Category: Dear Reader

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #220

Dear Reader,

Tula, my latest audiobook, featuring a wonderful narration by Amelia Mendez.

I never wanted to be a star. I just wanted to act in movies. I just wanted to get away from the impoverished streets of Brooklyn and live in relative comfort.

Now, at the close of the 1920s, I was the biggest name in Hollywood. My movies were the highest grossing in the business. Investors depended on me, producers depended on me, my fellow actors depended on me, and maybe the strain of that dependence triggered my emotional collapse.

Actually, I knew what trigged my emotional collapse—my father’s death. I found myself in an asylum, in the care of Dr. Brooks. Along with my fiancé, fellow actor Gregory Powell, Dr. Brooks was convinced that an underlying issue triggered my collapse, and he wanted me to record my life story, so that he could identify that issue.

Gregory had faith in me. He said he’d wait for me, and that he knew I’d make a full recovery. But to make that recovery, I had to address the underlying issue that had placed me in the asylum.

So, I offer you the notes that I prepared for Dr. Brooks. To the best of my ability and memory, I recorded the important events that made up the first 25 years of my life. And within these notes, I discovered the true reason for my emotional breakdown.

https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Tula-Golden-Age-Hollywood/dp/B0CN1PT2ZN/

My latest translation, the Dutch version of Operation Overlord, Eve’s War Heroines of SOE book nine.

From The World Film Encyclopaedia, 1933, a map of Hollywood movie studios and notable landmarks.

I’m delving into 1948, researching material for two novels scheduled for 2024 – Eve’s Peace, a sequel to my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series, and Dana, book three in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

On January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell died when his P-51 Mustang fighter chased a UFO. Due to Mantell’s death, this incident marked a sharp shift in both public and governmental perceptions of UFOs. Now they were seen as not only extraterrestrial, but potentially hostile as well.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was released in January 1948. The movie contained a number of scenes shot on location outside the United States – in the state of Durango with street scenes in Tampico, Mexico – which wasn’t common at that time.

Sue Carol and George O’Brien in The Lone Star Ranger, 1930. Sue Carol was a friend of Virgina Cherrill, who made City Lights with Charlie Chaplin. Later, Sue Carol became an agent and promoted Alan Ladd to stardom. Reader, she also married him.

The Film Daily’s annual critics poll of 1930 produced the following result:

  1. All Quiet on the Western Front 271 votes
  2. Abraham Lincoln 167
  3. Holiday 166
  4. Journey’s End 151
  5. = Anna Christie 141, The Big House 141

The votes were cast by 333 American film critics.

Columbo

Pilot Episode #2: “Ransom For a Dead Man”. This episode featured Lee Grant as the murderer. Lee Grant is a highly gifted and award-winning actress who was blacklisted for twelve years during the McCarthy period.

“Because Eddie Dmytryk named her husband, Lee Grant was blacklisted before her film career even had a chance to begin. Of course, she refused to testify about the man to whom she was married, and it took years before anyone would hire her for another picture.” – Kirk Douglas.

A Hollywood Murder

I’m pausing my investigation here while I pull together the various threads of the story. I reckon one of Charlotte Shelby, Carl Stockdale, or Mary Miles Minter murdered movie director William Desmond Taylor in February 1922, but which one? I will let you know when I find out…

I’m researching my family in 1921, starting with my ancestor Annie Noulton (1881 – 1963). In 1921, Annie was a widow. Her husband, Albert Charles Bick, died at the Battle of Loos, 25 September 1915 when the idiotic generals, using gas on the battlefield for the first time, gassed their own men. 

Annie and her seven children, five girls and two boys, lived in four rooms at 19 Springfield Place, Lambeth. The national demographics for 1921: 47.8% male, 52.2% female. In Lambeth: 46.6% male, 53.4% female. The carnage of the First World War obviously impacted on those figures.

📜 Annie’s signature 

May 1925, a taxi driver, a neighbour of my ancestor Annie Noulton, fined for reckless driving at 15mph.

