November 9, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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The Photoplayers held their first annual gambol at the Mason Friday and
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Saturday nights, and there was a collection of stars and near-stars, behind
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and before the footlights, that would have made the most blase press agent
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weep for joy.
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Everybody in filmland was there, and the lobby was a veritable florist
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shop, while eager men sought to buy candy, flowers and programmes from the
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host of leading ladies and ingenues that seemed nearly unable to supply the
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demand. Film heroes and heroines stepped from the portrait frames with a
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cordiality that gave the whole affair an informal touch and made it such a
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splendid success. Miss Laura Oakley, Chief of Police of Universal City, kept
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the enormous crowd moving in the already packed theatre.
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The audience was nearly as interesting as the show itself. It included
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Isadore Bernstein, Mayor of Universal City; Mabel Van Buren, Beatrice Van,
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Vera Sisson, Anna Little, Dorothy Davenport, Bessie Eyton, Edith Johnson,
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Elsie Greeson, Enid Markey, Leona Hutton, Stella Razeto, the Gish sisters,
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Cleo Madison, Grace Cunard, Mabel Normand, Carlyle Blackwell, Billy Stowell,
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George Periolot, Donald Crisp, Bobby Harron, William Clifford, Herbert
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Rawlinson, James Singleton, Wallace Reid, J. Warren Kerrigan, Harry Carter,
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Tom Mix, Sidney Smith, Cortenay Foote and D. W. Griffith. There were many
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others in evening dress making the rounds of the boxes greeting friends and
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admirers.
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Tom Wilson opened the song programme with original parodies that held
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the audience from the start. His appearance in blackface was a
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disappointment, as every one wanted to see him as he appeared on the screen.
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In excellent voice and with a choice collection of semi-classical songs,
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Myrtle Stedman of Bosworth, Inc., earned the plaudits of the audience.
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Then came Ben Deeley with his famous "Good Old Common Sense" song, and
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scored a hit. He was called to give an encore, and sang his latest popular
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success, "My Heart's Way Out in California," which he put over in a fashion
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that finally forced him to make a short speech, which was a gem in itself.
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"Discovered," a short sketch, featuring Kathlyn Williams and a group of
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Selig Players, was replete with tense situations, and the comedy climax
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surprised and delighted every one. Miss Williams was ably assisted by Guy
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Oliver, Wheeler Oakman, Charles Clary, and Jack McDonald. The act was superb,
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every one scored a personal success. Mr. Clary as the friend, and Mr. Oakman
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as the husband, were especially good, easily maintaining their reputations
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behind the footlights that they have gained before the camera.
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Max Asher with a patter act assisted by a pack of cards, showed a
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dexterity with the pasteboards that won him instant favor. In faultless
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evening clothes and grand opera voice, Wm. Worthington rendered operatic
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selections to good advantage.
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George Cohan's first sketch, with its laughable lines, was offered with
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great success by Filson & Errol, who gave it the first production, and from
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the way the house enjoyed it proved that it has not outgrown popularity. "The
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Tip on the Derby" was very good.
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After the intermission Ruth Roland, assisted by Harry McCoy at the
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piano, proceeded to stop the show, the audience not being satisfied till the
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supes brought the piano back and the pair sang another song. Miss Roland left
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nothing to be desired either in her singing or her gowns, and the patter of
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the act brought one continuous roar of laughter.
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Charley Murray, of Murray & Mack, offered a monologue up to his usual
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standard, and was given a big hand.
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"The Sheriff of the Shasta," that Theodore Roberts made famous, was
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offered with a cast that made the sketch far superior to its presentation in
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vaudeville. Mr. Roberts is always good and, as the sheriff, he was a delight.
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Miss Smythe, the only one of the original case, was equal to bearing the only
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female role of the piece, and her scenes with Mr. Roberts were in her usual
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inimitable manner. Murdock McQuarrie, as the jealous husband, and Hobart
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Bosworth, as the acrobat, played these parts as only such actors of sterling
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quality are able.
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Lydia Yeamans Titus, with songs and character studies, fully contributed
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to the enjoyment of the affair.
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The Oz Film Company presented Violet McMillan, Frank Moore and Fred
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Woodward. Miss McMillan has often been compared to a doll and, as she dances
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like a sprite, her success was always assured. Woodward and Moore were great,
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and "Hank" is a favorite wherever he goes. This trio presented one of the
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cleverest acts on the programme, while one of the best dancing teams in
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vaudeville closed a show that will be always be remembered and a credit to
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the photo-players.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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November 22, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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The Photoplayers Club has taken on new life with a vengeance. Last
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Wednesday night the supper had a bumper attendance, and Carl Laemmle was
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among "those present." The members have raised bonds among themselves to the
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tune of over $2,000, and this, with the $1,200 raised by the vaudeville
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performance, has cleared the club of debt and placed it on a good footing
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again. Apart from this the right spirit has again been infused into the club,
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and its future is of the brightest. On Saturday a tango supper will be held,
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and the ladies have promised to be there in force. Good!
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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November 29, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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Theodore Roberts was the chairman at the Photo-Players weekly supper,
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and there was a bumper attendance. Next week Fred Kley, of the Lasky studios,
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will be the chairman, and he is a mighty popular man in the colony. Big
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preparations are already being made regarding the annual ball to be held in
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February, and all the members are giving their services free of charge. The
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result can only be one way. The club is stronger today than ever before.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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December 6, 1914
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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At a big Thanksgiving dance held at Venice, Barney Sherry, of Inceville,
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and Mabel Normand, of the Keystone, led the grand march. It was a great
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evening and a number of motion picture stars were present.
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At the weekly dinner at the Photo-Player's Club Fred Kley, the popular
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studio manager for the Lasky forces, was chairman and there was an
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overflowing house. William De Mille and Oscar Apfel were present and William
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made a witty and interesting speech--very much in favor of the picture game.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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January 24, 1915
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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There are no available figures as to how many people attended the ball
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at Shrine Auditorium, given in honor of Mary Pickford by the exhibitors of
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Los Angeles [on Saturday, January 16]. At 9 o'clock the auditorium was
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packed, and outside was a crowd larger than the one inside. The line
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stretched for blocks, and traffic was impossible. There were automobiles of
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every size, age and description.
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Before the arrival of the guest of honor an exhibition of fancy ballroom
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dancing was given by a clever team. Immediately after the coronation ceremony
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the grand march started, led by Carlyle Blackwell and Dorothy Gish, and all
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of the photoplayers participated, while the spotlight in the balcony played
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on the screen artists.
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At 11 o'clock the crowd outside was still gathering, and as a few of the
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spectators were leaving, some of the patient ones were admitted, and by 12
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o'clock there was an entire new set of faces in the balcony, but at that
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hundreds were unable to obtain admission.
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Among those who it was possible to see were Donald Crisp and Al
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Kauffman, of the Famous Players; Jesse Lasky, of the Lasky Company; Isadore
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Bernstein, of the Universal; Victoria Forde, Rene Rogers, Ruth Roland,
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Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Francelia Billington, Lucille Young, Gypsy Abbott,
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Mrs. Russell E. Smith, Laura Oaklay, Stella Razeto, Helen Leslie, Agnes
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Vernon, Robert Harron, Henry King, William Stowell, George Periolat, Lee
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Moran, Christy Cabanne, Al E. Christie, R.E. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Wing,
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Ray Gallagher, and a host of others.
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There were many beautiful gowns, especially the one worn by Miss Gish.
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The ball was a splendid success and a credit to the exhibitors of
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Southern California.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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January 31, 1915
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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The second annual ball of the Static Club was held Wednesday evening,
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January 20. Margarita Fischer, wonderfully gowned in a creation of white
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satin brocaded in silver and carrying a huge bouquet of American beauties,
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led the grand march with Robert Leonard.
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Lights of all shades decorated the hall and motion pictures of the grand
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march and some of the dances were taken. Filmdom gathered to do honor to the
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camera boys and the attachment between players and the men behind the camera
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was made stronger by adding another link to the chain of their friendship.
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There were some beautiful gowns that attracted much applause, and the
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picture players more than earned the reputation as being of the best dressed
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profession.
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Among those that attended were Isadore Bernstein, Mayor of Universal
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City; Fred Balshofer of the Sterling Company, Abe Sterns of the L-Ko, Mr. and
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Mrs. Jack Dillon, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Clifton, Victoria Forde, Eugenie Forde,
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Rena Rogers, Connie Johnson, Virginia Chester, Marie Walcamp, Vera Sisson,
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Mrs. McCoy, Penny Ferol, Lee Moran, Thomas Santschi, Tom Mix, Mr. Forde,
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Harry Pollard, J. Farrell McDonald, Harry McCoy, Beverly Griffith and many
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others.
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The reception committee were Leonard M. Smith, William Alder, Walter T.
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Griffin, Enrique Vallejo and D.K. Gray. The members of the club were there to
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the last man, and they are all to be congratulated for the splendid manner in
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which the affair was handled.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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April 4, 1915
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
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The Film Club, composed of some hundred motion-picture actors of
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Southern California, will give a ball at the Hotel Potter, Santa Barbara, the
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evening of May 28.
