Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood (63 page)

“The action is regarded”
:
New York Times
, April 20, 1922.

Connette had implied
:
Honolulu Advertiser
, April 26, 1922.

“first society man”
: See, for example, the
Salt Lake Tribune
, February 2, 1913;
Washington Post
, October 28, 1913;
Indianapolis Sunday Star
, January 11, 1914; and
San Antonio Light
, January 17, 1915. Other biographical detail on Connette comes from the US Census, his passport application, ship passenger lists, and his World War I registration file.

he wrote articles
: See, for example,
Hilo Tribune
, March 14, 1922.

7000 H
OLLYWOOD
R
UMORS
:
Variety
, February 10, 1922.

received a police report
:
Oakland Tribune
, February 11, 1922.

“a moment of levity”
:
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
, April 26, 1922.

“not cooperating with the studio”
: This comes from “Twisted by Knaves,” an unpublished, incomplete manuscript, generally accepted to have been Charlotte Shelby’s attempt at a roman à clef. Located at the Margaret Herrick Library, AMPAS, it was also briefly available in a synopsis form online. That Shelby was with the company in Wyoming was confirmed by an item in
Variety
, August 11, 1922.

her costar, a spitfire
: I am speculating that Mary and Gibby developed a close relationship on this film, but it is based on some reasoning. If we accept “Twisted by Knaves” as an accurate description of Shelby’s feelings, then her concern over Mary’s friendship with the “least desirable” of the company is quite telling. Tom Moore, the leading man, was pretty upstanding, and I’ve found no negative reports about others on the film. But Gibby, Leonard Clapham, and Viora Daniel, who’d later be called a gold digger by her wealthy husband’s family in divorce court (
Galveston Daily News
, September 11, 1932), had somewhat unsavory connections. It seems likely this trio were the ones Shelby described as a “motley crew.”

Mary had known Palmer
:
Indianapolis Star
, March 1, March 4, 1916.

“more beautiful than the Swiss Alps”
:
Salt Lake Tribune
, August 8, 1922.

“I’ve stood in the stillness”
: A page from Mary’s diary, dated February 25, 1922, apparently taken from her estate before her death, was posted on an auction site online.

“Many of those letters”
:
Los Angeles Herald
, August 14, 1923.

later that year a warrant
:
Los Angeles Times
, January 24, 1923; September 6, 1923; May 2, 1924; May 3, 1924; September 7, 1924; US Penitentiary Records, 1895–1936. Calnay had been charged with embezzlement by Olympian Productions, a minor production company, though the charges were dropped (
Los Angeles Times
, November 5 and 9, 1921).
Film Daily
had written skeptically of his plans to start a new company on June 19, 1922.

They boarded the Oregon Short Line
: Details of the train accident come from the
Salt Lake Tribune
, August 7 and 8, 1922; and the
Ogden (UT) Standard-Examiner
, August 7, 1922.

Thirty thousand people
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 30, 1922.

“the Caesar of the Cinema”
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 21, 1922.

From the roof of every studio
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 22, 1922.

“I wish you would let me”
: Will Hays to Adolph Zukor, June 22, 1922, WHH.

“Unquenchable enthusiasm”
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 30, 1922.

“For the life of me”
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 28, 1922.

““little Napoleon of the Movies””
:
Los Angeles Times
, July 25, 1922.

“an active young Republican”
:
Los Angeles Times
, March 25, 1921. Other issues of the
Times
attesting to Herron’s involvement in the party include September 14, 1920, and August 5, 1921, among others.

was declared obscene
: Associated Press, as in
Hutchinson (KS) News
, May 23, 1922;
Variety
, June 1, 1922.

a cross-section of decent, law-abiding America
: The list of the Committee of Public Relations, dated June 1, 1922, is found in the archives, MPPDA.

“If we can preserve”
: Will Hays to Adolph Zukor, September 5, 1922, Zukor Collection.

former comedian had written to Hays
: Although Arbuckle’s letter to Hays does not survive, some of its contents can be deduced from Hays’s response.

