#rudolph valentino truth

[rightdowntothedirtywork]

LONGLEGS (2024) Dir. Osgood Perkins ‘This is a cruel world, especially for the little things.’

LONGLEGS is a psychological thriller/horror film released earlier this year in 2024. Following in the footsteps of similar 90s FBI procedurals such as CURE (1997), Silence of the Lambs (1992) and SE7EN (1995), it follows a young FBI agent Lee Harker as she attempts to solve a string of familicides in 90s Oregon.

The film received a lot of publicity upon first being announced, being hailed as the ‘scariest film in the last 50 years’, which was only furthered by an incredible marketing campaign audience members could be involved in, such as calling the titular villain and cracking coded files to uncover crime scene photos, seemingly sent to you directly by the villain himself (which I managed to get from when I was involved with this before the movie came out);

The film was created by Osgood Perkins, the son of 60s horror darling, Anthony Perkins, who’s family life with Perkins’ mother informed the overarching 'meaning' behind the film.

Perkins' father died on September 12, 1992, from complications related to AIDS. He had been diagnosed with the disease a few years earlier but kept his illness private for most of his life. His mother, the talented Berry Berenson, also tragically lost her life in the September 11th attacks in 2001. In conversation with Vulture, Perkins reflects on his family life and the ways in which these experiences shaped his creative process in developing LONGLEGS:

““Mothers can craft stories,” he says as we loop along a lake and he looks toward the looming Cathedral Mausoleum, home to the remains of Peter Lorre and Rudolph Valentino. (For all his dry affect and working-director gear, with scruff and a baseball cap, Perkins still gives the occasional gleam of matinee-idol drama.) “They can tell their kids a version of what’s going on in their life or in the lives of their parents. And it’s done compassionately, protectively. And it’s not great.” In Longlegs, Agent Lee Harker (Monroe) gets assigned to investigate a series of murders with supernatural implications that are revealed to have a connection to details she never understood about her own childhood. In the character of Lee’s mother, Ruth (Alicia Witt), who raised her daughter alone and whose religiousness contains an off-key note, Perkins sees something personal about the domestic mythology his own mother wove. “My father was a homosexual man, or at least a bisexual man, who had a life that wasn’t reconcilable with his family life. For us, growing up, we just weren’t given that language. We weren’t given that access. Instead, there was a narrative put on things about what the family was like and how we were together and how my dad was. The challenge of rectifying what I felt I understood and what I was being told is the genesis for the mother that chooses to be complicit in a story.”

LONGLEGS quickly became one of my favorite films from the moment I first watched it. I remember leaving the cinema and immediately adding it to my (previously very stubbornly unchanging) Letterboxd top 4. I found its exploration of the themes surrounding the sheltering from the harsh truths of the world, particularly through the conversations between the secondary antagonist, Ruth Harker, and her sheltered, emotionally immature daughter, Lee, to be highly relatable.

Lee, who was raised in a Catholic environment with her mother working as a nurse, is suggested to have been sheltered as a direct result of this upbringing. Ruth's desire to protect Lee from the harsh realities of life culminates in the films final act, where it's revealed that she is collaborating with LONGLEGS - or Dale Cobble - to murder families after making a pact with the Devil to safeguard Lee from an eternity in Hell. Earnestly telling a panicked Harker that, “If they don't die, then we will burn … and twist, and burn … and twist, in hell. Forever and ever.”

Lee was incredibly relatable to me, but so was her mother, in a way. Having experienced a form of Religious mania as a child, I could easily see myself growing up like Ruth if not for the timely intervention of others around me.

Although it was probably unintentional, the film resonated with me as someone who was raised Catholic. In Catholic schools, particularly in Ireland, the teachings often leaned more towards fearmongering than actual 'this is why you should be comforted by the afterlife!' lessons.

I vividly remember being terrified of burning in Hell for even the smallest mistakes—like not blessing myself when passing a church, failing to say my prayers, mispronouncing Irish during hymns, or living in sin (as a nine year old).

The imagery of genuine horror, unease and brainwashing that comes in this film is very familiar and haunting to me, and I really enjoyed it. Unlike the older women I saw on the way out the moment Cobble mentioned Satan by name, which I guess still isn't capable of a soft landing in Irish cinemas.

[remyfire]

hi remy!! another 🎲 for beejhawk perhaps? lol :-)

(FINALLY GETTING BACK TO THESE a little at a time, please forgive me for the wait!

You get! A kiss on the nose! Have some post-war established forties-something men because I keep putting BJ through the blender in everything else. They deserve this)

Hawkeye is dabbing away the last of the shaving cream that got pushed to his neck when something about how he shifts makes the bathroom light hit him at an odd angle, and like a moth to a flame, his gaze skitters right to...it. To be fair, it's almost impossible not to see it, what with it being right there on his face, taking up an unfair amount of real estate, but...it. There it is. Unavoidable.

Nose.

Every day, he seems to be noticing something else about how his body is changing that gives him pause, but there's still a wide array of options that can take his mind off it—maybe even prove that however he's seeing himself in the mirror is completely untrue. Admittedly, a lot of it has to do with the doting attentions of one extremely enthusiastic lover who, once he's told what the trouble is, will go out of his way to demolish Hawkeye's uncertainty with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball.

Part of that tremendous ease BJ has with Hawk's worries probably has something to do with the decade and a half of experience they have with each other, truth be told. Still feels unreal, when he really considers it. From the minute Rudyard Kipling slithered through the air between them, it felt as if Hawkeye had known BJ Hunnicutt for his whole life. But just like anybody else, they had to fight and claw their way through bickering and misunderstandings and double speak and just downright assholery before they could finally get here, to a charming house in California where, against all odds, they appear to be able to spend the rest of their lives side by side.

They get to be together. They no longer hesitate about sharing the most minute thoughts of affection. God, with the ever shifting landscape around them of free love, how it's permeated down to Castro Street, they're able to even have public dates in a way that Hawkeye had never truly thought would become real. Dates surrounded by people just like them, everybody looking out for each other, smiling as they wander down the sidewalk or into a restaurant by the sheer power of the fact that they can just...hold hands. Kiss. Wrap their arms around each other's waists and claim and know down to their very depths that everyone around them is doing the same.

In a way, it's funny. On nights like this, where Hawk's less concerned about how close he can stand to BJ in public without interlopers starting to whisper, it seems to open up his mind to notice, again, those strange aspects of living in a body that's changing right before his eyes. Love handles. Shiny stretch marks on his thighs. Silvery hair.

And the things that aren't changing, but just becoming more apparent every day. Like...nose.

"How's it coming?" BJ asks as he wanders in from the bedroom, fingers cleverly securing his tie.

Hawk turns his head this way and that, eyes not moving from his face in the mirror. He ponders. Frowns. "D'you think my parents should've named me Rudolph?"

"Like Valentino?"

"No, like..." Hawk blinks and finally turns his attention to Beej. "Really?"

BJ shrugs with a little smile. "Well, yeah, hello." He strolls in and tucks himself up close to Hawk's back, resting the side of head against his. "You seeing what I'm seeing?"

It's all but impossible to look away from BJ's handsome face through the glass, actually, the way his grays have brought out the elegance of his mustache, how deeply the wrinkles at the edges of his eyes sink in when he grins like this. He's so solid. Safe. Sexy as hell. "You know what it does to me when you wear that tie, right?"

As his eyes turn into smoldering diamonds, Beej's lips curve into a lethal smirk. "Sorry. Losing my memory in my old age. You'll have to remind me later."

"You'll be lucky if I let you get out of the car before I'm fucking reminding you," Hawk teases.

BJ keeps his gaze right on Hawkeye's as he leans forward and presses a hot kiss behind his ear, the kind that makes Hawk hum and go a little weak in the knees. "We have a reservation," BJ reminds him, as though he's not touching the small of Hawkeye's back to keep him steady and press him into the bathroom counter all at the same time.

"Fuck you," Hawk murmurs.

