HOLLYWOOD PIONEERS

Sanford Rich, the first Mayor of Hollywood

 Sanford Rich (far left, standing) at the dedication of the Hollywood Post Office, October 30, 1925 (LAPL)

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Over the past fifty years, Hollywood has had its share of honorary mayors, the last being the ever-popular Johnny Grant. However, not many know that Hollywood had two official elected mayors between the years 1903 and 1910 when it merged with Los Angeles in order to obtain an adequate water supply. The first of those two mayors was Sanford Rich.

Sanford Rich was born at Fort Wayne, Indiana on September 30, 1840, one of five children raised on a farm. He was educated at regional pioneer schools with no other formal learning and would forever regret hi s lack of higher education. He ran away from home at age 16 to escape his stepmother and worked on a relative’s farm. He started a small meat business in Fort Wayne, sold it and moved to Chicago where he again opened a butcher shop.

In 1878 he returned to Fort Wayne where he built the Rich Hotel and managed the retail store of the Swift Packing Company. Soon he moved to San Jose, California, to manage the Swift plant there, and then returned to Chicago. In 1900 he retired, came to Los Angeles and rented a house on Jefferson Street.

Looking east at the intersection of Hollywood and Gower. The Rich home is at the far right. (LAPL)

Above is the same intersection today. The Rich home once stood on the far right corner below the tall billboard.

In 1901, Rich bought the Goode property which was east of Gower Street and south of Hollywood Boulevard (then Prospect Avenue), where he built his home at 6048 Hollywood Boulevard. The ambitious home he built for his wife Elizabeth was furnished in such regal style that it became one of the town’s showplaces. Though the house was too large for two people (one child was born to them but died in infancy), eventually 35 relatives arrived in Hollywood beginning with his brother Edwin and his family. The home was planned for their hospitality and enjoyment.

At this point, Rich who was in his 60s, was a man of medium height, firm build, gray hair and eyes, serious in demeanor, retiring disposition, a sincere Christian gentleman, definite in his opinions though reticent in expression. He looked the efficient business man – mature and experienced, quick and alert always well groomed, meeting everyone with a friendly smile and handshake.

Although never a politician, Rich was part of the successful effort to incorporate Hollywood as a sixth class city on November 14, 1903, and was elected as a trustee for the new corporation. On November 25, after several more bond issues were hammered out, Sanford Rich was elected by popular vote to be Hollywood’s first mayor. The following April, Rich was reelected  by a unanimous vote. Rich presided over approximately 1,000 citizens during his term as mayor. Hollywood had only one other mayor, George H. Dunlop, before the community was annexed to the city of Los Angeles in 1910.

Rich soon recognized real property values and during his thirty years of real estate activity subdivided twenty-three separate tracts in Hollywood, among which were: northeast corner of Bronson and Franklin. Southeast corner of Bronson and Franklin, northeast Hollywood and Vine to Franklin; northeast corner Sunset and Gower, except the corner lot; southeast corner Vine and Sunset; south of Fountain east of Gower; west of Argyle near Selma; the tracts ranging in size from two acres in the last to sixty acres north of Los Feliz.

Besides being Hollywood’s first mayor, Rich was one of the organizers of the Board of Trade, chairman of the first Board of Trustees of the City of Hollywood, Director of the Hollywood National Bank and Citizens’ Savings Bank, and deacon of the Hollywood Christian Church where he made considerable gifts.

Many times over the years Rich would attend official Hollywood functions as Hollywood’s first mayor, including the dedication of the new Post Office, the occasional ground breaking ceremony and Hollywood’s annual birthday celebration which was held at Plummer Park.

Sanford Rich home at 6048 Hollywood Boulevard (demolished) (Courtesy of Felicia Korengel)

Family members recalled the Rich home – as the Mayor’s residence – was splendid with lovely satin divans and drapes and elegant furniture. “Uncle San and Aunt Lizzie” were favorites and the children recalled Aunt Lizzie in her black satin dresses and tiny black satin shoes. Her eyes were so blue and seemed to be always smiling. Lizzie died on May 25, 1926 and was buried in the family plot at Hollywood Cemetery. Within a year, Rich was remarried to Sarah Miller, who was also recently widowed.

