OLYMPICS SPECIAL

HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Reginald “Snowy” Baker

AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIAN

BORN: February 8, 1884, Surry Hills, Syndey, Australia

DIED: December 2, 1953, Hollywood, California

CAUSE OF DEATH: Cerebro-vascular disease

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Colonnade, North Wall, T-3, N-11

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Reginald Leslie “Snowy” Baker was arguably Australia’s greatest all-round athlete. Called “Snowy” from childhood because of his very blond hair, he first gained international fame when he represented Australia in boxing at the Olympic Games in London in 1908. He also was an expert equestrian, footballer, wrestler, fencer, swimmer and diver. His other sports included water polo, sailing, soccer and Rugby.

He remains the only Australian to have represented the nation in three separate sports at the Olympic Games, and he played rugby union for Australia against the touring Great Britain team in 1904. In Australia he was a member of the famed Sydney Lancers, a military riding group.

At the London 1908 Olympics, Baker competed in the boxing, swimming and springboard diving, winning a Silver Medal in the middleweight boxing division after losing narrowly on points in a hard-fought encounter with Britain’s J.W.H.T. (“Johnny Won’t Hit Today”) Douglas. Baker’s Olympic boxing performance has been matched by only one other Australian – light-welterweight Grahame ‘Spike’ Cheney, who won silver in Seoul in 1988.

Baker and his wife came to the United States in 1920 and he became a friend of Douglas Fairbanks Sr., appearing in fourteen films and producing three of them. He was an expert boomerang thrower and bullwhip cracker, reportedly teaching the art to actor Lash LaRue. He at one time owned a string of ponies and taught many Hollywood celebrities the art of polo.

Baker had a varied post-Olympic career, most notably as a boxing referee, boxing promoter, entrepreneur, writer, actor, film-maker, and Hollywood stuntman. He performed stunts in the film National Velvet (1944) and reportedly taught Elizabeth Taylor how to ride a horse.

He was instrumental in creating the polo fields at the Riviera Country Club (Pacific Palisades) and became a director and major operating partner there for at least two decades. During the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, he was both Australia’s team attaché and a perceptive correspondent for the Sydney Referee. 

In 1951, Baker became ill and died two years later at age 69 of cerebro-vascular disease at his home at 226 N. Irving Boulevard. He was cremated and interred at Hollywood Cemetery. ‘Snowy’ Baker was survived by his wife Ethel and a step-daughter.

Reginald “Snowy” Bakers cremation urn at Hollywood Forever

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Johnny Ramone’s cenotaph at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Monte toured with the RAMONES for 22 years. No one knew the fearsome foursome better than Monte. His book “On The Road With The Ramones” (Omnibus Press, $24.95) has been updated with new pages, photos and info on what’s been happening to the legacy of the RAMONES since 2003. A superb piece of punk oral history, this is a must-have book for all RAMONES fans.

Based around the story of Monte A. Melnick, who was the RAMONES tour manager (and much more) throughout their entire career (1974-1996, and 2,263 live shows), “On the Road With The Ramones” is an insider’s look from the people who were actually there, witnessing and experiencing all the extreme highs and lows of one of rock’s greatest bands. The book is packed with interviews from the RAMONES and people who where very close to the band. There are over 250 photographs and pictures of memorabilia Monte collected along the way.

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Hollywood Forever Cemetery

‘Aunt Betty’ Rathbun

BORN: Unknown

DIED: January 26, 1925, Los Angeles, California

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery,

Section 12 (near the Otis-Chandler –Times memorial)

By Allan R. Ellenberger 

Her age was unknown, but it was believed that Betty Rathbun, a full-blooded Mound Valley Indian, was more than 100 years of age. On the death certificate her age is given as 80 but this was only an estimate. She must have been many years older since friends said that she remembered distinctly events that happened more than a hundred years earlier, and that she possessed all of her faculties until the end.

For many years ‘Indian Betty,’ as she was sometimes called, lived in a little house on West First Street that was furnished by the Dunkard Church. She was a deeply religious woman and though in need, would never accept a cent from the government.

Betty was a protege of the Sunshine Society, which took care of her for many years. Little is known of her history except that she was taken captive by a waring Indian tribe and later sold to the family of an Army officer for four head of live stock. She served the family for many years before coming to Los Angeles. Betty never married.

Neighbors told her that at her death she would be put in Potter’s Field. However, when that time came, on January 26, 1925, at the General Hospital, she was laid to rest at Hollywood Cemetery in a lot that was purchased for her by Bernice Johnson of the Sunshine Society.

The preceding is one in a series of biographical sketches of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery residents.

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The Children of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

“Breezy” Eason, Jr.

