HOLLYWOOD HISTORY

Frank Raymond, Jr. circa 1904

By Allan R. Ellenberger

The dark side of Hollywood existed long before the film industry arrived in town.

When Frank Kellogg Raymond made Hollywood his family’s home in 1901, many in town at once thought that his wife Kate was a bit odd. Frank worked in the government print shop in Washington D.C. and would spend one weekend a month with his family in Hollywood. Frank chose a neat little plot of land on the corner of Selma and Las Palmas and hired a contractor to build his family a home. Kate, however, would get involved and submit plans and specifications to several contractors. She promised to pay each of them, but failed to carry out her promises. Legal action was considered, but the idea was discouraged by Pastor Newell of the Presbyterian Church, who made it clear that the woman was mentally erratic and could hardly be held responsible for her actions.

Fourteen-year-old Frank Raymond attended the local Fremont grammar school in Miss Willis’ eighth grade class and was regarded as one of her brightest pupils. His mother did not have many friends in Hollywood. Had it not been for Frank, Jr., who had a large circle of friends and was popular with most everyone in town, she would have lived the life of a recluse.

Kate however, was clearly a brilliant and highly educated woman and had a small but significant library in her home. She was also an accomplished artist, having painted several beautiful pictures which decorated her West Selma Street home.

However there evidently were problems at home and on occasions she made references to her husband who worked in Washington D.C., and with whom she said she could not live. She told neighbors that she came to California on account of Frank’s health but that the real reason was that she and her husband could not agree. What friends she had stated that she never made any definite charges against him, but, from her strange manner and her continual efforts to confide her troubles to someone, the information was not taken too seriously.

Not long after, the Raymond’s separated and Frank returned to Washington D.C. full time and left Kate and Frank Jr. in Hollywood. “We were never able to get along well together,” Raymond later testified. “My wife was always of a high strung nature and always wanted things I could not get for her.”

Several times she confided her problems to the wife of Dr. H.A. Newell, pastor of the Presbyterian Church where Frank attended Sunday school. She said they had little to live on and her husband failed to send enough money to support her in comfort. On occasions she often talked of suicide which horrified Mrs. Newell, who tried to get her to look upon the pleasant side of life. Kate’s Hollywood neighbors believed that she was deranged and referred to her as “that crazy woman.”

In early 1906, Kate and Frank Jr. visited Washington D.C. where she attempted reconciliation with her husband, which was unsuccessful. Upon her return to Hollywood she appeared to be more dejected and Frank also reflected his mothers’ sorrows and illusions.

After returning from the east she volunteered at a rummage sale for the Presbyterian Church where she said she worked hard and sold many items but didn’t take a receipt. Several days later it was whispered at the Ladies Aid society meeting that she had appropriated them. Some used the term kleptomania in connection with her name and others were less kind. The items were valued at less than a dollar.

She evidently proved her innocence and wanted a letter of vindication but the pastor said that she was not a member and such a letter could not be given. It was also stated that it would be an admission that the church was wrong and so Kate may sue them for libel. She appealed to the minister, who she said “shut the door of his home” in her face and would have nothing to do with her even though she begged him to give her a fair hearing.

Kate brooded over this for days. “I had tried so hard and it was an awful shock to me,” she later said. “Every time I looked at my boy his innocent little soul seemed to appeal to me and tell me that the lad’s good intentions would be misunderstood and that he would fare no better than myself among a world of criminals.”

She began to believe that Frank would be better off if she sent him to “his Maker.” She waited and finally the shame of what the women in the church had said about her worked on her conscience and she decided her son should be spared from the consequences of any sin she may have committed.

Within a few days Kate attempted to buy chloroform from the local pharmacy, saying she intended to clean some clothes. The druggist argued with her about the amount she needed and offered to give her a small medicine bottle full instead.

Word quickly spread that Kate was trying to purchase chloroform and a well-known Hollywood resident learned of it and telephoned the drug store and warned the druggist to not sell it to her. When she heard this Kate fainted and fell to the floor. In her disorientation she said:

“I want to take myself and my son out of this wicked world, where he will be away from the temptation to swear and steal and cheat as the other boys do. I want him to leave here as pure as he came into the world.”

Because of this, Frank was summoned from Washington because Kate was about to be examined for insanity, but when she promised to accompany her husband back to Washington, no action was taken. At the last moment she refused to return east with him.