On June 9, 1930, Sanford Rich died at the age of 89, after being diagnosed with pneumonia a few days earlier. The funeral was held at the Hollywood Christian Church, 1717 N. Gramercy Place. A deeply religious man, Rich left his valuable home and other property on Hollywood Boulevard to the church, of which he was a member for 31 years, with the stipulation:

“We want it to be clearly understood by the present and succeeding Official Boards that none of the proceeds of the above described property be used as salary or compensation for any minister or missionary who while so employed in his teachings or practices opposes or fails to advocate the pleas of the people known as Christians or Disciples of Christ…”

Sanford Rich was buried next to his first wife Elizabeth at Hollywood Cemetery.

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HOLLYWOOD SUICIDES

Peg Entwistle, the suicide blonde of Hollywoodland

Today, September 16, is the 78th anniversary of the suicide of Peg Entwistle. In remembrance, here is a rerun of an article recently posted. Rest in peace Peg.

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Hollywoodland

On the evening of Sunday, September 18, 1932, a mysterious phone call was received at the Central Station of the Los Angeles Police Department:

“I was hiking near the Hollywoodland sign today,” said a feminine voice, “and near the bottom I found a woman’s shoe and jacket. A little further on I noticed a purse. In it was a suicide note. I looked down the mountain and saw a body. I don’t want any publicity in this matter, so I wrapped up the jacket, shoe and purse in a bundle and laid them on the steps of the Hollywood Police Station.”

The officer asked for the woman’s name but she hung up before he could get more information. He called the Hollywood station and the package was found as described, including the alleged suicide note which read: “I’m afraid I’m a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this thing a long time ago it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E.”

Detectives made their way to the Hollywoodland sign, where they found the body of a woman, described as being about 25 years old, with blue eyes and blonde hair. She was reasonably well dressed. With no other identification except for the “P.E.” on the suicide note, her body was sent to the morgue where it remained unclaimed.

Meanwhile, the following morning, Harold Entwistle read in the papers about an unidentified woman, dubbed “The Hollywood Sign Girl” by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, who had apparently jumped to her death from the top of the letter “H” in the fifty-foot-high “Hollywoodland” electric sign. Entwistle, an actor, lived at 2428 Beachwood Drive and could see the sign from his front porch. He was suspicious about his niece Millicent, who he had not seen since the previous Friday evening walking up Beachwood towards the Hollywood Hills. She said she was going to buy a book at the drug store and then visit with some friends.

Millicent, a struggling actress, was known professionally, and to her friends as Peg. It was Peg’s absence and the alleged suicide note that Entwistle regarded as significant — the report said it was signed with the initials “P.E.” After contacting authorities at the county morgue, Entwistle’s fears were confirmed when he identified the dead woman as his niece.

“Although she never confided her grief to me,” Entwistle told officers, “I was somehow aware that she was suffering intense mental anguish. She was only 24. It is a great shock to me that she gave up the fight as she did.”

Entwistle denied reports that a broken love affair had actuated his niece to take her life. Instead, it was determined that disappointments for a screen career, equal to the success she had enjoyed on stage, were attributed as the reason behind the spectacular suicide.

Millicent Lilian Entwistle was born in Port Talbot, Wales to English parents Robert and Emily Entwistle, on February 5, 1908 while her parents were visiting relatives. They returned to their West Kensington (outside London) home where she lived until age 8. Peg’s mother died in 1910 and four years later, Robert married Lauretta Ross, the sister of his brother Harold’s wife Jane.

In August 1913, Robert was brought to New York by famed Broadway producer Charles Frohman as his stage manager. After a few years, on March 20, 1916, Peg, along with her parents and aunt and uncle, arrived in New York on the SS Philadelphia. In 1918, Robert and Lauretta had a son Milton, and two years later Robert was born. In 1921, Lauretta died from meningitis and a year later, on November 2, 1922, Robert was struck down by a hit-and-run driver on Park Avenue. He lingered for weeks and died just before Christmas 1922. Now orphans, Peg and her brothers were taken in by her uncle Harold and aunt Jane.