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Lottie Pickford and Irving Cummings, stars of the "Diamond in the Sky"
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serial, now being shown at the Woodley, will appear in a special dance.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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May 29, 1915
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SANTA BARBARA PRESS
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An attendance considerably smaller than had been anticipated attended
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the Film Club ball last night in the palm room of the Hotel Potter. There
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were less than 100 percent, and several film stars who had promised to be
|
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there failed to put in an appearance. Those who were there enjoyed
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themselves, nevertheless. Music was furnished by Hester's orchestra.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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July 9, 1916
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
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The Directors' Association, a new Coast organization composed entirely
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of directors and their assistants, gave a very nice party at the Alexandria
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this week in the shape of a beefsteak dinner. The new club is purely for
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social purposes and they will have clubrooms in the Alexandria, where the
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boys can go and play pinochle and tell each other how much they like their
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pictures. The chief director is Otis Turner of the Universal, his assistant
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is Allen Curtis of the same company and the man who looks after the expenses
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account is Eddie Dillon.
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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March 3, 1917
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LOS ANGELES HERALD
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Motion picture directors held a banquet at the Athletic club Thursday
|
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night [March 1].
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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June 1917
|
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PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE
|
|
A ball game rivaling in interest only that historic battle which
|
|
destroyed the mighty Casey took place in Los Angeles' Washington Park on
|
|
Saturday afternoon, March 31. The screen Tragics were up against the screen
|
|
Comics. The Comics' lineup was as follows: Charles Chaplin, p.; Eric
|
|
Campbell, c; Charles Murray, 1b; Slim Summerville, 2b; Bobby Dunn, ss; Hank
|
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Mann, 3b; Lonesome Luke [Harold Lloyd], lf; Ben Turpin, rf; Chester Conklin,
|
|
cf. In the same order of position, the Tragics were Wallace Reid, William
|
|
Desmond, George Walsh, 'Gene Pallette, Antonio Moreno, Franklyn Farnum, Jack
|
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Pickford, George Beban and Hobart Bosworth. Umpire and referee: Barney
|
|
Oldfield and James J. Jeffries. The carnage was terrible. In the blood, dust
|
|
and grand confusion the game broke up after two innings, and the Lord knows
|
|
who won. The one really dreadful holocaust was the fanning of Wallie Reid--
|
|
just as at least a thousand chickens had risen in the bleachers to give him
|
|
the Chautauqua salute. George Walsh, a former pro, slammed the ball clear out
|
|
of sight for a real home run. Chaplin pushed the sphere into the bleachers,
|
|
and beat it straight across the diamond to second and back. Barney Oldfield
|
|
properly called it a foul, whereat Barney was rolled in the dirt by fifty
|
|
Keystone cops; after which, rising, he admitted that, owing to a superiority
|
|
of numbers, he was forced to change his decision. [This baseball game was a
|
|
benefit for the Red Cross.]
|
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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July 29, 1917
|
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E.V. Durling
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NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
One of the finest tributes ever paid to a dramatic critic was the
|
|
Maitland Davies Memorial Benefit held Sunday night at the Mason Opera House.
|
|
Davies, who was the dramatic critic of the Los Angeles Tribune, died last
|
|
week, and left his family in rather poor circumstances. The profession led by
|
|
Guy Price, dramatic editor of the Los Angeles Herald, quickly rallied to the
|
|
aid of the family, and the result was a performance which probably will never
|
|
again be equaled anywhere.
|
|
Charles Chaplin, Theda Bara, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and W.S.
|
|
Hart appeared in person. Blanche Ring, Tyrone Power, Julian Eltinge, Louise
|
|
Glaum, L.K. Anspacher, Carl Randall, Elsa Ruegger, Flanagan & Edwards, Dainty
|
|
Marie, Kathleen Clifford, Bessie Barriscale, Grace Travers and Charlie
|
|
Winniger also did their bit.
|
|
All in all it was a wonderful benefit, and a very good sum was realized
|
|
for the Davies family.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
December 7, 1917
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The Club of Forty gave its second dance this week, and it was even
|
|
better than the first. George Beban showed the boys how a Russian solo dance
|
|
should be executed. The news went around the town that the Club of Forty was
|
|
giving a dance, and about 500 of the native sons gathered to see the crowd
|
|
come out. They waited seven hours, but it was worth it. Flo Ziegfeld and
|
|
Charley Dillingham would have broken down and sobbed like children to see so
|
|
much beauty on view free of charge.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
March 13, 1918
|
|
Antony Anderson
|
|
LOS ANGELES TIMES
|
|
The titanic task of preparation is ended. The great play is finished.
|
|
The modern epic--the tremendous story of love and war--was swiftly flashed,
|
|
last night, before a vast assembly of men and women at Clune's Auditorium, an
|
|
assembly thrilled and exalted by the gripping power, the overwhelming beauty
|
|
and the poignant pathos of David Wark Griffith's masterpiece in photoplay,
|
|
"Hearts of the World."
|
|
The tale was told, not in words but in motion pictures. The newest of
|
|
the arts--destined, perhaps, to become one of the greatest of them all--spoke
|
|
to our souls through our eyes, which are the windows of the soul, windows
|
|
washed clean and clear, on this occasion at least, with tears wrung from our
|
|
very hearts.
|
|
...Clune's Auditorium was packed as full as it could hold--packed full
|
|
and overflowing....The theatrical world was represented by many of its
|
|
leading directors and stars--Jesse L. Lasky, Cecil de Mille, William de
|
|
Mille, Jeanie McPherson, Wallace Reid, Dorothy Dalton, Mary Pickford, Jack
|
|
Pickford, Thomas H. Ince, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, William Desmond, Julian
|
|
Johnson, Texas Guinan, Marshall Neilan, Edith Storey, Blanche Sweet, Sessue
|
|
Hayakawa, Tsura Aoki, Lois Weber, Phillips Smalley, Olive Thomas, Jack
|
|
Conway, Viola Dana, Anita King, H.D. Horkheimer, Mary McLaren, Joseph
|
|
DeGrasse, Ida May Park, Chet Withey, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin,
|
|
Douglas MacLean, Sid Chaplin, Mack Sennett, and scores of others.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
June 9, 1918
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The first meeting of the newly formed Motion Picture War Service
|
|
Association held in Clune's Auditorium, Los Angeles, last Sunday [May 25],
|
|
clearly demonstrated just how the film colony feels about getting behind the
|
|
man behind the gun. The meeting was restricted to the people associated with
|
|
the motion picture industry and they did away with all fancy preliminaries
|
|
and got right down to business. A constitution was adopted and D. W. Griffith
|
|
was elected chairman of the governing board. Mack Sennett was elected
|
|
treasurer, and S.E.V. Taylor, secretary. Others selected for the board were
|
|
Lois Weber, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, William S.
|
|
Hart, Marguerite Clark, Maurice Tourneur, Cecil B. Demille, J.S. Dawley, S.M.
|
|
Rothapfel, Lee Ochs, J. Gordon Edwards, Henry McRae, Frank Woods, G.W. Bitzer
|
|
and William D. Taylor.
|
|
Mr. Griffith put the well-known speech of Patrick Henry far in the
|
|
background for a starter. He was followed by Lois Weber, who appealed to the
|
|
women in the industry. Cecil De Mille then spoke and started a fund for the
|
|
purchase of a hospital with 1,000 beds to be presented to the Government by
|
|
the motion picture industry. This will cost, it is expected, $185,000.
|
|
Mary Pickford stepped upon the platform with her smile for the moment
|
|
laid aside for a determined expression. Portia was never in it with Mary. She
|
|
had the crowd crying, sighing and laughing in turns, but always at the right
|
|
time. She autographed membership ticket number one for the association, and
|
|
sold it to Dustin Farnum for $2,500.
|
|
Charlie Chaplin then arose and announced he was ready to do anything,
|
|
even sing if requested. All the crowd wanted was to see Charlie walk, being
|
|
kind of suspicious regarding his anxiety to sing. Charlie did and then, not
|
|
to be outdone by Mr. Farnum, bought a membership ticket and paid $2,600. Mack
|
|
Sennett paid $2,400 for Clara Kimball Young's autographed ticket, Mr.
|
|
Griffith bought Mae Murray's for $2,500, Sessue Hayakawa gave $2,000 for
|
|
Cecil De Mille's, Phillips Smalley $2,000 for Lois Weber's, Henry McRae
|
|
$1,000 for Mack Sennett's, Douglas Fairbanks $2,500 for Marguerite Clark's,
|
|
Fannie Ward paid $2,500 for Frank Keenan's and Frank turned right around and
|
|
bought Fannie's for the same price. Harry Sherman paid $2,750 for Dustin
|
|
Farnum's. Altogether some $40,000 was raised in this fashion.
|
|
Charlie Murray acted as auctioneer, and needless to say his remarks
|
|
alone were worth the money.
|
|
The idea of the War Service organization originated with the Motion
|
|
Picture Directors' Association, who of late have devoted all their meetings
|
|
to the war questions and have done much to demonstrate just to what extent
|
|
the motion picture industry is behind the United States and her allies in the
|
|
present crisis.
