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Taylorology Issue 54
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* T A Y L O R O L O G Y *
* A Continuing Exploration of the Life and Death of William Desmond Taylor *
* *
* Issue 54 -- June 1997 Editor: Bruce Long bruce@asu.edu *
* TAYLOROLOGY may be freely distributed *
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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:
Mabel Normand Here and There
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What is TAYLOROLOGY?
TAYLOROLOGY is a newsletter focusing on the life and death of William Desmond
Taylor, a top Paramount film director in early Hollywood who was shot to
death on February 1, 1922. His unsolved murder was one of Hollywood's major
scandals. This newsletter will deal with: (a) The facts of Taylor's life;
(b) The facts and rumors of Taylor's murder; (c) The impact of the Taylor
murder on Hollywood and the nation; (d) Taylor's associates and the Hollywood
silent film industry in which Taylor worked. Primary emphasis will be on
reprinting, referencing and analyzing source material, and sifting it
for accuracy.
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William T. Sherman has set up a web site tribute to Mabel Normand, at
http://members.aol.com/GunJones1/Mabel1.html
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Jamie Gilcig is writing a screenplay based on the life of Mabel Normand, and
is seeking previously unpublished information about her. His e-mail address
is gilgic@discovland.net.
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The web site http://www.etext.org/Zines/ is now capable of doing "full text"
searches of back issues of Taylorology.
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Mabel Normand Here and There
Two excellent books have been published about Mabel Normand--MABEL:
HOLLYWOOD'S FIRST I-DON'T-CARE GIRL by Betty Fussell, and MABEL NORMAND:
A SOURCE BOOK TO HER LIFE AND FILMS by William Thomas Sherman. Below are
some fragments of information not mentioned in those two books, which may be
of use to future biographers of Mabel Normand.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 5, 1912
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
The old Bison plant at Edendale has now been turned over to the
Keystone company, which comprises among others Fred Mace and Mabel Normand,
with Mack Sennett as director, and split reel comedies are being turned out
at a merry rate. The company is working much faster than its schedule of
releases so as to pile up a surplus against possible accidents or other
interruptions. Last week Sennett completed a 500-foot comedy in a single day
and claims a record on the feat. The Keystone company is a distinct
organization, having no official connection with any other motion picture
company, although it is owned by men who also own the New York Motion Picture
Company as well as other motion picture concerns.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 7, 1912
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Some of the friends of Director Ince, of the Kay-Bee Company, decoyed
him to the Venice Country Club the night of November 15, where he was made
the victim of a gigantic conspiracy. When he arrived there were about 300
grown-ups waiting for him to remind him in a vociferous manner of something
that had entirely slipped his mind, namely, that it was his birthday. Never
mind, it was one that comes after 21.
All the members of the Kay-Bee and the Broncho companies were present
and a number of specially invited guests from other motion picture companies
in the vicinity, among the latter being Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand of the
Keystone, and Mr. and Mrs. James Young Deer of the Pathe Western Company.
There was a banquet, an impromptu entertainment and a dance and it took
until nearly 4 o'clock in the morning to run through the program. During the
evening they made Ince stand up and look sheepish while a presentation speech
was made as a preliminary to handing him a topaz ring, the big stone
surrounded with small diamonds. The topaz is supposed to have special
significance for those born in November. After that Ince made a speech
forgiving everybody for their share in the conspiracy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 12, 1913
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Little Mabel Normand, leading woman with the Keystone company, who is
to lead the grand march of the photoplayers' ball with President Mace,
Saturday evening, has had many hazardous experiences during her career as a
photoplayer.
She says that while most people believe there are not risks to be taken
in the making of comedy pictures, conditions are quite the reverse. In
comedy, with which Miss Normand has been identified since her advent into the
picture-making profession, action alone scores. In dramatic pictures, the
spectator is given time to fathom the story and the action is much slower.
"In comedies," asserts the dainty little Mabel, "we have risks as
great, if not greater, than those necessary in dramas.
"About a year ago, I made an aeroplane flight with the late Phil
Parmalee. It was my first time in the air. We reached an altitude of about
1000 feet, and suddenly the engine went dead. It seemed that one could have
heard the proverbial pin drop.
"Gliding down, we landed unhurt. Mr. Parmalee discovered that his
gasoline had been tampered with; and in some way paraffine had worked into
the carburetor. When I was told of this, I realized the danger to which we
had been exposed; but the picture had to be made, and several more flights
were necessary."
Miss Normand has had many adventures, such as being thrown from cliffs
and into the ocean; but aside from a few scratches and bruises, she has never
been injured.
A short time ago she was tied to a rock in Santa Monica Bay, about 100
feet from the shore. The continual breaking of the waves over her body
washed her adrift. She has always been considered a clever swimmer, but was
unable to successfully battle with the waves in her weakened condition. As
she was sinking, members of the company came to her assistance and carried
her to the shore.
"With all its risks and hard work," says the little actress, "there is
a certain fascination about the profession which holds one. I went into
pictures three years ago without any previous experience, out of a convent.
Since then I have played in a picture and a half a week without a break.
They say I have made good and I will very probably play in pictures for the
rest of my days."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 26, 1913
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Mabel Normand started something big when she appeared at the Garrick
Theater in person Thursday night and was introduced during both performances.
This custom is to be followed regularly, and Fred Mace is to be introduced
tomorrow evening. After the members of the Keystone company have all been
presented the Tannhauser company is to be introduced one and a time. When
Miss Normand appeared 1500 feet of films in which she was shown were run off.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 7, 1913
W. A. Cory
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
There was something doing every moment on Photo Players' Day in San
Francisco. The Motion Picture Exhibitors' League worked hard to make May
2nd, a day worthy of remembrance, and they were paid for their efforts by a
grand turn-out all along the line of the parade. A fact worthy of note in
passing was the general comment by everyone that there were three times as
many people lining the curbs to watch the parade as there were the previous
day to see the big circus parade.
The excitement began at 9:30 in the morning, with the arrival of Mabel
Normand of the Keystone Company, Carlyle Blackwell of the Kalem Company, and
Miss Anne Schaeffer and George C. Stanley of the Western Vitagraph Company.
The players were met by the State Secretary, W. A. Cory, and representatives
of the Golden Gate and General Film Exchange, who took the players to their
hotel, where they made ready for the pageant, which started at noon at Van
Ness Avenue and Market Street.
Mabel Normand having been voted the most popular player in California
was chosen queen of the occasion, and occupied the first automobile with
Carlyle Blackwell and W. A. Cory and wife. Then came the two Vitagraphers,
and following them, Mr. Gilbert M. Anderson, the popular "Broncho Billy" of
the Essanay Company, followed by twenty-four of Anderson's daring cowboys and
cowgirls in picture costume and mounted on their cow-ponies. The famous old
stage coach which we have seen "Broncho Billy" hold up countless times, was
also there in all its glory. Several beautiful floats, representing
miniature picture shows, and other spectacular features followed. Next came
the members of the San Francisco and Oakland Exhibitors' Leagues in gaily
decorated automobiles, headed by a band of twenty pieces. The parade made a
beautiful spectacle, and proved the best sort of advertising for the ball
which opened at 9:30 that night, with Mayor and Mrs. Rolph leading the grand
march. Following Mayor and Mrs. Rolph, came the visiting actors and
actresses, the committee in charge of arrangements and their ladies, with
Anderson's cowboys and cowgirls dressed in Wild West costume, followed by the
different members of the league and the dancers.
The actors and actresses were introduced by Chairman Cory, and made
happy little speeches, which were greatly appreciated by the great throngs
present. The only one to avoid making a speech was "Alkalai Ike" who, owing
to his diminutive stature was enabled to hide behind the skirts of some kind
lady and could not be found until the dancing was well under way.
Motion pictures of the parade, which were taken by Miles Brothers, and
were exhibited on a screen, caused a great deal of merriment among the
spectators as they recognized themselves in the photographs.
No expense was spared in the management of the affair; the aim of the
committee being to boost the business in general, rather than make money out
of this particular occasion. The entire Scottish Rite Temple, which is the
most beautiful building of its kind in San Francisco, was rented for the
occasion, one floor being reserved for society dances, another for those who
wanted to rag, large orchestras being provided in each hall. This
arrangement left everybody happy, and the crowd divided up according to
individual taste. The ball broke up about two o'clock Saturday morning, with
everybody voting it a grand success, and eagerly awaiting next year's second
annual grand ball.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 9, 1913
MOTION PICTURE NEWS
Miss Mabel Normand, whose picture is presented on our cover this week,
is the charming leading lady of the Keystone Film Company, and is considered
one of the most beautiful as well as capable artists on the screen.
Before her present connection with the Keystone Company, Miss Normand
was well and favorably known as a clever performer, both with the Vitagraph
and later with the Biograph Company. Her work with these two organizations
attracted considerable attention and praise and when the Keystone Film
Company was formed Miss Normand was taken over, together with Mack Sennett,
Fred Mace and Ford Sterling. This famous company of fun-makers made an
enviable reputation for themselves while the Biograph Company and the
Keystone Film Company are to be complimented on their business acumen in
securing these prominent players.
Miss Normand, besides her personal charm and beauty, has an original
style all her own while working in pictures and in the particular style of
comedy which the above company is now making a specialty of. Miss Normand
has attracted attention by her work from picture-play fans all over the
country.