A few years later Peg was living in Boston where she made her first appearance on the professional stage with the Henry Jewett Reparatory Company where she was taught to act by Blanche Yurka. In October 1925, Harold Entwistle’s employer, actor Walter Hampden, gave Peg an uncredited walk-on in his Broadway production of Hamlet with Ethel Barrymore. A young Bette Davis was inspired to act after seeing Peg perform in Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck. Over the years Davis made several references to Entwistle, saying that she “wanted to be exactly like Peg Entwistle.”

After serving an apprenticeship with them for several seasons, she came to New York and was recruited by the prestigious New York Theatre Guild and obtained a small part in The Man from Toronto in June 1926. Afterward she was cast in an important role in The Home Towners, which George M. Cohan produced in August of that year. Over the next six years Peg performed in ten Broadways plays in such Theatre Guild productions as Tommy, which was her longest running play. Reviewers said that Peg was “attractive in the manner of a number of other fresh ingénues.”

Other plays followed including The Uninvited Guest, a revival of Sherlock Holmes with William Gillette and Getting Married. Some of her plays lasted no longer than a month or two; however she always received good reviews for her performances regardless of the quality of the production.

In April 1927, Peg married fellow actor, Robert Keith, who was the father of Brian Keith, best known for his role in the television sit-com, Family Affair. The Keith’s toured together in several Theatre Guild plays until their divorce in 1929.

Peg’s final Broadway play was in J.M. Barrie’s, Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire in March 1932. The production starred the popular actress, Laurette Taylor whose alcoholism caused her to miss several performances and forcing producers to end the play several weeks early.

In May, Peg was brought to Los Angeles to costar with Billie Burke and Humphrey Bogart in the Romney Brent play, The Mad Hopes at the Belasco Theatre. The play opened to rave reviews with standing-room-only audiences. One reviewer commented:

“…Belasco and Curran have staged the new play most effectively and have endowed this Romney Brent opus with every distinction of cast and direction. …costumes and settings are of delightful quality, and every detail makes the production one entirely fit for its translation to the New York stage. In the cast Peg Entwistle and Humphrey Bogart hold first place in supporting the star (Billie Burke) and both give fine, serious performances. Miss Entwistle as the earnest, young daughter (Geneva Hope) of a vague mother and presents a charming picture of youth…”

When the play closed, Peg was preparing to return to New York when she was offered a screen test at RKO. On June 13, 1932 she signed a contract to appear in Thirteen Women where she is billed ninth in the opening credits. The film starred Irene Dunne and Myrna Loy as a half-caste fortune teller’s assistant motivated by revenge against the bigoted schoolgirls who tormented her in school years earlier.

The film received poor reviews and negative comments from preview audiences. The Los Angeles Times said of the preview: “…its picturization is an utterly implausible tale of mediocre worth.” The premiere was delayed and the film was edited to reduce its running time, significantly cutting back Peg’s screen time. Once it premiered after Peg’s death, one reviewer called it “a dreadful mess of a picture with more defects, deficiencies and lapses than any offering since Chandu the Magician.”

 Peg Entwistle’s home at 2428 Beachwood Drive

(this is a private residence; please do not disturb the occupants)

 The sidewalk in front of Peg Entwistle’s home on Beachwood Drive where she took her last walk

RKO did not option Peg’s contract and she was broke and could not return to New York. She tried finding roles on both the local stage and at the film studios but nothing was available. On Friday evening, September 16, 1932, Peg told her uncle she was going to walk to the local drugstore and then visit friends. Instead, she walked up Beachwood past Hollywoodland and then hiked up the side of Mount Lee to the Hollywoodland sign. There she most likely wrote her suicide note, took off her coat and shoe, and climbed a maintenance ladder behind the letter H and, at some point, jumped to her death.