Looking at the records and seeing my ancestor, First World War widow Annie Noulton, working as an office cleaner to provide for her five daughters and two sons, and I’m taken by how hard her life was. Yet, her mother, also known as Annie, but born Nancy (it’s a long story) lived on one of the poorest streets in London, so war widow Annie was actually moving her family forward in her own quiet way. Indeed, according to Charles Booth’s poverty map, she was living in a “fairly comfortable” – “well-to-do” neighbourhood – circled in yellow.

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #219

Dear Reader,

Some exciting news. Tula, book one in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, will be an entry in the Literature Wales Book of the Year Award 2024. Although the story is set in America, I’m from Wales so the book qualifies 🙂

Picturegoer, January 1940, mentioning Nancy Olson’s first four films, all made within a year – Canadian Pacific, Sunset Boulevard, Union Station and Mr Music.

To Brush or Not to Brush? Hair care advice offered to budding movie star, Nancy Olson.

Sunset Boulevard: Notes on a Classic

From 1936, Billy Wilder (pictured with Gloria Swanson) and Charles Brackett collaborated on sixteen films, all critical or commercial successes. Before the filming of Sunset Boulevard, they decided this movie would be their final creative collaboration. They didn’t realise it at the time, but they were about to go out at the top.

The working title for Sunset Boulevard was A Can of Beans. Billy Wilder chose that title because he wanted to keep the studio in the dark about the movie’s Hollywood premise.

Before casting Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder considered Mae West for the role. However, Mae West wanted to change her dialogue, and Billy Wilder was obsessive about his scripts, so that idea was a non-starter.

Columbo

Pilot Episode #1: “Prescription: Murder”. Adapted from a stage play in 1968, the first pilot episode revealed Columbo as a more sartorial, more aggressive character. Columbo’s trademark raincoat was present, although he tended to carry it. When questioning suspects, he sometimes displayed anger. The character was finding his feet. Gene Barry guest-starred in this episode, playing a suitably suave murderer.

A Hollywood Murder

Mary Miles Minter (born Juliet Reilly; April 25, 1902 – August 4, 1984) was a child actress who also enjoyed success as a young adult. She appeared in fifty-three silent movies from 1912 to 1923.

Even though he was thirty years older than her, maybe because he was thirty years older than her, Mary was madly in love with William Desmond Taylor. However, as with Mabel Normand and other actresses who professed their affection, Taylor did not return that love, preferring a working and friendly relationship.

Mary’s mother, Charlotte Shelby, changed Mary’s name from Juliet Reilly when some states in America deemed that Mary was too young to appear on stage. Charlotte used the name and birth certificate of a dead relative who was older than Juliet/Mary.

Many critics did not rate Mary as an actress. “Mary Miles Minter was far prettier than Mary Pickford, but she, unlike Miss Pickford, could not act. Although it must be admitted that when a star is as lovely to look at as Mary Miles Minter, acting does not really matter.” – Director, Edward Sloman.

Mary Miles Minter was a suspect in the William Desmond Taylor murder scandal. However, District Attorney Woolwine was a close family friend, so the investigation into her possible guilt did not go anywhere.

My latest Hollywood article for the Seaside News appears on page 41 of the magazine.

I’m delving into 1948, researching material for two novels scheduled for 2024 – Eve’s Peace, a sequel to my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series, and Dana, book three in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

In 1948, Warner Brothers released the first colour newsreel, which featured the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. Pictured, the Warner brothers Albert, Jack, Harry and Sam.

1948, “the year sex was invented”. Actually, it was the year when Alfred Kinsey published the first of his two reports into sexual behaviour. His second report followed in 1953. Controversy ensued.

Director Robert Z. Leonard enjoying a close-up view of Clark Gable and Joan Crawford in Dancing Lady, 1933.

I’m researching the Wilder branch of my family tree, which begins with my 6 x great grandfather Richard Wilder Stokes. Richard’s father was a cordwainer and he apprenticed others in the trade. There is no record of Richard’s trade or the children he fathered in his twenties. Richard’s father died a few months before him, his mother a year later, and his wife two years after that. Smallpox was rampant in the 1700s, so maybe that was the cause.