She is an accomplished horsewoman and a champion swimmer and high diver
and before entering picture work was recognized as one of the best women
swimmers in the world. She is athletic to a degree and fond of outdoor
sports of all kinds, in many of which she excels her male competitors.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 13, 1913
MOTION PICTURE NEWS
Mabel Normand, leading woman with Keystone, will hereafter direct every
picture in which she appears. Madame Blache has been the only woman director
for some time, but she now has a rival in Mabel who will both act and direct.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 15, 1914
MOTION PICTURE NEWS
Miss Mabel Normand, of the Keystone companies, is learning aviation
from Walter Brookin, the permanent Keystone aviator, and has made three
flights alone, driving the machine herself. Miss Normand hopes to soon be
able to do the loop, when a motion picture will be made.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 15, 1914
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Despite an article that recently appeared that Miss Mabel Normand, the
Keystone comedy star, was married off to the director general of that company
without her knowledge or consent, Miss Normand wishes to emphatically state
that not a wedding bell in the whole city of Los Angeles or any other city
ever struck a note in her behalf.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 5, 1914
MOTION PICTURE NEWS
Not content with an aeroplane and a Mercer racer, Mabel Normand has
entered the amateur field, having purchased the seven horsepower cyclecar
made by Shirley Williams, age 16 years, with which he won third place in the
Vanderbilt, Jr., races at Ascot Park, Los Angeles, July 4th, making the fifty
miles in one hour and six minutes. The cyclecar has a speed of fifty-five
miles an hour.
Miss Normand has had the little racer finished in an elegant manner at
one of the local garages, and for the next two months the young driver and
maker of the car will use it, in giving exhibition mile runs at fairs and
amateur race meets, the largest one he will attend being that at Tacoma,
Wash., on Labor Day, when there will be a purse of $750 and three cups for
the two fifty-mile races.
[A photo of Mabel Normand in her racer can be seen in the MOTION
PICTURE NEWS, September 12, 1914, page 58.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 19, 1914
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Poor little Mabel Normand wants to take a trip "back home" to New York,
she confided to us one Saturday afternoon. "I've been out here ever since
the Keystone started, and they won't let me go at all," she says, and that is
two years ago. Mabel is busy directing her own company and is putting on
some real good comedy.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 31, 1914
MOTOGRAPHY
[the following took place in New York]
The Cinema Camera Club made of its invitation party-dance on the night
of October 10 a well managed and a pleasant affair. Pabst Coliseum, where
the dancing party was held, was gayly decorated in tissue paper streamers of
many colors and the lights turned on the dancers were of many hues. The
balcony was divided into boxes and these were representative of the
respective film companies. There was a grand march which began at midnight,
and had as its head Clara Kimball Young and the new president of the Screen
Club, James D. Kirkwood. Miss Young was a gray silken maiden of Hong Kong,
she and "Jimmie" Young having chosen this costume in that city two years ago
on their around-the-world trip. In her hand Miss Young held a Chinese
lantern in which a candle gleamed during the march-figures in which other
lights were momentarily extinguished. Mabel Normand, on from the west on her
eastern rest-trip, was one of the marchers and there were many others of
screen note, among whom were Edward Earl, Bessie Learn, Hughie Mack, Herbert
Brenon, Alec Francis, Jessie Stevens, William Tooker, "Andy" Clark, Sally
Crute, Jack Pickford, Mabel Green, Ned Finley, Alice Learn and William
Wadsworth. Mary Pickford enjoyed the march from her Famous Player box and
afterward joined the dancers. Ad Kessel and C. O. Baumann were in
attendance, as also were Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Zukor, Mr. and Mrs. C. Lang
Cobb, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Charles Seay, Miss Bessie Bannon and Frank A. Bannon,
James A. Young, Joe Varnham, Carl Gregory and David Thompson of the New
Rochelle studio, Joe Brandt, Bill Barry, A. Kauffman, Owen and Matt Moore,
Fred Mace, Marguerite Leveridge and others. Buttons requesting "Let us have
universal peace" was the Universal's contribution to the evening.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 31, 1914
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
"Keystone Mabel" Normand, the renowned Keystone comedian, has been
spending her vacation in New York and, needless to say, she is having the
time of her young life. Being well-known in New York, previous to her going
to the Coast where she has been for two and a half years, all her old friends
have been waiting for this vacation and she has been wined and dined
incessantly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 19, 1914
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
The first annual ball to be given under the auspices of the Screen Club
of San Francisco took place on Saturday, November 28, at the Coliseum, 200
Baker street. The Screen Club was organized on October 19 of the present
year and the holding of such a successful ball so shortly after its formation
is not only an evidence of the desires of its members to make it a success,
but of their energy and ability to work in harmony, as well, Sid Grauman,
president of the club and one of its organizers, was chairman of the floor
committee and also head of the reception committee, and stood at the main
entrance during the first part of the evening welcoming the distinguished
guests, of which there were a large number. Some idea of the size of the
assemblage may be judged from the fact that approximately six thousand
tickets were sold at the door, in addition to many that were sold at the box
office of the theaters and by various exchanges. It is estimated that the
total attendance was between eight and nine thousand persons. The regular
reception committee consisted of sixty members of the club, while twenty of
the leading city and state officials made up the honorary reception
committee.
The grand march was scheduled to start at nine o'clock and it was just
a few minutes after this hour when the march, led by Mayor and Mrs. James
Rolph, Jr., commenced its circuit of the immense hall. Following the leaders
were a galaxy of moving picture stars brought from the studios around the Bay
and from the southern part of the State, together with the officials of the
club. By this time the crowd had become so dense that it was impossible to
keep it from encroaching on the floor, and the grand march became a triumphal
procession through a populace anxious to catch a glimpse of their screen
favorites in person. When the floor was partly cleared dancing was indulged
in, the numbers being interspersed with singing, the enactment of moving
picture roles and feature acts from downtown theaters.
An event of the evening was a short address by Mayor James Rolph, Jr.,
from the balcony of the hall. He pronounced the ball the greatest event of
its kind in the history of the city and declared that it eclipsed anything he
had ever seen in the line of a hall gathering. He said: "The moving picture
business is here to stay, and the immense interest that is taken in screen
productions can be judged by this assemblage. Much credit is due the Screen
Club for the unqualified success of this event and I wish to thank it for
bringing so many player folks here that we might meet them personally."
He then read a list of those present and these were brought to the front of
the balcony and introduced, amid great enthusiasm. Among those who were
presented were: Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand and Charles
Chaplin, of the Keystone, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Potel, Harry H. Todd, Margaret
Joslin Todd, Evelyn Selbie, Ernest Van Pelt and wife, of the Western Essanay
Company, Max Asher, of the Universal; Lee Willard, True Boardman, Fritz
Wintermeier, Lila McClemmon and Miss Ruth Hedington. Ford Sterling planned
to be present but was taken ill with pneumonia and could not come. Lillian
[Dorothy] Gish was injured in an automobile accident and was compelled to
send regrets. Another star who was prevented from attending through an
accident was Margaret Clayton, of the Western Essanay Company, one of the
first to respond to the invitation of the Screen Club. She recently suffered
a fractured leg in a stage accident.
The attendance at the ball steadily increased until midnight, and
tickets were sold as late as two o'clock. The Screen Club expects to net a
neat profit from the affair and this money is to be expended in fitting up
the club rooms in some convenient location in the downtown district.
A portion of the funds secured is to be donated to the Associated Charities.
The remarkable success of the monster ball, as it is now known, was due
in a large measure to the great publicity that was given it. For weeks
before the event it was advertised in all the moving picture houses by means
of attractive slides, the fact being emphasized that the leading players were
to be present in person. Billboard advertising was used extensively and a
real old-time circus stunt was used during the week preceding the event, this
being the handing of colored banners on the span wires of the downtown
trolley system.
A very attractive program of fifty-six pages was distributed, but,
owing to the unlooked for attendance, this was given only to the fair sex and
was much in demand. This contained pictures of the officers of the Screen
Club and of some of the leading actors and actresses in the moving picture
profession. It was well filled with announcements from Western producers,
exchanges and the local theaters. An interesting feature was the dance
program, consisting of fifty-five numbers, each of which bore some
distinctive name of general interest. A few of these selected at random
were: Keystone Rag, Sterling Two-Step, Chaplin Three-Step, Dorothy Gish Dip,
Bronco Billy Gallop, Arbuckle Walk, Slippery Slim Two-Step, General
Hesitation, Tivoli Three-Step, Dahnken Glide, Mary Pickford Waltz, Kleine Two-
Step, Bunny Hug, Crone Rag, Lesser Two-Step and Kohn Lame Duck...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 23, 1915
PHOTO-PLAY REVIEW
The Lady on the Cover
Miss Mabel Normand...is at present directing all the comedies in which
she works. She is reputed to be the only actress director in the country
today.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
April 20, 1915
PHOTO-PLAY REVIEW
Mabel Normand Not Married
An ambitious but misguided press agent of a Los Angeles theatre started
a rumor to the effect that Mabel Normand, "Queen of the Movies," and Bert
Levey, a theatrical agent, were married and the affair caused Miss Normand
much annoyance. She was in San Francisco at the time and when the report
reached her ears she sent the following telegram to the Keystone studios at
Edendale:
"To all my friends in the Keystone, Greetings: Be assured that I am
not married and have no such thought. Some foolish person evidently thought
to perpetrate an April fool joke which was both cruel and misplaced. My love
and best wishes to you all. Please post on bulletin.
Mabel Normand"
At about the same time Mr. Levey sent a wire discharging the press
agent. Levey is not even a friend of Miss Normand--merely an acquaintance of
the most casual sort, having met her in connection with the "Tillie's
Punctured Romance" feature which Mr. Levey controls in several states.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 27, 1915
Clem Pope
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
(Los Angeles)--Pretty soft for some of these Keystone actors this nice
warm weather. While the mercury is trying to blow out the top of the bulb,
the water in the Keystone tank gurgles merrily while the actors do the sea
nymph stuff. The other day Fred Fishback, in diving in the plunge, misjudged
the distance and collided gracefully and firmly with the concrete wall, and
was rendered temporarily helpless. Mabel Normand did the Carnegie stunt and
saved him. Sure I know that Fred Palmer is a publicity man, he has to make a
living some way.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 17, 1915
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Last week the Los Angeles Baseball Club held a benefit for the widow of
"Hap" Hogan, who died here recently. The picture people gave their generous
support, there being representatives from several companies to draw the
crowds. Charlie Chaplin and some Essanayers were there, and Ford and Mabel,
with Roscoe, frolicked around on the lawns. James Snyder, while taking part
in the funny ball game, fell and broke his shoulder.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 31, 1915
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
...The crowning event of the convention [held in San Francisco,
July 13-17, 1915] was the grand ball, held in the Municipal Auditorium in the
Civic Center. This event had been widely heralded, and extensive
preparations made, a feature of the arrangements having been the bringing
from Los Angeles of almost fifty prominent screen artists from the leading
studios. As was the case with the convention itself, the task of arranging
the details of the ball devolved upon the chairman of the Convention
Committee, M. E. Cory, and much of the credit for the success of this affair
must be given him.