The coroner determined that death was due to internal bleeding caused by “multiple fractures to the pelvis.” Her Episcopal funeral service was conducted on September 20 at the W. M. Strother Mortuary at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard (demolished). Her body was cremated at Hollywood Cemetery and held in storage until December 29 when her ashes were sent to Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio for burial with her father on January 5, 1933. Her grave is unmarked.

 The burial card at Oak Hill Cemetery where Peg Entwistle’s ashes were interred. H Milton Ross was the father of Peg’s stepmother, Lauretta. (Photo courtesy of Scott Michaels)

Peg Entwistle was buried with her father at Oak Hill Cemetery in Glendale, Ohio. Their grave is unmarked. (Photo courtesy of Scott Michaels) 

Some sources claim that shortly after Peg’s death, she received a letter from the Beverly Hills Community Players, offering her a role in a play where her character commits suicide. Since this tale was related in Kenneth Anger’s “Hollywood Babylon II,” the veracity of it is questionable. Other false claims made by Anger are that Peg jumped from the last letter D because it was the thirteenth letter and she associated it with the film Thirteen Women. He also wrote that she was the first of other “disillusioned starlets” who followed her lead and committed suicide from the sign; this is not true. Peg Entwistle is the only confirmed suicide from that famous Hollywood landmark.

Click below to watch Peg Entwistle’s appearance in Thirteen Women (1932)

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FILMING LOCATIONS

Valentino (1951)

By Allan R. Ellenberger

The short eventful life of the world’s greatest lover, Rudolph Valentino, is an entertainment natural; and the film, succinctly called Valentino (1951), sentimentally embellishes his life for celluloid purposes. There have been two other bio-pics based on Valentino’s life made since, and several shorts, plays and musicals and only a few are worthy of representing the actor’s life. Will someone please make an accurate and entertaining biographical film on the life of Rudolph Valentino?

Valentino’s producer, Edward Small, spent 13 years getting his film ready. The project survived 18 versions of the script by some 40 writers, the death of Small’s first “discovery” for the title role, and the threat that two other producers might rush a Valentino film. In that span of time, Small received over 100,000 letters and photographs from people who felt themselves right for the part.

The screenplay is a mixture of real and made up incidents and characters that influenced Valentino’s life. The basic facts of his rise to stardom and his tragic death at the height of his fame are true – sort of – but most of the people who figured in his career and hectic romances are necessarily disguised to prevent the producers from being sued (which didn’t work).

Anthony Dexter, who played Valentino, bore a startling resemblance to Rudy at times, depending on the camera angles. The film traces Valentino’s progress from dancing gigolo to the Hollywood heights to his death in New York. Along the way he encounters an actress (played by Eleanor Parker), who provides the big, unhappy romantic interlude in his life.  

The real-life counterpart for Parker’s character was silent film actress, Alice Terry, who successfully sued the producers and Columbia Pictures over the manner in which she was depicted in the film. Terry, who appeared in two films with Valentino, complained that she was shown as having carried on “a meretricious and illicit love affair” with Valentino while married to the director. She sued for $750,000 in damages but settled for an undisclosed amount.

Likewise, Valentino’s family also sued, charging that the picture was “almost entirely fictional” and showed Valentino as a “dissolute and immoral person.” They too settled out of court for a “substantial amount.”

The making of the film Valentino is more exciting than the film itself and is worthy of a full-blown article on the subject. However, the film is not without its high points. The tango scene between Dexter and actress Patricia Medina is first-rate and possibly one of the best of its kind ever filmed. Dexter did show a striking resemblance to Valentino, but did not speak with an Italian accent which detracts from his performance.

The last scene, which is the only one filmed on an actual location, was filmed at Hollywood Cemetery, several years later on the anniversary of Valentino’s death. The scene shows the yearly appearance of the veiled “Lady in Black” whose identity was unknown. Following are four screen shots from the ending of Valentino (1951) and how those locations appear today.

Above is a screen shot from the film Valentino showing attendees at Hollywood Cemetery on the anniversary of his death. Below is the same angle as it appears today.