Because the numbering of the streets were changed in Hollywood around 1910, the exact location of the Raymond house is not known, but it was near the intersection of Selma and Las Palmas Avenue (above). The address at the time was 450 West Selma Avenue.  

On Tuesday, April 10, 1906, Kate and Frank Jr. worked around the grounds of the house. Kate told the gardener, Mr. Cranblit, that the next day she would leave him a letter on the doorstep instructing him what was to be done, explaining that she might sleep a little later than usual and did not wish to be awakened.

That evening she wrote two notes. One was addressed to her mother, Martha Cooper who lived in San Diego, and the other to Mrs. Cranbilt, the gardener’s wife.

“My Dear Mother: To you I leave all in this house – what you care to give to Mrs. Cranblit. She lived in a little house in the rear, and has a warm, kind heart. This shock will nearly kill you, too, and our separation will not be for long.

“In this better world we will come to understand things better than we did here, where all the mists will be cleared away. My boy will be safe from other temptations of this wicked world. I ask the forgiveness of any I have ever wronged intentionally. The world is against me and this is the only cowardly act I’ve ever been guilty of doing.”

In her note to Mrs. Cranblit she wrote:

“The God I’ve tried to serve so faithfully has forsaken me, and I cannot leave my boy to this wicked part of the world where he will be considered weak-minded if he does not lie and cheat.”

That evening, Kate waited until Frank went to sleep and then entered his room. He was lying on the lounge with his face turned towards her.  She packed the door and windows with towels then locked the door and turned on the gas. Kate kneeled on the floor beside her son.

The next morning, as Cranblit approached the house he detected the odor of gas. He rushed to the neighbors residences and, with two other men, broke down the rear door. The men were almost knocked to the ground by the amount of gas that rushed out of the kitchen. It was several minutes before they could enter.

Once Cranblit could finally enter the bedroom, he found Frank lying dead on the lounge and Kate, moving slightly, was half way under one of the beds.  Cranblit dragged Kate through the kitchen to the screen porch. Dr. Edwin O. Palmer, Hollywood’s city health officer was notified and a nurse was brought in to attend to Kate until she regained consciousness.

“Where is my boy—my little Frank,” Kate asked.

Neighbors who had gathered at the house did not speak of her son’s death, instead telling her that he had been taken away. They assured her that her mother was on her way to Los Angeles.

“I do not wish to see my mother,” Kate screamed. “Don’t allow her to come into this house. I never wish to see her again in my life. My only regret is that I did not kill myself.”

When her mother did arrive later that night, she was met by her son, John Cooper, who took her directly to Hollywood. Cooper put the blame directly on his sister. Her inability to live with her husband was on account of her actions and treatment of him, and was due to her mental condition. Mrs. Cooper claimed her daughter was a victim of acute melancholia and was given to illusions.

When Frank Raymond was wired of what had happened, the initial report was that both his wife and son were dead. “Mrs. Raymond killed herself and little boy last night. Wire instructions or come on,” read the telegram. Raymond left Washington that night by train for Hollywood.

When the news of Frank’s death became known, it affected his classmates at Fremont grammar school. Out of respect for the dead boy the flag was lowered to half-mast and was kept there until Frank’s burial.

In the meantime, Kate was taken to the county hospital and placed under arrest. When she was informed that her son was dead, she rejoiced and repeated: “I am glad he is dead. It is better for him. He is beyond wickedness now. I will kill myself when I have an opportunity. It will come, I am certain. They cannot prevent my killing myself. It is best for all concerned.” Over the next week Kate was closely watched, day and night, after trying to commit suicide by strangling herself in her bedclothes.

On April 15, 1906 Frank Raymond arrived in Los Angeles. He visited the morgue to view his son’s body, but said little to the attendants at Pierce Brothers morgue. He spoke to Coroner Trout and although he had not lived with his wife for several years he refrained from saying anything bitter about her. However he inferred that he believed his wife was insane for some time, and that criminal action should not be taken against her for the murder of his son.

The citizens of Hollywood were divided over her guilt. Nearly everyone who knew her believed that she was insane but there were others who said she should be charged with murder and be punished for her act. A former neighbor, J.G. Gunsolus and his wife believed that she was not insane when she turned on the gas and killed her son. Kate had often spoken to Mrs. Gunsolus about her family problems and had threatened to take her own life on several occasions.