Owing to the fact that the historic old Liberty Bell arrived in San
Francisco late Friday evening, some of the plans for the ball had to be
changed at the last minute and many of the dignitaries of the state and city
were unable to be present until the festivities of the evening were well
under way. Governor Johnson, who was to have led the grand march with
Geraldine Farrar, was a member of the committee that brought the historic
relic to the exposition grounds and unfortunately could not be present.
Mayor Rolph was also absent, but representatives of the city government were
on hand to grace the occasion.
The gathering of screen favorites was fully up to the expectation of
the ball committee, and during the early part of the evening the boxes they
occupied were surrounded by eager throngs of admirers, the floor officers
finding difficulty in keeping the crowd moving.
In keeping with the exposition and Liberty Bell spirit which prevailed,
the hall was tastefully decorated in the exposition and national colors, and
after the commencement of the grand march the scene was further enlivened by
the releasing of hundreds of colored balloons.
The grand march was led by Carlyle Blackwell and Blanche Sweet,
followed by other leading picture players, the new and retiring officers of
the National League and the state and local organizations. Following this,
the regular dance program began and lasted until the early morning hours.
Owing to the immense size of the auditorium, and the fact that many who
attended were onlookers occupying seats in the balcony, the floor was crowded
at no time, and the attendance was larger than appeared to be the case.
Motion Pictures were taken of the grand march by Mills Brothers. Mr.
Sciaroni was in charge of the lighting and photographing. The pictures were
shown at the Empress theater on Saturday evening...
Among the player folks and film men who were present and occupied boxes
were Geraldine Farrar, Blanche Sweet, Carlyle Blackwell, Mabel Normand,
Raymond Hitchcock, Mrs. Raymond Hitchcock (Flora Zabelle), Mack Sennett, Owen
Moore, "Diamond Jim" Brady, Barney Baruch, Fred Mace, Marshall Neilan, Ella
Hall, Robert Leonard, Hobart Bosworth, Hobart Henley, M. L. Markowitz, Bessie
Barriscale, Howard Hickman, Frank Keenan, W. S. Hart, House Peters, Kenneth
O'Hara, Myrtle Gonzales, Mrs. Gonzalez, Sam Spedon, William Duncan, Jesse
Lasky, Morris Gest and wife, C. B. De Mille, W. W. Hodkinson, wife and party,
Bobbie Harron, Mae Marsh, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Mrs. Gish, Francix X.
Bushman, Marguerite Snow, Irving Ackerman, Fred J. Balshofer, Marie Empress,
Art Smith, aviator; Mrs. Smith and Manager William Bastar and Mrs. Bastar,
G. M. Anderson, Victor Potel and Mrs. Potel, Ben Turpin, Jesse Jackson, and
Shorty Jack Hamilton...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 21, 1915
PHOTO-PLAY REVIEW
[photo caption] Mabel Normand and "Big Ben," the tame seal, disporting
in the surf at Santa Catalina, Cal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 21, 1915
MOTOGRAPHY
Reunion at Keystone
There was a grand reunion of the big factors in the success of the New
York Motion Picture Corporation at the Keystone studios at Los Angeles the
day following the signing of the incorporation papers of the Triangle Film
Corporation, when Messrs. Kessel, Bauman and Sennett arrived from Colorado,
where the $5,000,000 corporation was put over.
The accompanying picture shows the gathering at the Keystone studio and
reading from left to right in the picture one beholds Charles Kessel, Mabel
Normand, Adam Kessel, Jr., C. O. Baumann and Mack Sennett.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 28, 1915
MOTOGRAPHY
On Monday, August 2, the Los Angeles Boosters' Club show was given at
Shrine Auditorium to a capacity audience and hundreds were turned away.
Managing Director Mack Sennett of the Keystone Film Company supplied over one-
third of the program. The Keystone artists who appeared with the permission
of Mr. Sennett were Raymond Hitchcock, Jean Schwartz, Fred Mace, Harry
Williams, Eddie Foy, Flora Zabelle, Charlie Murray, Ford Sterling, Roscoe
Arbuckle, Syd Chaplin, Mack Swain, Chester Conklin, Mabel Normand and others.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 11, 1915
MOTOGRAPHY
Lillian Gish entertained recently at the Fine Arts studio Mabel
Normand, the popular Keystone Triangle comedienne; Blanche Sweet and a party
of friends. They remained to witness Miss Gish, Rozsika Dolly and Wilfred
Lucas play a scene in their present starring vehicle, "The Lily and the
Rose."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 11, 1915
MOTOGRAPHY
While Gus Edwards was playing the Orpheum theater in Los Angeles he and
his "Song Review" stars, together with Nan Halperin and a number of others on
the bill, visited the Keystone studios at the invitation of Mabel Normand and
spent an interesting morning watching the making of scenes for the Sennett
feature. They were guests of Miss Normand at dinner the same night, as were
Eddie Foy, Mrs. Foy and the famous seven Foylets.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 25, 1915
MOTOGRAPHY
A brilliant after-dinner dance was given at the Hotel Alexandria
Saturday, September 4, in honor of the three new vice-presidents of the
Triangle Film Company, David W. Griffith, Thos. H. Ince and Mack Sennett.
Many notable film stars were present to do honor to the heads of the Reliance-
Majestic, New York Motion Picture Corporation and Keystone Film Company.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 25, 1915
Paul Conlon
NEW YORK CLIPPER
Mabel Normand may have occasional days of temperament and "nerves," but
in a crisis she seems to be on the job. This week, when a laborer was run
over by a street car in front of the studio, the men nearby were panic-
stricken. Mabel kept her head, ordered the men to get water, 'phoned for an
ambulance and, tearing an undergarment into strips, bound the man's wounds.
The plucky girl's first aid treatment saved the man's life.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 9, 1915
Paul Conlon
NEW YORK CLIPPER
Mabel Normand is on the way to recovery, and her thousands of friends
are sighing with relief. For four long days the little Keystone actress lay
unconscious, and the doctors held out little hope. Mabel was injured in a
fall at the studio about two weeks ago.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 18, 1916
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle spent their first New Year's in
several seasons within the charmed circle of New York stageland. The white
lights beamed merrily for them, the cup of joy effervesced, and the plaudits
of admiring throngs for their real selves brought a novel pleasure. In plain
vernacular, Fatty and Mabel are on the job in New York. With their Eastern
Keystone Company, including Minta Durfee, Al St. John and others, they
arrived in the metropolis Thursday afternoon, December 30. The party came
through direct from the Coast, escorted by Traveling Passenger Pike of the
San Pedro Road. They were met at Grand Central Station by Frank Myers of the
New York Central, and a number of the New York Motion Picture and Triangle
executives.
Miss Normand is looking fresh as a daisy, but it was deemed best not to
break the journey for picture-taking en route, since her recovery from
serious accident has been so recent. Mr. Arbuckle, the director of the
company, said he would start work soon at the Willat studios in Fort Lee.
Mrs. Ford Sterling (Teddy Sampson) and Syd Chaplin were among the friends who
greeted the newcomers at the station.
On New Year's night, Mr. Arbuckle, Miss Normand and the other
Keystoners were the guests of the New York Globe at the Lexington Opera
House. They saw "Peter Rabbit in Dreamland," and two thousand people saw
Fatty and "the Keystone girl" and applauded the flesh-and-blood authors of
millions of laughs. After the hard, grueling work at Edendale, the Keystone
folk enjoyed every minute of the New Year's festivities.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 4, 1916
Lynde Denig
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Garden Capacity Taxed
Madison Square Garden accommodates the population of a fair sized town.
For small affairs like the circus or the horse show it does very well, and
the architects designed it for just such moderate demands with never a
thought of magnetic motion pictures. They did not foresee that on the night
of February 19 so many New Yorkers would insist upon entering the Garden
because of the first annual ball arranged by the Screen Club and the
Exhibitors' League.
Five, eight, ten thousand, so the numbers rose, until along towards
midnight the police and fire departments cried, "Enough." Uncounted hundreds
were turned back to the sharp wind in Madison avenue. And to think, had it
only been June instead of February, had the breezes been less keen, Gail
Kane, burdened with diamonds; Clara Kimball Young, more glorious than ever
after her stay in Cuba; Florence LaBadie, on her towering float, might have
visited an overflow meeting in Madison Square Park. The incense wafted from
Miss LaBadie's throne must have given "Arabian Nights" dreams to the men who
sleep in the open. But it was too cold.
Visitors at the Garden were divided into two classes, those who came to
see and those marked for the spotlight. Members jammed the aisles until
congestion was slightly relieved by the opening of the second balcony. The
others, those who came to be seen, occupied the boxes encircling the arena,
converted into a dancing floor. In the center was a stand large enough to
hold several bands. Joe Humphrys and various officials of the Exhibitors'
League and the Screen Club. Publicity promoters, every so busy, kept in
close touch with Announcer Humphrys and effected a wireless communication
with manipulators of the spotlights. Arthur James, Harry Reichenback, Leon
J. Rubenstein, Paul Gulick, P. A. Parsons and others expert at adding lustre
to a star improved each passing moment.