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Above shows the Lady in Black character entering the Cathedral Mausoleum where Valentino’s crypt is located. Notice the full-length stained glass window at the end of the corrider and below, the same shot today and the missing window which was removed for unknown reasons.

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Above, character actor Joseph Calleia stands on the steps of the Cathedral Mausoleum as two extras speak in the foreground. Below is the same spot as it looks today.

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Above, this scene shows the Lady in Black leaving the cemetery after leaving flowers on the grave of Rudolph Valentino. Below is the same road today.

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HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Beautiful Hollywood Cemetery…

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Someone once asked me what it would have cost to be buried at Hollywood Cemetery back in the early days. I have an ad for the cemetery from an old 1931 Los Angeles telephone directory that listed the prices for the various ways to be interred there.

Just as the cost of real estate in the living world depends on “Location, Location, Location,” the same holds true once you pass to the other side.

The ad qualifies the price by saying “and up” which probably means that it depends on where the “inurnment” is. For example, the price for crypts would depend where on the mausoleum wall it was. Crypts that are around eye level are usually more expensive than those at the top. The same would apply to niches. Outside graves would also depend on location: those that surround the lake would cost more than those in the rear of the property next to the wall. Remember, these are 1931 prices!

Mausoleum, private — $1,800 and up

Crypts — $225 and up

Family Plots — $162 and up

Graves, Single — $42.50

Cremation: Adults — $50 / Children — $10 to $25

Niches — $35.00 and up

Urns — $12.00 and up

 Hollywood Cemetery circa 1925 (LAPL)

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 THEN & NOW

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

 THEN: Hollywood Cemetery, looking west in mid 1920s

NOW: The same view in 2008 with the Harry Cohn crypts in the forefront

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

6000 Santa Monica Boulevard

Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California

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VALENTINO WEEK

Valentino’s Crypt

How Valentino came to be in his final resting place 

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Once Rudolph Valentino had been interred and the obsequies completed, the thought of how the actor would be remembered was foremost in everyone’s mind. The city of Chicago, home of the infamous “Pink Powder Puffs” editorial, formed the Rudolph Valentino Memorial Association in the hopes of erecting a remembrance of some kind. The Arts Association of Hollywood proposed a monument that would be the forerunner of a series of memorial to pioneers of the film industry. A committee of local Italians, which included director Robert Vignola, Silvano Balboni, and his wife June Mathis, suggested the construction of an Italian park on Hollywood Boulevard with a memorial theater and a large statue of Valentino as its central feature. Despite those grandiose projects, no memorials actually materialized — and it slowly became apparent that the same would happen with Valentino’s final resting place.

After Valentino’s death, a decision could not be made as to where the actor’s body would finally rest. George Ullman, Valentino’s manager, was confident that Alberto, the actor’s brother and the person who would have the final say, would consent to interring the body in Hollywood. The Mayor of Castellaneta, Valentino’s birthplace, cabled Alberto imploring him to have the actor’s body returned there for burial with ceremony. Valentino’s sister Maria, who at first wanted her brother brought back to Italy, later concurred with the Hollywood delegation, thanks in part to the suggestion of William Randolph Hearst. To solve the problem – at least temporarily – June Mathis offered her own crypt at Hollywood Cemetery mausoleum until an appropriate memorial could be decided upon or built.

When Mathis died in New York less than a year later and now was in need of her crypt, a decision had to be made about what to do with Valentino. As a good-will gesture, Silvano Balboni offered to have Valentino’s casket moved to his crypt next to Mathis’ until the Valentino estate ironed out its problems. On August 8, 1927, cemetery workers entered the Cathedral Mausoleum and, what proved to be one last time, moved Valentino’s remains to the adjoining crypt, number 1205.

While public memorials were being considered, Valentino’s body continued to lay in a borrowed tomb. At the time of his death, architects were asked to submit designs for a mausoleum, with an estimated cost placed at $10,000. Photoplay magazine published plans for a proposed tomb by architect Matlock Price in the November 1926 issue.