The following day the inquest was held at the Pierce Brothers where Frank Raymond was asked only a few questions. Kate’s mother told the jury that her daughter had been mentally unsound since the birth of her son.  Other witnesses described the manner in which young Frank was put to death and told how they found the body lying on a little cot, while his unconscious mother was in a kneeling position by the bedside. Other Hollywood residents described Kate as erratic, peculiar and probably insane.

The coroner’s jury took two minutes to find Kate Raymond insane.  Frank Raymond sat close to his son’s body as the verdict was read. “We find that Frank Raymond came to his death through asphyxiation during the temporary insanity of his mother, Mrs. Kate B. Raymond,” the verdict read. It was suggested that Kate would, in all probability, be examined before an insanity commission in the superior court and sent to an asylum.

That afternoon, the funeral of Frank Raymond Jr. was held in the chapel of Hollywood Cemetery.

The grave of fourteen-year-old murder victim, Frank Raymond at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Bottom center of photo is the tombstone of Frank Raymond. The grave is located in the far north eastern section of Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

 Afterward, Raymond paid a visit to his wife at the county hospital.

The following day Kate appeared before the board of insanity commissioners. When her case was called, she went forward, slowly unwrapped the white veil from her face and smiled at the men who were about to try her. “I killed little Frank you know,” she told the shocked men. “I just killed him that was all. Now that I have sent his sweet, sinless soul to the protecting arms of the Maker, I am willing, only too willing, that my soul should be lost forever. I gave up my hope of the hereafter in order that he might be spared, and do you think I am unhappy that it is so?”

Kate was committed to the Southern California State Hospital in San Bernardino, California. Frank Raymond divorced his wife and later remarried. He eventually became the private secretary for Congressman Thomas F. Ryan of Topeka, Kansas. Raymond died in January 1914 and was buried at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Kate was released from the asylum in early 1910 and took a ship to San Francisco and found a job as a waitress in a restaurant on Sixth Street. On the boat she met a man and got involved in a scheme with him, posing as persons of wealth. They checked into the St. Francis Hotel and cashed a bad check for $75. Her accomplice was arrested.  

For two years Kate roamed around California. Finally on June 8, 1912, the body of Kate Raymond was found on a Santa Barbara beach. While she was washed up by the waves, there was no water found in her lungs. It was believed that she first took poison. The two paragraph newspaper report told of her earlier attempts at suicide and the death of her son. The headline read: “Finally Succeeds.”

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

The history of Hollywood Forever’s Cathedral Mausoleum

By Allan R. Ellenberger

This past summer a controversial construction project began at the front of the historic Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery—four additions of crypts and niches were constructed, two on each side of the entrance. The mausoleum is the final resting place for many of Hollywood’s pioneers and film celebrities. Every August 23rd, fans of Rudolph Valentino gather there to pay their respects to the actor in the mausoleum’s massive foyer. In 1937, the founder of Hollywood, Harvey Wilcox, his wife Daeida and other family members were moved here from their former resting place at Rosedale Cemetery. The completed mausoleum, in existence now for 89 years, has only a few original crypts remaining for sale. This is a brief story of the mausoleum’s history.

Mausolus, Satrap and ruler of Caria from 377 to 353 B.C., and husband of Artemisia, achieved distinction as the first ruler ever to be honored by the erection of a monument in which his own remains were placed. Though Augustus and Hadrian in Rome may have exceeded in splendor the structure which the widow, Artemisia, built in her husband’s honor, they could not leave to posterity, as Mausolus did, a name for an institution that has continued to surround the burial of loved ones with beauty, refinement and sacredness. It is from Mausolus that we derive the word mausoleum. In 1919, Hollywood Cemetery completed the first unit of a modern replica of such an ancient structure.

The plans to build a large mausoleum on the grounds of Hollywood Cemetery were first envisioned in late 1916. The original illustrations for the imposing building were somewhat different than what was finally constructed.

Above is the original design for what would be the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Cemetery, January 1916.

In October, 1917, the California Mausoleum Company, who had constructed mausoleums at Evergreen Cemetery in Riverside and one at Inglewood Cemetery, was hired to oversee the project. The architectural firm of Marston and Van Pelt of Pasadena drew up the plans and William C. Crowell was hired as contractor. Construction began immediately.

The plans called for a structure much larger than the Inglewood mausoleum with the edifice of concrete, brick and steel construction, faced with heavy blocks of California granite, and set with rusticated joints. The interior is finished throughout in marble, with decorative features in bronze. Art and cathedral glass was used for ceiling and window lighting. The mausoleum follows the Italian Renaissance design, with the central entrance having a Palladian motive executed in marble.