|
|
This meeting is only the beginning. It will be followed by a series of
|
|
the greatest benefits ever staged and in addition to this many other money
|
|
raising efforts will be put forth by the Motion Picture War Service
|
|
Association.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
June 10, 1918
|
|
Grace Kingsley
|
|
LOS ANGELES TIMES
|
|
Tremendous financial success attended the show given at the Lasky studio
|
|
last Saturday night [June 8], by various members of the acting profession,
|
|
for the benefit of the families of United States soldiers and sailors, who
|
|
formerly were members of the Lasky organization. A sum amounting to nearly
|
|
$9000 was taken in, and as all the articles sold were donated, and as stars
|
|
likewise donated their services, said sum was clear.
|
|
Many articles were auctioned off. Among others, Clara Kimball Young, who
|
|
appeared in evening dress and wearing a magnificent hat, auctioned off her
|
|
wearing apparel, delivering the hat and gloves at first hand, and thereafter
|
|
retiring behind a screen, over the top of which she sold her dress and some
|
|
other garments, and whence she emerged following the sale, mysteriously clad
|
|
in street clothes.
|
|
Charlie Chaplin purchased a bit of lingerie for $80, and thereafter wore
|
|
it about his neck.
|
|
Douglas Fairbanks offered to box Kid McCoy, but the fight closed after
|
|
the second round for the simple reason that Mr. Fairbanks, in the heat of the
|
|
contest, fell into the swimming pool on the platform adjoining which the
|
|
dance was held.
|
|
Mrs. Lillian Brockwell gathered in money to the amount of about $200--up
|
|
to the point, in fact, when the footbridge across the little stream beyond
|
|
which her candy booth was situated fell in owing to the heavy traffic.
|
|
The bar, which was presided over by William S. Hart, and his cowboys,
|
|
took in a small fortune, and Sister Mamie Hart sat near by as a sort of
|
|
guardian angel to see that nobody drank too much, but even at that Fred Stone
|
|
reeled away following his fifth chocolate ice cream soda. Antony Anderson
|
|
offered to help Bill Hart at the bar, but after drinking three out of five
|
|
drinks himself, was discharged. However, as he led scores of his own and
|
|
Hart's admirers up to the brass rail, his lapse was overlooked.
|
|
Booths were presided over by Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Gladys
|
|
Brockwell, Edna Earle, Mary O'Connor, Loyola O'Connor, Constance Talmadge,
|
|
Carmel Myers, Winifred Kingston and many others.
|
|
Mme. Aldrich contributed a dignified patriotic flavor to the occasion by
|
|
singing "The Star Spangled Banner."
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
September 1918
|
|
Frederick James Smith
|
|
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
|
|
Out in Los Angeles some weeks ago they staged a bazaar for a war
|
|
benefit. Blanche Sweet sold flowers, Doug Fairbanks and Kid McCoy contributed
|
|
a boxing match, Bill Hart acted as bartender, selling soft drinks only, and
|
|
so on. But, most important, Clara Kimball Young retired behind a screen and
|
|
auctioned off her garments, piece by piece. These garments, fresh from "her
|
|
warm, pulsating body," as the auctioneer remarked, went to the highest
|
|
bidders. For the benefit of posterity, we record the purchasers, as far as
|
|
neutral observers were able to recall:
|
|
Gown, to Tally, Los Angeles exhibitor.
|
|
Stockings, to Cecil DeMille.
|
|
Corsets, to Elliott Dexter.
|
|
---- (slightly censored) ----, to Bill Hart.
|
|
Please read these lines slowly.
|
|
---- (censored) ----, to Doug Fairbanks.
|
|
---- (heavily censored) ----, to Charlie Chaplin for $185.
|
|
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
[Taylor was in the British Army between August 1918 and April 1919, and was
|
|
absent from Los Angeles during that time.]
|
|
|
|
July 6, 1919
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The Motion Picture Directors' Association had a big entertainment the
|
|
other evening in the grill room of the Hotel Alexandria. A cabaret opened the
|
|
evening show and was followed by a speech given by Joseph Scott, a well-known
|
|
attorney, who addressed the audience on the power of the motion picture and
|
|
the relation of the directors to it. Carter de Haven and his wife gave an
|
|
exhibition dance.
|
|
Besides all the colony directors those present were: Douglas Fairbanks,
|
|
Roscoe Arbukcle, Maurice Tourneur, W. H. Clune, Sid Grauman, F. McGrew
|
|
Willis, Milton Hoffman, Carl Laemmle and Harry Kline.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
July 13, 1919
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The Brentwood Country Club on Saturday, July 5, and Sunday, July 6, was
|
|
the site of much festivity. The club was given over to the motion picture
|
|
industry and the members of the colony were bidden to come and show their
|
|
prowess on the club's golf course. I drove out in the afternoon with Sarah
|
|
Mason and S.P. Trood and arrived at the course just in time to see Victor
|
|
Schertzinger had been victor (no pun intended) in the morning's game, and had
|
|
won the loving cup donated by O. C. Kingsley.
|
|
Goldwyn certainly shone in the morning's contest with Vic copping first
|
|
and Rex Taylor winning second prize. In the afternoon Joe Morgan of Brentwood
|
|
"came up smiling." He won a gorgeous loving cut. Wallie Reid was one of the
|
|
Laskyites who made a wondrous score on Saturday and grabbed a prize on
|
|
Sunday. King Vidor did likewise and George Melford came so near getting one
|
|
of those cups that we--well we just held our breath. Colin Campbell was out
|
|
both days, and so was Neil Burns and the Flannagan and Edwards team.
|
|
On Saturday night the club was given over to the motion picture folk and
|
|
their families and a dinner dance was staged.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
December 7, 1919
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The biggest social event in the motion picture world came on
|
|
Thanksgiving eve when the Directors' Ball was given in the Rose Room of the
|
|
Alexandria. This ball, an annual one, is the only occasion during the year
|
|
when stars and directors from all studios hobnob for an evening's pleasure
|
|
and exhibit their best Parisian gowns and formal evening clothes.
|
|
This year the ball proved even bigger than before. Some said because
|
|
there had been no ball last year, on account of the war. Others because more
|
|
motion picture people were on the Coast than at any other time. At any rate,
|
|
it was a grand and glorious success both financially and socially.
|
|
Supper was served in the grill and midnight and two jazz orchestras
|
|
strummed dance music from 10 till dawn.
|
|
Some of those present were Pauline Starke, Bebe Daniels, Nazimova,
|
|
Charles Bryant, Bessie Barriscale, Howard Hickman, Pauline Frederick, Tom
|
|
Moore, Edna Purviance, Charles Ray, Betty Blythe, Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon
|
|
Hamilton, William Russell, Mary Miles Minter, Marcia Manon, B. R.
|
|
Frothingham, Wanda Hawley, Wallace MacDonald, Viola Dana, Bert Lytell, Alice
|
|
Lake, Jack Pickford, Antonio Moreno, Herbert Howe, Mabel Condon, Grace
|
|
Kingsley, Anna Q. Nilsson, Lew Cody, Douglas Gerrard, Lynn Reynolds, Frank
|
|
Lloyd, Reginald Barker, Clara Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell Karger and
|
|
Roscoe Arbuckle.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
December 28, 1919
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
On the evening of December 23 the local office of Realart gave a dinner
|
|
to Arthur Kane. All the press were present, and besides that, Mary Miles
|
|
Minter, her mother, Mrs. Shelby, and her director, William Desmond Taylor.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
February 22, 1920
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The Wallace Reid ball was held in the Hotel Alexandria on February 12 in
|
|
behalf of the Theatrical Charities Fund. A host of favorites were there,
|
|
including Viola Dana, Shirley Mason, Bebe Daniels, Kathlyn Williams, Bryant
|
|
Washburn, Bessie Love, Bert Lytell, William Russell and many more. The
|
|
hostesses were Mrs. Wallace Reid and Mary Miles Minter.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
February 21, 1920
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXPRESS
|
|
The American Legion kept its faith with those who died; will you break
|
|
faith with those who live?
|
|
It is so easy to forget; will you remember?
|
|
Tonight you will have the opportunity to show whether yours is a memory
|
|
or a "forgettery."
|
|
If you remember those who died and keep the faith with those who live
|
|
you will be "among those present" tonight at the benefit entertainment to be
|
|
given by the Los Angeles post, No. 8, American Legion, at Clune's Auditorium.
|
|
The American Legion has never asked you for a donation. It does not now.
|
|
It offers you a better show than you can see anywhere else in this city for
|
|
the money. The performers are topnotchers. But that is not all. They will
|
|
work tonight with a patriotic urge. It will be their way of keeping faith.
|
|
Give this program a look:
|
|
1. Opening--"Memories"
|
|
2. "A Bit of Life," Will Rogers.
|
|
3. "From the Orient," Miss Margaret Loomis, danseuse.
|
|
4. Miss Bebe Daniels and her jazz band.
|
|
5. "Five Minutes," Mary Miles Minter.
|
|
6. Mana Zucca, pianist.
|
|
7. "Imperial Russian Ballet School," Theodore Kosloff and Vera Fredowa.
|
|
(a) "Romance of Russian Winter," Vera Fredowa.
|
|
(b) "Valse," Gladys Conrad and Flower Huger.
|
|
(c) "Russian Peasant Dance," Theodore Kosloff, Vera Fredowa,
|
|
assisted by Ivan with Balalaika.