BJ laughs, winks, then steps away to let Hawkeye get a deep breath to settle himself. It would be a shame to miss out on some amazing cheesecake when he can just let BJ get through dinner unruffled and then blow him in the front seat, if Hawk's back'll let him.

Maybe it won't. But wouldn't it be fun to try?

Hawkeye hangs up the hand towel, but the moment he looks back at the mirror to check his hair, his stirring thoughts go dead silent. "Really, though." As he lifts his chin, a combination of the lightbulbs they use in the bathroom and his skin, warm from the California summer, makes the very tip of his nose seem even more bulbous and flushed than usual. "Look at this."

BJ hums in question. He settles his hand on his waist as he leans into the counter for a better angle. "At what?"

"This! Are you kidding?" Hawkeye gestures at his nose more grandly than he did that new bike he bought Beej for Christmas the year before last. "Look at it."

"What about it?"

"I swear it's getting redder. Bigger. I don't know." As Hawk screws up his face, his expression briefly reminds himself of a cat, disdainfully analyzing the food that was just set before it.

BJ chuckles. "I really have no idea what you're talking about. It looks exactly the same as it has since the first day I met you."

Somehow that's an even more horrifying thought, that Hawk's gone this long thinking he's some handsome, sexy ladykiller—mankiller? That one doesn't flow as well. Maybe neither of them do. He shakes his head to try and dispel the thoughts before they can go racing away from him. "Okay, sure. Forget it. It's fine." It's not. He's fixating, stuck, compulsively spinning his mind around it so that even when he looks down to grab his bottle of cologne, all he sees in his head is a bright red berry stuck at the end of a crooked hose.

Beej makes a quiet sound—one that Hawk instinctively understands to be his problem-solving hum—before he slides a hand into Hawkeye's back pocket, against all odds managing to get his thick fingers in no matter how form-fitting the trousers currently are. "I think I could pick just about any part of you out of a lineup."

Hawkeye snorts, the corners of his lips quirking despite himself. "Oh, yeah, kind of like weeding out the weird freaky misshapen apple from the bunch."

"Nope."

He cocks his head, considers another angle. "Because when Erin's not visiting, I'm allergic to anything that's not a bathrobe."

"Close," BJ murmurs, his tone shaking only slightly with a repressed laugh.

"Okay, okay, okay." Hawk waves through the air. "I'll bite. Why?"

"Because you ruined any other body for me."

Hawk pauses, still clutching the bottle of cologne, staring hard at the faucet.

"You're not gonna believe me. But try." BJ nuzzles Hawk's cheek, the words inescapable from so close. "When Erin and I swung by SF MoMA the last time she was here—when you were pulling that emergency shift, remember?—I kept having this feeling when I was walking past some of the paintings, the sculptures. I couldn't really figure it out. It's all gorgeous stuff. Erin kept pointing out some of the most incredible details I've ever seen. She's got an eye for it, I swear. But it took me until I got home and came into the bathroom and you were in the tub, and I just...I saw you, and I realized that every person depicted in those masterpieces, yeah, sure, they were objectively lovely, and also they stirred nothing in me. They were some of the most lifelike pieces I've had the pleasure to see, but they were so incredibly fake. They couldn't hold my attention because they weren't you."

All at once, Hawk can't bear to look at him, turns his head completely away. It's strange. It's so fucking weird how they've been together all this time, and yet there are moments where BJ will see him so vividly that Hawkeye half-wonders if he's been walking around in a blur up until then.

But Beej's palm finds his cheek then, and Hawk feels it all the way down to his toes. No, there's nothing fuzzy about life for him. He's been seeing in brilliant clarity since Kimpo.

Slowly, slowly, BJ guides Hawk back around, like a planet rotating toward the sun, and the moment they lock eyes, Hawkeye finds his face so gently cradled in both of BJ's massive hands. Suddenly there's no thoughts of noses, of stretch marks, of sore backs. There's just a silent invitation to look and be looked at in turn.

Hawk can't stop himself from resting his palms on BJ's softening waist as he drinks in the sight of him. It's incredible how impossible it is now to separate the potent reaction he has to the lines on his skin from the way his muscles melt in relief that he's here at all. As Hawk falls deep into his blue stare, his blood sings for him as though they're magnetized. There's so little distinction between the visceral physical attraction and the comfort that he can tell now has only come from time, time, and more time.

BJ thumbs over Hawkeye's skin. "You know what this face reminds me of?" he asks quietly.

Hawkeye considers. A single butterfly begins beating its wings right at the base of his stomach. As desperately as he's trying to flip through his mental rolodex to find a joke, a quip, the combination of BJ's touch and the longing in his gaze stops any playful comments stone dead. "No."

"It reminds me that you're here. You're real. You're not some dream." Those stunning eyes wander palpably all over Hawk's expression, from his forehead to his cheeks to his chin, leaving no part of him unloved. When BJ's fingers brush along the creases at the edge of Hawk's eyes, Beej bites his bottom lip for a moment. "That we made it. That we're living. That no matter who was taken from us, we're still marching forward together. That every day, there's a part of you that changes—just a few dozens of billions of cells—" The casual nature of that number makes Hawkeye chuckle, makes BJ's grin widen. "—but that even when you change, you're asking me to come right along with you. Because you don't need me to stay the same. And neither do you. Because what matters is we're making the choice every day to love the man we see right there, right in that moment, and finding we never want to make another decision but to stay. To learn each other's minds and passions and bodies over and over again."

The fervency of Beej's words pick up the longer he talks, and Hawkeye leans into him, bumping their foreheads together with a shuddering exhale. "You're such a bastard," Hawk finally manages to whisper back, smiling so broadly that his cheeks hurt. "How do I follow up something like that? What am I gonna say, ditto? C'mon. It's not enough that you took all the stars in the sky and put them in your eyes, but you've gotta take all the perfect words too?"

"Look who's talking," BJ repeats in a voice that's so lush, so sweet that Hawk could never doubt it.

BJ cups Hawk's cheek more deliberately, and without another thought, Hawkeye closes his eyes and purses his lips, waiting for a millionth kiss from the man he gave up so little for and yet gained so fucking much from. But there's no gentle brush over his mouth. Instead, faint but intimate warmth presses right to the tip of his nose, and Hawk, already at the edge of emotional overwhelm, feels his legs buckle as he gasps and leans his weight into BJ.

Beej catches him, because of course he does, his arms wrapping around Hawkeye's waist in the exact space that was made for them. He busses their noses together, back and forth, and Hawk drags up fistfuls of BJ's shirt over his spine, pulling it out from under his belt, and lets out a whimper.

"I love your nose," BJ whispers, the heat of his words tickling Hawk's face. "I love your grays. I love your wrinkles. I love your figure, all the soft parts, all the knobby bits. I've never felt like this about anybody in my life. And every day, there's something new about you that lights me on fire. So hush. The next time you see something you don't feel like belongs on your body, you just come find me, and I'll make sure it feels plenty welcome, huh?"

Hawk barks out an unexpected laugh. "I love you so much. You asshole. We've got a reservation that you made. We don't have time for me to blubber up with the waterworks."

It's the silence between them that's always been a warning. Hawkeye risks a glance and finds BJ already smirking at him, toothy and dangerous, and just as Hawk's heart starts to flutter, he's already hopping away—but not before BJ finds his ticklish belly and grazes over it.

"No!" Hawk cackles without thought, leaping from one foot to the next in a shot of adrenaline that makes him feel like he's barely thirty again. "Don't you—don't you dare!"

"I'm just making you laugh," Beej taunts as he comes after him. He makes an impressive lunge, but Hawk manages to spin out through the bathroom door and scamper across the carpet. "Aw, c'mon, babe—"

"Menace! Dick! Ass!" When BJ makes another grab, Hawk somehow manages to duck under his arms. "Pri—no!"

As Beej catches his wrist at the last possible moment, he drags Hawkeye in and pins him gently up against the hallway wall with his broad form, kissing his nose, his cheek, his jawline. "Love you," he breathes.