Above is the completed first unit of the new Hollywood Mausoleum. For those that are familiar with the mausoleum, does anyone notice something strange? I will address it at the end of the article.

Above is a corridor in the first unit built for the Cathedral Mausoleum. 

Above is the entrance to the Cathedral Mausoleum

It took a year to finish construction and the unit was dedicated in October 1918. The demand for crypts in the new Hollywood Mausoleum, as it was called at the time, was great and quickly sold out. In April 1921, the cemetery announced the construction of the second unit of the mausoleum. New plans revealed that the mausoleum would comprise, when completed, five units covering more than three acres, and provide for 6,000 crypts, all above ground. Both individual crypt groups and family sections would be arranged over a huge rotunda, around a great central alcove and along the sides of radiating corridors. At a total cost of $2 million dollars, it would be the largest structure of its type in the world.

Above is an artists rendering of what the completed Hollywood Mausoleum would look like. It’s not a great copy but the large rotunda and two other units behind it can still be seen.

Above is the rear of the Cathedral Mausoleum. The empty lawn is where the rotunda and the additional units would have been located if plans were followed.

The second unit was finally completed in September 1922. The new structure contained an additional 888 crypts, giving the entire mausoleum a total capacity of 1,454 crypts. In the new section there were 744 individual crypts and twenty-four family sections of from six to twenty-four crypts each. All were faced with Alabama marble. The family sections are separated from the main corridors by bronze gates or marble pedestals (the gates are missing is some sections and the marble pedestals are no longer there). There is also a section for those who desired cremation using specially designed urns provided by the company.

Above is a corridor in the Cathedral Mausoleum with the original gate of a family room still intact.

The cremation section in the main foyer

The main corridor, which originally was designed as a chapel, had a religious note by the design of the interior and by the use of artistic stained glass, which softened the light and gave the entire room an air of reverence. A large floor-to-ceiling stained glass window once located on the southern wall, no longer exists except for the top archway glass. The remaining stained glass has been removed. At the time, plans were made for a series of mural designs as decorations for the room. The corridors were carpeted and lined with potted plants and shrubs.

The main foyer in the Cathedral Mausoleum can be seen above. The stained glass window near the ceiling at one time went down to the floor. It is now boarded up and a door leads out to the rear lawn.

 The stained glass window in the private family room of millionaire merchant, William Adam Faris.

The builders promoted a new ventilation system used in the mausoleum that was advertised as “incomparably sanitary” which can be seen above.

An open house was held on Sunday, November 12, 1922 for the public to visit the newly completed double-unit of the Hollywood Mausoleum. The invitation read:

“Inspect for the first time the building which eventually will contain 6,000 above-ground crypts—built of concrete, and faced with granite and marble.

“See the stateliness of its Italian façade, it beautiful marble interior with solid bronze appointments. View its exquisite stained glass windows, its chapel-like corridors—and feel for yourself the very sacredness of its cathedral atmosphere.”

The plans for the remaining three units and the great central alcove were never completed. Hollywood residents, led by Senator Cornelius Cole, resisted the expansion of the cemetery during construction of the second unit and threatened litigation, even petitioning to have the cemetery closed. At the same time construction of crypts and a chapel were taking place on the western end of the property. Even when the problems were ironed out, the plans to expand the mausoleum never materialized. It’s unfortunate that the vision was not realized; it would have been an imposing and architecturally beautiful structure.

The first internments in the second unit of the Cathedral Mausoleum were Samantha Kelly and her grandson, Harry Earl. Kelly, a pioneer hotel woman, was born in Ohio in 1828. She came to Los Angeles from Indianapolis in 1882 in one of the first trains that travelled westward over the plains. She was one of the pioneers in the hotel business in Los Angeles and at different times owned and managed many of the largest hostelries in the city, including the Figueroa and the old Heatham and Ardmore hotels.

Kelly’s grandson, Harry Earl, was at one time the stage director of the old Belasco Theater and had died nine years earlier. He was almost worshipped by his grandmother, as well as by his mother, Katherine Earl. When he died in 1913, the two women kept his ashes with them at their home, 417 South Central Avenue. When Samantha Kelly died on July 22, 1922 at the age of 94, she was interred in a crypt in the still uncompleted mausoleum and in the crypt next to hers was placed the ashes of her grandson, Harry Earl.