|
|
8. Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.
|
|
The entertainment was promoted by S. F. Schumacher, assistant secretary
|
|
of the post, with Marshall Zeno in charge of general arrangements and Van
|
|
Zimmerman arranging the program.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
May 2, 1920
|
|
Margaret Ettinger
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
Tiajuana, Mexico, and Raymond Hitchcock's "Hitchy Koo" vied for screen
|
|
honors last week. On Sunday we glimpsed at the former place, Viola Dana,
|
|
Lottie Pickford, Teddy Sampson, Ormer Locklear, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Mix, Stuart
|
|
Holmes, Bennie Leonard, Charles Christie, Leatrice Joy, Walter McGrail, Jack
|
|
Gilbert, Roscoe Arbuckle, Julius Stern, Sophie Bernard, Lou Anger, J. Gordon
|
|
Cooper and scores more in the profession.
|
|
Monday night's opening of "Hitchy Koo" found Thomas Meighan, Frances
|
|
Ring, Jack Pickford, Olive Thomas, Mabel Normand, Tom Mix, Franklyn Farnum,
|
|
Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Nagel, Sylvia Breamer, Rosemary Theby, Lew Cody, Reggie
|
|
Morris, Mr. and Mrs. William Seiter, Fritzi Ridgeway and Antonio Moreno at
|
|
Hitchy's show.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
February 6, 1921
|
|
Frances Agnew
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The members of the American Society of Cinematographers proved Saturday
|
|
night that they can be just as successful as hosts as they are at "shooting."
|
|
To the allied cameramen goes the blue ribbon for staging the first motion
|
|
picture ball of the year and the first motion picture gathering at the new
|
|
Ambassador Hotel. It was the society's second annual ball, attended by all
|
|
the celebrities of filmland, including stars, directors, producers and
|
|
technical folk.
|
|
The ballroom was attractively decorated with flowers, with special
|
|
stress laid by the cameramen on their forte, lighting. Varied colored
|
|
spotlights played on the dancers throughout the evening and early morning
|
|
hours. The boxes around the ballroom were occupied by the leading stars and
|
|
directors of cinemaland, among the boxholders having been Mary Pickford, May
|
|
Allison, Roscoe Arbukcle, George Melford, Gloria Swanson, Louis Gasnier, Mary
|
|
Miles Minter, William Hart, Pauline Frederick, Madame Nazimova, Sid Grauman,
|
|
James Kirkwood and all the leading stars.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
May 1921
|
|
Cal York (Adela Rogers St. Johns)
|
|
PHOTOPLAY
|
|
The American Society of Cinematographers (which Fatty Arbuckle says is
|
|
French for cameramen) gave a ball at the new Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
|
|
the other evening that was quite THE social event of the season, pictorially
|
|
speaking.
|
|
Roscoe Arbuckle helped lead the orchestra part of the evening and did
|
|
very well, but his prize performance of the night, to my way of thinking, was
|
|
the last dance, which he had with a lovely little Follies girl. The rotund
|
|
comedian had had a hard day, apparently, the evening had been long--and
|
|
rather wet--and Roscoe went to sleep on the floor, resting his head gently
|
|
against his partner's rosy cheek and continuing to move his feet occasionally
|
|
to the music. If they covered more than six feet the whole dance, San
|
|
Francisco is a suburb of New York.
|
|
Pauline Frederick had a box, which she shared with her mother and some
|
|
friends, including her very constant attendant, J. Allen Boone, head of the
|
|
western organization of Robertson-Cole. Polly looked gorgeous in white, and
|
|
was as cordial and charming as ever.
|
|
May Allison was her next door neighbor, surrounded as usual by so many
|
|
black coats her pretty blonde head only appeared occasionally to the gaze of
|
|
the multitudes.
|
|
Jim Kirkwood was the sensation of the evening, for when he appeared on
|
|
the floor wearing his long, silky yellow beard--grown for his part in "The
|
|
Money Master"--there was an absolute gasp of horror over the room. Jim had
|
|
Lois Wilson with him, and danced a lot of dances with her. Lois looked very
|
|
"debutante" in a pale blue taffeta frock and, as usual, maintained her
|
|
dignity throughout the evening.
|
|
Tommie Meighan and his wife, Frances Ring, were there. Tommie doesn't
|
|
dance--or at least he didn't--but Mrs. Meighan, in a lace and satin frock
|
|
with long lines didn't lack partners, believe me. "My Frances," as Tommie
|
|
calls her, is a stunning person in evening gown.
|
|
Nazimova, in a yellow satin costume made exactly like a hula dancer's
|
|
flitted in with her husband for a few moments and gave the spectators a treat
|
|
by dancing twice, giving likewise a very good imitation of a hula. Also, she
|
|
provided the laugh of the evening by issuing positive orders to the ballroom
|
|
committee that, if she condescended to come, no one should be presented to
|
|
her. No one was. And the party seemed to ramble on just the same.
|
|
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Reid were guests of May Allison. Bessie
|
|
Barriscale--who in spite of having a son as tall as she is--was there looking
|
|
like an ingenue at her first ball.
|
|
Madame Elinor Glyn, in the most beautiful gown in the room, and an
|
|
emerald headdress and necklace, caused something of a sensation. She dances
|
|
very beautifully and I saw her and Rupert Hughes stepping several measures
|
|
with evident gusto.
|
|
Gloria Swanson, with fewer clothes on than I have ever seen in a public
|
|
place, was there, too, so beautiful that she outshone her old self. She wore
|
|
something made of black jet beads.
|
|
I don't think it was a queen of Sheba costume, Betty Blythe wore--she
|
|
was there with her husband, Paul Scardon--but it was magnificent enough to
|
|
be.
|
|
Mary Alden had a box party, I think; anyway I saw her in black as usual
|
|
and among the rest of the guests were Mildred Harris, in crimson and gold,
|
|
with her hair built in a pyramid, accompanied by Herbert Rawlinson, King and
|
|
Florence Vidor, Doris May and Wallace MacDonald, Penrhyn Stanlaws, Colleen
|
|
Moore in a most fetching silver frock, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Mulhall, Jack
|
|
Donavan, Darrell Foss, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Meredith, and oh, yes, I almost
|
|
forgot, Mrs. Gertrude Atherton, Bryant Washburn, Mr. and Mrs. Earle Williams,
|
|
Cullen Tate, Mr. and Mrs. Pat O'Malley, and I think I saw Helen Jerome Eddy
|
|
floating about.
|
|
Anyway, it was a grand party and everybody seemed to have the time of
|
|
their lives.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
May 1921
|
|
PHOTOPLAY
|
|
...And we can now present to you--Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moore.
|
|
Tom Moore and Renee Adoree met in New York New Year's Eve.
|
|
They were married in Beverly Hills, California, on February 12th.
|
|
...They were married, in the lovely drawing room of Tom Moore's home in
|
|
Beverly Hills, just at noon. Nice, fat, jolly Judge Summerfield married them,
|
|
and Mabel Normand was maid of honor, and Jack Pickford was best man. Dear old
|
|
Mrs. Moore, mother of the Moores, was the only guest present.
|
|
...Afterwards they drove to a famous Inn in Pasadena, where a bridal
|
|
breakfast was served for forty of their friends, among them May Allison,
|
|
Alice Lake, Edna Purviance, Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Hamilton, Lottie Pickford,
|
|
Teddy Sampson, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Gibbons,
|
|
and the bridal party.
|
|
Everybody drank the bride's health--in the stuff that runs under
|
|
bridges, we suppose--and they motored away in a cloud of rice, and blessings
|
|
to Santa Barbara, Del Monte, San Francisco and finally took shop to Honolulu,
|
|
where they spent a three weeks honeymoon.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
February 14, 1921
|
|
Grace Kingsley
|
|
LOS ANGELES TIMES
|
|
Who says we can't Mardi Gras? We not only can but do, oh, fluently! It
|
|
was a prize pow-wow, that Saturday night Mardi Gras at the Ambassador.
|
|
We used to fiesta when our City Council and Chamber of Commerce felt a
|
|
mood of joyous abandon coming on; but never in our palmiest days did we
|
|
fiesta as we Mardi Gras'd Saturday night. Probably a part of the difference
|
|
is due to the fact we have movie stars these days, and how the movies do make
|
|
things move, to be sure.
|
|
Of course it was a Mardi Gras with the meter on, so to speak. Though
|
|
there may have been gentlemen with enlarged hips on the place, there were no
|
|
hip-hip-hoorays consequent thereon. Even Dick Ferris's service station
|
|
apparently had not been tempered with. But even without any fine old Southern
|
|
gentlemen with heir fine old whisky breats, we managed to Mardi Gras with vim
|
|
and vigor.
|
|
It wasn't a mild Mardi Gras, at that. How could it be, with one of
|
|
Pavlowa's wildest Russian steppers in our midst? Three times did her partner
|
|
toss her aloft on his shoulder, and it's said that a couple of stars nearly
|
|
did the cat-step! So there! And if you don't believe we were plumb devilish,
|
|
you should have seen the boy dressed in girl's clothes, and--I'm glad you
|
|
asked me that, dearie--last tights clear to his hips!