Metro was on especially friendly terms with the decorator. In whatever
direction the eye wandered it met giant banners bearing a simple declarative
sentence, such as "Metro Wins." Attention was drawn to the well-filled Pathe
boxes, including that of the Arrow Film Corporation, by the name displayed in
electric lights; Universal had Red Feather banners galore floating above the
heads of the dancers, whereas Thanhouser, Triangle, World Film and Equitable,
Vitagraph, Edison and other box holders figured in the decorations.
Shortly after eleven o'clock there was a flurry of excitement caused by
the entrance of Clara Kimball Young, soon to be named as the winner of the
Popularity Contest. By this time the floor had been cleared of dancers and
the arrival of each screen celebrity was befittingly ceremonious. Then World
Film-Equitable Reichenbach opened the game in earnest by leading his trump
card--Gail Kane, resplendent in diamonds and an orchid-colored gown. Lights
were lowered to make more effective the play of the "spot" on Miss Kane and
her jewels as she circled the Garden, accompanied by an Hawaiian quintet and
an escort of police officers.
Metro followed with a miniature operetta, enacted by a score of girls
in Pierrot costumes bearing letters to spell "Metro Wins." They danced to
the tune of "Hello, 'Frisco," easily altered to "Hello Metro." Then those
who came to see, witnessed the sad spectacle of a man in evening clothes
reeling across the floor, all too obviously unable to control his movements.
It was Billie Reeves in a comedy interlude. King Baggot and Edna Hunter led
the first delegation of Universal stars and while they were going the rounds,
Director Sullivan, of Thanhouser, was marshaling his forces for the
spectacular entrance of Florence LaBadie. Looking like a veritable queen of
ancient history, lolling gracefully in a golden chair, carried on the
shoulders of Nubian slaves, she was the center of a splendid procession.
No beauty of the screen ever was given a more gorgeous setting and her
triumphal march brought applause from every corner of the Garden.
Violet Merserau and Hobart Henley guided an assemblage of Red Feather
stars around the circuit, and a few moments later the great popularity of
Anita Stewart and Earl Williams, leaders of the Vitagraph delegation, was
attested by a generous ovation. Presently Mr. Reichenbach, filling the place
of Announcer Humphrys for the time being, called attention to the box in
which a popular actress was seated. The spotlight plainly indicated Clara
Kimball Young, who soon appeared on the floor, with Nicholas Dunaew, in a
striking Russian costume.
In the second Thanhouser promenade there was a liberal New Rochelle
delegation. The crowd roared its approval when Roscoe Arbuckle and Mabel
Normand appeared. Edison made a good showing with Viola Dana and Richard
Tucker in the lead, whereas an imposing Universal assemblage had President
Carl Laemmle and Pat Powers as its center. Accompanying these officials were
Violet Mersereau, Hobart Henley, King Baggot, Sydney Bracy and Dorothy
Phillips. Frank Powell appeared with Nance O'Neill, Alfred Hickman, Victor
Benoit and Mr. and Mrs. William Teller. Gail Kane made another circuit of
the building and the Screen Club and White Rats each had their turn. Among
Biograph players were Claire McDowell, Charles H. Mailes, Vola Smith and Vera
Sisson. Nicholas Power was represented by Jack Skerrett, Edward Earl and
William Barry.
It was past midnight when Joe Humphyrs announced the winners of the New
York American's popularity contest and awarded the prizes, first, a $500
diamond bracelet to Clara Kimball Young; second, a $75 wrist watch to Anita
Stewart, and third, a traveling bag, to Virginia Norden. Each of the winners
appeared on the platform and acknowledged the applause of fellow players and
the public. Miss Young and Billy Quirk, president of the Screen Club, led
the grand march, followed by Lee A. Ochs, president of the Exhibitors' League
and Miss Stewart.
Edwin Thanhouser, duplicating his offer at the Boston Exhibitors' ball,
agreed to feature with Miss LaBadie, the girl selected as the most beautiful
at the ball, the only stipulation being an amateur standing. The platform
was immediately besieged by hundreds of eager young women and it appeared for
awhile as if the Thanhouser Company had staged a riot or a bargain day. The
committee of five, comprising Lee Ochs, Otto Lederer, Tefft Johnson, Frank
Carroll and John Humphyrs, finally chose Pearl Shepard, of New York Public
School No. 23.
An enjoyable feature of the evening was the entertainment furnished by
Metro in the concert hall on the balcony floor. Refreshments were served to
Metro guests and an orchestra supplied music for dancing, Mary Miles Minter
being among the hostesses.
Among the out-of-town guests were Siegmund Lubin, who brought Helen
Green and several other players from Philadelphia; Frederick J. Harrington,
president of the Exhibitors' National Organization; Ernest H. Horstmann,
president of the Massachusetts League; Frank J. Howard, Samuel Grant, Russel
E. Shanahan and H. H. Buxbaum.
The box-holders were: Metro, nine boxes; Pathe, six; Universal, six;
World and Equitable, five; Mutual, four; Triangle, four; Vitagraph, three; N.
Y. American, three; city officials and judges, two; Fox, two; N. Y. Motion
Picture, two; Edison, Great Northern, Frank Powell, Nicholas Power, Greenwich
Lithographing, Robert Warwick, Marshall Farnum, King Baggot, Ivan Film,
American Seating Col, Novelty Slide, Lubin, J. H. Hallberg.
[This was probably the first time that Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter
were both at the same place.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 9, 1916
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Thumbnail Sketches.
...Mabel Normand: Champagne at a wake; red roses in the lettuce patch.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 27, 1916
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Mabel Normand, the popular Triangle star, was the guest of honor at the
Pals Club last Saturday. She was welcomed by a host of Los Angeles friends,
and a notable program had been arranged for the evening.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
August 5, 1916
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Tod Browning, director for the Triangle-Fine Arts Company, on July 12
was tendered a surprise party by his friends at the Reiter Arms Apartments,
Hollywood. The affair was given in honor of Browning's twenty-third
birthday.
Miss Alice Wilson had charge of the arrangements. Browning was taken
to the downtown district for dinner. One of the members of the party soon
after the dinner pleaded a severe headache and they all adjourned to the
Reiter Arms, where Browning was met by the three hundred guests who were
invited to the affair, including notable film people from the various studios
in the motion picture colony. Charles Murray, the Keystone comedian, acted
as master of ceremonies, and welcomed Browning home with a traditional
Keystone bit of comedy.
A buffet luncheon was served in the Reiter Arms ballroom, and the
evening was spent in dancing.
Among the guests were Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dillon, Chet Withey, Mabel
Normand, Fay Tincher, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, Wallace Reid, Dorothy
Davenport, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Ingraham, J. C. Epping, Ruth Stonehouse,
Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Cabanne, Bessie Love, Mae and Marguerite Marsh,
Mrs. Marsh, Mary H. O'Connor, Hettie Gray Baker, Constance Talmadge, Mr. and
Mrs. Elmer Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Long, Bernard McConville, Roy
Somerville, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wilson and others. Hettie Gray Baker, of the
scenario department of the Fine Arts Company, celebrated her birthday at the
same time.
Eddie Dillon presented Browning with a sponge cake containing twenty-
three red peppermint candies, arranged so as to form Browning's initials.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 17, 1917
Bob Doman
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Paris as Seen by a New Yorker
...Charlot (Charlie Chaplin), Lolot (Mabel Normand), and Marie Dressler
have the cinema audiences of the Grand Boulevards at their mercy. The French
want what they want when they want it, and in a cinema in the Boulevard des
Italiens the other night a near-riot was precipitated when the management
delayed presenting Charlot, Lolot and Miss "Dresslaire" on the screen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 4, 1917
E. V. Durling
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
(Los Angeles)--H. B. Rosen of the Harriman National Bank of New York gave
a party to Adolph Zukor coincident with that gentleman's return to New York
City. A special orchestra provided the music, and in order to make things
harmonize with the quality of the gathering the dinner was served on the
Alexandria gold plate. The list of guests included Mary Pickford, Mr. and
Mrs. Cecil de Mille, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. C. De Mille, Marco Hellman, Carl Paige,
Fannie Ward, Jack Dean, Margaret Illington, Mae Murray, Mrs. Beatrice De
Mille, Marian Selby, Mme. Aldrich, Mabel Normand, Olive Thomas, Jeanie
MacPherson, Blanche Sweet, Dorothy Gish, Elliott Dexter, Jack Pickford,
Antonio Moreno and Marshall Neilan.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
March 10, 1917
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
...Production of Keystone pictures began on July 4, 1912, on which date
Mack Sennett took a small party of players including Mabel Normand and Ford
Sterling, to Fort Lee, N.J...The first day they started out in grand style in
a hired automobile. They found a good-natured man over at Fort Lee who
loaned them his house. The interior of the house was too dark to take
pictures and there were no lights available. As he simply had to have an
interior, Sennett moved his friend's furniture out on the lawn and took the
"interior" there.
When he came to settle the automobile bill that first day Sennett had
to dig up twenty dollars. As the whole payroll of the company only amounted
to fifteen dollars at that time, they decided they would have to cut out the
automobile. Thereafter the little Keystone company plodded out to work every
day in the street cars. And when the actors got to the end of the street car
line they went on the human hoof. The cameraman carried the camera over his
shoulder and the actors packed the props on their backs. Being very husky by
nature, Sennett took to himself the honor and distinction of carrying most of
the scenery on his own back....
In September, 1912, Mack Sennett and his players came to Los Angeles
and took possession of the studio that had been the original site of the
Bison company. The older division of the New York Motion Picture Corporation
had removed to Santa Ynez Canyon near the end of 1911. It wasn't much of a
studio. A vacant lot, a couple of dilapidated sheds and a rickety stage were
about all. Mack Sennett did most of the work himself. He wrote all the
scenarios, lent a hand with the scenery, acted as telephone girl and gateman
most of the time. After the day's work as an actor, he came back at night
and cut film until early morning.