The crypts of Samantha Kelley (left) and her grandson, Harry Earl.

The statues of the twelve apostles which now line both sides of the inside corridor, were originally to be placed on pedestals in a semi-circular lot behind the mausoleum. But these plans also never came to pass and it was decided to move them indoors, where they will probably remain permanently.

Several years ago electricity and lighting was added to the interior making it available for nighttime services. The damage to the mausoleum caused by the neglect of the then-owner, Jules Roth in the 1990s was restored when Tyler Cassity bought the cemetery. Whether the current changes made to the Cathedral Mausoleum will cause further concern to those who love Hollywood Forever Cemetery, are still to be heard from. Once the facings and architectural trimmings are completed, I will post photographs of the finished product.

The stained glass window that is next to Rudolph Valentino’s crypt.

Some of the prominent people whose final resting place is in the Cathedral Mausoleum are:

• Barbara La Marr – Silent film actress
• Rudolph Valentino – Silent film actor
• June Mathis – Screenwriter
• Peter Finch – Academy Award winning actor
• Max Karger – MGM producer
• Daieda Wilcox Beveridge – Founder of Hollywood
• Horace Wilcox – Founder of Hollywood
• J. Peverell Marley – Cinematographer
• William Desmond Taylor – Silent film director, victim of unsolved murder
• Peter Lorre – Actor
• Dr. Henson H. Cross – Early Los Angeles physician
• Eleanor Powell – Actress and dancer
• Rick Jason – Television actor on Combat
• Jesse Fonda Millspaugh – President of Los Angeles State Normal School
• Ernst Dryden – Artist
• Cecile Lovsky – Actress
• Thomas Miranda – cofounder of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• Jules Roth – One-time owner of Hollywood Cemetery
• William Hutchinson – Silent film actor
• Walter Henry Rothwell – Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl
• Edmund Sturtevant – Hollywood pioneer
• Annetta Solaski – Opera singer
• William H. Clune – Motion picture studio pioneer—Clune Studios (now Raleigh Studios)
• Harry Delmar – Vaudevillian
• Max Whittier – Beverly Hills pioneer
• Mary Eudora Vance – Aunt of Carol Burnett
• Capt. A.W. Murray – Los Angeles Police Chief
• George W. Hoover – Builder of the Hollywood Hotel
• Marie Weid – Widow of Hollywood pioneer, Ivar Weid (Ivar Street is named after him)
• Theresa Dorris – mother of Wesley and Charles Ruggles and murder victim
• Henry Smith Carhart – Physicist
• William C. Crowell – Contractor for the Cathedral Mausoleum

The oddity in the photograph I mentioned earlier is what looks like grave markers in the ground in front of the mausoleum. There have never been graves there. If they are grave markers, they were obviously moved but the questions are who were they and where were they moved to.

Above is the Cathedral Mausoleum as it was on November 13, 2011

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Cathedral Mausoleum additions almost complete

 The new additions to the Hollywood Forever’s historic Cathedral Mausoleum are almost completed. There are some facings for cremation niches and other cosmetic fixes to be done.

Above, as it looked when construction began last summer.

Below, the following photos taken last weekend show the current progress. 

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

New construction at Hollywood Forever continues

Above is artists conception of the addition of new crypts to the front of the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever.

Above is the current construction as of last weekend

NOTE: In a few days, Hollywoodland will publish a story on the history of the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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 By Allan R. Ellenberger

Today fans of Toto and the Wizard of Oz gathered at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the unveiling and dedication of the Toto Memorial. Cloudy skys turned to sun, however there were no rainbows but only smiling faces and many, many Cairn Terriers to celebrate the day.

Those who had part in the ceremony included Chanell O’Farrill who welcomed everyone on behave of Hollywood Forever; members of the Toto Memorial Committee, J. P. Myers, Steve Goldstein; Mark Dodge from FixNation, and Robert Baum, the great-grandson of The Wizard of Oz creator, L. Frank Baum. After the crowd sang a chorus of “Over the Rainbow,” the unveiling went off with smoothly. Many thanks go to all who participated today and Tyler Cassity, owner of Hollywood Forever who donated the land the memorial stands on. Enjoy the following photos from todays festivities.

Fans and several Cairn Terriers begin to gather for todays ceremony

These Cairns had front row seats for the unveiling

Claire and Robert Baum, great-grandson of author L. Frank Baum

Robert Baum speaks to the crowd before the unveiling

Waiting for the unveiling

 The unveiling of the Toto Memorial. From left, Robert Baum, J.P. Myers, Steve Goldstein, Mark Dodge, Tyler Cassity

Welcome home Toto.