|
|
Mary Pickford looked lovely in a pale blue silk, and with Douglas
|
|
Fairbanks, helped to entertain the crowds who gathered around the two. We
|
|
thought maybe Doug would do a stunt, but he had a sore hand, so he couldn't
|
|
hop over anything.
|
|
Mary Miles Minter was there with Mother Charlotte Shelby, looking
|
|
beautiful in a simple shepherdess costume of pink and white satin helping to
|
|
put the "Mar" in Mardi Gras.
|
|
Mildred Harris as Juliet had no particular Romeo; she played the field.
|
|
Rudolpho Valentino wore a Spanish cavalier's costume, but no mask.
|
|
Somebody suggested he couldn't bear to be out of the public eye that long.
|
|
Oh, but there were some devils present! Some dressed for the part, some
|
|
not. Take Wally Reid, for instance. That nonchalant gentleman didn't bother
|
|
about advertising. He just wore evening clothes. Besides, he was in a
|
|
protective mood. Had he not brought Mary McIvor Desmond?
|
|
Mitchell Lewis just put on one of his regular Canuck costumes and romped
|
|
around. He wore no dagger, so he was sufficiently disguised. Tom Mix
|
|
disguised himself by leaving off his checked overcoat.
|
|
Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis wore evening clothes, and found they
|
|
danced so nicely together they didn't bother dancing with anybody else.
|
|
Anyhow, what could be sweeter.
|
|
Larry Semon had parked his comedy make-up and wore the moonlights; and
|
|
lovely Lucille Carlisle, just to show there was no hard feeling, any more,
|
|
was the partner of his terpsichorean joys and sorrows, looking very spankable
|
|
in a kid outfit.
|
|
Al Kauffman neatly held up the tail of his claw-hammer coat, when he
|
|
danced, and Charlie Murray was a hot tamale in a vaquero outfit.
|
|
Even the Governor made a speech and said it was the best Mardi Gras ball
|
|
he had ever seen and that he was something of an expert at that. So you can
|
|
see for yourself that a good time was had by all.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
June 1921
|
|
Cal York (Adela Rogers St. Johns)
|
|
PHOTOPLAY
|
|
Everybody in Hollywood was at the Washington's Birthday races at the Los
|
|
Angeles speedway, when Ralph dePalma cleaned up one of the most thrilling
|
|
speed races ever won.
|
|
May Allison had a box--and a box party, consisting mostly of men, as far
|
|
as we could see. May always has a regular attendant group of young men--but
|
|
she agrees with Elinor Glyn that stars shouldn't marry so I guess it's quite
|
|
hopeless. Her sister was acting as chaperone.
|
|
Tom and Nell Ince were there--with their oldest boy, who nearly fell out
|
|
of the box with excitement. I heard a dozen people speaking about how well
|
|
Mrs. Ince is looking. She had on a marvellous sable coat and the smartest
|
|
little blue bonnet-hat. Jackie Saunders was in their box, in a suit of blue
|
|
duvetyn, with a collar of marten. Jackie certainly believes in short and
|
|
convenient skirts. And she has at least two perfectly good reasons.
|
|
Mabel Normand arrived just as the race was starting, looking as fat and
|
|
sassy as she did five years ago. Most of the western film colony hadn't seen
|
|
her since her rest cure, and everybody had to run over and congratulate her.
|
|
Characteristically, Mabel had picked up some small urchin on the way--aged
|
|
about nine--and giving him the seat of honor, had a gorgeous time
|
|
entertaining him. She had on a sport coat of blue and henna plaid and a smart
|
|
straw sailor.
|
|
Mrs. Wallace Reid, whom her husband adequately described as the best
|
|
looking thing around the track, entertained a box party, while her husband
|
|
worked in the pits most of the day with the cameras,--getting stuff for his
|
|
new automobile picture. With Mrs. Reid were Mr. and Mrs. Bill Desmond and
|
|
Hank and Dixie Johnson.
|
|
Jack Pickford, who had been seriously ill for some days, was there too,
|
|
looking white and thin, wrapped in coats and robes. His sister Lottie, in a
|
|
magnificent coat of velvet and fur, and Teddy Sampson, in a sport frock of
|
|
blue, were with him.
|
|
Mr. and Mrs. Cecil deMille were there of course.
|
|
Tom Mix and his wife, Victoria Ford, were among those present--Tom being
|
|
very much in evidence with a plaid overcoat that must have been designed to
|
|
match his bandanas. And Hoot Gibson had a bevy of pretty girls in a box next
|
|
to May Allison's.
|
|
Doug Fairbanks arrived on the run when the races were about half over
|
|
and watched them from the judge's stand, where Tony Moreno was having the
|
|
time of his young life, rooting like a yell leader for de Palmer.
|
|
Mary Alden, with the smartest black had I've seen this year, entertained
|
|
Mr. and Mrs. Rupert Hughes and some other friends.
|
|
Alice Lake wore a cape of wool with fringe and an adorable tam over her
|
|
eye, and I saw Elliott Dexter, just back from a week at Catalina brown as a
|
|
berry, and pretty Seena Owen, in black and coral.
|
|
And everybody went home so hoarse from cheering, they couldn't speak.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
March 20, 1921
|
|
Frances Agnew
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
The motion picture event of the week was the local premier of Metro's
|
|
greatest production to date, "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," staged at
|
|
the Mission Theatre Wednesday evening. The opening was a gala social event,
|
|
with seats for this special performance commanding a price of $5, and even at
|
|
that many were turned away. All the headliners in the film colony were there,
|
|
with after-theatre parties as the order of the evening. William S. Smith,
|
|
Gloria Swanson, George Melford, May Allison, Theodore Kosloff, Viola Dana,
|
|
Alice Lake and Madame Nazimova were just a few of the favorites who gave
|
|
special parties for the opening, followed by supper gatherings later.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
March 16, 1921
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
|
|
The audience at the opening of the Ambassador Theater last night
|
|
represented the most brilliant angles of Los Angeles social life. Men and
|
|
women of every profession, and of notable wealth, were observed throughout
|
|
the house, and handsome gowns, brilliant jewels and magnificent furs gave the
|
|
assemblage the aspect of the grand tier at the Metropolitan.
|
|
Among those who had reserved their seats in advance were ...Tom Moore,
|
|
Mabel Normand, Wallace Reid, Louise Glaum, Carmel Myers, Tom Mix, Tully
|
|
Marshall, Wallace MacDonald and Doris May, William Conklin, May Allison, Jack
|
|
Coogan, Lila Lee, Harry Garson, Shirley Mason, Louis B. Mayer, Wanda Hawley,
|
|
William Desmond, Earl Williams, Mildred Harris, Sam Woods, Jack Warner,
|
|
Charles Murray, Mack Sennett, Elinor Glyn, James Kirkwood, Al Christie,
|
|
Carter de Haven, John M. Stahl, Bessie Love, Joseph De Grasse, Gloria
|
|
Swanson, Harold Lloyd, Phyllis Haver, Sol Wurtzel, Charles Chaplin, Allan
|
|
Dwan, Betty Compson, Al Kauffman, Hal Roach, Irving Thalberg, Katherine
|
|
MacDonald, Benjamin B. Hampton, King Vidor, Naomi Childress, Anita Stewart,
|
|
Mary Miles Minter and Virginia Fox.
|
|
Carl Stockdale and party, Mrs. Shelby in decollete black net and jet,
|
|
Maurice Tourneur and party, Bebe Daniels....
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
April 6, 1921
|
|
Cholly Angeleno
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
|
|
Another brilliant event marked the second evening of the grand opera.
|
|
All the gayety and the beauty of the opening night was repeated last evening
|
|
in the personnel of the audience, the dazzling beauty of the gowns and the
|
|
women who wore them.
|
|
Many who attended "Othello" were present again last evening to hear Mary
|
|
Garden sing her famous Carmen role.
|
|
...Antonio Moreno and Rudolpho Valentino were among the screen stars
|
|
present.
|
|
...Mary Miles Minter wore a gown of silver cloth and lace and a silver
|
|
bandeau in her hair.
|
|
...Miss Mabel Normand was attractive in a gown of white satin, made
|
|
without any suggestion of color, and an ermine wrap.
|
|
...Eva Novak, who was with William S. Hart, was in black lace with an
|
|
exquisite coat of black heavily embroidered in gold.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
April 10, 1921
|
|
Herbert Howe
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
By far the most magnificent affair in which the film colony has ever
|
|
participated was the pageant ball presented on the Monday following Easter in
|
|
the great ballroom of the Hotel Ambassador as a benefit for the Children's
|
|
Hospital of Los Angeles. The carnival of many splendors netted $15,000 for
|
|
the fund, largely through the co-operation of the celebrities of filmdom.
|
|
The pageant consisted of a series of tableaux, dazzling in color and
|
|
richness, based on historical episodes. The entire room was in darkness when
|
|
a trumpet blared and a gigantic searchlight swept down the flowered aisle of
|
|
the long salon, ushering in Queen Elizabeth before whom Shakespeare was to
|
|
plead his case. This English number was presented by Mrs. H. D. Sheperd under
|
|
the stage direction of William Parke.
