Hollywood Tragedies…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jul 2nd, 2008
2008
Jul 2

HOLLYWOOD TRAGEDIES

Gladys Brockwell

 

 

Gladys Brockwell (1893-1929) 

 

By Allan R. Ellenberger

 

Today is the 79th anniversary of the tragic death of actress Gladys Brockwell. Though virtually unknown today, Brockwell was a popular actress in the teens and 1920s. The Brooklyn-born daughter of a struggling chorus girl, Brockwell entered show business on stage at the age of 3, with her screen debut for the Lubin Company in 1913.

 

Brockwell was one of the earliest stars at the Fox Studios. Some of her most important career roles included The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Stella Maris (1925), Man, Woman and Sin (1927), Seventh Heaven (1927), The Woman Disputed (1928),  and The Home Towners (1928). Her last appearance in film was in The Drake Case (1929) for Universal, which she finished two weeks before her death.

 

Gladys Brockwell strangling Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven (1927) 

 

During the experimental days of sound at Warner Brothers, Brockwell appeared in short subjects then being made as tests. She had a lead role in the first feature-length, all-talking film, Lights of New York (1928).

 

On June 27, 1929, Brockwell and a friend, T. Stanley Brennan, were driving to Ventura in a new roadster. As they neared a curve near Calabasas – an area about 25 miles northwest of Hollywood – the car skidded to the edge of the road and plunged 75 feet down an embankment, turning over three times after hitting the bottom. Brockwell was pinned beneath the wreckage, with one of the car’s doors resting on her face. The couple was unconscious when removed from the wreckage by passing motorists.

 

They were taken to Osteopathic Hospital where doctors determined that Brockwell received fractures of both lower jaws, fracture of the left upper jaw, fractue of the left collar bone, fracture of a vertebra, a broken pelvis, and a rupture of the large intestine. In addition, the left side of her face was paralyzed, caused by a severed facial nerve. Both of Brennan’s shoulder blades were broken as well as several ribs.

 

Because of their serious condition, police could not obtain a coherent report of the accident. However it was determined that neither had been drinking. Once Brennan regained consciousness, he explained that the accident was probably caused as a result of a cinder that blew into his eye just as they reached the dangerous curve in the road.

 

Following a second blood transfusion, Brockwell appeared to improve until perotonis set in as a result of her internal injuries. After two more transfusions, Gladys Brockwell died at 7 p.m. on July 2, 1929 at Osteopathic Hospital. The immediate cause of death was peritonitis, due to the puncture of the large intestine. No negligence was placed on Brennan, who was still recovering in the hospital.

 

Brockwell’s body was taken to the Ivy H. Overholtzer Mortuary at 1719 South Flower Street. Funeral services were conducted at 2 p.m. on July 5 at the Hollywood Cemetery chapel. The service was in charge of the Christian Science Church in the presence of many prominent film actors, directors and producers. Brockwell was cremated and the ashes given to her mother, Billie Brockwell, who was also an actress.

 

NOTE: Brockwell’s companion, T. Stanley Brennan survived his injuries from the accident. Ironically, almost twenty years later, on February 11, 1949, Brennan was a passenger in a car driven by a friend. As they crossed the Aliso Street Bridge near downtown, the driver attempted to cut in front of another car when he lost control, swerved across the bridge, smashed through the concrete rail and plunged 35 feet to an alleyway below. The driver survived but Brennan was killed instantly.

 ____________________________________

 

Estée Lauder’s Birthday…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jul 1st, 2008
2008
Jul 1

Happy 100th Birthday

Estée Lauder!

 

 

 

AMERICAN ENTREPRENEUR

 née Josephine Esther Mentzer

 

  • BORN: July 1, 1908, New York, New York
  • DIED: April 24, 2004, Manhattan, New York
  • CAUSE OF DEATH: Cardiopulmonary arrest
  • Co-founder, with her husband Joseph Lauder, of Estée Lauder Companies, a pioneering cosmetics company
  • BURIAL: Beth-El Cemetery, Bergen County, New Jersey

 

 

 _______________________________________

 

Hollywood Screenings and Events for July…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jul 1st, 2008
2008
Jul 1

July 2008

HOLLYWOOD SCREENINGS AND EVENTS

 

  

For complete listings, show times, prices, changes and more information please check each organizations WEBSITES.

