Some
of what you read below is true. Some is pure fantasy. But we include
them all in this column, dedicated to a town unable to tell the
difference between reality and fantasy.
Caveat
Emptor
There
is a reason we run the disclaimer at the top. Although many of the
tales listed here are true, just as many, or even more, are spun out
of whole cloth. Worse, over a period of time they begin not only to
be accepted as fact, but come to take on a life of their own. A case
in point is that of silent star Karl Dane. Born Rasmus Karl
Therkelsen Gottlieb in Copenhagen, Denmark, he immigrated to America
in 1916 and began his career in the movies by working as an extra at
Vitagraph. Typecast as the Hun in war movies of the time he quickly
grew disillusioned with Hollywood and left, but in 1925 an old friend
convinced him to try acting again. He landed the role of Slim in King
Vidor’s The Big Parade (1925). It was a huge hit,
making stars of leading actor John Gilbert, leading lady Renee Adoree
and Dane. MGM signed him and his career continued to rise with a role
as Ramadan in 1926's Son of the Sheik with Rudolph
Valentino and Bardelys the Magnificent with John
Gilbert.
First,
here’s the commonly accepted story, originally in Kenneth
Anger’s Hollywood Babylon: He was earning $5,000 a week
and shared his mansion with 13 servants and 5 Rolls Royces. But he
could not speak any English and his career foundered. Gone was the
mansion, replaced by a small apartment in a seedy part of Hollywood.
Gone were the Rolls Royces, replaced by L.A. transit buses. By 1933
he was selling hot dogs from a cart outside the studio gates.
Supposedly he was embarrassed when someone from the studio spotted
him selling hot dogs and on April 15, 1934, he shot himself in the
head in his apartment. When his body went unclaimed Buster Keaton
appealed to Eddie Mannix and MGM paid for his funeral.
A
nice story, but the only true parts were that Dane did indeed commit
suicide at his apartment and MGM did pay for his funeral. The rest is
hooey. How do I know? Because a film scholar named Laura Petersen
Balogh wrote his definitive biography: Karl Dane: A Biography
and Filmography (McFarland, 2009).
At
his best MGM was paying Dane $1,500 a week. And if he spoke no
English, as per the story, then why was he in 24 talkies? The studio
verdict on Dane was that his English was a bit shaky but his accent
was understandable and suited his type and look perfectly.
What
did Dane in was overwork (he also toured in a vaudeville act with
British actor George K. Arthur), a bad marriage, and a nervous
breakdown. In 1930 Dane's roles had grown smaller and in 1932
MGM, citing his inability to correct his accent, let him go. (The
studios were hiring actors who could learn to drop their accents. The
Talmadge sisters, Constance and Norma, failed in talkies because they
could not or would not take the time to lose their heavy “New Yawk”
accents.) Dane’s last role was for Mascot Pictures in a 1933 serial
entitled The Whispering Shadow, starring Bela Lugosi,
another actor with an accent. Although he made major investments in
mining in 1931 and 1933 his business partner was crooked and Dane
lost all the money he had made in films. Now broke and impoverished
be went from one menial job to another, never staying long. MGM
refused to rehire him as even a carpenter or an extra despite his
skills (he was a carpenter in Denmark). As for the hot dog stand, yes
he did own a hot dog stand, but no, he didn't operate it in front of
the MGM gates. The "hot dog stand" or "hot dog cart"
was actually a more permanent structure that had a counter and
seating for patrons. Dane eventually bought a stake in it after the
owner thought that having a former film star would drum up business.
Petersen Balogh quotes a passage from the memoirs of Dane’s former
partner, George K. Arthur:
“Another
man might have kidded and clowned and made a feature of being "mine
host" in a restaurant, but when Karl opened his hot dog stand in
Westwood his own feeling of despair must have been served across the
counter with the hamburgers. People could not bear to watch it. So
they didn't come to buy his hamburgers.”
Days before his
death Dane was returning to his apartment when a pickpocket robbed
him of all the money he had in the world: $18. On the eve of April
14th, 1934 Dane's friend Frances Leake arrived at his apartment to
take him to a movie, hoping to lift his spirits. Unable to enter she
had the landlady open the door. The duo discovered Dane slumped in
his chair, a revolver at his side. They found a note left by a
scrapbook of his publicity clippings. It simply said, “To Frances
and all my friends—Goodbye." He was 47.
His body went
unclaimed in the hope of finding relatives in Denmark, but
Hollywood’s danish community was up in arms over the developments
and their spokesman, actor Jean Hersholt, insisted MGM pay for a
funeral and burial. MGM agreed, and on April 18, a funeral at
Hollywood Forever Cemetery was held open to the public. There
were around fifty attendees. According to Petersen Balogh Dane’s
estate was valued at $197.