 AMERICAN SILENT FILM CHILD ACTOR

né Barnes Reaves Eason 

BORN: November 19, 1914, Los Angeles, California

DIED: October 25, 1921, Los Angeles, California

CAUSE OF DEATH: Automobile accident

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery,

Garden of Legends (Section 8), Lot 107

By Allan R. Ellenberger

“Breezy” Eason, Jr. was the son of director B. Reaves Eason and actress Jimsy Maye. Eason, Sr., sometimes referred to as B. Reeves Eason, is known for directing B action films, mostly westerns. He also served as second unit director in charge of action sequences on such classic films as Ben-Hur (1926), Gone With the Wind (1939) and They Died with Their Boots On (1941). Jimsy Maye (née Charlotte Barnes) was a Universal contract player, sometimes appearing in her husbands films.

Breezy was born Barnes Reaves Eason on November 19, 1914 – reportedly in California (according to the census). However, there is no record of his actual birth in the California birth records. Eason Sr. put his son in films when he was barely able to toddle. Known as the “Wonderchild of the Screen,” and “Universal’s Littlest Cowboy,” young Breezy grinned and laughed his way to screen fame at Universal Studios, appearing in a dozen films with such actors as Theda Bara, Thomas Meighan, Hoot Gibson, and Harry Carey.

In the film, Nine-Tenths of the Law (1918), Breezy was directed by his father and appeared along side his mother and grandmother, Mollie Shafer. Breezy also had the chance to be the star of his own film, The Big Adventure (1921) - which was directed by his father.

Beezy Eason, Jr. lived here with his parents at the time of death 

On Friday, October 21, 1921, Breezy, who had recently finished filming The Fox (1921) with Harry Carey, was playing like any six year-old at his home at 1130 North Orange Street in Hollywood. At some point, Breezy ran out into the street in front of a truck; the driver was unable to avoid hitting him. The boy was taken to the California Hospital where surgeons worked to try and save his life.

 The street in front of his home where Breezy was playing when hit by a truck.

Harry Carey was notified about the accident shortly after it happened. He was at the Agoura ranch in Calabasas, about 25 miles northwest of Hollywood, working with 1,000 long-horns for the film, Man to Man (1922). Carey and Breezy had appeared in two films together and the actor had become very attached to the youngster. When he heard about the accident, Carey left the filming and raced to the hospital to be with Breezy.

For the next four days, Carey never left the hospital or Breezy’s side, holding his hand until the end. Despite the surgeons attempt, little Breezy died from his injuries on Tuesday, October 25, 1921, less than a month before his seventh birthday. Breezy was taken to the Strother and Dayton mortuary where services were held. On the day of his funeral, all operations at Universal were suspended. “Breezy” was interred at Hollywood Cemetery and was one of the first actors to be buried there.

The Los Angeles Times said of Breezy:

“Breezy was just a kid. He was all freckled and usually dirty but somehow his passing upset the big industry that grinds out motion pictures.”

 Breezy’s grave marker at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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NOTE: After his son’s death, Reaves Eason took the nickname of “Breezy” in his son’s memory. At some point Reaves and Jimsy divorced and she remarried Clarence Rowley of Oregon. Jimsy’s mother Mollie Barnes Shafer no longer acted in films after her grandsons death and later became a wardrobe mistress at 20th Century-Fox. Interred next to Breezy at Hollywood Forever is his grandmother, Mollie (1872-1940), his mother Charlotte Rowley (1893-1968) and his father Wm Reaves Eason (1886-1956).

The preceding is one in a series of biographical sketches of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery residents.

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Pup Rescue at

Hollywood Forever

At Hollywood Forever Cemetery, security had their hands full chasing a stray dog that somehow found its way onto cemetery property. To beat the heat, the poor pooch jumped into the lily pond and refused to come out.

They were finally able to coax the pup to the edge of the pond, and with a little charm, was able to rescue him.

However, not before the dog had his say about it and took a nip at the hand that rescued him. All in a days work at Hollywood Forever.

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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.

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Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Chief Dark Cloud

aka Elijah Tahamont

BORN: September 20, 1855, St. Francis Indian Village, Quebec, Canada

DIED: October 17, 1918, Los Angeles, California

CAUSE OF DEATH: Lobular pneumonia following Spanish Influenza

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Section 10W

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Chief Dark Cloud, whose real name was Elijah Tahamont, was a Native American film actor sometimes billed as William Dark Cloud. He was also a popular and highly paid model who posed for over twenty years for famed sculptor, Frederic Remington. He was a chief of the Algonquin tribe (or Abenaquis tribe depending on the source) and prior to his film career was known as a popular lecturer.

Dark Cloud began working for American Mutoscope and Biograph in 1910, making his first screen appearance under the direction of D. W. Griffith. Moving west, he appeared in scores of westerns and other films.