My 7 x great grandmother Lucy Wilder was baptised on 8 December 1714, the middle child of nine. Her father Richard was a prosperous boat builder and, as a churchwarden, a leading member of his community. Lucy gave birth to three children, probably more – not all the parish records have survived. Most married women of the period gave birth every two years, but Lucy gave birth every three years. She married her husband Thomas on a Friday.

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #218

Dear Reader,

I’m pleased to say that the writing of Sunshine, book two in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, is going well, and that we hope to bring the publication date forward from April 2024 to earlier in the year. Watch this space 🙂

Sunset Boulevard: Notes on a Classic

”No one ever leaves a star. That’s what makes one a star.” – Norma Desmond, just before shooting the man who rejected her, Joe Gillis.

📸 William Holden as Joe Gillis and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.

Along with H.B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson, Buster Keaton (pictured) appears as himself in Sunset Boulevard, as one of Norma Desmond’s bridge players. In a derogatory comment, Joe Gillis refers to the bridge players as “the waxworks”.

A Hollywood Murder

Continuing my investigation into the 1922 murder of movie director William Desmond Taylor.

Edward F Sands (pictured) worked as William Desmond Taylor’s valet prior to his current valet, Henry Peavey. A known embezzler and forger, Sands was also a serial deserter from the the U.S. military. In the summer of 1921, while Taylor was in Europe, Sands forged the movie director’s cheques and wrecked his car. Shortly after the murder, Sands disappeared and was never seen again. 

One theory suggests that Sands knew about Taylor’s past life as William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, antique dealer and wife deserter, and was blackmailing him. Another theory suggests that Sands knew that Taylor was bisexual (an aspect of Taylor’s life strongly hinted at, although not definitively proved) and was blackmailing him over his affairs with men.

As with Henry Peavey, one is tempted to ask why did Taylor employ such a person in the first place?

Nancy Olson

Nancy Olson made her movie debut in a Western, Canadian Pacific (1949). In a curious piece of casting, this colour movie featured Nancy, a blue-eyed blonde with her family’s roots firmly entrenched in Scandinavia, as a ‘half-breed’ Indian. Furthermore, her fiancé, Randolph Scott, was old enough to be her father. Welcome to the wonderful world of the movies, Nancy Olson.

August 1948. Nancy Olson “discovered”.

Nancy Olson certainly put her heart and soul into her movie debut playing Cecille Gautier in Canadian Pacific (1949). She appeared in ten scenes (plus minor continuity scenes) where she either hugged Randolph Scott or was involved in feisty exchanges with the other characters. In the whipping scene with Victor Jory (Nancy held the whip), she literally left her mark.

Why Nancy Olson became an actress, August 1948.

Columbo

Season One, Episode Seven: “Blueprint for Murder”. Patrick O’Neal played the murderer in this episode and Forrest Tucker the victim. The murder was not depicted, which led me to think that the “victim” would reappear later in the episode. The story contained a neat plot centred on a construction site. This was the only television episode of any series that Peter Falk directed.

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #217

Dear Reader,

Coming soon, the audiobook version of Tula, book one in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, featuring a wonderful narration by Amelia Mendez.

Clara Bow’s fifty-seventh and final movie was Hoopla, produced between September 2 and November 9, 1933, and released on November 30, 1933. Clara played Lou, an amoral cooch dancer.

Clara hated her role, but appeared in the movie to fulfil her contract. She was unhappy about the whole production. However, the critics loved her performance and the film.

Variety: “A more mature performance, which shows an improved actress. She looks and photographs extremely well. Bow seems ripe to comeback strongly and this performance will help plenty.”

Sadly, Clara disagreed. “I’ve had enough. I don’t wanna be remembered as someone who couldn’t do nothin’ but take her clothes off. I want somethin’ real now.” Clara found that reality as a housewife and mother. She quit the yellow brick road for life on a ranch.