|
|
Shakespeare in the person of Wedgewood Nowell made his case by
|
|
introducing his favorite characters. Kathlyn Williams as Rosalind, and Mary
|
|
Miles Minter as Juliet brought an ovation. But the real thrill came when the
|
|
velvet curtains parted and the spotlight discovered Betty Blythe as Cleopatra
|
|
clad in all her glory--and a few brilliant trifles. A gasp, followed by
|
|
volleys of applause, went up as Cleopatra moved with stately grace before the
|
|
queen and took from Charmian the regicidal asp which she crushed against her
|
|
bosom. Miss Blythe was attired in a rich, yet effectively simple, robe which
|
|
she wears as Queen of Sheba in the Fox extravaganza soon to be unfurled in
|
|
New York.
|
|
The English group was followed by the Russian, presented by Mrs. Cecil
|
|
B. De Mille and other women prominent in film society circles. Marguerite de
|
|
la Motte as the fire bird in crimson and gold held breathless attention as
|
|
she danced through the room. Lila Lee and Lois Wilson also contributed beauty
|
|
and grace to this number.
|
|
The Indian-Persian portrayal of "The Marriage of Seven Steps" was
|
|
presented by artists of the Brunton studios. The Indian processional was a
|
|
flow of riotous color, Indian music, and furious dancing.
|
|
Gloria Swanson appeared as the moon goddess in the Chinese pantomime. In
|
|
the throng surrounding her were Milton Sills, Lionel Belmore, Mr. and Mrs.
|
|
Rupert Hughes, Mr. and Mrs. Rob Wagner and others of film fame.
|
|
Priscilla Dean appeared as queen of the carnival in the Italian piece.
|
|
Margaret Loomis as the Spirit of the Adriatic led a ballet of sea-green
|
|
nymphs. Mahlon Hamilton was the Doge of Venice. In the ensemble were Helen
|
|
Jerome Eddy, Kara Schram, Ora Carew, Rosemary Theby, Tully Marshall and Clyde
|
|
Cook.
|
|
A regime of French historical events was an elaborate series, the
|
|
tricolor and "la Marseillaise" bring the thousands of spectators to their
|
|
feet. Irene Rich was Joan of Arc, Elinor Glyn impersonated the Empress
|
|
Josephine, led by Tim Frawley as Napoleon; William Desmond was Francois
|
|
Villon, Josephine Crowell gave realism to Catherine de Medici, Charles
|
|
Kenyon, Richelieu; Winifred Kingston, Madame Pompadour. A graceful Watteau
|
|
pastoral in minuet form was led by Mae Allison and Herbert Rawlinson,
|
|
followed by Mary MacIvor and Conrad Nagel, Mary MacLaren and Mr. Hughes,
|
|
Doris Pawn and Nigel Barrie. Other prominent leaders of the French tableau
|
|
were Kathleen Clifford, Theodore Roberts, John Davidson, Sydney Franklin and
|
|
Dana Todd. Not forgetting Master Jack Coogan, who, in the historic garb of
|
|
The Kid, created a sensation greater than Napoleon or Foch and comparable to
|
|
that of Cleopatra herself.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
September 1, 1921
|
|
Henry Dougherty
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXPRESS
|
|
The list of those who attended the initial showing of "The Three
|
|
Musketeeers" at the Mission theater reads like "Who's Who in Filmland."
|
|
Probably never before in the history of the film industry--with the
|
|
possible exception of one or two D.W. Griffith productions--has there been
|
|
such a brilliant assemblage in a Los Angeles theater for the purpose of
|
|
witnessing a "first night" performance of a motion picture.
|
|
A score of stars whose faces are familiar to millions of people
|
|
throughout the world, last night sat in on the performance, applauded
|
|
generously, and when the end of the picture came they spoke as with one
|
|
voice: "Marvelous. It is the greatest thing Douglas Fairbanks has ever done."
|
|
And speaking from a critical standpoint, one is justified in the
|
|
assertion that "The Three Musketeers" is probably the greatest achievement
|
|
since the birth of the motion picture industry...
|
|
Among some of the "first-nighters" were: Alla Nazimova, Katherine
|
|
MacDonald, Roscoe Arbuckle, Clara Kimball Young, Mary Miles Minter, Bebe
|
|
Daniels, Phyllis Haver, Mary MacLaren, Jesse L. Lasky, Eric von Stroheim,
|
|
Ferdinand Pinney Earle, May Allison, Kathleen Clifford, Elinor Glyn, Eileen
|
|
Percy, William Conklin, Tod Browning, Colleen Moore, Betty Compson, Irvin
|
|
Willat, Fred Niblo, Barbara La Marr, Marguerite de la Motte, Charles Ray,
|
|
Ruth Roland, Ruth Stonehouse, L.E. Behymer, Max Linder, Wanda Hawley, Elliot
|
|
Dexter and probably a score of others.
|
|
In addition, a majority of the best-known directors in Los Angeles were
|
|
present.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
November 20, 1921
|
|
Frances Agnew
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
Everybody who was invited--which meant almost everybody in the blue book
|
|
of the Coast film colony--donned their best evening togs, ordered the
|
|
chauffeur drove their own or rented an auto and plunged into the jam for the
|
|
formal opening of Marcus Loew's new State Theatre here Saturday night. It was
|
|
a big night for Mr. Loew and the film stars. The thousands of "fans" who kept
|
|
the Los Angeles police busy while they stormed the theater and lined up on
|
|
the streets to see the celebrities arrive and depart will bear witness to
|
|
this fact.
|
|
This new State Theatre is the principal part of an imposing new office
|
|
building on the corner of Seventh Street and Broadway. The Theatre is a
|
|
beautiful one, equipped with all the luxury and convenience of the modern
|
|
playhouse.
|
|
In one of the boxes sat Governor Stephens and his party and in the other
|
|
Mayor Cryer with a group of his friends. Both executives spoke while arc
|
|
lights played on their faces and the cameras recorded them in action, both
|
|
lauding Mr. Loew for his achievement and proving good press agents for him by
|
|
urging interest in this new theatre. Mr. Loew himself made a brief speech,
|
|
after being introduced by Bert Lytell, while the ever-dependable and always
|
|
entertaining master of ceremonies, Fred Niblo, again did the honors for the
|
|
clever showman.
|
|
The few who paid money for the opening performance undoubtedly got their
|
|
money's worth, though we have no doubt that they shared the wish of the
|
|
invited guests that the regular vaudeville program had been eliminated,
|
|
leaving the field to the notable speechmakers and to the stars who appeared
|
|
and performed.
|
|
The booking wheel unfortunately brought six very mediocre acts to the
|
|
house for the week and the orchestra was in a much too serious mood when they
|
|
selected the opening performance numbers. So we have no doubt that no one
|
|
ever appreciated the magnetism of the cinema spotlight and the versatility of
|
|
some of the stars better than did Mr. Loew that night when they put the
|
|
"punch" into his opening show along about midnight. In fact, they gave it
|
|
such a "punch" that there was no time left for the best feature of the
|
|
regular program provided for the week, the Bert Lytell picture, "A Trip to
|
|
Paradise."
|
|
Buster Keaton was the headliner of the evening with his eccentric dance,
|
|
labeled "The Death of Salome," with a travesty on "The Great Moment," and due
|
|
apologies to Elinor Glyn, finishing it. Ruth Roland pleased with two songs,
|
|
one yodled. And other who acted out were T. Roy Barnes, Walter Hires, Robert
|
|
Edson and Snitz Edwards, who put on a highly amusing ventriloquist act; Ora
|
|
Carew, Buck Jones, Larry Semon and Al St. John.
|
|
In the stellar rows were Anita Stewart, Rudolph Cameron, Enid Bennett,
|
|
May Allison, Robert Ellis, Bert Lytell, Bayard Vellier, Viola Dana, Alice
|
|
Lake, Rex Ingram, Alice Terry, Gareth Hughes, Rudolph Valentino, Doris May,
|
|
Irene Rich, Bebe Daniels, Wanda Hawley, Constance Binney, Nazimova, Jackie
|
|
Coogan, Gloria Swanson, Dustin Farnum, Thomas H. Ince, Sid Grauman, Constance
|
|
Talmadge, Natalie Talmadge Keaton, Sylvia Breamer, Madge Bellamy, Leah Baird,
|
|
King Vidor, John Bowers, Ethel Clayton, Betty Compson, June Mathis, James
|
|
Young, Antonio Moreno, William Duncan, Jack Gilbert, May Collins, Mary
|
|
Thurman, Mabel Normand, Harold Lloyd, Mr. and Mrs. Carter de Haven and so on
|
|
and so on through a longer list than we could ever remember at one sitting.
|
|
It is doubtful if any event here ever drew out more celebrities than did
|
|
Mr. Lowe's opening. Certainly his theatre has had an auspicious and history-
|
|
making beginning. Here's to its success!
