This is an interesting book about the early history of Hollywood (1920s and 1930s) that focuses on excess of sex, drugs, alcohol, failed dreams and sad endings of some of the well known players including; Fatty Arbuckle, Wallace Reid, Barbara La Marr, Ramon Novarro, Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Ince, Rudolph Valnetino, Erich von Stroheim, Marion Davies, Clara Bow, John Gilbert, Jean Harlow & Paul Bern, Marlene Dietrich, Lili Damita, Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor, Frances Farmer, Thelma Todd, Carol Landis, Bugsy Siegel, Lupe Velez, Corinne Griffith, Mae Murray, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe, and Jayne Mansfield.
Rumors of riotous Hollywood highlife were common even with the watchful eye of movie czar and moral code enforcer Will Hays. Once, the New York Journal reported that when people spring from poverty to affluence within a few weeks their mental equipment works differently, and with the new found freedom they spend money in bizarre ways; wild parties that lasts for days, women, drugs, alcohol, all to the extremes. Examples for extravagant life styles include; Harold Lloyd’s Greenacres, a 40 room fortress with fountains; Gloria Swanson’s golden bathtub in her black marble bathroom; Tom Mix’s rainbow colored fountain in his dining room; Clara Bow’s Chinese den, and Charles Ray’s solid golden knobs. Actor Fatty Arbuckle loved liquor and the ladies, more the merrier. His trial in the death of young Virginia Rappe was highly scandalous but the jury found him not guilty. This is one of the stories of Hollywood that still lingers on. Actor Wallace Reid of Paramount Studio’s died due to drug overdose and his wife Florence claimed that his friends got him into heavy drinking and drugs, and she plans to avenge her husband’s death. Glamorous actress Barbara La Marr, a jaded junkie dabbled in every known forms of dope until her fatal overdose. By the time of her dearth she had six husbands and lovers by the dozens. Charlie Chaplain’s way with women and numerous girlfriends using his success in Hollywood was legendary. Tom Ince’s death in William Randolph Hearst’s luxury boat “Oneida” was highly suspicious because Hearst was jealous of Tom’s affair with his girlfriend Marion Davies, and he is accused to have played a role in his death. The affair was reduced to a sardonic joke in the film colony, and his boat became known as William Randolph’s Hearse. Rudolph Valnetino’s homosexuality, his golden jewelry, and preference for heavy perfumes, chinchilla lined coats and pronounced Italian coquetry was an open statement that he was a fairy. His virility was impugned when it was revealed that both his wives, Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova were both lesbians and the marriage were annulled since it was not consummated. Valentino died at the age of 31. Another perennial source of scandalous rumor in twenties revolved around director and actor Erich von Stroheim. Shooting notorious orgy scenes, sometimes continuously for 24 hours in locked stages where studio bosses were off limits drew anger. He often spent considerable amount of money beyond the limits set by the Universal, Paramount and MGM including the fortunes of Gloria Swanson and Jo Kennedy. Irving Thalberg and Stroheim had serious difficulties in their working relationship because of his spending. Clara Bow’s list of lovers included Eddie Cantor, Rex Bell, Gary Cooper, Bela Lugosi, John Wayne and many others. Clara’s personal secretary was selling her sexcapades to tabloids which lead them battle it out court. Actor John Gilbert of MGM was broke due to bad investment decisions died at a young age of 39 due to a heart attack. His life was a motivation for the production of 1937 classic, A Star is born. John Gilbert and Marie Prevost staged a drink-to-death race which Jack won in 1936, but Marie dragged on until 1937 when her half eaten corpse was discovered in seedy apartment on Cahuenga Blvd in Hollywood. Her Dachshund had survived making the mincemeat of his mistress. The husband of Jean Harlow, Paul Bern’s mysterious death was caused by a mentally unstable ex-wife Gwili Andre. Actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by falling from Hollywood sign at top of Hollywood Hills. Marlene Dietrich and her bisexual pals including Lili Damita and Claudette Colbert had steamy relationships. Mary Astor and her sex acts with her lover George Kaufman were described in her blue diary without any inhibitions. Mary Astor’s husband found about the affair and asked her end it, but she insisted that she will continue seeing Kaufman. Thelma Todd was murdered in her garage with car engine running; it is widely rumored that gangster Lucky Luciano was responsible for that. Errol Flynn married to bisexual Lili Damita had troubles with underage ladies like Betty Hansen; Errol was charged and found not guilty. Charlie Chaplin’s paternal suit by his young lover, Joan Barry went public and became scandalous. The proceedings in the court were not only ugly but strange when jury found that he is not the father, but asked him to support the child anyway. Actress Frances Farmer entered Hollywood with style dubbed as the new Greta Garbo but ended her career in a reckless manner. Her trouble started with numerous acts of hostility towards police, drunken driving, altercations, arrests and a mockery of the whole justice system.