Thoughts of cheesecake rapidly slipping away, Hawk tips his head back with a shivery laugh. "Love you too—" And then cuts off with a squirm the second his evil lover presses fingers into his waist. "Hate! HATE!"

[tarynisbunhead]

Famous Players-Lasky Corporation thought they owned Rudolph Valentino, and I really don't think this company expected him to be this smart with business. In 1922, he went on strike against them after 1) receiving shitty treatment while filming Blood and Sand, which was filmed in his homeland of Spain 2) he discovered he was paid LESS than Mary Pickford was four years earlier, in 1916. Which even for the time is shit because given the athletic stunts he did in his films like Blood and Sand and The Sheik? I've seen her films and she did a couple physical stunts but not up to what Rudolph did. There were women in silent film who could match him, such as Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, but Mary Pickford never did. So for Valentino to be paid less than her is crap.

So the Spanish actor walked out on his contract, papers of the time spin it like Rudolph was banned from movie making until he accepted the salary given him by the studio, and as we all know going on strike nearly destroyed his career. After doing a deep dive on this subject it turns out that studio was in a bind. They needed Valentino, in fact they were dependent on him after the sudden murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and the Roscoe Arbuckle trial. While the media continued to demonize Valentino for months, the studio had no choice and gave in. Newspapers of the time again state that the studio let Valentino come back to work, but the truth is that studio never had control of him if he was able to take a stand like that.

[daimonclub]

Celebrities and gossip

Celebrities and gossip Celebrities and gossip, top news and gossip From 24-7 Press Release Newswire and youtube video collections. The lowest form of popular culture - lack of information, misinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives - has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage. Carl Bernstein I have no use for people who throw their weight around as celebrities, or for those who fawn over you just because you are famous. Walt Disney Not all celebrities are dunces. Carroll O’Connor I hate celebrities. I really hate them. Billie Joe Armstrong I can’t stand the gossip of celebrities’ lives, all the time! Every minute! William Shatner I don’t like celebrities; I don’t hang out with them; I don’t relate to that life. Lady Gaga Look at the way celebrities and politicians are using Facebook already. When Ashton Kutcher posts a video, he gets hundreds of pieces of feedback. Maybe he doesn’t have time to read them all or respond to them all, but he’s getting good feedback and getting a good sense of how people are thinking about that and maybe can respond to some of it. Mark Zuckerberg Adriana Lima Victoria's Secret Runway Walk Compilation 2003-2016 Gossip About Vips and Celebrities. The psychological aspect. By nature, humans are chatterers, says psychologist Robin Dunbar. He suggests that gossip is the human version of social grooming-a behavior common among other social primates in which one ape or monkey strokes the fur and picks fleas and ticks from the coat of another ape or monkey to strengthen group ties. Like social grooming, which helps other primates form alliances based on codependence, gossip helps humans develop trusting relationships and foster social bonds. Without that instinct to share the latest on a friend, peer or family member, there would be no sophisticated society, Dunbar claims, suggesting that societies depend on the individual’s ability to rely on others and understand something of the workings of another’s mind. About 65 percent of people’s discussions involve gossip - often to entertain or help strengthen group ties. One might think celebrity worship is a modern phenomenon, but from the gods on Olympus in ancient Greece to the bobby-soxers swooning over Frank Sinatra in the late 1930s and ’40s to Brad and Angelina today, adulation of the stars is an age-old pursuit, psychologists say. The public’s fascination with celebrities “may seem new because we are such a media-immersed society, but it’s really not,” said Stuart Fischoff, senior editor at the Journal of Media Psychology and emeritus professor of media psychology at California State University, Los Angeles. When the composers Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt performed in the 19th century, women threw their underwear at them. And 80 years after the death of silent-film star Rudolph Valentino, fans continue to visit his grave, Fischoff noted. Celebrities tap into the public’s primal fantasies and basic emotions, lifting people from their everyday lives and making them believe anything is possible, said Dr. John Lucas, a clinical assistant professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College and an assistant attending psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Humans at the core are social beings, and research has shown that the less connected people feel, the more they turn to celebrities, said Adam Galinsky, an expert in ethics and social psychology and a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “It’s a very adaptive and functional behavior.” Lucas added, however, that while worshipping the rich and famous is harmless in itself, it could be perceived as symptomatic of a rootless culture in which many people feel a sense of isolation. “What we know of celebrities through People magazine and other media sources fills a gaping and painful void in our lives,” Lucas said. The dwindling influence of religion adds to that sense of yearning in people, he added, making the stars’ exploits and eccentricities, their loves and losses, more than a form of entertainment. “Religion is faltering, and in the process people are grappling with infantile wishes, with magical thinking,” he said. Social instinct, suggests research by Frank McAndrew, PhD, an applied social psychology professor at Knox College. Our interest in celebrity gossip-as well as dirt on our family, friends and acquaintances-may be a byproduct of our evolutionary past, McAndrew says. Natural selection, he theorizes, pressured people to learn as much as possible about the people in their social network-be they an authority figure, potential romantic partner, teacher, political ally or enemy. Knowing about other group members helped people eschew risky alliances, by informing them, for instance, which group member might double-cross them. “If you weren’t curious about others, you’d pay the consequences,” McAndrew says. In the process, gossiping also helped facilitate bonds by showing others we trust them enough to share information. Throughout most of human history, McAndrew explains, humans not only had to cooperate with a social network of about 200 people for food and protection, they also had to compete with those same in-group members for the most desirable mates. His research about the appeal of gossip is part of a growing body of literature indicating that we’re drawn to gossip because it keeps us informed about the lives of the people in our social circle. That social circle is now much bigger, and so less tied to our survival, but the instinct to gossip is just as strong. Because we see and hear celebrities’ images and voices on television, radio and magazines, we gossip about them as if they are members of our social network, McAndrew says. “Gossip is like chocolate,” says psychologist Charlotte DeBacker, PhD, a University of Santa Barbara postdoctoral fellow and author of the forthcoming Dutch-language book, “Gossip: Why Gossip Can Be Healthy” (MOM/Unieboek, 2006). Humans are drawn to fatty, sweet foods like chocolate because such high-calorie foods were once our lifeblood in lean times. As a result, people crave those foods-even when they are not in dire need of calories. Likewise, the pleasure that people derive from gossip can create a tendency to “dish dirt” even when the subject matter doesn’t affect our lives, such as with celebrity gossip, or when divulging information could be more risky, such as at work, says DeBacker. In a follow-up study published in the same article, Dunbar and his colleagues examined the topics within that social banter by grouping the discussions into four categories: whether people were keeping track of other individuals in their social network; bragging about themselves as a romantic partner, friend or ally; seeking advice; or condemning slackers or free loaders. He found that the first two topics dominated conversations, suggesting that the exchange of social information may be one of the primary functions of language. As such, Dunbar agrees with McAndrew and DeBacker’s suggestions that the pleasure we derive from gossip is a side effect of an evolutionary pull to gain knowledge about one’s group. “Language evolved for social purposes, not spreading technical information like whether it will rain or how to get from New York City to Washington, D.C.,” he says. “Knowledge of the social world has a much deeper purpose... It’s not just the fact that I saw Jimmy kiss Penelope, but how that incident relates to me and the group.” Top 10 Most Important People Around The World Top 10 Richest People In The World Top 13 Richest Celebs Under 25 in the World Top 10 Most Famous Female Models in the World Top 10 Most Popular Male Singers 2017 Top 10 Most Iconic Female Singers of All Time Top 10 Richest Actors in the World 2016 Top 10 Most Successful Youtubers Top 10 Famous Speeches People  http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/peopleNews Celebrities  http://rss.24-7pressrelease.com/rss/ae_celebrities.xml Read the full article

[clarklovescarole]

September 1936: Gable Hates His Title

Sept. 20, 1936

Today’s Great Film Lover, Clark Gable, Hates His Title

CLARK GABLE, rated the greatest screen lover of Hollywood today, has an appeal which no previous holder of the title ever had. 

As the greatest male box office attraction in films, Gable’s popularity is due, not to handsome features as was that of other great lovers such as Rudolph Valentino and John Gilbert, but to his virility and he-man appearance. 