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
December 12, 1921
|
|
Frances Agnew
|
|
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
|
|
Crowds of admiring fans and clicking cameras who recorded the arrival
|
|
and departure of the silver sheet luminaries shared the street and lobby
|
|
space in front of the Mission Theatre, Wednesday evening. The cause was the
|
|
formal opening of Mack Sennett's best production, "Molly-O," with the
|
|
irresistible Mabel Normand as Molly.
|
|
It was an invitation affair, the house being crowded with as many of the
|
|
friends and acquaintances of the star and producer as it would hold, and
|
|
hosts of them disappointed in not being present. And what an ovation they
|
|
gave to Mabel, who, looking as lovely as always, sat in a loge between
|
|
Charlie Chaplin and Abraham Lehr, two of her guests for the occasion. Even
|
|
the scores of floral tributes banked on the stage and featured in the opening
|
|
spotlight came in for special applause, further testimony of the popularity
|
|
and appeal of the delightful star.
|
|
Fred Niblo, master of ceremonies deluxe, appeared in his customary
|
|
opening night role and christened "Molly-O" with a humorous and, of course,
|
|
dry toast to its success. Here's hoping Mr. Sennett will give us another
|
|
"Molly-O" very soon, if for no other reason than to let us again appreciate
|
|
the delightful art and beauty of Mabel Normand.
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
December 15, 1921
|
|
Lee Ettelson
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
|
|
The Examiner Christmas Benefit all-star performance last night was a
|
|
huge success, a great event. No actors benefit ever had a more magnificent
|
|
array of talent, no throng of people, such as bulged Philharmonic Auditorium
|
|
last night, was ever so satisfied.
|
|
Nothing was missing, from Fred Niblo, who was chairman, toastmaster and
|
|
master of ceremonies, to the Fox Sunshine Comedy Four who closed the program
|
|
with a mystic something in gyrations called, "The Whirl of Mirth."
|
|
To mention the names of stars who took part in what, in recollection,
|
|
becomes a huge spectacle, would be to give a stage a motion picture
|
|
directory. Few stars of note were absent last night; and those who were not
|
|
there were ill or out of the city, mostly.
|
|
...[Here follows a description of the various acts in the show] And then-
|
|
-what all waited for:
|
|
This was the 1921 Book of Fame, a famous book indeed, some nine feet
|
|
high, gilded entrancingly, whose pages as they successively opened revealed
|
|
the stars of the movie heavens, those who had won such a prominent place
|
|
during the past year, personal appearances of names that thrill in any studio
|
|
and household.
|
|
And as the book's pages were opened, the volume spoke"
|
|
May Allison, Agnes Ayres and Wesley Barry. Madge Bellamy, Lionel Belmore
|
|
and John Bowers, Sylvia Breamer, May Collins, Jackie Coogan, Viola Dana,
|
|
Mildred Davis, Marguerite de la Motte and Richard Dix. William Duncan, King
|
|
Evers, Dustin Farnum, Helen Ferguson, Virginia Fox and Raymond Hatton. Jack
|
|
Holt, Edith Johnson, Dorothy June and Alice Lake.
|
|
The book still turned back its pages, revealing Cullen Landis, Lila Lee,
|
|
Bessie Love, Doris May, May McAvoy and Douglas MacLean; Frank Mayo, Mary
|
|
Miles Minter, Baby Peggy Montgomery, Colleen Moore and Carmel Myers, Kathleen
|
|
Myers, Mabel Normand, Dorothy Phillips, Pauline Starke and Anita Stewart,
|
|
"Sunshine Sammy," Florence Vidor, George Walsh, Bryant Washburn, Lois Wilson
|
|
and Claire Windsor.
|
|
A heaven of stars...
|
|
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
|
January 8, 1922
|
|
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
|
|
Unattended by directors shouting "action" and in an atmosphere that was
|
|
utterly lacking in suggestion of the sets of a studio, Lottie Pickford Rupp,
|
|
sister to Mary Pickford, was married last night to Alan Forrest Fisher, known
|
|
to the cinema world in which he is a star as Alan Forrest.
|
|
The ceremony was performed in the First Methodist Church of Hollywood by
|
|
the Rev. Dr. Willsie Martin, its pastor, and in the presence of nearly every
|
|
motion picture star on the Pacific Coast, to say nothing of several hundred
|
|
residents of Hollywood and Los Angeles.
|
|
Following the wedding, the bridal party, accompanied by a few intimate
|
|
friends, went to the Ambassador Hotel, where a wedding dinner was served.
|
|
This morning Mr. and Mrs. Fisher will leave on an extended honeymoon jaunt.
|
|
Where are they going?
|
|
They refuse to tell.
|
|
The wedding ceremony was marked by its beautiful simplicity and lasted
|
|
less than ten minutes. Long before it began, though, the guests, both those
|
|
of the motion picture colony who knew the couple well and those who have met
|
|
them through the "silver screen," had gathered outside the church.
|
|
The doors were not opened until a few minutes before seven-thirty, the
|
|
hour set for the marriage. When the guests were finally admitted the large
|
|
edifice was filled within a few seconds and so large was the crowd that
|
|
failed to gain admittance that a detail of police officers from the Hollywood
|
|
station was pressed into service to handle it.
|
|
Arrangements had been made for the bride and groom to enter the church
|
|
from different vestibules, but when 7:30 came and it was time to start the
|
|
wedding march, "Mary and Doug" had not arrived and there was a short delay.
|
|
Miss Rupp arrived early with her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Pickford, and her
|
|
brother, Jack, who was to give her away.
|
|
When "Doug" and "Mary" arrived there was a hurried whispered conference
|
|
of all the party and "Doug" was sent into the church to take his seat with
|
|
the other members of the family.
|
|
"Doug's" appearance was the signal for an enthusiastic outburst of
|
|
applause from the ensembled guests. It was enthusiasm that could not be kept
|
|
down apparently, though the edifice was a church and the occasion a wedding.
|
|
The object of the outburst, however, appeared none too well pleased and
|
|
attempted to gain silence by nodding his head. It had no effect.
|
|
Many times have the members of last night's wedding participated in
|
|
beautiful wedding ceremonies before the camera, but last night, face to face
|
|
with reality, they appeared lost, and they frankly admitted they felt that
|
|
way.
|
|
Miss Rupp was attended only by her sister. There was no bridesmaid and
|
|
no ring bearer or flower girls.
|
|
Just as the wedding march commenced, when Miss Rupp and her sister and
|
|
brother were waiting in the vestibule to start the processional, "Our Mary"
|
|
pleadingly asked what she was to do.
|
|
"I'm nervous," she said, and she meant it.
|
|
"I'm nervous too," responded Jack. "Don't ask me."
|
|
"Well, let's go in," added the bride.
|
|
There was a hurried scamper and Mary took a position before the other
|
|
two. No one was quite sure which arm Jack was supposed to offer the bride but
|
|
with the aid of a reporter they finally were straightened out and started
|
|
into the church.
|
|
Mary, forgetting her nervousness, head in the air and looking straight
|
|
ahead like a little grenadier, led the bride and her brother up the side
|
|
aisle and down the center of the chancel.
|
|
Both the bride and her maid-of-honor were beautifully gowned and both
|
|
deserved the subdued exclamation of homage that came from the standing
|
|
guests. The bride has always had an honest claim to be called pretty. As for
|
|
Mary--well, who is there in the world who doesn't know of her almost
|
|
childlike beauty, and she never looked prettier than last night.
|
|
The bridgroom and his best man, Eddie Sutherland, were waiting near the
|
|
foot of the chancel and as the bride and groom met, Doctor Martin entered
|
|
from the chancel door. Almost, it seemed, before the audience realized the
|
|
ceremony had begun, it had finished and the recessional began.
|
|
There was a mad rush on the part of the guests to reach the street
|
|
before Mr. and Mrs. Forrest were driven away. Only a few, however, succeeded
|
|
in getting near them. The ushers, Hoot Gibson, Al Roscoe and Harry Cohn,
|
|
anticipating just such a move, saw to it that bride and groom were well on
|
|
the way to the Ambassador before the church was half emptied.
|
|
Other members of the family made their exit from side doors and they too
|
|
were whirled away from the huge and curious crowd. "Doug" may have held up
|
|
the wedding by being just a little bit late but he managed to get to the
|
|
hotel before the rest of the party and was in possession when they arrived.
|
|
Among the guests at the wedding dinner were Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moore,
|
|
Thomas Dixon, Steve Franklin, Hoot Gibson, Harry Cohn, Al Roscoe, May McAvoy,
|
|
Mabel Normand, Mr. and Mrs. Urson, Lila Lee, Mrs. Charlotte Pickford, Mary
|
|
Miles Minter, Bebe Daniels, Alice Lake, Mr. and Mrs. Canfield, Eddie
|
|
Sutherland, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, Jack Pickford, and "Doug and Mary."
|
|
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
|
|
Wallace Smith: February 15, 1922
|
|
|
|
The following is another of Wallace Smith's sensationalizing dispatches on
|
|
the Taylor case.
|
|
|
|
February 15, 1922
|
|
Wallace Smith
|
|
CHICAGO AMERICAN
|
|
William Desmond Taylor was playing his last love scene, his final "fade-
|
|
out" locked in the embrace of one of screenland's favored beauties, when the
|
|
slayer's shot in the back ended his eccentric life.
|
|
This spectacular theory of the weird murder, reinforced by the latest
|
|
developments in the sensational case, was played before the district attorney
|
|
today following the report that, within a week, the actress and her newest
|
|
mate would be arrested and charged with the crime.