The book has some rare pictures which includes; Fatty Arbuckle sitting dazed next to his car, the day after Rappe’s death; San Francisco’s Hotel St. Francis, suite 1221 with broken furniture on the last day in the life of Virginia Rappe. Broke and broken, he died at 46 in New York. Barbara La Marr in casket, Thelma Todd’s body in casket at Forest Lawn cemetery; pictures of police dragging Frances Farmer to the Santa Monica police station; Lupe’s deathbed in Beverly Hills and Lupe lying in the casket; Carol Landis lying near the sink in her bathroom after her suicide; Marilyn Monroe’s “big sleep” picture.
Marilyn’s suicide by sleeping pills echoed the willed oblivions of so many others; Lupe, Carol Landis, Abigail Adams, Lynne Baggett and many more.
When actress Frances Farmer was arrested in Hollywood’s Knickerbocker hotel for having failed to report her parole officer which came on the heels of a hysterical fight during which she dislocated the studio hairdressers jaw, engaged in boozy night club brawl and streaked topless through traffic down Sunset Strip. Once she was carted off the Knickerbocker hotel naked; while in the police station, she signed on police papers as “c**k-sucker” as her occupation. Her breakup with Clifford Odets and divorce from husband Leif Ericson was too much for her to bear. After she was sentenced for six months in jail, she threw an ink pot at the judge with stunning accuracy. She was eventually sent to a sanitarium. She faced hell on earth during years of confinement at the facility. It was gruesome ordeal any screen personality was ever forced to endure. The second suicide of attempt of Mexican actress Lupe Velez in 1944 received the lion’s share of headlines. This go-getting teenager from Hollywood didn’t waste much time by going with numerous men, John Gilbert as rebound antidote to him, then Gary Cooper, Johnny Weissmuller, and numerous men in glamour scene. During her last supper before trying to end her life her best pals, Estelle Taylor and Benita Oakie dined together and confessed to them her plans of ending her miserable life.
Marilyn’s suicide by overdose of sleeping medications echoed the willed oblivions of so many others; Lupe Velez, Carol Landis, Abigail Adams, Lynne Baggett, Laird Craiger and many more. In 1966, actress Corinne Griffith married to actor 44 years old Danny Scholl asked for annulment since her one year marriage to Scholl was not consummated. Frail Danny Scholl collapsed on the witness stand in front of Corinne Griffith; she was actually an imposter. At 51 she was impersonating 71 year old Griffith. What is more ironic about this case was that Griffith no longer existed during the trial and the impersonator was not only acting as 71 but also her identity. The creepiness of this case simple indicates how the fever of Norma Desmonditis hit Tinsel town in a worst possible way. Veteran actor Lewis Stone died from heart attack while chasing a few of boys of the neighborhood throwing rocks at his Beverly Hills home. Dazzling Jayne Mansfield, after skidding from her career in acting, went to New Orleans as a cabaret singer skidded a little too far on rain slicked highway into oblivion. Ramon Novarro’s ghastly murder was the most bizarre crimes of Hollywood. Veteran actor Albert Dekker’s kinky suicide in women attire, lingerie, lipstick and the whole package was no match in its own right. Actress Sharon Tate’s brutal murder was gruesome in many respects. Actor George Sanders’s suicide in Spain reflected on the loneliness and boredom in the life of some of some of the most famous in Hollywood. Judy Garland, MGM’s Amphetamine Annie made so many suicide attempts that she finally succeeded in one in her bathroom in London. The scene was gruesome.
The going was tough when movies went from silent to talkies in 1929 coinciding with the Great depression. Silent Goddesses; Billie Dove, Colleen Moore, Corinne Griffith, Norma Talmadge waned and some like Talmadge pretended to be too rich to care. For some beauties, the eclipse was brutal. Louise Brooks, one of the loveliest creations ever to grace the silver screen went from stardom to a Macy’s counter in a vertiginous fall from glory. A worse fate than a Macy’s counter fall from glory befell others. 1920s luminaries like Mae Murray truly believed in stardom as a divine right, and above ordinary mortals. She married a nobleman named Mdivani to become a princess only to lose all her fortune; and later she was arrested for vagrancy when discovered one night sleeping on a bench in the Central Park in New York City. Gloria Swanson and Pola Negri followed the same route to become members of the royal families. Years later, Negri not only lost her title when her husband left her for good but also ditched by Paramount Studios and public popularity.
Reference: Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger
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