This is why we must
take some of these stories with the appropriate grain of salt.
Ironically, the truth about Karl Dane was even stranger than the
stories.
What’s
In a Name?
Faith
Domergue was one of the most beautiful women to appear in the movies.
But she also had a rather unusual name, one that was hard to spell
and pronounce. In fact, when Warner Bros. signed her in the early
‘40s, they changed her name to “Faith Dorn.” Faith said in
later interviews that it was because Jack Warner was too stupid to
spell “Domergue.” As for pronunciation, her name has been most
commonly pronounced as either “Dom-er-ghue” or “Do-merge.”
But Faith always said it was pronounced “Dah-mure.” This is no
Ann Dvorak; Faith’s birth name was Faith Marie Domergue, so if
anyone knows how her name should be pronounced, it was certainly Ms.
Domergue.
Stewart
Granger could not use real name, as it was already registered to
another actor. His real name? James Stewart.
Similarly,
English actress Caroline Caplan found her name was already
registered, so she changed her moniker to Caroline Catz. The irony is
that she’s deathly allergic to cats.
During
the filming of The Alamo (1960), John Wayne became
somewhat disgusted with the way co-star Laurence Harvey was walking
on the parapet. “Goddammit, can’t you even walk like a man?”
Wayne shouted. Harvey, who knew The Duke’s real name, shouted back,
“ Are you talking to me, Marion?”
They
Said It
“I’m
a great housekeeper. Whenever I get divorced I keep the house.” –
Zsa Zsa Gabor.
“I
went to Wal-Mart for the first time. I always thought they sold
wallpaper. I didn’t realize it has everything. You can get anything
you want there for really, really cheap.” –
Paris Hilton.
“Very
big-mouthed! Literally, physically, she has a big mouth. It is a very
big mouth. When I was kissing her I was aware of a faint echo.” –
Hugh Grant on his Notting Hill (1999)
co-star, Julia Roberts.
“Orson
Welles lists Citizen Kane as
his best film, Alfred Hitchcock opts for Shadow
of a Doubt, and Sir
Carol Reed chose The Third Man.
I’m in all of them.” –
Joseph Cotten. Can’t disagree with a man when he’s right.
“Grace
(Kelly) almost always laid the leading man. She was notorious for
that in this town.” –
Gore Vidal.
Fred
MacMurray once asked Barbara Stanwyck the secret of acting. “Just
be truthful,” Stanwyck
told him. “And
if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
Gable
and Lombard
The
story goes that on their anniversary, Gable asked his wife what she
wanted and listed several very expensive gifts. But the down-to-earth
Lombard simply told him, “To tell you the truth, Pa, I
could use a couple of loads of horseshit to spread around the rose
bushes.”
Mae’s
In
the ‘30s the most famous and successful Hollywood madam was Lee
Francis. The studios had accounts there under assumed names for their
stars and important clients, such as distributors. then Louis Mayer
and Eddie Mannix got the idea to have their own brothel. Called
“Mae’s,” it was located in a large mansion estate high above
Sunset. It was a Greek revival building with stately columns and wide
porches. Inside it featured 14 lavish suites along with a
full-service restaurant and bar. The place was managed by a woman
named Bille Bennett, who looked and talked like Mae West, hence the
name.
Mae’s
was a most unique brothel. The women were look-alikes of famous
actresses from the studios. For a substantial sum a customer could
choose from “Joan Crawford,” “Olivia de Havilland,” “Alice
Faye,” “Myrna Loy,” “Carole Lombard,” “Ginger Rogers,”
and “Claudette Colbert,” among others. The only actresses who
were never copied were Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn, although
some stories cite a Garbo look-alike who often said “I never want
to be alone, darling.” Some of the women were surgically enhanced
for accuracy and reportedly gave the client the illusion of being
with the real star.
In
his autobiography Mickey Rooney remembered the place, although he
identified it as “the T&M Studio,” and said Groucho Marx, who
was a regular client, introduced him to it. In his memoirs, Garson
Kanin told Carole Lombard on the set of a movie he was directing her
in that he slept with her. Her reaction was incredulous, then he told
her all about Mae’s. “I’ll die! I’ll die,”she
said. “Wait till I tell Clark! Jesus, no, I better
not. He’ll go there!” Author
James Elroy immortalized Mae’s in his novel L.A.
Confidential and in the 1997 film of the same name Kim
Basinger won the Oscar for her turn as one of the brothel’s sex
workers, made up to pass for Veronica Lake.
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