Dark Cloud was married to Soaring Dove (Margaret Camp), also a model, and the father of actress Beulah Dark Cloud (1887-1945) and Bessie ‘Bright’ Eyes Tahamont (who died at the age of fifteen in September 1907, in Astoria, New York). Both girls were the first Native American children to attend a New York public school.

Dark Cloud was reportedly an alcoholic and womanizer, which gained him many enemies. Influenza, which was at a world-wide epidemic, was the official cause of his death in 1918. However, rumors at the time claimed that he was either murdered by a jealous husband or died from accidental drowning.

Thanks to Jim L of Hollywoodunderground for Dark Cloud’s date and cause of death

The preceding is one in a series of biographical sketches of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery residents.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Anna Hill

aka Annetta Saloski

(1851-1931)

The above photo is from a recent auction of Anna Hill ephemera (thanks Dave).

AMERICAN OPERA SINGER

BORN: February 22, 1851, Cincinnati, Ohio

DIED: February 18, 1931, Hollywood, California

BURIAL: Hollywood Forever Cemetery Mausoleum, Crypt 852

By Allan R. Ellenberger 

Considered the Toast of Milan, Annetta Saloski (née Anna Hill) blazed a brilliant trail for Americans in a land where only the greatest voices succeeded. At 18, her voice attracted such attention that she was sent to Milan with donations from the public to study under Sam Giovanni. Her debut at Teatro alla Scala(La Scala) as Marguerite in Faust resulted in a standing ovation.

In the 1870s Hill was considered queen of sopranos. She made her American debut in St. Louis in 1885. After scoring a marked success, she returned to Cincinnati her home city, to sing. Later she went back to Italy, where she married Oscar R. Giaccaglia.

Hill sang in more than thirty operas, her most effective roles being in Faust and Traviata. She was a contemporary of Lillian Nordica and Clara Louisa Kellogg, leading American women singers, with Nordica following her in successful Italian appearances. She was at her zenith before the great Adelina Patti sang.

Her husband was decorated as Chevalier of Civil Valor by the King of Italy soon after their marriage. They moved to the United States in 1913 and settled in Hollywood. At the time of her death she was survived by her husband Oscar, who died in 1935, her daughter Pauline Giaccaglia Timme of Beverly Hills, a son, John A. Giaccaglia of New York and Leonard L. Hill, a brother.

Anna Hill lived and passed away at her home in Hollywood (below)

She is interred in the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, next to her husband.

The preceding is one in a series of biographical sketches of

Hollywood Forever Cemetery residents.

William Andrews Clark, Jr.

(1877-1934)

Born: March 29, 1877, Deer Lodge, Montana

Died: June 14, 1934, Salmon Lake, Montana

Cause of death: Heart attack

Service: St. John’s Episcopal Church

People are always asking who is interred in the huge mausoleum in the center of the lake at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The answer is - William Andrews Clark, Jr. the second son of millionaire copper-king and Montana Senator, William A. Clark, Sr. (1839-1925).

Clark, a philanthropist, was founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1919) and a collector of rare books. At his death, he left his library of rare books and manuscripts to the regents of UCLA. Today, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library specializes in English literature and history from 1641 to 1800, materials related to Oscar Wilde and his associates, and fine printing.

The Clark family mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery is built on an island approached by a huge bridge fashioned of 40-foot granite slabs. The structure was erected in 1920-21 at a cost of more than $500,000, including the island site, the bridge and the lake which originally had palely beautiful lotus blossoms, hyacinths and lilies from far-away lands.

Because only a limited amount of the Italian marble used in the mausoleum could be mined every year, it took Clark many years to collect the stones from which it was built. From the rich creamy marble to the exquisite white stones veined delicately in tracery of gold, green, orange or blue, the interior presents a magnificent picture.

A rare look into the interior of the Clark mausoleum

On the walls (above are Biblical scenes done in mosaic and on which 18 Italian artists worked 14 months.

Clark family sarcophagi (click on each to enlarge)

There are seven sarcophagi in the mausoleum, three on each side, and one at the head where Clark is interred. Also interred are Clarks two wives, Mabel Foster Clark (1880-1903) and Alice McManus Clark (1884-1918) and his only son, William A. Clark III (1902-1932). They all preceded him in death.

Clark’s father, Senator William Andrews Clark, Sr., is interred in his own grand mausoleum (above) at the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.

The preceeding is one in a series of biographical sketches of permanent residents at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (All photos from my collection)

Here are some additional photos from the Jimmy Bangley Memorial on

Sunday, March 30, 2008

(The above photos are courtesy of Max Hoffmann and Rock Armstrong)  

Jimmy’s Hollywood Forever Lifestory Tribute Video