(Toto sculpted by Roman Gal and the base was designed by Arsen Oganesyan)

Above and below, the inscriptions on either side of the memorial

Toto (1933-1945)

The Cairn Terrier Club of Southern California

J.P. Myers and Steve Goldstein, the brains behind the Toto Memorial Marker. Congratulations gentlemen on a job well done.

Olivia Francis with Toto

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By Allan R. Ellenberger

For the first time in its history, emissaries from leading Hollywood organizations took part in observance of Memorial Day 1929, which included the unveiling of a marble replica of Antonio Canova’s sculptural masterpiece, “Cupid and Psyche, or Love’s Triumph Over Death,” in plaisance before the memorial chapel of Hollywood Cemetery.

The ceremonies would be conducted under the auspices of Hollywood Post, No. 43, of the American Legion, with other organizations participating including such groups as Hollywood First Presbyterian Church, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Hollywood and Fairfax High School Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), Hollywood Bowl Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, G.A.R. and the Hollywood Police Department.

Above, the ‘Cupid and Psyche’ replica on display at Lake Como 

where the Hollywood Forever replica was carved.

The exact replica of “Cupid and Psyche,” carved from Italian marble, was ordered by Hollywood Cemetery’s manager, Frank Heron and was carved at Lake Como, Italy at a cost of approximately $25,000. Another replica carved by a student of Canova’s still rests in Lake Como and was the inspiration for the Hollywood Cemetery reproduction.

Canova’s original called ‘Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss,’ first commissioned in 1787, was donated to the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1824 by Joachim Murat; Prince Yusupov, a Russian nobleman who originally acquired the piece in Rome in 1796, gave a later version (created in 1796) to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Above, the original Canova statue at the Louvre

Art representatives in Europe assured Frank Heron that few experts could tell the difference between the original and the replica being sent to Hollywood. The statue is reputed to be the only marble replica of the masterpiece in the United States. There were three copies of “Cupid and Psyche” in America but they were made of plaster – at the Metropolitan, Chicago and Carnegie Museums. The statue reached New York City on May 9, 1929 and arrived in Hollywood two weeks later.

On Thursday, May 30, 1929, Hollywood’s first Memorial Day parade assembled at the Legion Stadium on El Centro and, with a police escort and the Hollywood Legion band leading, proceeded down El Centro to Sunset Boulevard, west on Sunset to Vine, south to Santa Monica and east on Santa Monica to Hollywood Cemetery where Memorial Day services were conducted.

Dr. H. M. Cook, world traveler, was master of ceremonies. The principal feature of the exercises was the unveiling of the marble replica of “Cupid and Psyche,” in front of the Chapel of the Pines followed by addresses from Judge Rosenkranz and Mrs. Leland Atherton Irish, the military salute to the dead and decorating of soldiers’ graves. More than 300 veterans of all wars were buried in Hollywood Cemetery at the time.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy, under the direction of Mrs. Thomas Jefferson Douglas, conducted a service at the Confederate plot. A brief address was delivered by W. E. Edmondson, retired chaplain of the United States Navy and of the American Legion of California.

On Monday, May 30, 2011, the statue will celebrate 82 years at its present location.

It’s rumored that when Jean Harlow died in 1937, her fiancé William Powell considered purchasing the statue for her final resting place but decided on Forest Lawn in Glendale instead.

I have no idea if the statue is still available for purchase or the asking price if it is, however it certainly would make a beautiful and historic permanent residence.

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Andreas Dippel, operatic tenor and impressario

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Andreas Dippel, a once famous tenor in German opera at New York’s Metropolitan Opera house, was distinguished for his progressive and far-reaching vision. Dippel was born in Kassel, Germany on November 30, 1866. His family was not musical and he was destined for a business career. At 16 he worked for a bank and remained there for five years. At the same time he was developing his voice with singing groups and under the coaching of Mme. Zottmayer of the Royal Court Theatre of Kassel.

In 1887 he left home and tried his hand at being an opera singer. In the fall of that year he made his debut in the Stadttheatre of Bremen as Lionel in Flotow’s opera Martha, beginning an engagement that lasted, with one important interruption, until 1892. He sang several smaller roles in Bayreuth in 1889, and become a member of the Vienna State Opera in 1893. He sang there until 1898 in 27 roles, including Marcello in the Vienna premiere of Leoncavallo’s La bohème. During that period he also sang in London’s Royal Opera House.