Clara was still in her twenties and had plenty to offer as an actress. She still had “it”. As she developed as a person, her performances would have become even more mature, stronger. If offered the right parts, she could have made classic movies and be remembered for the great talent she was.

To appreciate Clara’s talent, I would recommend her second film, “Down to the Sea in Ships”. In that film, Clara’s youthful ability is on display, and you can see why the producers developed her role and added more scenes for her to appear in.

I would also recommend her penultimate film, “Call Her Savage”. This film is over-plotted – it’s half-a-dozen films in one, but with so much going on at least the movie offered Clara an opportunity to display her wide range of acting talents.

I’m doing some in-depth research on the movie Sunset Boulevard. Here’s my second note.

Sunset Boulevard: Notes on a Classic

“A great big white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy twenties.” – Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard.

📸 The William O. Jenkins House, also known as the “Phantom House”, built for businessman William O. Jenkins in 1922 and 1923, Norma Desmond’s house in Sunset Boulevard.

An Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A, Norma Desmond’s car in Sunset Boulevard.

Norma Desmond: “We have a car. Not one of those cheap things made of chromium and spit but Isotta Fraschini. Have you ever heard of Isotta Fraschini? All hand-made. It cost me twenty eight thousand dollars.” That’s around $500,000 in today’s money.

Columbo – Season One, Episode Six: “Lady in Waiting”.

Susan Clark played the murderer in this episode, psychologically one of the best of the first series. Leslie Nielsen played her fiancé. Leslie Nielsen (pictured: Wikipedia) was so good in The Naked Gun series that I struggle to take his straight roles seriously. That said, he’s very good in Columbo and his scenes with Peter Falk are a highlight.

A Hollywood Murder

The professional hitman hired by drug runners theory is one of the weakest in the Taylor case. I include it here because it features in newspaper reports, occasionally.

I’ve searched a newspaper database containing 883,643,177 articles using the keywords “William Desmond Taylor” and “drugs”, covering the period 1900 – 1949. My search returned 14 items. Most of those items were false leads with the word “drug” on the same page as “Taylor”. Some of the articles suggested that Taylor was a drug pusher. Two suggested that he was murdered by a drug pusher. None of the articles suggested that Taylor was an anti-drug campaigner. If he was campaigning against drugs in Hollywood, his campaign did not capture the media’s attention.

Some reports suggest that Mabel Normand was a drug addict. To date, I have not read anything to confirm that. If Mabel was an addict, as a friend it would be understandable if Taylor tried to help her. In trying to help her, he might have talked with studio bosses, who also had good reason to banish drugs from their sets.

The newspapers made no mention of drugs in association with William Desmond Taylor before his murder. The drug angle only featured in some newspapers after his death. Before his death, there was no indication in the media that Taylor was leading an anti-drug campaign.

Some moviemakers were vociferous in their stance and making anti-drug movies in the early 1920s. Director Graham Cutts made Cocaine. He was not murdered. Director Irving Cummings made The Drug Traffic. He was not murdered. Director Norton S Parker made The Pace That Kills. He was not murdered. Numerous people in Hollywood were spreading the anti-drug message in the 1920s and 1930s. Gangsters did not murder them.

As I stated earlier, if Mabel Normand was a drug addict, it would be understandable if William Desmond Taylor tried to help her. Maybe she informed him of her drug suppler and he informed the studio bosses, who in turn informed the police. Corruption was rife. Many officials in the police were on the take. They already knew who was supplying the Hollywood community with drugs, and were prepared to turn a blind eye.

The problem remains: Mabel, or another actor, is still an addict. Even if movie executives banned drug pushers from the studio lot, the addict will get his drugs from elsewhere. And the regular round of parties so beloved of Old Hollywood would offer the drug pushers an opportunity to create new addicts; they would not need access to the studio lot.

With the police in his pocket, effectively waving the drugs through, only an idiot would murder a high profile person, stir up a hornets’ nest, and attract unwanted attention.