Some time after his divorce from Josephine Dillon, his first wife, she said in speaking of him, “He is a man’s man.” 

That is something which never was said of other great screen lovers. Their appeal was mostly to women, but Gable is popular with both men and women. 

His romance with Carole Lombard is probably his first real romance. He is not the lover off screen he is when acting, and, incidentally, it isn’t advisable to call him the great lover to his face. 

True, he has been married twice, but both times to women far older than himself. He married Josephine Dillon when he was a youth and working in stock. She had helped him learn to act and there was friendship between them, but not real love. His second wife, Rhea Lucas, was 41 when Clark married her, and he was 30. He needed her, for socially he was pretty much a flop. She taught him the social graces, but again there was the lack of romance. 

Recently his title has been challenged by the sensational young star, Robert Taylor. Now Taylor is a matinee idol type; he has the handsome features which characterized the great lovers of the silent screen. And, to tell the truth, Gable is sort of hoping Taylor will inherit the title. 

Of course, Clark likes the popularity, as it means dollars to him, but he would like to get rid of the title. 

Sept. 20, 1936; retrieved from The Des Moines Register

[evelynzumaya]

This book survivor is available on Amazon. 

[lcnelyghost]

romantic touches//the ahs boys

pairings; fem reader with tate langdon, kit walker, kyle spencer, jimmy darling, james patrick march, tristan duffy, dandy mott, rudolph valentino, and michael langdon.

ratings; pg?? i think? maybe pg13

warnings; FLLLLLLUUUUUUUUFFFFFFFFF, (potential harsh language)

summary; my thoughts on what little romantic things you do in you’re relationship with the ahs boys!!

tate langdon;

• Total cuddle bug even when you don’t expect it

• Neck kisses, neck kisses, NECK KISSES

• Likes it when you fully pay attention to him randomly doodling in an old notebook

• He adores it when you start playing with his hair whilst he’s asleep :)

kit walker;

• Cracks thousands of dad jokes on purpose just to see you painfully laugh at them

• His heart melts when you snuggle into his chest

• He’ll always show you off to his friends and make sure they don’t make you uncomfortable, etc

• When the two of you get all dolled up for going out someplace nice, you literally have to try everything to get him to pay attention to something else that isn’t part of you’re looks. (HE LOVES WHEN YOU DRESS FANCY FOR HIM😭)

kyle spencer;

• Hugs from behind, all the time

• Constantly makes sure you have more covers whilst you’re both in bed. Though if you’re cold, he’ll wrap himself around you to try and warm you up

• If you’re not busy during the day, he begs you to sit and watch TV together. He’ll throw in some snacks too

• You laugh at how super giggly he is when he’s tired. It’s almost as though he’s extremely drunk but certainly not in a bad way!

jimmy darling;

• Pls, this man is such a sweetheart to you

• Does NOT take anyone’s shit if they start on you for no reason. Smh

• You’re not feeling well? Don’t worry, Jimmy’s you’re personal nurse for the day. That time of the month? Hey, Jimmy gets it. Whatever you want, he’ll make sure you receive it in no time at all. If you need space, he’ll give you it <3

• He just loves doing the goofiest things to make you laugh. Whether it be impressions or ‘accidentally’ doing something embarrassing, he never fails to get a giggle out of you

james patrick march;

• Hell, this is gonna sound real far from the truth, but this mf is such a softie

• He knows you can’t really sleep well and tend to wake up during the early hours of the morning, so he’ll usually try his best to relax you by rubbing small circles on you’re back or telling you how much he cares for you

• James always tries to understand the modern world just for you. You’ve even caught him slowly dancing around the room with a pair of AirPods in

• If you choose to attend Devil’s Night, he makes sure no one invades you’re personal space and if anything dares to choose the wrong move, the whole night is immediately over

tristan duffy;

• He doesn’t know what it is exactly, but he loves just staring into you’re eyes without breaking eye contact at all

• Thoroughly enjoys the nights you guys get wasted and come back to the Cortez, hand in hand whilst laughing you’re asses off

• Tristan is extremely protective of you. If anyone even looked at you the wrong way, he doesn’t hesitate to turn it into a full blown fist fight. Sometimes, even worse..

• Whenever you gently massage it shoulders, it soothes him so much that the next time you take a good look at him, he’s sound asleep and snoring his little head off

dandy mott;

• Takes you round to every expensive shop in town, buying you tons and TONS of things until half of it is just unnecessary items

• Always asks if you can sit up on his bed late at night, quietly talking and stuffing you’re faces full of candy he raided from the kitchen

• Thinks of you as his little doll at times. Doing every small move around you extra carefully in fear of ‘breaking you’

• He demands to be the little spoon. ALWAYS, the little spoon

rudolph valentino;

• We all know this man is forever going to be romantic, so much so to the point it’s just fucking unreal

• Mf please, Rudy has bought you the finest shit in town by now. Everything you appear to like, he gets you. Lucky girl, hm?

• As much as he’s admired, most women think of him as a charming young man yet still a player. But really, he’s not. He’s the sweetest a person could ever truly be and you’re flattered with every kind word he says to you

• Every kiss he gives you is meaningful. It’s always full of that passion and fire you’ve longed for in a man

michael langdon;

• NAH WHEN I SPOKE ABOUT JIMMY, TRISTAN AND JAMES BEING PROTECTIVE, IT’S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE SORT OF PROTECTION YOU HAVE WITH MICHAEL.. TRUST ME..

• Has a secret fascination with how perfect he thinks you’re features are. Beautiful lips, a lovely little nose, yk

• Much like Valentino, Michael gives the most passionate kisses to you. Every touch is a symbol of how much he truly loves you

• He enjoys it when you both tease one another. Even though you’re both fully in a relationship, that doesn’t stop him from trying to make you beg

[newyorkthegoldenage]

“I did not kill her,” insisted Kaufman. “What I’ve told you, Mr. Singer, is the truth.”

Singer rubbed his chin with the palm of a hand. “So you think maybe there’s some connection to this shindig where Valentino took sick. Boy, am I not looking forward to this investigation.” Mrs. Parker sat up like an eager lapdog. “Why not?” “Ahhhh, already there’s talk that there’s a cover-up going on in Valentino’s death. Like maybe he was poisoned, who the hell knows.”

The Dorothy Parker Murder Case, by George Baxt, opens with Mrs. Parker slitting her wrists (unsuccessfully). It’s August 24, 1926, the day after Rudolph Valentino’s death. Mrs. Parker and Alexander Woollcott set about trying to solve the murder of a chorus girl found in George S. Kaufman’s apartment. This is soon followed by the murder of another.

Over the course of the book, a slew of celebrities shows up: George Raft, Polly Adler (who comes off well), Texas Guinan (who does not), Vincent Youmans, Nita Naldi, Horace Liveright, Judge Crater (not yet vanished), Florenz Ziegfeld, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and, of course, Mrs. P’s Algonquin Round Table buddies Kaufman, Neysa McMein, Edna Ferber, Harold Ross, Robert Benchley, Marc Connelly, Heywood Broun, and Robert Sherwood. They are joined by some interesting fictional characters. Prohibition life—for the Manhattan fast set, at least—comes vividly alive. Speakeasies, orgies, drug use, gangsters—it’s all there. Witty dialogue abounds.

This was the first of four mystery novels that Baxt wrote centering on New York celebrities. The others focused on Alfred Hitchcock, Tallulah Bankhead, and Noel Coward. After that, unfortunately, he took off for L.A. and set his books in Hollywood.