He made his first American appearance at the Metropolitan on November 26, 1890, in Alberto Franchetti’s Asrael. Except for a concert tour, he did not sing in the United States after that season until 1898, when he became a permanent member of the Metropolitan Company, then managed by Maurice Grau.

For twelve years Dippel was one of the important figures in opera in New York, first as a tenor of exceptional versatility, able to jump into a part at a half hour’s notice, possessing a repertoire of 150 roles; then, from 1908 to 1910, as administrative manager of the company in association with the newly arrived Giulio Gatti-Casazza as general manager. When Dr. Lee De Forest approached the management of the Metropolitan management for permission to attempt the radio broadcast of opera, Dippel enthusiastically consented, even allowing Caruso himself to sing into the microphone.

Early in this regime it was apparent that all was not harmonious in the executive offices. The outcome of whatever disagreements existed was a superficially happy one. Dippel resigned in April 1910, to assume the management of the Chicago Opera Company, which he guided for three years through the difficult period of its beginning and early development. Again rumors of internal discord arose and he left the organization after receiving a year’s salary, $25,000, and other rewards for his promise not to re-enter opera in Philadelphia or Chicago for three years. Thereafter he tried various operatic ventures, none winning more than a temporary success.

In 1914 he formed the Dippel Opera Comique Company which produced the Broadway premiere of Lilac Domino at the 44th Street Theatre on October 28, 1914. It ran for 109 performances and then toured the United States. Rather less successful was Dippel’s next Broadway production, The Love Mill, which opened at the 48th Street Theatre on February 17, 1918 and closed five weeks later after 52 performances.  Dippel had his own opera school at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in the 1920s.

In 1920 he was reported to be gaining a livelihood by selling life insurance in Chicago. In May, 1921, a large testimonial concert was given for Dippel at the Metropolitan, following a similar benefit in Chicago. Two years later, along with Hugo Riesenfeld, Dippel once again became an advisor to De Forest when he introduced on Broadway, the Phonofilm, or talking pictures. This scheme to give opera in motion picture houses in combination with “jazz” and a fashion show failed, as did his United States Grand Opera Company.  

In 1924 he divorced his wife, the Countess Anita Dippel of Vienna, whom he married in 1890, on the ground of desertion. Once again with De Forest, in 1925 they recorded in the Century Theatre the notable Wagnerian score of the German film Siegfried, arranged by Riesenfeld – the first serious attempt anywhere to utilize the then new sound-on-film for so significant a departure. From then on, Dippel always insisted that the sound-picture would eventually become the medium for the masses of grand opera.

Dippel was brought to Hollywood in 1928 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and worked in the studio synchronization department. The following year he was injured by a street car and spent six months in the hospital. While there he was taken from the studio payroll and was left without finances, yet he toiled indefatigably on his own on the different problems of multi-lingual films.

During the last few months of his life, unknown to most of his friends from whom he had gradually withdrawn, he had become destitute.  On May 15, 1932, Dippel’s body was found in his room at the Hollywood Hotel; the cause of death was heart disease. Because he was penniless, his funeral was placed under the direction of the Motion Picture Relief Fund and plans were made to bury him at Valhalla Cemetery where they normally placed indigent actors. However, several friends donated money to buy him a crypt at Hollywood Cemetery next to that of actress Renee Adoree.

Dippel’s funeral was conducted at Pierce Brothers Mortuary on Washington Boulevard and was attended by several score of intimate friends and associates, including Joseph Zoellner, Sr., Andres de Segurola and Mme. Sophie Traubman, who sang with Dippel in the Metropolitan; Charles Dalmores, formerly of the Chicago Grand Opera and Dr. Lee De Forest. His crypt marker was paid for by a friend and former student.

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Lillian Lawrence, leading lady of the legitmate theatre

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Lillian Lawrence was born in Alexandria, Virginia on February 17, 1868, however she grew up in San Francisco when her parents moved there when she was only two years old. Her first exposure to the theater was when she was twelve years old as a toe dancer at the old Tiovoli Theater in San Francisco. The following year she was chosen as one of thirty-two children to become a living chess piece as the Queen’s Knight in operetta, The Royal Middy at the Bush Theatre. A love of theater infected her, however her parents were opposed to her going on the stage, but when they recognized how much she wanted it, they conceded.