 The Memorial that might have been…

The design incorporated an exedra, a half-circle of columns standing serene and dignified against a dark background and curving towards the observer. Within that half-circle, a “heroic” bronze figure of Valentino as the Sheik, seated on an Arabian horse, towered above the onlooker. Following the curve of the exedra, a broad bench sat under two pergolas running across the ends of the terrace, which was paved with red Spanish tile.

These plans also went nowhere, and a permanent mausoleum for Valentino has never materialized. In May 1930 a memorial to Valentino was finally erected in De Longpre Park in central Hollywood, the only one of its kind dedicated to an actor in the film capitol.

The Valentino statue, “Aspiration,” in De Longpre Park 

In April 1934, after Valentino’s body lay in a borrowed tomb for almost eight years, Silvano Balboni sold the crypt to Alberto. Balboni returned to Italy and never returned to the United States; Valentino now had his own resting place.

Rudolph Valentino’s crypt in the 1930s (LAPL)

Every year on August 23rd at 12:10 p.m. (the time that Valentino died in New York), scores of fans gather near his crypt at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to remember the man. Regardless of the circus atmosphere that once prevailed at these events during the past eighty-two years, whether it be reports of the actor’s ghost or the appearance of mysterious, dark-veiled women, it is hoped that somehow the spirit of Rudolph Valentino, the “Great Lover,” now rests in peace.

If you are in the Los Angeles-Hollywood area this Saturday, August 23, be sure to drop by the Rudolph Valentino Memorial at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The service is held at the Cathedral Mausoleum and begins at 12:10 p.m. – the time of Valentino’s death in New York. Arrive early as seats go quickly. See you there.

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EMAIL: Hollywoodland23@aol.com

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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HOLLYWOOD PIONEERS

H. J. Whitley

 Father of Hollywood

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Hobart Johnstone Whitley was born in Toronto, Canada on October 7, 1847, of Scotish-English parentage. As a child he moved to Flint, Michigan, where he was educated in the public schools and later at Toronto Business College.

Whitley engaged in banking and land development in Kansas City and Minneapolis, establishing banks and townsites along the Northern Pacific Railroad, and for a time managed the H. J. Whitley Land and Mortgage Company. He platted the towns and built brick and stone business buildings in Oklahoma City, El Reno, Chickasha, Enid, Medfore, and other cities on the Rock Island Railroad.

In 1887 he married Margaret Virginia Ross and had two children, Grace Virginia and Ross Emmet. Because of bad health, Whitley came to California in 1893 and the following year established the H. J. Whitley Jewelry Store, for many years the largest in the city. In 1900 he bought the Hurd property north of Hollywood Boulevard, between Wilcox and Whitley, south of Yucca Street, which he later subdivided into what became known as Whitley Home Tract. As a result of the success of this subdivision, one of the first in Hollywood, Whitley became known as the “Father of Hollywood.”

In 1905, Whitley and a group of Los Angeles investors undertook the development of 47,000 acres in the San Joaquin Valley and carried through a similar project involving nearly 50,000 acres in the San Fernando Valley.

Whitley continued his activities in Southern California property until 1922, when he completed the development of Whitley Heights, which was one of the first hillside subdivisions in Hollywood. The opening of the tract in 1920 was the scene of a public barbeque, with city officials and business men of the city as guests. Whitley Heights would become the first celebrity neighborhood and home to such film stars as Francis X. Bushman, Eugene O’Brien, Barbara La Marr and Rudolph Valentino.

In addition to his real estate development, Whitley was one of the founders of the Home Savings Bank and was identified with the organization of the First National Bank of Hollywood, the First National Bank of Van Nuys and State banks in Canoga Park, Reseda and Corcoran.

On June 3, 1931, while staying as a guest of his son at the Whitley Park Country Club in Van Nuys, H. J. Whitley died in his sleep at the age of 83. Whitley was survived by his wife Margaret, his daughter Grace, son Ross and three grandchildren. Funeral services were conducted at the Strother Funeral Chapel at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard with interment at Hollywood Cemetery.

 H. J. Whitley’s cremation niche at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

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