If the Eight O’Clock Man murdered William Desmond Taylor, I don’t think he was a professional hitman hired by gangsters, so I’m inclined to place him low on my list of suspects. I would place a second-rate hitman hired by gangsters slightly higher, but still low down on my list.

As Kevin Brownlow and John Kobal wrote in their book, Hollywood: The Pioneers – “A theory was put forward that Taylor had been taking on the drug racket single-handed, in the hope of curing his friend, comedienne Mabel Normand, of addiction, but this proved to be desperate publicity in the face of unpalatable evidence.”

I’m starting a new feature on my website and social media looking at 20th century movies and music through the life of Nancy Olson. Nancy came to prominence in 1950 through her Oscar nominated performance in Sunset Boulevard. She married twice, to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, and to Capitol Records executive Alan W. Livingston. Nancy is 95 and I think her life story is fascinating. I hope you will enjoy the items I intend to share.

American television, February 2, 1960. Do you remember any of these films and programmes?

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #216

Dear Reader,

Clara Bow’s fifty-sixth movie was Call Her Savage, produced between September 12 and November 2, 1932, and released on November 27, 1932. Clara played Nasa “Dynamite” Springer.

Call Her Savage was over-plotted, a common trait of late silent movies and early talkies, with “hardly a thought above the navel”. However, Clara was excellent offering one of the best performances of her career. Variety said, “Bow’s greatly improved acting technique is an added element of strength. She is abundantly capable of holding any audience’s attention.”

The Film Daily said, “Looking like a million dollars, acting better than she ever did, and playing a role that requires her to pretty near run the gamut of feminine moods and modes, Clara Bow makes a whirlwind comeback.” Make no mistake, Clara Bow could act. She could portray any emotion.

Carl Stockdale played a bit part in this movie, as Mort. I believe that Stockdale was involved in the murder of movie director William Desmond Taylor in early February 1922. I’m certain that Stockdale offered Charlotte Shelby a false alibi, and maybe he pulled the trigger, or was with the murderer on that perfidious night.

Columbo – Season One, Episode Five: “Short Fuse”. For me, this episode of Columbo was a mixed bag containing one of the worst plots – exploding cigars – and two of the best guest stars – Ida Lupino (pictured) and Anne Francis. The ladies deserved better material. In the first cable car scene, Columbo was terrified, while in the cable car denouement, he was calm. The series had to improve. Thankfully, it did.

A Hollywood Murder

Who murdered movie director William Desmond Taylor in February 1922?

From day one, the police ruled out robbery as a motive. Here’s why.

In William Desmond Taylor’s pockets, investigators found a wallet containing $78 (the equivalent of $1,300 today) a silver cigarette case, a Waltham pocket watch, a penknife, a locket bearing a photograph of actress Mabel Normand, plus a two-carat diamond ring on Taylor’s finger.

The Taylor case is complex because the investigation was conducted through a haze of corruption. Also, the movie studios were desperate to deflect blame away from Hollywood. As Karl Brown actor, cinematographer, screenwriter, and film director said:

“Somebody at the studio had a bright idea. Instead of giving them one or two red herrings, give them a multiplicity of them. Let them leap into the saddle and gallop off in all directions. I don’t know of anyone in Hollywood who could have been connected with Bill Taylor who was not implicated in this murder. I honestly believe that the Virgin Mary herself would have been pulled into this thing if she’d been around at the time.”

Karl Brown

Did a hit man murder Taylor? More next time.

*****

Hollywood Gossip, October 1942

Research for my novel Sunshine, book two in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

American stars joining the Forces.

Hollywood Gossip, October 1942

Research for my novel Sunshine, book two in my Golden Age of Hollywood series.

Humphrey Bogart refuses to kiss Ingrid Bergman.

I’m doing some in-depth research on the movie Sunset Boulevard. Here’s my first note.

Sunset Boulevard: Notes on a Classic

In 1939, Billy Wilder made a note, “Silent movie star commits murder. When they arrest her she sees the newsreel cameras and thinks she’s back in the movies.”

Ten years later, he made the film.

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