Lawrence remained with The Royal Middy after it was transferred to the California Theatre, and for three seasons she sang in light opera at that house in the company of which Emily Melleville was the prima donna. Then her voice failed, and she took her first engagement as an ingénue in a stock company in Oakland, California, where she remained and learned her craft for two years.

She gradually worked her way eastward, affiliating with groups in Dayton, Ohio, and New York, where for years she was prominent in local productions.  She eventually arrived in Boston, where she was a leading lady with the Castle Square Stock Company for five years beginning in 1897. She was immediately embraced by the theater-going public. By this time, she had a decade’s experience in major speaking parts, had trained her memory so she had over 100 roles at her command, and had bloomed into a captivating actress.

During the first decade of the 20th century she appeared on Broadway regularly. In 1919 Lawrence moved to Los Angeles to live with her daughter, Ethel Grey Terry who made her own niche as a film actress. Lawrence divided her time between films and the legitimate stage where she regularly appeared at the Majestic Theater in downtown Los Angeles. She played in numbers of film roles as power matrons for Universal, Joseph Schenck, and the Talmadge Film Companies. Her last legitimate stage role was with Taylor Holmes at the Playhouse in The Great I Am.

Lillian Lawrence died suddenly of heart disease on May 7, 1926 at her daughter’s home at 610 Alpine Drive in Beverly Hills. Funeral services were held at the Strother & Dayton undertakers on Hollywood Boulevard. Afterward her body was placed in a crypt in the fairly new mausoleum addition at Hollywood Cemetery. Just five years later, her daughter, Ethel Grey Terry died and her ashes were interred in her mother’s crypt.

 Lillian Lawrence and her daughter are located in Building C, Crypt 308, which is behind the new mausoleum that was recently opened.

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Serge Oukrainsky, choreographer and protégé of Anna Pavlova

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Serge Oukrainsky was born Leonide Orlay de Carva on December 2, 1885, in Odessa, Russia. Oukrainsky was educated in Paris and began his stage career as a mime in the French Musical Festival at the Theatre de Chatelet in 1911. He came to the United States two years later with the Anna Pavlova company and remained with that troupe as soloist and partner to Pavlova until 1915 subsequent to her historic break with Michael Mordkin. In 1940 Oukrainsky authored “My Two Years with Anna Pavlova,” a memoir of the dancer’s latter career.

He moved to Chicago, where he was leading dancer, choreographer and director of the Chicago Opera Ballet until 1927, at the same time establishing with Andreas Pavley the Pavley-Oukrainsky School of Ballet, which affiliated with the opera during Mary Garden’s reign as prima diva.

The Pavley-Oukrainsky Ballet also toured extensively in the United States, Mexico, Cuba and South America. In July 1931, Pavley died mysteriously when he plunged from the sixteenth floor of the McCormick Hotel in Chicago. He reportedly had financial reverses and was unable to meet an extortion demand for $100 from a blackmailer. Police claimed it was a suicide but Oukrainsky and other friends insisted it was an accident. After Pavley’s death, he formed the Serge Oukrainsky Ballet.

Oukrainsky moved to California in 1927, where he served as ballet master to the San Francisco and Los Angeles operas until 1931. He was choreographer for the Hollywood Bowl and several films and in 1934 began teaching ballet in Hollywood. He had been in semiretirement for several years when he died after a long illness on November 1, 1972 at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. He was interred in the mid-southern part of Chandler Gardens (Section 12) at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

First mausoleum structure in more than 50 years now open at Hollywood Forever

Construction was recently completed at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on the new Courtyard Mausoleum. Several years ago crypts were added to the Abbey of the Psalms, but this is first independent mausoleum built at the cemetery in more than half a century. What is exciting, now there is access to the older mausoleum directly behind the new ediface which was built in the 1920s. For a long time the only way to get there was to go through the Chapel Columbarium and take a side door through the receiving vaults. Now there are two entrances giving access to the older mausoleum. There are several interesting residents from film and Los Angeles history there that I will profile at a later date now that visitation is possible. For more information about available properties at Hollywood Forever, call 877.844.3837 or go to their website: http://www.hollywoodforever.com/ 

Above is one of the entrances to the old mausoleum

 Some last minute touches were left to complete when I took these pictures, including landscaping (above) and facings on some crypts (below)

 Now you can have a view of the Hollywood Sign forever

 Above is a view of one of the first floor corridors and below is the second floor

 View from the top

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