[astrognossienne]

scandalous beauty - dolores del río - an analysis

“I love my native Mexico but I love Hollywood, too. It has brought me much happiness and yet, while here I have been miserably unhappy also. But through it all I have found myself, my work and my true destiny.” - Dolores del Río

Like Lupe Vélez, Dolores del Río was a pioneering Latina actress, however del Río’s reach was longer. Far from being stigmatized as a woman of colour, she was acknowledged as the epitome of beauty in the Hollywood of the 1920s and early 1930s. While she insisted upon her ethnicity, she was nevertheless coded white by the film industry and its fans, and she appeared for more than a decade as a romantic lead opposite white actors. Returning to Mexico in the early 1940s, she brought enthusiasm and prestige to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, becoming one of the great divas of Mexican film. With struggle and perseverance, she overcame the influence of men in both countries who hoped to dominate her, ultimately controlling her own life professionally and personally. Her sophistication, style and artistry bewitched everyone from Stella Adler to John Ford, Federico Fellini, and her great friends Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who proclaimed to be “totally in love with her, just like forty million Mexicans and one hundred and twenty million Americans who couldn’t be wrong.” She was America’s first Latina superstar, and by the early 1930s, she was one of Hollywood's ten top moneymakers. Hers was a charmed life, but not even she was without problems. A child of privilege in her native Mexico, her family’s status was destroyed in the Mexican Revolution, and her desire to restore her comfortable lifestyle inspired del Río to follow a career as an actress. Discovered and promoted by American director Edwin Carewe, her obsessive protector and Svengali, as the “female Rudolph Valentino,” del Río’s aristocratic, Spanish-European background was constantly pushed to counteract Hollywood’s racism against Mexicans; indeed she was generally thought to be one of the most beautiful actresses of her era, and was the first Latin American movie star to have international appeal. She worked for over five decades and paved the way for Latin American stars in American cinema.

Dolores del Río, according to astrotheme, was a Leo sun and Aries moon. She was born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete in the Mexican town of Durango; she was an only child born to parents who belonged to the wealthy Mexican aristocracy. She was the second cousin of actor Ramón Novarro and a cousin to actress Andrea Palma. They lived the high life in the company of intellectuals and artists. Dolores attended a prestigious school but soon their world was turned upside down, threatened by an insurrection led by Pancho Villa in the region. Del Río and her mother escaped Mexico City disguised as peasants, while her father crossed the border to the United States. When the family eventually reunited in 1912, they did so under the protection of Francisco I. Madero. In 1920 she married the 18-year older attorney Jaime Martinez del Río and became a socialite. Her career got off to a good start when in 1925 when the lauded American director Edwin Carewe was invited to her home and saw her perform and dance for her family and friends. He persuaded del Río and her husband to moved to the United Sates and go to Hollywood to be in his films. While in Hollywood, del Río played a variety of leading roles, from European aristocrat to "native" girl to European peasant.

Within a few years after her arrival, she was a major hit and her appeal was astonishingly broad. She quickly came to command a substantial salary and to exercise control over her choice of films, scripts, and camera angles. Despite the fact that she did not speak English when she first began and had to have the director 's instructions delivered through interpreters, she made the transition to sound films gracefully. Her accent was deemed slight, attractive, and not specific to a particular country. As socially attractive as she was, physically and personality-wise, the truth is that a major part of del Río’s seamless transition into Hollywood is down to racism and white supremacy. While her contemporary (and nemesis) Lupe Vélez was viewed as the "bad Mexican wildcat" (to be fair, her temperament didn’t help this stereotype), Dolores was viewed as the "good Spanish lady." The contrast between the two stars and their degrees of acceptance reflected society’s stereotypical dichotomy between "good" Spanish and "bad" Mexican images– which has its roots in U.S. history. While most Mexicans were perceived as racially inferior, the elite Hispanic Californianas were deemed European and superior while the mass of Mexican women were viewed as Indian and inferior. Californiana women who possessed land and intermarried with Anglo men were depicted positively; they were represented as aristocratic and virtuous and they epitomized "good" women; but this was at the price of denying their racial identity, and being treated as racially superior to Californiano males and the rest of their people. So as such, she soon divorced her Mexican husband Jaime in 1928 and two years later married MGM art director Cedric Gibbons (who happened to be Gary Cooper’s wife’s uncle).

Soon after her marriage, she was romantically linked with actor Errol Flynn, filmmaker John Farrow, writer Erich Maria Remarque, film producer Archibaldo Burns, and actor Tito Junco. However, it was her affair with Orson Welles, who considered her the love of his life, that was arguably her most high profile relationship. She and Welles met at a party hosted by director Darryl Zanuck. The couple felt a mutual attraction and began a discreet affair, which upon eventual discovery caused the divorce between Dolores and Gibbons. Their relationship lasted for 4 years; she ended it when she got word of Welles cheating on her. She decided to end her relationship with Welles through a telegram that he never answered. According to his daughter, Rebecca, until the end of his life, Welles felt for del Río a kind of obsession. Weeks later, her father died in Mexico. With these personal and professional downturns, Dolores del Río returned to Mexico in the 1940s and became a significant part of the Mexican film industry’s Golden Era. She was the muse of director Emilio Fernández and starred most notably in Las Abandonadas (1944) and La Malquerida (1949). On a national and even international level though, Dolores del Río will perhaps always be best remembered for her role in the 1946 classic María Candelaría, which is said to be the film of which she was most proud. It also marked the first tentative steps of the Mexican film industry into the world of serious cinema and was the first Latin American film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, where it won the Grand Prix (now known as the Palme d’Or) for Best Picture. After her triumph in her native homeland, she returned to Hollywood and played opposite Henry Fonda in The Fugitive (1947). She continued to work steadily, starring in various TV shows and films until retiring in 1978. On April 11, 1983, del Río died from liver failure at the age of 78 in Newport Beach, California.

Next week, I’ll focus on her one-time lover, an iconoclastic disruptor who took on the conventions of Hollywood and won: the amazing Taurus Orson Welles.

Stats

birthdate: August 3, 1904

major planets:

Sun: Leo

Moon: Aries

Rising: Leo

Mercury: Virgo

Venus: Leo

Mars: Cancer

Midheaven: Taurus

Jupiter: Aries

Saturn: Aquarius

Uranus: Sagittarius

Neptune: Cancer

Pluto: Gemini

Overall personality snapshot:  She had a large, warm-hearted, extroverted personality that was always eager to embrace life, love and success – in big doses. There was something about her that assumed the divine right to live life to the full, and her intensity and impatience, along with her personal ambitions, pulled her ever onwards into new projects, fresh relationships and greater challenges. She was something of a gambler and had a daring and dramatic spirit which propelled her forward to make her mark, a sense of personal destiny which can only be exciting and noble. And she was prepared to fight for that glorious destiny if she had to, although she would rather simply steal the show and convince everyone with her intelligence, originality, courage and fabulous style. One of her most beguiling qualities is that she was totally lacking in guile and pretense. Although her own personal destiny was what interested her, paradoxically she at first looked for people she could admire and make into personal heroes. Strongly influenced by a favourite teacher, friend, poet, sports champion or movie star, she could then emulate them and learn through experience how to be great.

She loved the process of creating, as well as the applause that came at the end. Indeed, she relied on those adoring strokes and affirmative responses more than she liked to admit. Life without people would be colourless and boring for her. Social interaction was her life-blood – she could be the life of the party, a real ham and an eccentric, ready to take up the most outrageous dare. But when her extrovert escapades dry up, so did she. She may have, in fact, driven herself to exhaustion and then collapse like a child, home from an all-night rave-up. Yet despite her headlong rush into the experience of life, she was not necessarily irresponsible. Daring and highly idealistic dreams worked away inside her and made her want to improve things, to show people the way, and she may have simply taken charge – for a while. Intensely self-motivated, she did not respond well to orders from others, even though she could be quite bossy herself. There is a touch of the preacher inside her, and she approached her work with great enthusiasm and commitment. She needed space to do her own thing, to learn from her own mistakes, and to learn how to impose her own brand of self-discipline. Her innate self-dramatizing tendencies made her a natural for the theater, business, lecturing, the media – areas that involved group interaction and provided scope for her original and iconoclastic ideas.