“In this whole matter”
: Will Hays to Roscoe Arbuckle, June 5, 1922, WHH.

“What is the matter”
: W. D. McGuire to Charles Pettijohn, May 24, 1922, NBR.

“a vast load”
:
Los Angeles Times
, June 25, 1922.

recent brouhaha in Seattle
:
Film Daily
, May 9, 1922.

“very grateful”
: Minta Arbuckle to Will Hays, June 20, 1922, WHH.

The gross national product
: US Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, 1976.

“A beehive is a slow”
:
Los Angeles Times
, June 29, 1922.

Although earnings were actually
:
Wall Street Journal
, March 23, 1923.

“We believe the depth”
:
Motion Picture Classic
, April 1922.

Zukor’s customary whisper
: Unsourced article, September 1, 1922, Adolph Zukor file, NYPL.

That would make the Paramount larger
: News reports of Zukor’s plans, however, said that the Paramount would be the “second largest” theater, apparently due to square footage. See
New York Times
, June 3, 1922.

“sit up to all hours”
: Zukor,
Public Is Never Wrong
.

“to create the perception”
: Stephen Vaughn, “The Devil’s Advocate: Will H. Hays and the Campaign to Make Movies Respectable,”
Indiana Magazine of History
101 (June 2005).

“Your attitude in this matter”
: Carl Laemmle to Adolph Zukor, January 10, 1923; Adolph Zukor to Carl Laemmle, January 11, 1923, Zukor Collection.

“laid a bet on who”
: Zukor,
Public Is Never Wrong
.

“As a matter of fact”
:
Los Angeles Examiner
, February 18, 1922.

“a funny thing”
: King, “I Know Who.”

“Wasn’t that person”
:
Joplin (MI) Globe
, May 23, 1922.

“Yesterday afternoon an unknown”
:
Los Angeles Times
, October 4, 1922.

“E. C. King, on the district attorney’s staff”
:
Los Angeles Record
, October 4, 1922.

“the name of the woman”
: King, “I Know Who.”

They’d found a creditor
: Los Angeles chattel mortgage deeds, February 23, 1923, date entered into agreement “four months ago.”

spent some time in the slammer
: FBI file, August 11, 1923. Madsen’s detailed arrest record stretched back to 1916. He was arrested on July 11, 1922, and sentenced on July 20. By early August, according to FBI reports, he was back in Los Angeles.

“a series of petty bunco jobs”
: FBI file, November 13, 1923.

“feeling very confident”
: Court depositions, Southern District of Ohio, 1923.

Back in her hometown of Brattleboro
: Biographical details of Rose Putnam come from the US Census, 1900, 1910, 1920;
Vermont Phoenix
, November 22, 1907; May 13, 1910; February 24, 1911; May 9, 1911, January 5, 1912; Vermont marriage records, Walter O. Cooley and Rose Putnam, January 2, 1912.

wealthy Beatty Balestier
: Divorce suit of Walter Cooley and Rose Putnam Cooley, November 26, 1919, Vermont State Archives. Cooley was apparently content to simply live apart from his wife, but Rose filed suit against him on September 9 charging “intolerable severity and desertion.” Cooley then filed his own suit against Rose on October 20, charging desertion. He also filed an alienation-of-affection case against Balestier. The court dismissed Rose’s suit and gave the divorce to Walter.
Brattleboro Weekly Free Press
, September 11, 1919, and October 23, 1919. For more on Cooley, see
Brattleboro Weekly Free Press
, March 5, 1914, January 30, 1919, and May 8, 1919; clipping, June 20, 1947, Brattleboro Historical Society.

John L. Bushnell of Springfield, Ohio
: Biographical details from the US Census 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920;
20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens
, 1908;
Standard History of Springfield and Clark County
, 1922; Springfield, Ohio, city directories;
Springfield News
, September 16, 1910;
Boston Globe
, June 10, 1919;
New York Tribune
, November 20, 1920; passport application, July 23, 1923.