When Sennett's first California comedy was sent east the verdict was
quick and positive. It was punk [terrible]. Nobody would buy it.
With bulldog tenacity he struggled on. Finally he landed with a comedy
in which he had no faith and which was a careless makeshift affair. A Grand
Army of the Republic convention happened to be in Los Angeles. Without any
very definite idea in mind, Sennett had his cameraman take pictures of this
parade. From another company he bought some cast-off battle pictures. He
rigged up one of his comedians as a soldier, had him dash in and out of some
smoke from a smudge pot and make up a ramshackle comedy out of it. For some
reason or other, this was an instant hit. The East demanded more like it.
The Keystone found itself all of a sudden on the map.
The demand for Keystone comedies soon became so great that the one
little company couldn't meet the demand. Another company became absolutely
necessary. Where were they to get a director and how were they to pay for a
director?
Mabel Normand threw herself into the breach. She offered to direct a
company herself. Miss Normand, accordingly, became the first woman director
of comedies. The actors who worked in her first company say there were
occasionally some wild scenes. She was not what you call a phlegmatic
director, but she was a good one...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 24, 1917.
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
Spike Robinson, the old-time British fighter, and Stella Dominguez, the
beautiful daughter of Ramon Dominguez, wealthy cattle king, were married in
Los Angeles recently. Bull Montana, the Italian wrestler, was best man, and
Bennie Zeidman and Ed Durling guests. Spike and Bull are in Douglas
Fairbanks's company, and the film star presented Spike with a beautiful
silver dinner set after the wedding supper. Many well known film personages,
including Mabel Normand, Wally Reid, Eileen Percy, Charles Murray, Charlie
Chaplin, Ford Sterling, Herbert Rawlinson, James Cruz, Jack Mulhall, Louise
Fazenda, Tom Mix, Tom Santschi, Nat Goodwin and others, went to the cafe
where the supper was given and danced until the wee small hours to help
celebrate.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
November 10, 1917
MOVING PICTURE WORLD
Mabel Normand Speaks for the Loan
Mabel Normand, Goldwyn star, made a whirlwind speaking tour in eight
New York theatres Monday night, October 22, in behalf of the Liberty Loan.
Beginning at 8:30 in the evening at Marcus Loew's American theatre, Miss
Normand made a two-minute talk first to an audience on the roof-top theater
and a few minutes later met the audience in the main ground floor theatre.
Thereafter, she averaged one theater every fifteen minutes, appearing at
Mitchel H. Mark's Strand theater at 9 o'clock. Marcus Loew's New York
theater came next at 9:15 and was followed by trips to Loew's Circle, Loew's
Lincoln and Loew's New York roof. The last stop of the evening was at A. L.
Shakman's Eighty-first street theater.
If there was any need of the affection in which Mabel Normand is held
by the public this Liberty Loan speaking tour was all that was required. In
the course of the evening she faced a total audience of from 18,000 to 20,000
persons and the greeting they gave Goldwyn's beautiful little star showed
that her power is as great as ever.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 28, 1918
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Just as Mabel Normand, Goldwyn star, was happily settled in her
Hollywood home, and was planning a nice house-warming party, along came the
flu and not only threw cold water on all her nice little social plans, but
stopped work on "Sis Hopkins." Miss Normand is reported to be seriously ill.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 29, 1918
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
From Mabel Normand comes the glad news that so far as she is concerned
the flu has flown, and that she expects to sit up today and take nourishment.
Moreover, she thinks she'll be able again to don her Sis Hopkins makeup next
week.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 30, 1918
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
The health of two of Goldwyn's most famous stars is improving. Mae
Marsh, who has been ill for some time, has so far recovered that she is to
commence work on a Goldwyn production on January 13. Her director will be
Roy Trimble, and the story is not yet ready for announcement. Mabel Normand,
likewise expects to be able to don her "Sis Hopkins" make-up within a few
days. She took a nice long motor trip yesterday.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 12, 1919
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
When we told Mabel Normand that she looked as lovely as ever, even in
the Sis Hopkins make-up, she responded, "Never mind the tip! The fact which
principally matters is that I'm happy to be back here in California."
"Aren't you lonely for New York, then?"
"Lonesome!" exclaimed Mabel. "Yes, lonesome as a traffic cop at
Seventh and Broadway on Saturday afternoon! Why, all my friends are out
here, and they've been just too lovely to me for anything. Even when I had
the 'flu' they kept me jolly with letters and telegrams and flowers and candy I
couldn't eat. But I'll tell you a secret. I got a chance to read a lot of
books I've been wanting to read for a long time. Just as Carlyle used to
read yellow-back novels as a rest from serious labors, so the joyous
comedienne as tragedy relief, so to speak, turns to highbrow literature.
So I've been reading history and all kinds of stiff things, with H. G. Wells
as the very lightest one of all!"
Of course it wouldn't be Mabel's picture, "Sis Hopkins," unless some
funny little human thing happened during the making of it. This time it was
a dog, which relieved the sad motonony of comedy making. A scene on which
depended an important development of the story was one in which a dog sniffs
at "Sis's" market basket and in doing so overturns the oil-can, which rolls
into the spring, and--but there, I mustn't tell any more of the story. The
point is, the dog must do all those things. But none of the dogs brought to
the studio could be brought to enact the combination of incidents. Then
Mabel made a suggestion.
"Why don't you go to the pound and get a poor, starved cur," was Miss
Normand's happy suggestion. "It will eat anything." Sure enough, a poor,
neglected, dirty fox terrier was chosen and brought from the pound.
"And it was right then," said Miss Normand, "he became a ham actor.
He showed a ravenous appetite for ham. In his hunt for ham, the oil can was
overturned, tumbled beautifully, and rolled right into the spring. And the
play was saved."
Of course, Miss Normand insisted the forlorn canine be kept at the
studios, and she calls him "Ham," and says hunger will make a good actor of
anyone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 2, 1919
Grace Kingsley
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Mabel Normand is still somewhat weak from the severe attack of
influenza which she suffered a few weeks ago. She is compelled occasionally
to rest a day, and last Friday took a day off from labor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 18, 1919
Margaret Ettinger
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
Mickey Neilan truly started something when he pulled that party a
little more than a month ago. Every one had such a good time that they
thought it would be right jolly to have the bunch get together about once a
month for just such an affair. Therefore the old Forty Club was resurrected,
renamed the Sixty Club, and the first monthly party was given in the ballroom
of the Alexandria on Saturday, May 10.
Mickey and Joe Engel were two of the prominent hosts. All the colony
turned out for it, and a few of those present were: Mabel Normand, Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Kilgour, Jack Pickford, Eileen Percy, Tom Moore, Mildred
Considine, Arthur Houseman, Marjorie Daw, Harry Ham, Pauline Frederick, Lew
Cody, Antonio Moreno, Viola Dana, Seena Owen, Anita Stewart, Rudolph Cameron,
Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Lyons, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Moran, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ray,
Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Franklin, Grace La Rue,
Edwin Carewe, Ruth Roland, Harry Cohn, Jean Darnell, Agnes Johnson, Harry
Millarde and Hale Hamilton.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 1919
PHOTOPLAY
Chief Justice of Celluloidia
If there is any lawyer in the theatrical or photoplay business who has
ever occupied so unique a position as Nathan Burkan, we'd like to know it.
If there ever has been one, we'd like to know it. He is certainly the
wholesale representative. Representing Charlie Chaplin, he drew his first
million-dollar contract. Representing Sydney Chaplin, he drew his recent
contract with Famous Players. Representing Marshall Neilan, he made that
director's contract with First National. He is also the legal representative
of Mabel Normand, Theda Bara, Olive Thomas, Jack Pickford, Pearl White, Hale
Hamilton, Texas Guinan, Blanche Sweet, Mae Murray, Robert Leonard, Fannie
Ward, Charlotte Walker, Marjorie Rambeau, Ina Claire, Henry Lehrman and
Carlyle Blackwell. He represents, also, these authors: Edwin Milton Royle,
LeRoi Cooper Megrue, Winchell Smith, John Golden and Bayard Vellier. He is
attorney for and on the board of directors of the "Big Four"--the United
Artists. He is attorney for the Society of Authors & Composers. He is the
attorney for Victor Herbert, and for John Phillip Sousa. He is the attorney
for the Producing Managers' Association of New York City, and represented
them throughout the Actors' Equity trouble. He was Jewel Carmen's attorney
in her successful action against Fox. In addition to these people and
institutions he represents more than one hundred men and women of the
theatre, and scores of outside individuals and businesses.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
July 16, 1920
VARIETY
[This item gives an indication of the success of Mabel Normand's most popular
film, "Mickey":]
You can't always sometimes tell--even the shrewdest guess wrong. When
"Mickey" was offered State-right buyers a couple of years ago J. Frank Hatch,
one of the cleverest of the State-right purchasers, offered $8,000 for Ohio,
refusing to raise his bid. He could have bought it for $9,000. Harry
Grelle, of Pittsburgh, paid $12,000 for Ohio and $10,000 for Pennsylvania for
a three years' lease of the picture, which still has a year to go. Up to
date Grelle has cleaned up a profit of $323,000 on Ohio and Pennsylvania, the
bulk of which was made in Ohio. At the conclusion of the lease of "Mickey"
Grelle will retire, satisfied with his accumulated "pile." The picture was
put into Pittsburgh for a run which cleaned up a profit of $60,000 on the
engagement.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
May 1921
PHOTOPLAY
...And we can now present to you--Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moore.
Tom Moore and Renee Adoree met in New York New Year's Eve.
They were married in Beverly Hills, California, on February 12th.
...They were married, in the lovely drawing room of Tom Moore's home in
Beverly Hills, just at noon. Nice, fat, jolly Judge Summerfield married them,
and Mabel Normand was maid of honor, and Jack Pickford was best man. Dear old
Mrs. Moore, mother of the Moores, was the only guest present.