She had great presence with a strong-featured face and a sunny glow of inner self-confidence and displayed a regal quality in her posture and carriage; was definitely well-built. She sought perfection in whatever she did and could be very critical of herself and her own efforts. In this way, she often became overly critical and pedantic, especially under stress. She was basically an honest person, and it disturbed her greatly when she had to deal with people who were not. Anyone who violated her sense of trust had a very hard time getting it back. It was very important for her to know that she had the security of a guaranteed paycheck coming in regularly. She had an artistic side to her that obviously influenced her choice of career as an actor. Once she had decided upon her career, she was able to (and most certainly did) pursue it with great determination. She had boundless enthusiasm and big ideas coupled with high expectations of succeeding. She was also self-sufficient and broad-minded. Her genuine pioneering spirit, positive outlook and large-scale personal ambitions led her right to the top. She needed to learn to think before you take on a challenge, and all risks should have been carefully considered. She needed to learn to relax and slow down. She was anxious to prove herself both to others and to herself. If anyone said that she couldn’t do something, she defied them to try and stop her. As long as she felt that she was the one in control, she had a high degree of optimism and was fun-loving, loving to play at life. 

She had an original mind and used every skill she possessed to gain control of her affairs. She found it hard to let go of the past, and it would have been good if she did so that she could grow. She was willing to tolerate austerity for as long as it was justified. She respected institutions for as long as they served her purpose. She had the ability to judge what was viable or important. She belonged to a generation with fiery enthusiasm for new and innovative ideas and concepts. Rejecting the past and its mistakes, she sought new ideals and people to believe in. As a member of this generation, she felt restless and adventurous, and was attracted towards foreign people, places and cultures. She was part of an emotionally sensitive generation that was extremely conscious of the domestic environment and the atmosphere surrounding their home place and home country. In fact, she could be quite nostalgic about her homeland, religion and traditions, often seeing them in a romantic light. She felt a degree of escapism from everyday reality, and was very sensitive to the moods of those around him. Dolores embodied all of these Cancer Neptunian ideals, when she returned to her native Mexico in 1943, a country of which she was very proud, her decision to return to her roots changed her career. As a Gemini Plutonian, she was mentally restless and willing to examine and change old doctrines, ideas and ways of thinking. As a member of this generation, she showed an enormous amount of mental vitality, originality and perception. Traditional customs and taboos were examined and rejected for newer and more original ways of doing things. As opportunities with education expanded, she questioned more and learned more.

Love/sex life: She had a heroic conception of herself as a lover. She saw herself as strong and in control, the protector of the weak and the saviour of the desperate. Unfortunately, the realities of her love life didn’t always support this notion. Often it was her tender feelings that required protection and her desperate plunges in and out of love that called for a saviour. In order to justify this discrepancy, she often had to be less than honest, both with her lover and herself. The person most likely to win her heart would have been that individual who made it appear as if  she was the champion when, in fact, she was the one crying for help. Her tendency toward self-deception often extended to a failure to admit to her very natural emotionalism and sexual passivity. Unfortunately, there always came a day of reckoning when she had to “own” her emotional susceptibility and capitulate to her sloppy feelings of dependency and her deep-seated need for affection. The good news was that surrendering everything for love wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it was. She may have lost her dignity but what she got in return made it all worth while.

minor asteroids and points:

North Node: Virgo

Lilith: Pisces

Vertex: Sagittarius

Fortune: Taurus

East Point: Leo

These points in her chart, however minor, packed a major punch in her sex appeal as well. Her North Node in Virgo dictated that her tendency to dream and be disorganized needed to be tempered by developing more practical and down-to-earth attitudes. Her Lilith in Pisces meant that she was a woman who was a natural born mystic and cultivated her own myth. Her Part of Fortune in Taurus and Part of Spirit in Scorpio dictated that her destiny lay in attaining personal freedom through seeking material security and comfort. Happiness and good fortune came through tangible and practical results that had a solid foundation. Her soul’s purpose lay in delving fearlessly into the unknown. She felt spiritual connections and saw the spark of the divine when she could strip away the outer layers of experiences and get to the core of a situation. East Point in Leo dictated that she was more likely to identify with the need for pleasure (including the potential of liking herself) and comfort. Vertex in Sagittarius, 4th house reveals that she dreamt of the pinnacle of adventure when it came to mating. Her psyche yearned to be carried away to the ends of the earth or to be exposed to every manner of religious and/or philosophical theory known to man and then some. Her yearning was strong and really deep when it came to rarefied experiences of any sort. Encountering and wanting to join with her demanded that she always had an itinerary that will provide her with the maps to explore the roads that they have not yet traveled, to say nothing of the different worlds they have dreamed of but not yet experienced. She had a childlike orientation, in all of its manifestations, toward relationships on an internal level. That implicit dependency and impressionable nature that was instilled in her childhood persisted far into maturity. The concomitant explosions and occasional tantrums when these constructs are violated also accompany this position. She had a need for emotional security and comfort in a committed relationship, no matter how many years it has endured. She often had deep fears, typical of children, of abandonment, as well as a need for protection and universal acceptance, no matter how she acted, which she needed her partner to respect and nurture, rather than rebuke, especially in adulthood.

elemental dominance:

fire

earth

She was dynamic and passionate, with strong leadership ability. She generated enormous warmth and vibrancy. She was exciting to be around, because she was genuinely enthusiastic and usually friendly. However, she could either be harnessed into helpful energy or flame up and cause destruction. Ultimately, she chose the latter. Confident and opinionated, she was fond of declarative statements such as “I will do this” or “It’s this way.” When out of control—usually because she was bored, or hadn’t been acknowledged—she was be bossy, demanding, and even tyrannical. But at her best, her confidence and vision inspired others to conquer new territory in the world, in society, and in themselves. She was a practical, reliable man and could provide structure and protection. She was oriented toward practical experience and thought in terms of doing rather than thinking, feeling, or imagining. Could be materialistic, unimaginative, and resistant to change. But at her best, she provided the practical resources, analysis, and leadership to make dreams come true.

modality dominance:

fixed

She liked the challenge of managing existing routines with ever more efficiency, rather than starting new enterprises or finding new ways of doing things. She likely had trouble delegating duties and had a very hard time seeing other points of view; she tried to implement the human need to create stability and order in the wake of change.      

house dominants:

12th

9th

1st

She had great interest in the unconscious, and indulged in a lot of hidden and secret affairs. Her life was defined by seclusion and escapism. She had a certain mysticism and hidden sensitivity, as well as an intense need for privacy. Traveling, whether physically across the globe, on a mental plane or expanding through study was a major theme in her life. She was not only concerned with learning facts, but also wanted to understand the connections formed between them and the philosophies and concepts they stood for. Her conscience, as well as foreign travel, people and places was also of paramount importance in her life. Her personality, disposition and temperament was highlighted in her life. The manner in which she expressed herself and the way she approached other people is also highlighted. The way she approached new situations and circumstances contributed to show how she set about her life’s goals. Early childhood experiences also factored in her life as well.

planet dominants:

Mercury

Sun

Venus

She was intelligent, mentally quick, and had excellent verbal acuity. She dealt in terms of logic and reasoning. It is likely that she was left-brained. She was restless, craved movement, newness, and the bright hope of undiscovered terrains. She had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. She likely had strong leadership qualities, she definitely knew who she was, and she had tremendous will. She met challenges and believed in expanding her life. She was romantic, attractive and valued  beauty, had an artistic instinct, and was sociable. She had an easy ability to create close personal relationships, for better or worse, and to form business partnerships.

sign dominants:

Leo

Aries

Virgo

She loved being the center of attention and often surrounded herself with admirers. She had an innate dramatic sense, and life was definitely her stage. Her flamboyance and personal magnetism extended to every facet of her life. She wanted to succeed and make an impact in every situation. As a Leo dominant, she was, at her best, optimistic, honorable, loyal, and ambitious. She was a physically oriented individual who took pride in her body. She was bold, courageous, and resourceful. She always seemed to know what she believed, what she wanted from life, and where she was going. She could be dynamic and aggressive (sometimes, to a fault) in pursuing her goals—whatever they might be. Could be argumentative, lacked tact, and had a bad temper. On the other hand, her anger rarely lasted long, and she could be warm and loving with those she cared about. She was a discriminating, attractive, thorough, scientific, hygienic, humane, scientific woman and had the highest standards. Her attention to detail was second to none and she had a deeply penetrative and investigative mind.