Bushnell wrote asking her
: Rose Putnam Cooley, statement, July 11, 1923, FBI files.

“Bushnell had sexual relations”
: FBI report, July 16, 1923.

Remarkably, Lasky agreed
: At first glance, it’s tempting to speculate that Gibby had been given a three-picture contract by Lasky in spring 1922. But it’s highly unlikely that Lasky (and Zukor) would allow a contract player in the midst of her contract with them to go out and produce independent pictures.

Mr. Billings Spends His Dime
: Reid’s drug-related illness would soon force him out of the picture; he would be replaced with Walter Hiers.

“unhappily situated”
: FBI report, July 16, 1923.

Blackie Madsen was fifty years old
: My description of Blackie Madsen comes from FBI reports, census records, and his military records. Although his death certificate gives his year of birth as 1864, and indeed the FBI believed him in 1923 to be between fifty-five and sixty years of age, the 1870 and 1880 censuses as well as his military records (1898) agree that he was born in 1872.

“His early youth”
:
Wichita (KS) Daily Eagle
, October 29, 1901.

eighteen-year-old Ross took a job
: Independence city directories;
Indicator: A National Journal of Insurance
9 (1890).

“highly respected” in her field
:
Wichita Daily Eagle
, October 29, 1901.

When the United States declared
: Returns from Military Posts, National Personnel Records Center. Sheridan enlisted on May 12, 1898, in St. Louis, and was discharged on February 24, 1899, at Puerto Principe, Cuba.

Sheridan at least got
:
Wichita Daily Eagle
, October 29, 1901. That Madsen still carried a wartime revolver was referenced when his weapon was described as “Spanish war vintage” (
Osborn
, 1923).

“the two men were jealous”
: Details of Sheridan’s involvement with Clara Williams and his attack on William Arista “Writ” Berkey come from the
Kansas City Star
, October 28, 1901;
Wichita Daily Eagle
, October 29, 1901;
Jackson (MO) Examiner
, November 1, 1901.

But finally he realized
:
Kansas City Star
, April 19, 1902.

“one of a bunch”
: San Diego police report, included in FBI report, August 11, 1923.

The five-story Beaux Arts
:
20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens
, 1908. Background on the Bushnells and the Bushnell Building comes from various materials compiled by Clark County Historical Society.

The banker’s appearance
: My description comes primarily from Bushnell’s passport application, which also included a photo.

He’d just gotten back
:
New York Tribune
, November 16, 1922.

“put up something”
: FBI report, July 16, 1923.

“a special agent and inspector”
:
Osborn
, 1923.

expected at the Sennett
:
Variety
, December 1, 1922.

No one thought to look
:
Indianapolis Star
, November 5, 1922.

“turned into gold”
:
Los Angeles Times
, September 13, 1922.

“You all made me so”
: Mabel Normand to Rose, December 10, 1922, in the Mabel Normand Sourcebook.

“give parties and plan dinners”
:
Los Angeles Times
, December 28, 1922.

“Tragedy and scandal”
:
Los Angeles Herald
, January 13, 1923.

“spread from coast to coast”
:
Los Angeles Times
, December 16, 1922.

“With some dailies”
:
Variety
, December 22, 1922.

“Actors are no longer heralded”
: Unsourced article, n.d. [1922], Ellen Terry file, NYPL.

At the eleventh hour
: A Sennett representative confirmed that Mabel had sailed on the
Majestic
and that her decision to spend Christmas in London was made “somewhat unexpectedly.” He denied, however, that her departure had anything to do with Wallace Reid’s breakdown.
Los Angeles Times
, December 22, 1922.

The
Majestic
was the last ship
:
New York Times
, December 16, 1922.

“silver-tongued orating”
:
Washington Times
, December 15, 1922.

“his sympathy, his hopes”
:
Los Angeles Times
, December 20, 1922.