 

 ______________________________________

 

Cecil B. DeMille on Wallace Reid…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 29th, 2008
2008
Jun 29

Cecil B. DeMille Talks About…

 __________

 

Wallace Reid

 

 

  

Wallace Reid, one of  the outstanding stars of his time, was first brought to DeMille’s  attention in D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation (1915).

 

“He [Reid] played the part of blacksmith in the picture, and I was very impressed with the marvelous fight he put up. He was probably on the screen not more than seventy-five feet, but his magnificent physical strength and appearance was striking.

 

“However, Wally wasn’t very much of an actor in those days. He was stiff and rather wooden, and it was difficult to make him unbend. I sent for him and we had a chat. He was very much a kid, but I put him under contract fro a small amount, something like $60 or $75 a week. I gave him important leads to do and later public opinion made a star out of him.

 

“The first thing he did for me was with Geraldine Farrar in Maria Rosa (1916), then with Farrar in Carmen (1915), and later with the same star in Joan the Woman (1917). Then I decided to allow him to carry a picture, without starring in it, and I called the picture The Golden Chance (1915). Cleo Ridgely played opposite him in it, and it proved indeed to be Wally’s golden chance. It was a big success and Wally was a very big success in it.”

— Cecil B. DeMille

 

NOTE: I think DeMille had some problems with his chronology

 

The preceding is taken from an interview that DeMille gave the Los Angeles Times on August 21, 1932.

 

 _______________________________

 

Marion Telva at Hollywood Forever…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 26th, 2008
2008
Jun 26

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Marion Telva

 

 

 

 AMERICAN OPERA SINGER

 

BORN: December 6, 1897, St. Louis, Missouri

DIED: October 23, 1962, Norwalk, Connecticut

CAUSE OF DEATH: Unknown

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Section 6

 

 By Allan R. Ellenberger

 

Marion Telva was born in St. Louis, Missouri to German immigrants, Herman and Elsa Toucke. There she received her vocal training and sang with the St. Louis Symphony. She went to New York in 1918 and sang in various churches and synagogues before being engaged by the Metropolitan Opera. She made her debut there as the Singer in Manon Lescaut on December 31, 1920.

 

Telva’s opera career was a versatile one, including such favorites as Faust, Aida and La Gioconda. Some of Telva’s regular roles at the Met included Mary in The Flying Dutchman; Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and Brangane in Tristan and Isolde.  Many lesser known contralto roles included Tote Stadt, Snow Maiden, Don Quichotte, Bartered Bride, Jewels of Madonna, Louise, and Luisa Miller. The highlight of her career, however, was the 1927 revival of Norma, in which she sang “Adalgisa.” Others in that cast were Rosa Ponselle, Ciacomo Lauri-Volpi and Enzio Pinza, and the conductor was Tullio Serafin.

 

Telva left the Metropolitan Opera in 1931 after the last performance of Deems Taylor’s Peter Ibbetson the premiere of which she had sung in that year. In 1930 she was married to Elmer Ray Jones, president of the Wells Fargo Company (more about him in a future posting) at St. George’s Church, Stuyvesant Square. She was to have retired (at her new husbands urging), however, she returned to the Met in the 1932-1933 season to sing in a concert that was her final appearance there.

 

Her last major New York appearance was in the Missa Solemnis of Beethoven with Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic in 1935. She also appeared in Los Angeles operas under the auspices of the Grand Opera Association.

 

Telva and her husband made their home in the Silvermine section of Norwalk, Connecticut and also had residences in Mexico City and Taxco, Mexico. The Taxco residence was a Wells Fargo property named Rancho Telva. Her husband died in 1961 and she passed away a little over a year later. She was 64 years old.

  

 Marion Telva’s grave marker at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

 

Hear Rosa Ponselle and Marion Telva sing “Mira O Norma”

 

The preceding is one in a series of biographical sketches of
Hollywood Forever Cemetery residents.

 

___________________________________________

 

 

Hollywood Memorabilia…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 26th, 2008
2008
Jun 26

Last act for Hollywood memorabilia

 

Richard Hartog / Los Angeles Times
Movie magazines, including a 1918 edition of Motion Picture with silent film star Norma Talmadge on the cover, are part of a 3-million-piece collection of memorabilia at the Collector’s Book Store in Hollywood that are moving to storage in Newbury Park before being auctioned six months from now

 

The 3-million piece collection of movie posters, magazines, photos and other items will be stored in Newbury Park and auctioned off in December.