...Afterwards they drove to a famous Inn in Pasadena, where a bridal
breakfast was served for forty of their friends, among them May Allison,
Alice Lake, Edna Purviance, Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Hamilton, Lottie Pickford,
Teddy Sampson, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Gibbons,
and the bridal party.
Everybody drank the bride's health--in the stuff that runs under
bridges, we suppose--and they motored away in a cloud of rice, and blessings
to Santa Barbara, Del Monte, San Francisco and finally took shop to Honolulu,
where they spent a three weeks honeymoon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 1921
Hazel Shelly
MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC
The grill room of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles is rapidly
becoming the Mecca for movie people. When Mr. And Mrs. Star need diversion
recreation, or food, nowadays, instead of hieing themselves in their Packards
to the Alexandria or Sunset Inn, they drive to the Ambassador. Not only is
this Hotel de Luxe nearer their habitats, but it is twice as expensive as any
other hostelry.
The other evening Ruth Roland was there tripping the light fantastic
with some good-looking chap. She wore a peach-colored chiffon evening dress.
Among the other dancers was Rosemary Theby in grey, and a grey picture hat,
and Eileen Percy in an emerald-green chiffon frock and hat. To my mind
Gloria Swanson was the most beautiful woman in the room. She was wearing a
flame-colored evening gown trimmed with flame-colored sequins. Her hair was
dressed in a new fashion, parted in the middle and bound close to her head.
She was accompanied solely by her husband, H. K. Somborn
Another evening Mahlon Hamilton and his handsome young wife were there
in a party, which included Mabel Normand and William D. Taylor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 11, 1921
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
From the manner in which Nazimova's modernized "Camille" held the
attention of the audience which viewed it, for the first time, in the
ballroom of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New York, the evening of Wednesday,
September 7; from the applause the picture evoked and from outspoken
commendation of it by professional personages there, Metro officials believe
that in the screen version of the great Dumas play it has one of the most
powerful box office attractions ever produced...
Nazimova was present in person at the showing, as also were Rudolph
Valentino, who played Armand, and Natacha Rambova, who designed the settings.
Following the exhibition there was a reception in the Crystal Room.
The production was directed by Ray C. Smallwood and the scenario
written by June Mathis.
The photoplay was viewed by an audience whose composite photograph
might have been entitled "A Celebrity."
Among the guests were...Miss Lillian Gish, Miss Dorothy Gish, Miss
Norma Talmadge, Miss Constance Talmadge, Joseph M. Schenck, Richard
Barthelmess,...Adolph Zukor, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Douglas
Fairbanks, Mabel Normand...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 18, 1921
NEW YORK TELEGRAPH
All the leading film lights in New York were present on Thursday night
at the Apollo Theatre when "Little Lord Fauntleroy" made its bow to the
public. A casual eye swept over the audience during the intermission
revealed such well-known people as Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Mrs.
Margaret Talmadge, Samuel Goldwyn, Joseph Schenck, Dorothy Gish, Edgar
Selwyn, Mabel Normand, Marshall Neilan, Anita Loos, John Emerson, Mr. and
Mrs. J. D. Williams, Albert Parker, Hiram Abrams, Nathan Burkan, Dennis
O'Brien, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Grey, Mae Murray, Robert Leonard, and, of
course, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., Jack Pickford and
Mrs. Charlotte Pickford.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 1921
Adela Rogers St. Johns
PHOTOPLAY
Hollywood has been literally overrun with swimming parties this hot
month. Everybody who has a swimming pool--and numerous screen celebrities
have--is enjoying it themselves and inviting their friends to do likewise.
Wally Reid's hillside estate sports a very grand pool, with a walled-in
sand pile, completely shut in from the road and Mrs. Reid--who was pretty
Dorothy Davenport--is found in it about eight hours out of every twenty-four.
The other afternoon she and Wally were joined by pretty Wanda Hawley--who
looks very nice indeed in a blue one piece affair, which she fills with
curving completeness--Mabel Normand, and was there every anybody before or
since who could look like Mabel in one of those Italian silk suits of
unrelieved black--T. Roy Barnes, and his wife Bessie Crawford, Bill Hart, May
Allison, who is just learning to swim and does it with fascinating timidity
amid prolific masculine instruction--and wears a modest, taffeta bathing
dress that looks very French and ties in the back. Not to mention young Bill
Reid, who at the age of four has learned to swim under water like an enlarged
minnow, but can't swim if his nose gets above water.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
November 12, 1921
LOS ANGELES RECORD
In spite of the fact that November 10 is known to Mabel Normand and her
intimates, as her birthday, it made little difference to that young lady when
she arose to greet the day that meant the beginning of a new year in her
life. She received and accepted an invitation from her producer, Mack
Sennett, to take dinner with him and a friend, at his home. The hour was set
for 7 and as usual Mabel was on time.
As Mr. Sennett escorted Miss Normand to the dining room, which was
darkened to that time, the lights were turned on and eleven of Mabel's
friends rushed her to wish many happy returns of the day.
A beautiful three-piece silver tea set was the gift of the entire
company. Many less pretentious gifts were presented from the people who
worked with her on the last picture, "Molly 'O," including an alarm clock
from her director, Dick Jones.
Those who helped toward making the party a complete success, were Mabel
Normand, William D. Taylor, Mrs. Catherine Sennett, Fay Borden, Mack Sennett,
Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Asher, Dick Jones, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Mueller and John
Grey.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 2, 1921
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
"The Writers" last night threw down the gauntlet to "The Lambs."
Vying in half a dozen qualities these two famous clubs of the West and
the East promise a lively rivalry hereafter...
"The Writers' Cramp" was the occasion of the affair.
Just how the cramp originated is not made public, but it is generally
supposed that it was first noticed in the region of the pocketbook when
equipment for the "Writers'" new athletic field was to be provided.
In a spasm of optimism some one--they do say it was Marion Fairfax--
conceived the idea of raising money to allay this cramp by a big public
gathering. The public was entirely willing. In fact, some 1200 strong,
Mr. and Mrs. Public responded with such a rush that the baby stars of filmdom
who were selling tickets had to requisition trucks to carry home the money.
Whatever the financial result, the social development of the affair was
remarkable. Folk of the studios met society on terms of equal footing, and a
bond of common interest created which will make last night's dinner dance one
of the memorable events of local history.
The array of distinguished men and woman assembled would alone have
been worth all the price of admission. The fact that the cotillion form of
dance was observed permitting every guest to dance with his or her screen
favorite was a further pleasure provided, and finally a specially staged
entertainment of wit, beauty and music completed the brilliance of an affair
which every guest may recall with happiness for years to come...
As the lovely women stepped into the picture we forgot the world was
made for anything but beauty...
Gloria Swanson, wisteria velvet embroidered in silver, rhinestones and
pearls...
Colleen Moore, imported French gown of lavender chiffon, embroidered in
blue and made over blue silk...
Bessie Love, pink tulle and pearl trimmings...
Mabel Normand, white and silver sequin with chiffon. Silver wreath in
her hair...
Blanche Sweet, black velvet trimmed with silver.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 8, 1922
LOS ANGELES EXAMINER
Unattended by directors shouting "action" and in an atmosphere that was
utterly lacking in suggestion of the sets of a studio, Lottie Pickford Rupp,
sister to Mary Pickford, was married last night to Alan Forrest Fisher, known
to the cinema world in which he is a star as Alan Forrest.
The ceremony was performed in the First Methodist Church of Hollywood
by the Rev. Dr. Willsie Martin, its pastor, and in the presence of nearly
every motion picture star on the Pacific Coast, to say nothing of several
hundred residents of Hollywood and Los Angeles.
Following the wedding, the bridal party, accompanied by a few intimate
friends, went to the Ambassador Hotel, where a wedding dinner was served.
This morning Mr. and Mrs. Fisher will leave on an extended honeymoon jaunt.
Where are they going?
They refuse to tell.
The wedding ceremony was marked by its beautiful simplicity and lasted
less than ten minutes. Long before it began, though, the guests, both those
of the motion picture colony who knew the couple well and those who have met
them through the "silver screen," had gathered outside the church.
The doors were not opened until a few minutes before seven-thirty, the
hour set for the marriage. When the guests were finally admitted the large
edifice was filled within a few seconds and so large was the crowd that
failed to gain admittance that a detail of police officers from the Hollywood
station was pressed into service to handle it.
Arrangements had been made for the bride and groom to enter the church
from different vestibules, but when 7:30 came and it was time to start the
wedding march, "Mary and Doug" had not arrived and there was a short delay.
Miss Rupp arrived early with her mother, Mrs. Charlotte Pickford, and her
brother, Jack, who was to give her away.
When "Doug" and "Mary" arrived there was a hurried whispered conference
of all the party and "Doug" was sent into the church to take his seat with
the other members of the family.
"Doug's" appearance was the signal for an enthusiastic outburst of
applause from the ensembled guests. It was enthusiasm that could not be kept
down apparently, thought the edifice was a church and the occasion a wedding.
The object of the outburst, however, appeared none too well pleased and
attempted to gain silence by nodding his head. It had no effect.
Many times have the members of last night's wedding participated in
beautiful wedding ceremonies before the camera, but last night, face to face
with reality, the appeared lost, and they frankly admitted they felt that
way.
Miss Rupp was attended only by her sister. There was no bridesmaid and
no ring bearer or flower girls.
Just as the wedding march commenced, when Miss Rupp and her sister and
brother were waiting in the vestibule to start the processional, "Our Mary"
pleadingly asked what she was to do.
"I'm nervous," she said, and she meant it.
"I'm nervous too," responded Jack. "Don't ask me."
"Well, let's go in," added the bride.
There was a hurried scamper and Mary took a position before the other
two. No one was quite sure which arm Jack was supposed to offer the bride but
with the aid of a reporter they finally were straightened out and started
into the church.