|
|
It was reported, too, that an assistant district attorney had questioned
|
|
Mack Sennett, producer, who for years has been an intimate friend of Miss
|
|
Normand. The result of this alleged interview, of course, was not disclosed.
|
|
Sennett, according to his assistants, has been ill for some days and unable
|
|
to be interviewed by newspaper reporters.
|
|
District Attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine, scanning the latest reports of
|
|
his operatives, declined to comment on the "kiss of death" theory. From a
|
|
semiofficial source--the only sort available in these parts, it was learned
|
|
however, that recent discoveries led more and more to the trail of the
|
|
actress and her paramour.
|
|
The arrests, it was declared, would loose a mighty volcano of scandal
|
|
that would bury Hollywood in its burning ashes and arouse the entire nation.
|
|
The actress, it was known, had quarreled violently with Taylor about six
|
|
weeks ago. The reason for their quarrel had never been divulged. His
|
|
friendship for many other women, revealed since his tragic death, now seems
|
|
to supply a motive. [5]
|
|
There had been a reconciliation and, a few days before the killing,
|
|
another bitter quarrel. It was their "last quarrel," both declared. It
|
|
proved so in fact.
|
|
The authorities considered today two angles of the new theory. One was
|
|
that she and the man she had persuaded to become executioner for her had
|
|
betrayed Taylor to his death. The other was that, visiting Taylor to renew
|
|
their "friendship," she had been forced to witness the slaying of her lover
|
|
by a jealous suitor and since has feared to tell her story.
|
|
Very careful of their reputations are these queens of the movies.
|
|
The actress' known fondness for morphine, the police declared, might be
|
|
a salient fact to back up the new theory. Such a crime, they declare, might
|
|
easily be directed by the fevered imagination of a "hopped-up"--that is, drug-
|
|
inspired, lady.
|
|
When Taylor's body first was found the chivalrous authorities refused to
|
|
consider that a woman was involved in the crime.
|
|
They are the same authorities who for two hours reported that Taylor had
|
|
"died of natural causes."
|
|
They insisted that the position of the wound proved positively that
|
|
Taylor had been seated at his desk with his arms lifted as if he had been on
|
|
the point of writing when the shot was fired. Now they are able to see that
|
|
Taylor's arms might have been raised to clasp the woman's body.
|
|
The very position of Taylor's body as it was found, neatly "laid out,"
|
|
and the orderly condition of the room, assumed a new significance. At the
|
|
time it was taken as a sure indication that there had been no struggle.
|
|
Now they are beginning to realize that, except perhaps in the movies, a
|
|
murderer does not jauntily enter the door, fire a shot, and retire while his
|
|
victim carefully adjusts his arms and legs as an undertaker might.
|
|
It is now believed that the slayer, before he left Taylor's study,
|
|
straightened up the room, removed such clews as might attract the eye of the
|
|
Los Angeles police and "laid out" Taylor's body. It was even suggested that
|
|
the woman may have helped in thus covering the trail.
|
|
"She may have been very fond of him," remarked one of the detectives,
|
|
with a serious face, "and so tried to leave his body as neat as possible.
|
|
Also the room. You know how women are."
|
|
Seeming to support the theory that a woman was present when Taylor was
|
|
slain is the tale told by a confessed--nay, a boasted--"bootlegger" picturing
|
|
a woman fleeing from the Taylor home at about the time of the crime, as it
|
|
was reckoned more or less arbitrarily by the police.
|
|
"I was delivering some very fine bonded stuff to Taylor," said the rum
|
|
renegade. "I had delivered there many times before. This consignment was in
|
|
half-pint bottles and I was carrying it in a case. I drove up in my car and
|
|
started for the house to see if everything was all right.
|
|
"As I did, I heard what I thought was a shot. Of course I stopped in my
|
|
tracks. In my business a man can't be too careful. I waited there for a few
|
|
seconds in the shadow. Then I saw a woman come out in a hurry. She ran down
|
|
the sidewalk and disappeared.
|
|
"Well, I was minding my own business and I got out of there in my car in
|
|
a hurry, you can bet."
|
|
The sight of a woman fleeing the Taylor place a few seconds after the
|
|
shot was heard might lead to the theory that the woman had done the crime.
|
|
But the police, reluctantly admitting that a woman was in the affair at all,
|
|
clung stubbornly to the contention that the weapon was too heavy a caliber
|
|
and make to be handled by feminine hands.
|
|
Nor would they pay any attention to the suggestion that every studio is
|
|
cluttered with property weapons of all descriptions and every moving picture
|
|
actress familiar with their use.
|
|
With the new clues and the new theories to direct the investigators,
|
|
there was some interest displayed in the total of $4,500 reward offered by
|
|
various concerns for the arrest and conviction of Taylor's slayer. Of this,
|
|
$2,500 was offered by the moving picture firm for whom Taylor labored.
|
|
$1,000 by a local newspaper, and $1,000 by the Screen Writers' Guild.
|
|
Some of the interest was in the amount offered as compared to the cost
|
|
of the productions Taylor directed and the money they made.
|
|
One unique explanation of the reward was that the story expected to be
|
|
told by the ultimate informant would be a very brief one. Actually, the
|
|
formal statement reads:
|
|
"The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation hereby offers and agrees to pay
|
|
the sum of $2,500 reward to the person or persons furnishing information to
|
|
the district attorney of Los Angeles resulting in the arrest and conviction
|
|
of the slayer of William Desmond Taylor; that is to say, in the event such
|
|
information is furnished by more than one person, such reward to be divided
|
|
equally among such persons, the total reward not to exceed $2,500."
|
|
Chief of Detectives David Adams bitterly denied the rumor that his men
|
|
were inclined to "give up" the riddle of Taylor's death. He pounded his fist
|
|
against the top of his desk to emphasize his declaration of unrelenting toil
|
|
until the mystery is solved.
|
|
"We'll never rest until the murderer is behind the bars," he exclaimed.
|
|
"There will be no let up in the search, even if it takes months."
|
|
Generally, the impression strengthened by the reports of semiofficial
|
|
agents has been that District Attorney Woolwine's office is in possession of
|
|
facts which will clear up the slaying within a few days or at the most a few
|
|
weeks.
|
|
The district attorney himself blandly denied this. During an interview
|
|
today he turned the talk to a discussion of his acquaintance with the man who
|
|
was killed.
|
|
"He was such a fine fellow," he declared, " that it is almost impossible
|
|
to imagine a motive for the crime. He had a most attractive personality. He
|
|
was the sort of man who, if you saw him in a crowd, you would instinctively
|
|
wish to know more about, and you would manage to gravitate toward that part
|
|
of room in which he was."
|
|
He was asked if the report that certain detectives supposed to be
|
|
working on the case had been reported off duty.
|
|
"Well, those men are tired," declared the district attorney. "They've
|
|
been working hard. They have only so many days off a month and if they don't
|
|
take them when they're due they won't get them at all."
|
|
The only definite information divulged by the prosecutor was a denial
|
|
that Mabel Normand's "blessed baby" letters had been returned to her. The
|
|
screen favorite had made a statement in which she declared that the much
|
|
discussed and very much protected letters had been returned.
|
|
Because of the fact that the letters were still locked in the
|
|
prosecutor's safe it was reported that Miss Normand was to be questioned
|
|
again to supplement the statement she made in her midnight interview at
|
|
Woolwine's hands last Saturday.
|
|
Another theory which was considered by the authorities was that Taylor
|
|
was killed by blackmailers who sought to involve his name with that of a
|
|
young motion picture actress. Taylor, according to this theory, made a
|
|
desperate battle for the reputation of an innocent girl.
|
|
It developed, however, that the young woman in question was not as
|
|
innocent as her pictures would have a trusting public believe. On the
|
|
contrary, according to semiofficial information about new letters discovered
|
|
among Taylor's effect.
|
|
The district attorney announced he would again question William Davis,
|
|
Miss Normand's chauffeur, who drove her to the Taylor home the night of the
|
|
slaying. It was stated that fresh information had led Mr. Woolwine to the
|
|
resolution to have the driver go over again his statement corroborating Miss
|
|
Normand's version of the events of that night.
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
NEXT ISSUE: The Last Day of Taylor's Life
|
|
Wallace Smith: February 16, 1922
|
|
Has Mabel Normand Solved the Taylor Murder?
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
NOTES:
|
|
[1] In reality, Mabel was driven to the Arbuckles by actress Fay Tincher. See
|
|
"Fatty's First" by Stuart Oderman and Minta Durfee in CLASSIC IMAGES #70, p.
|
|
42.
|
|
[2] See WDT:DOSSIER, p. 330.
|
|
[3] LOS ANGELES TIMES (May 7, 1937).
|
|
[4] See LOS ANGELES TIMES (February 4, 1922 and March 5, 1922).
|
|
[5] The quarrel "about six weeks ago" was obviously a reference to the New
|
|
Year's Eve quarrel between Taylor and Mabel Normand.
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|
|
For more information about Taylor, see
|
|
WILLIAM DESMOND TAYLOR: A DOSSIER (Scarecrow Press, 1991)
|
|
Back issues of Taylorology are available via Gopher or FTP at
|
|
etext.archive.umich.edu
|
|
in the directory pub/Zines/Taylorology
|
|
*****************************************************************************
|