 

By Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 26, 2008

 

They are packing up Old Hollywood and moving it to Newbury Park.

 

That’s where about 3 million film studio publicity stills, 50,000 original movie posters and 20,000 vintage fan magazines will be stored until they are auctioned off six months from now.  READ MORE

 ___________________________

 

Milton Sills and Doris Kenyon in the 1930 Census…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 23rd, 2008
2008
Jun 23

Milton Sills & Doris Kenyon

(1882-1930) —————- (1897-1979)

 

Film Actors

Nifty Miller in The Barker (1928)

Lady Mary in Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)

 

sills-m1.jpg kenyon-d21.jpg

 

A view of the Sills/Kenyon home as it looks today

 

315 N. Saltair Avenue

Brentwood Heights

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California

Owned, $300,000

Radio

Census recorded on April 18, 1930

 

 

HOUSEHOLD RESIDENTS:*

 

  1. Milton Sills (head), 43 / Illinois / Actor / Moving pictures
  2. Doris K. Sills [Doris Kenyon] (wife), 29 / New York / Actress / Moving pictures
  3. Kenyon Sills (son), 3 yrs., 11 mos. / New York / None
  4. Margaret Kenyon (mother-in-law), 68 / widowed / New York / None
  5. Arina Taylor (servant), 59 / Illinois / Secretary / Private family
  6. Alex Lasclo (servant), 41 / Hungary (1905) / Butler /Private family
  7. Marta Peterman (servant), 31 / Finland (1924) / Cook / Private family
  8. Jose Lonana (servant), 42 / Mexico (1916) / Gardener / Private family
  9. Petri Nalder (servant), 49 / Mexico (1918) / Gardener / Private family

 

 

Note: Milton Sills died in this house five months after this enumeration took place

 

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

* Information includes relationship to head of household, age / place of birth (year of arrival in this country, if applicable) / occupation / industry.

 

 

The preceeding text is taken from my recent book, Celebrities in the 1930 Census (McFarland & Co., Inc., 2008). This directory provides an extensive listing of household information collected for over 2,265 famous or notorious individuals who were alive during the 1930 United States Census. Please note: The above photographs do not appear in the book.

 _______________________________________________

Obit…Dody Goodman

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 23rd, 2008
2008
Jun 23

Dody Goodman, stage and TV comedian, dies

 

 

Actress made mark on ‘Tonight Show,’ had role in ‘Grease’ films

 

The Associated Press
June 23, 2008

 

NEW YORK - Dody Goodman, the delightfully daffy comedian known for her television appearances on Jack Paar’s late-night talk show and as the mother on the soap-opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, has died at 93.  READ MORE

 

Obit…George Carlin

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 23rd, 2008
2008
Jun 23

George Carlin, 71; comedian tested limits of speech and society

 

 (Robert Sebree / HBO)

 

He gained notoriety for his ’seven dirty words,’ but his incisive commentaries were as clever as they were vulgar

 

By Rich Connell and Jason Song
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 23, 2008

 

George Carlin, the acerbic, Grammy-winning comedian whose career spanned more than 50 years, died of heart failure Sunday evening after being admitted to the hospital complaining of chest pains, his spokesman said. He was 71.  READ MORE

 _____________________________

 

Hollywood Bowl’s 87th Season…

Posted by Allan Ellenberger on Jun 23rd, 2008
2008
Jun 23

  B.B. King, Liza Minnelli at Hollywood Bowl

(Ken Hively, Los Angeles Times)

The three performers, newly inducted into the venue’s Hall of Fame, give the season an all-star start.

 

By Don Heckman
Special to The Times
June 23, 2008

 

HOLLYWOOD - As the summer heat and a sense of nostalgia permeated the air, the Hollywood Bowl kicked off its 87th season Friday night with a stirring, fireworks-enlivened tribute to three new inductees into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. All — flutist James Galway, singer-guitarist B.B. King and singer-dancer-actress Liza Minnelli — were present and ready to perform.  READ MORE

 

Read Story at USA TODAY

____________________________________

Next »