Read more about her under the cut.

Dolores del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in the 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, where Dolores became a socialite. In 1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director Edwin Carewe, who "discovered" del Rio and invited the couple to move to Hollywood where they launched careers in the movie business (she as an actress, Jaime as a screenwriter). Eventually they divorced after Carewe cast her in her first film Joanna (1925), followed by High Steppers (1926), and Pals First (1926). She had her first leading role in Carewe's silent version of Pals First (1926) and soared to stardom in 1928 with Carewe's Ramona (1928). The film was a success and del Rio was hailed as a female Rudolph Valentino. Her career continued to rise with the arrival of sound in the drama/romance Bird of Paradise (1932) and hit musical Flying Down to Rio (1933). She later married Cedric Gibbons, the well-known art director and production designer at MGM studios. Dolores returned to Mexico in 1942. Her Hollywood career was over, and a romance with Orson Welles--who later called her "the most exciting woman I've ever met"--caused her second divorce. Mexican director Emilio Fernández offered her the lead in his film Wild Flower (1943), with a wholly unexpected result: at age 37, Dolores del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in Spanish for the first time. Her association with Fernández' team (cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno and actor Pedro Armendáriz) was mainly responsible for creating what has been called the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema. With such pictures as Maria Candelaria (1944), The Abandoned (1945) and Bugambilia (1945), del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty. career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children. Her last film was The Children of Sanchez (1978). (x)

[pleasereadmeok]

Matthew Scene by Scene - A Discovery of Witches Season 2 - Episode 7  # 1/2  Green-eyed Monster.  

Spoilers if you haven’t seen ADOW season 2 episode 7. 

Matthew and Diana arrive in Bohemia to find the Book of Life.  They are challenged at the gate of the Emperor Rudolph’s bijou little hunting lodge by a bouncer.

Matthew introduces himself as Elizabeth’s ambassador but the guards aren’t impressed.  

Matthew pulls rank and insists that he is no mere ambassador.  Well ain’t that the truth?  Unbelievably this works - eh?  Something about that gravelly, ‘sex god’ voice has convinced the guards to let them through.  Well - you would, wouldn’t you?  

Ooo this is exciting.  I’ve been to where some of these scenes were shot - the Borgo Medievale which is set in the Parco del Valentino in Turin/Torino.  If only I’d left it a few years later I could have done some major Goode location fangirling. [You really don’t want to know what that is.  Searching the ‘Goode locations’ tag in the archive will give you some idea of the lengths I will go to visit them.  😬]     

After a little wait they are granted a brief audience with Rudy.  

The look Matthew gives Rudy is one of sheer distain.  Like he has scraped the Emperor off the bottom of his boot.

Oh look - it’s that bloke who was in Cemetery Junction with Matthew Goode!   Wow he’s come up in the world - insurance salesperson to Holy Roman Emperor.  Great career progression.  

Matthew bows and introduces himself as Matthew Roydon.  Mate, he knows you already - and not just from Cemetery Junction. 

I know exactly who you are Matthaios de Clermont  - and you is Liz’s spy!

Matthew is so damn arrogant in reply.   It’s like these two have danced this little dance before.  

I come representing my Queen but not as a spy.  Pah!  No one’s buying that Matthew.  I would speak with her subject Edward Kelley.

Not happening coz he’s not here according to Rudy.  Matthew doesn’t believe that - where Rudy goes, Eddie goes.  

Oops.  Rudy is miffed now and he’s calling out Matthew as a vamp.  Matthew has questioned the all powerful insurance salesperson Holy Roman Emperor and that has not gone down well.  

Matthew styles it out beautifully with a little tilt of the head and an arrogant smirk on his face. 

Diana realises that this is basically a testosterone fuelled stand off and she intervenes.

Oh help - Diana is on a roll and spilling her life story again.  Matthew is probably dying inside.    Rudy is interested in more ways than one and wants to know Diana’s name.  OMG he’s even given her a pet name - La Diosa.  Guessing that Matthew might throw a hissy fit about this pretty soon.  He watches as Rudy kisses Diana’s hand and looks like he might rip off the Emperor’s head any second now!

Back off, Rudy that’s my wife!    Matthew marks his ‘territory’.

May I introduce my wife, your majesty.  

Rudy dismisses Matthew’s attempt to warn him off.  My spies would have informed me had Elizabeth’s Shadow taken a wife.  Particularly one so ... intriguing.  

CRINGE.  Matthew is not having that blatant flirt-fest.  

Perhaps you should consider hiring more thorough spies... your majesty.   

Woah!  Handbags at dawn!  Matthew does not like Rudy flirting with his wife one little bit.  Rudy understands the insult and suggests Matthew learns some manners.   Oh yeah - these two are like cocks in a fight.  

Matthew barely tilts his head in a bow as they leave.  The malevolent look that Matthew gives Rudy is like some sort of evil death stare.  This won’t end well.  But my money is on Matthew to win.  

[Pics - adow s2:07 edits + unedited screenshots]

[buddyhollyscurls]

WIP Wednesday

soooooooooooo it’s not Wednesday but I was tagged and i had been working on my wip sooooooooo why not?? thanks to @musicrunsthroughmysoul for the tag!! sorry i’m uploading so late hahaha and i apologize in advance for any formatting errors 

Viviana

For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted to do was sing. My earliest memories are of me sitting on the floor by our old Victorla, singing along to Elsie Baker’s I Love You Truly. I probably made my poor parents sick to death of it from how often I played it. But I guess that’s just the magic music has on us. It’s never just about a song, it’s about a connection. It was about the feeling I’d get - even as a child - that one day I’d meet a man and the words of a song I knew so well would just flow out of me, and they’d feel just as real and as natural as when I heard Elsie Baker sing them. Well, that man may not be in my life just yet, but I’ve never forgotten the way that song made me feel. I knew back then, sitting on the floor of my family’s living room, that singing was what I was meant to do. Someday someone would feel that same magic, that exact same connection, and it’d be because of me. I held on to that dream like a child clings to their favorite doll. Sometimes I felt like that dream was the only thing I could rely on. That it was the only thing in this world standing by me. I was just me and I was living for a fantasy. A fantasy that I sometimes feared wouldn’t even come true.

I had started working with bands and at clubs for a few years now, and even though nothing made me feel more content than being on stage, I couldn’t help but feel I wanted something more. I loved the work I did, and I loved the bands I got to play with, but it felt like I was coming to a standstill. I was playing the same clubs and bars and it was beginning to feel like an endless cycle. I was beginning to feel that maybe it was me. Maybe I just wasn’t special enough to make it as big as I’d always hoped. 

I pushed those thoughts away as I finished the last song for the evening. I was singing with a new band and we’d been busy these last few nights traveling around the city. They were actually pretty decent. Of course, I secretly felt our piano player could have had just a tiny bit more pizazz, but that was just me. I had a particular soft spot for the piano. Anyway, we had been doing a great job of getting people in to see us, and I really felt that maybe this was the band that could take me places. 

After the audience had left and the boys were packing up, I looked out at the empty stage. I smiled to myself, still hearing the applause from the end of the night. 

I turned to my friend - the bassist - Anthony and said, “That crowd was great, don’t you think? They really seemed to like us.”

He smiled, “They really did. If things keep going this well we could be playing at Smalls Paradise any day now.”

I playfully hit his arm, “Smalls Paradise? Only in your dreams, kid.”

“Why’s that? You don’t think your voice is good enough? I can picture it now, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Smalls Paradise is proud to present Viviana Cortez.’”

I laughed, “You sure are good for my ego, Tony.”

It was then a random voice called out, “He’s right, you know.”