Mary, forgetting her nervousness, head in the air and looking straight
ahead like a little grenadier, led the bride and her brother up the side
aisle and down the center of the chancel.
Both the bride and her maid-of-honor were beautifully gowned and both
deserved the subdued exclamation of homage that came from the standing
guests. The bride has always had an honest claim to be called pretty. As for
Mary--well, who is there in the world who doesn't know of her almost
childlike beauty, and she never looked prettier than last night.
The bridegroom and his best man, Eddie Sutherland, were waiting near
the foot of the chancel and as the bride and groom met, Doctor Martin entered
from the chancel door. Almost, it seemed, before the audience realized the
ceremony had begun, it had finished and the recessional began.
There was a mad rush on the part of the guests to reach the street
before Mr. and Mrs. Forrest were driven away. Only a few, however, succeeded
in getting near them. The ushers, Hoot Gibson, Al Roscoe and Harry Cohn,
anticipating just such a move, saw to it that bride and groom were well on
the way to the Ambassador before the church was half emptied.
Other members of the family made their exit from side doors and they
too were whirled away from the huge and curious crowd. "Doug" may have held
up the wedding by being just a little bit late but he managed to get to the
hotel before the rest of the party and was in possession when they arrived.
Among the guests at the wedding dinner were Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moore,
Thomas Dixon, Steve Franklin, Hoot Gibson, Harry Cohn, Al Roscoe, May McAvoy,
Mabel Normand, Mr. and Mrs. Urson, Lila Lee, Mrs. Charlotte Pickford, Mary
Miles Minter, Bebe Daniels, Alice Lake, Mr. and Mrs. Canfield, Eddie
Sutherland, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, Jack Pickford, and "Doug and Mary."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 22, 1922
LOS ANGELES TIMES
E. M. Asher, personal representative of Mack Sennett...confirmed that
Miss Normand sailed on the White Star Line steamship Majestic last Saturday,
December 16, to spend Christmas in England...
Confirming Miss Normand's return to Europe, which she visited in the
summer, Asher said she sailed rather suddenly, "with a party of friends," on
the Majestic merely to spend Christmas in London. He said she had advised
him she would sail on her return voyage two or three days after Christmas.
He denied the disclosure of Wally Reid's breakdown had any connection with
her sudden departure from the United States, but admitted she decided on the
trip somewhat unexpectedly.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
June 1923
Herb Howe
PHOTOPLAY
...It was while chatelaine of the Beaux Arts that Texas [Guinan] first
drew the eastern filmers together, achieving a big financial and social
success. She gave a farewell party for Pearl White before the star sailed
for France to seek seclusion in a convent. Mabel Normand, George Beban,
Anita Stewart, George Melford, Rubye de Remer, Nita Naldi, Allan Dwan, the
Dolly sisters, Kitty Gordon, Bebe Daniels and all Pearl's friends were there,
including the parish priest who counseled Miss White to seek serenity of mind
and spirit within convent walls.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
November 1923
Cal York
PHOTOPLAY
Jane Cowl's presentation in Los Angeles of "Romeo and Juliet"--one of the
finest things ever seen on the American stage--woke a storm of enthusiasm
among motion picture artists.
The opening night saw a really amazing gathering in the big auditorium.
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were there. Norma Talmadge, and Joe
Schenck, Constance Talmadge-in a green frock with a little tight silver
turban, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Earle Williams, Mabel Normand, with Paul
Bern and wearing the most exquisite summer evening frock of organdy lace and
embroidery over coral taffeta, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brabin (Theda Bara) in an
exquisitely draped gown of yellow satin, in a box with Mrs. Leslie Carter.
Pola Negri, in black with some artistic and fascinating dashes of Oriental
color, Charles Chaplin, William S. Hart, Ethel Clayton, May Allison, Leatrice
Joy, in apricot taffeta, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Meighan, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas
MacLean, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ray, Mr. and Mrs. William de Mille, and Mr. and
Mrs. Fred Niblo (Enid Bennett).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 2, 1924
Edward Doherty
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. 1--Mabel Normand and Edna Purviance, moving
picture stars, full of New Year's cheer and saturated with tears, were taken
into custody late tonight after Mabel's chauffeur had sent a bullet into the
breast of Courtland F. Dines, an oil operator from Denver, who is a friend of
Miss Purviance. Dines, according to first reports, was fatally hurt. Later
reports are more optimistic. One is that neither lung was pierced.
After the two moving picture actresses had been questioned by the
police and released they saw to it that Dines was properly cared for in the
Good Samaritan hospital. The chauffeur who fired the shot is H. A. Kelly,
alias Greer.
The first word of the shooting came to the police from Kelly himself.
He arrived at the university police station and said:
"I have just shot a man over at 325 North Vermont Avenue."
The police hurried over to the bungalow at that address. They found
the women weeping over Dines who was reclining on a sofa.
"I guess somebody shot him, Mister," said Mabel--with the right amount
of cheer in her voice.
Later Kelly, the chauffeur, was booked on a charge of assault with a
deadly weapon with intent to kill and the women were released and allowed to
go home.
The place where the shooting occurred, which had been rented by Dines
on his arrival from Denver six weeks ago, is a unit in a beautiful series of
court bungalows. Edna, who is said to be his fiancee, had been there much of
this afternoon. There had been obviously an abundance of drinkables.
Miss Normand says she went to the apartment at 8 o'clock p.m. in her
limousine and told her chauffeur she would call him when she wanted him.
"He came in about 9 o'clock or some time," Mabel said in the police
station, "without being called. Honest, nobody invited my chauffeur to the
party. Why the--well, why should we?
"And all of a sudden there's some shots. And poor Dines is hit.
"Honest I never saw the shooting. I didn't know nothing about it.
I was in the other room, putting some powder on my nose, or maybe smoking a
cigarette or something. And Edna was with me--see?"
Edna's story was much the same; but rather vague and indefinite. It
was plain though that she was doing her best to recollect. But she had
forgotten much. She had even forgotten to button her shoes, until she saw a
burly cop grinning at her ankles.
Then Mabel's chauffeur, whom she knows as Greer, told his story. He
said he wanted to protect Miss Normand.
"This guy Dines has got a lot of booze," he explained to the interested
police and newspaper men. "And he's been keeping poor Mabel so bleary-eyed
that she can't do anything. I felt sorry for the kid, and I determined to
put a stop to it.
"So this afternoon I went up to Mabel's room. And up in Mabel's room I
found this little gat.
"Well, about 8:30 o'clock I takes Mabel over to this Dines' place--on
the way to the depot. She was going to see some friends off to the east,
Mabel's great like that. Do anything to cheer a friend. She had some
flowers--she's always giving flowers to everybody. And she though she'd just
step in and say "hello" and "happy New Year's."
"I waited an hour for her to come out. And she didn't come. So I went
into the place.
"I saw that Mabel was in no condition to stay there any longer and that
Miss Purviance was--well, anyway, I said, 'Come on, Mabel, we're going away
from here.'
"She told me I was a kill-joy and that I wasn't a gentleman if I
insisted on going around killing her parties.
"I got rough with her--like any man would. And I told her if she
didn't come and come right away I'd chuck up the job. I wasn't going to
'chauf,' her around if she insisted on getting drunk every time she could.
"Well, she got up and put her arm on mine and we started out.
"Then this guy Dines started to pick up a bottle. I thought he was
going to hit me with it. I'm no roughneck; I'm no cave man. Look me over--
you don't see no ladies' delight about me. Little guy, I am. And him--well,
you seen him, didn't you?
"I wasn't going to let him crack me over the dome with no bottle--no
matter if it was a real Haig & Haig bottle. And I pulled the gat and let him
have it."
Greer fired three shots, and then ran out to the police station and
told the police he had "just shot a guy."
It was really an affecting meeting, that of the movie stars and the oil
man, in the ward of the shabby little receiving hospital. It was
approximately two hours after the shooting and the girls, having finished
with the police quiz, had become almost cold sober.
They were led from the detective bureau by a crowd of admiring cops.
Edna, dressed in a cloth of gold evening gown, gold satin slippers and gold
silk stockings, with a wrap of gold and green; and Mabel, a Gainsborough
picture in black velvet--and plenty of ostrich feathers on her hat.
"Gimmie a cigarette," begged Mabel just before the procession to the
receiving hospital began.
"O, daddy," was Edna's greeting to Dines in the hospital.
She took the wounded man's hand in hers and kissed it. The light shone
on a big diamond--Edna's.
"Is my sweetie hurt?" she asked of Dines.
The tears began to fall in great splotches from the blond lady's eyes.
"No--I'll be all right," said Dines.
"'Lo, Sweety," said Mabel, with just that exact note of cheer needed
for the sick room. "Hoy's the sweety?"
Edna shoved up the gold bandeau--it threatened to drop over her eyes,
and bent and kissed Dines.
"What do you think of that guy saying I tried to hit him with a
bottle--" Dines moaned. "Get me a drink of water."
"All my fault," said Mabel, still the cheerfullest soul in the room.
"Say, he told everybody I saw the shooting. Huh--and if he says it again
I'll take a couple shots at him."
Mabel pushed Edna out of the way and repeated that it was all her fault
and that she ought to take a couple of shots at somebody...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
January 3, 1924
Edward Doherty
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
(Los Angeles)--Jan. 2--Mabel Normand and Edna Purviance, movie stars,
who were present when Mabel's chauffeur shot Edna's sweetheart, Courtland S.
Dines, last night, will have to tell their stories to the police at least
once more.
...An unvoiced, passionate love for his "movie queen" employer and
jealousy of her host is believed by the police to have caused Horace A.
Greer, the driver, to shoot Dines.
But Mabel herself objects strenuously to this view;
"A chauffeur with a gun!" she said tonight. "Deliver me."
Mabel was more articulate today but not so full of pep. Her fingers
trembled a little as she lit a cigarette. She had just been reading the
newspapers and the police version of the affair seemed to anger her.
"Blah, blah," said Mabel. "Slush, the poor boob was nuts. He was only
one of the servants, and he was treated like one. Why, I didn't even treat
him like--well I've had a lot of good chauffeurs. And good gawd, I didn't
even hire this egg. My secretary did that."
Some one asked Mabel about the gat.
"Well my gawd," she said, "I didn't know how he had it. He says he got
it out of my room. What business had he in my room--my bedroom? Say, I hope I
drop dead if this ain't the truth--that man had been in my room only twice
that I know of--once to fix my curler and once to fix an electric plug.
Honest.
"Somebody gave me that gat to shoot bottles with. I broke a lot of nice
mountains shooting at bottles, but I had a lot of fun. And he says I was in
the room when he cut loose with the gat, and he wasn't shooting at bottles,
either. I wasn't in the room at all. I was in Edna's room. She was putting on
her evening gown and it wasn't hooked up and I didn't want this egg to see
her.
"Then all of a sudden, bang, bang, bang. I thought they were
firecrackers. The kind I used to throw at Ben Turpin. Poor old Ben, he'd look
at me so funny."
Mabel tried to give an imitation of Ben doing the east and west and
nearly strangled on cigarette smoke.
Edna was lying in bed when the reporters came. She was dressed in a
nightie and a pretty orchid kimono. Her blond hair was sadly disturbed, and
her eyes were hidden by dark glasses in horn rims. She remembered some
details overlooked or unrecalled last night. She was quite certain today
that Mabel was with her.
"Yes, I was powdering my nose," she said, "and Mabel came in and said,
'Don't be a pig, Eddie, let me see Mabel in the glass and give me some of
your powder.'"
This coincides with Mabel's story--but it is directly opposed to
Greer's.
"Mabel was sitting on the davenport," he said, "and she had just put
her arm on mine and we were going out when Dines makes a grab for that bottle
and I let him have it. Mabel screamed."
Greer said today he meant to fire only one, but he shot three bullets
out of the gun before he knew it. The gun jammed on the fourth shot.
"Why," Edna said, "that chauffeur just came in the door and started
shooting. That's all there was to it. No argument or anything so far as I
know."
Edna is not going to lose her job with Charlie Chaplin because of the
trouble--but Charlie plows nervous hands through his crinkly gray hair.
"The poor kid," he says, "she's worried stiff. She doesn't know
whether she's going to be fired or not. Of course I'm not going to fire her.
We all get into trouble some time.
"But whether she will have the lead in my next picture--I--uh--have a
cigar. You see, we've been trying out a lot of people for that role. We've
been trying to get a girl who is smaller than Edna, and --well, I don't know.
"But of course her present trouble has not a thing to do with that.
You understand how types are cast? That's it. We want a certain type for
the lead in my new picture."
There was talk during the interview with Charley and Edna about a
little strip of film showing a man removing a splinter from Edna's beautiful
knee.
"My God," said Edna.
"But you wouldn't publish that," said Charley. "What would be the
point?"
"No, we're not going to print that picture," the newspaper man assured
him. "We haven't found it."
Edna explained that she was and she wasn't engaged to Dines. For about
six months, she said, she and Court had an understanding, and, although he
hadn't given her a betrothal ring they intended to get married. She added
that she was terribly fond of the wounded man.
Edna then proceeded to touch more in detail the high spots of the
evening's events.
"I had promised Mr. Dines to have dinner and in the middle of the
afternoon I dropped in at his bungalow. There were some others there, too.
It was a sort of New Year's open house all over Hollywood and there were
callers at the bungalow through the whole afternoon.
"Soon after reaching the house I went to a telephone and called Mabel
and asked her to come on over. It wasn't long till she arrived. Her
chauffeur, Greer, brought her over.
"Folks kept dropping in and finally, shortly before 7, Mr. Dines said
he'd step into his room and dress for dinner.
"None of the three of us were intoxicated. We had some drinks, but not
many. Only a moment, it seemed, after Mr. Dines started to change his
clothes for dinner and just after Mabel and I were in a room leading off the
living room--powdering our noses--the three shots sounded from the other
room. That's the whole of it."
The police theory is that Greer was in love with Mabel, and that he
wanted to pose as a hero, a caveman, in her eyes, and take her away from the
man who was giving her booze.
"I wouldn't ever aspire to love such a wonderful, beautiful, great
movie star," Greer said today. "Me, one lung, a little guy? I like her and
all that, and she's been kinder to me than anybody I ever me. Gave me some
platinum cuff links Christmas day. Big hearted, that's what she is--always
doing something for somebody.
"Well, I told you how Miss Burns, Mabel's companion, got a call from
her, asking to have me sent over to Dines' for her. And how she told me a
man took Mabel from the phone and hollered that she wouldn't be home. I went
over there. I knew Mabel had to have an operation, for I guess it's
appendicitis. And I knew it wasn't doing her any good to get soused. But
you know Mabel--she can't say no--too darn good hearted."
Edna told reporters this afternoon that Mabel hadn't called Miss Edith
Burns, her housekeeper, or anybody else.
"I was with her all the time, of course, and I know she didn't use the
telephone," she insisted.
[These last two articles were written by Edward Doherty. In his
autobiography, "Gall and Honey: The Story of a Newspaperman", Doherty told of
visiting Mabel Normand in the hospital at a later date, at which time she
told him, "Eddie, I thought you were the devil himself, because you always
quoted me exactly as I talked."]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September 1924
PHOTOPLAY
Did you ever run ten blocks to a fire and then find that it was only
some measly little woodshed burning? Sure you have and so have we. In fact
that is about the only kind we ever did run to until recently. And then we
felt repaid for all the futile miles we had run.
For this fire was different. It was a garage fire and among the eight
garages blazing was one that belonged to Mabel Normand. And in her garage
was a spick and span limousine. It was and still is the pride of her heart,
despite the fact that the flames damaged it about $1,000 worth.
But it was not the burning or saving of her limousine that made the
fire such a success from the spectators' viewpoint. The fair Mabel furnished
the excitement. Aroused from peaceful slumbers, she rushed to the garage
clad only in her pajamas, slippers and a filmy something thrown over her
shoulders. She has appeared in many fire scenes in pictures but never to
better advantage than she did that early morning.
The dashing comedienne took command of the firemen in directing their
work of saving her garage and limousine, and no firemen ever worked harder or
more valiantly than did those gallants of the Wilshire fire station.
When it was all over she took them into her home and served breakfast.
It was some fire and some breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
October 1924
PHOTOPLAY
At last Hollywood has seen Douglas Fairbanks' "The Thief of Bagdad."
No picture ever made has been awaited with such eager interest by the film
colony itself, and the opening night at Grauman's Hollywood theater was one
of those unforgettable occasions, marred only by the absence of Doug and
Mary, who were somewhere on the high seas, bound for America.
The scene was an amazing one, from the crowd that packed the streets
outside, to the interior of the theater, transformed for the production of
this picture into a veritable Arabian Nights palace, filled with incense and
Oriental perfumes, magnificent tapestries and rich colors, dancing girls and
throbbing Eastern music.
In the audience were Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Madame Alla
Nazimova, with the most fascinating new bob above a frock of gold and coral;
Florence Vidor, in cream chiffon with orchids; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Meighan,
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Lloyd (Mildred wore the daintiest of Boue Souers frocks
under a summer evening wrap of pale pink chiffona du marabou); Mr. and Mrs.
Reginald Denny (Mrs. Denny in a smart taffeta frock of blended pastel
colors); Mr. and Mrs. Earle Williams, the latter stunning in cloth of gold
and flame net; Miss Jeanie MacPherson, wearing a gorgeous evening coat of
green silk shot with gold and banded with gold embroidery; Mr. and Mrs.
Walter Morosco (Corrine Griffith), Paul Bern, Mabel Normand, all in white
satin trimmed with rhinestones under an evening wrap of ermine; Mr. and Mrs.
George Archainbaud, Kathleen Clifford, in scalloped white chiffon ornamented
with red silken roses; Mae Busch, black and silver; Jack Pickford and Marilyn
Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Allan Forrest (Lottie Pickford), Mr. and Mrs. Robert
Leonard (Mae Murray--in some shimmering white and silver thing, with a coat
of delicate canary yellow); Mr. and Mrs. Norman Kerry, Priscilla Dean, in
autumn leaf brown, with a big picture hat of the same color; Mr. and Mrs.
Conrad Nagel, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas MacLean, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ray, George
Fitzmaurice, Eugene O'Brien and Mr. and Mrs. Monta Bell.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 1925
Herb Howe
PHOTOPLAY
When Mabel Normand went East to appear on the stage she listed her
house for rent...the agents rented it to Barbara La Marr.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
February 1926
PHOTOPLAY
Upon her return from Europe, Irene Rich was honored by the Warner
Brothers with a dinner dance at the Casa Lopez. She looked charming as ever,
but was quite apologetic because she hadn't had time to get a new gown for
the party. You see, Irene had taken her two daughters to Europe and placed
them in school in Switzerland, and their stay in Paris was spent outfitting
the children. So Mamma was neglected.
Nevertheless, the line formed to the right of Irene's table, and it
took all four Warner Brothers to fight off her prospective dancing partners.
Mabel Normand in an ermine wrap looked well and happy. Natacha Rambova
made her usual striking appearance in her draped turban. Clive Brook and
John Roche were among the most popular dancing partners.
After the dinner and some dancing, the Warner Brothers' newest opus,
"Lady Windermere's Fan," was run off for the guests...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
December 1928
Harry Lang
PHOTOPLAY
[from an interview with Hollywood psychic George Dareos, discussing the
stars who come to him for psychic readings]..."I know all the stars--they all
come to see me," Dareos went on. "Mabel Normand, Alice and Marceline Day,
Clarie Windsor, Olive Borden, Jetta Goudal, Joan Crawford..."
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