We turned and saw a man coming towards us. He was tall, dressed in a smart dark suit. He had light brown hair that was perfectly combed back. Nothing about this man seemed out of place. His handkerchief was neatly tucked in his pocket, his shoes were spotless right down to his spats, even the way he walked seemed careful and meticulous. The only imperfection that appeared on him was a scar on his cheek, but even that seemed to fit his appearance well. In short, he was handsome, if you were the type of woman who liked men who looked like the late, great Rudolph Valentino. Which I didn’t particularly. Truth be told I had always preferred Ramon Navarro. 

“Who are you,” Tony asked when he finished approaching us. 

“Jimmy. Jimmy Connor.”

“Well,” I said, “Mr. Connor, is there anything we can help you with?”

He looked at me for a moment before a smile began to form on his lips, “I’d like to speak with you, Miss…”

“Cortez,” I helped him.

“Cortez. If you don’t mind.”

I glanced over at Anthony. What on Earth could this man want with me?

Tony spoke up, “We were actually almost on our way out.” 

Jimmy glanced over at him, and it seemed that he had all but forgotten there was even another person in the room, “Well, it won’t take long for me to address the lady.”

Anthony glanced at us for a moment. He enunciated that last part so that Anthony knew what he meant. He wanted to talk to me alone. I nodded slightly at him that it was ok, after all, I didn’t want any problems.

“Viviana, if you need me I’ll just be backstage getting my stuff.”

Jimmy waited until he was sure Anthony had left then he relaxed and smiled at me. He seemed pleasant enough now that he got what he wanted. 

“Now, Miss Cortez - it is Miss, right?”

I laughed, “Yes, but you can just call me Viviana.”

“Viviana. A lovely name. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I heard your singing earlier today. I thought you were wonderful.”

“Oh,” I said pleasantly surprised, “Thank you.”

“And your friend had a point, you know. I mean, you should be singing in places like Club Hot-Cha.”

I chuckled. In part because I was beginning to wonder what he wanted out of flattering me. I couldn’t help but feel slightly curious to see where he was headed. 

“Club Hot-Cha? My, my, but what makes you so sure?”

“I know a talented singer when I hear one. It also helps when she’s as beautiful as you are. I’m sure men would line up to catch a glimpse of you there… or anywhere, really.”

And there it was, I thought to myself. It was only a matter of time. It took everything in me to plaster on a smile. 

“I thank you for your flattery, Mr. Connor, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to see me on stage at Club Hot-Cha or Smalls Paradise or anywhere else. However, I may be headlining the Cotton Club in a few weeks if you want to see me there. You and any other man can wait in line for that. Now, until then, if you’ll excuse me I’d better find Tony so we can go.”

“Wait a second. Don’t go. I didn’t mean -” 

I turned on him before he could finish, “Listen, Mr. Connor, I don’t know what you wanted to speak to me about, but I can assure you I am not interested.”

“Even if I told you I could help you get to Smalls Paradise, or Hot-Cha, or any other of these clubs?”

“And how on Earth could you do that?”

“You could play for me at my new hotel.”

“Excuse me?”

“I want you to sing at my new hotel,” He approached me carefully then, “Listen, I apologize if I offended you earlier. Tact isn’t exactly my strong suit. But I meant what I said. You have a marvelous voice. With your voice and your beauty, you should be a big star. You should be singing alongside Bessie Smith. Sing for me and you could get there.”

I was flabbergasted. Me? But I kept my cool. I wasn’t about to fall for big lines that easily.

“And how do you propose that’ll happen,” I asked, calmly as ever.

“Work for me. I have a brand new hotel opening up. It’s going to be big. Huge. Especially if I have someone like you there.”

“Uh-huh. And what makes this hotel of yours different from any other hotel in New York? What makes you think people will go to hear me?”

“Because my hotel isn’t in New York,” he said eying me carefully, “It’s in Havana.”

I stared at him with a quizzical look, uncertain that I had even heard right. Did he really mean -

“That’s right,” He said as if reading my thoughts, “Havana. Cuba. You’ve heard the things people have been saying about Havana, right?”

“Of course I have. It’s practically a tropical paradise. The music scene there…”

He nodded at me, “That’s right, that’s right. The whole nightlife there is thriving. If you work for me there, baby, you could be all set in the music business. And they’re right when they say it’s paradise. It’s even better up close and personal. I think you belong there.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and let out a deep sigh, “That’s absurd.”

He stared at me, “Why is it absurd?”

I nearly gawked at him, “You don’t know me.”

“No,” he said leaning closer to me, “But I see you. I see you and I know that you’re the kind of woman who deserves to be seen. You should be traveling and singing all over the world, covered in furs and diamonds, maybe even with the right man at your side.”

He stared at me then, long and hard, and I had to admit I felt a small warmth in my cheeks, but I wasn’t about to go that route with him. 

I took a step back and gave him a polite smile, hoping he’d take the hint. He returned my gesture and reached into his pocket. 

“Very well,” he said good-naturedly, “I know when my time is up. But I hope you do consider my offer,” he handed me his business card then, “I meant every word.” He said in my ear as he was leaving, giving my cheek a quick caress as he walked past me.

I stared at him as he left, “Fresh.” I whispered under my breath.

tbh i have no idea who to tag so if you’re a writer and have a wip u wanna share just like this post and consider yourself tagged!

[busterkeatonfanfic]

Chapter 3

The third glass of whiskey at lunch was a miscalculation. He felt a little too unsteady on his feet as he walked into the barber shop set and they weren’t filming any pratfalls today, so he couldn’t play it off as that. He put an extra stick of chewing gum in his mouth just in case the first stick and brushing his teeth hadn’t concealed the smell of the drink on his breath, and tried to keep his gait steady. At least he’d be sitting for most of this scene.

Reisner was fussing over the props with the workmen, telling them some sign wasn’t straight. “Buster, where do you want these?” said Bert, gesturing to the barber chairs where he and his girl were destined to reunite. “Do you want them farther apart than this? Closer? Or what?”

Buster shrugged and sat down in one of the chairs. “They look fine to me. Maybe a little closer.”

“I mean, are the cameras going to have enough room?”

“Bert, they’re fine,” he said. “Move them a little closer together if you want. You know I trust you.”

Bert nodded and wrestled the other chair forward a few inches. As he wrestled, he said offhandedly, “You sure scared Nelly, didn’t you?”

Buster had no idea what he was talking about. “Nelly?”

“The prop girl, Nelly.”

“I’m not following.” Behind him and to the side, men bustled lighting into place. 

“The new girl I’ve got in the prop house. I sent her to ask you about the chairs. She looked like a ghost when she came back.”

A second ticked by, then another. Then another. He still wasn’t—

Realization landed like an oversized prop anvil. “Ah, hell.” 

“What?” said Bert.

“That was your prop girl?”

“Yes. What did you say to her to make her look so white?” Bert gave him a knowing look. 

“Nothing!” Buster said. He’d been acting and ad-libbing his whole life and he wasn’t about to stop now. “She got a little tongue-tied and I filled in the blanks. Thought she was coming to ask for her big break in the movies, you know how they corner me about that stuff. I must have embarrassed her, I guess.”

Blame that third glass of whiskey. It had made him dopey and loose, thrown off his judgment. There was a feeling in his stomach right now that he didn’t like, a sizzling sense of shame. It was a feeling that hung around too often these days in one form or another and he was getting sick of it. It wasn’t his fault. Nine times out of ten when there was a woman under the age of forty in his dressing room, she was already naked or willing to be. The other times, it was the age-old hard-luck story about needing a break. He’d had perfect reason to assume both motives. It wasn’t his fault.

The shame niggled. Oh yes it was.

He tried not to dwell on the fact that he’d insulted the girl’s looks on top of it all. In truth, there was nothing wrong with them. She looked fine, just not suited to pictures was all. With the whiskey freeing his tongue, he’d thought nothing of answering honestly. Now the terrible coarseness of his remarks was apparent.

The shame went on niggling him until the cameras began rolling and he lost himself where he always lost himself, facing down the cameras with a stone face. 

By the time she’d gone to bed, Nelly’s humiliation had invited a friend along: anger. She knew that men were frequently cruel, licentious, and crude, but she’d never thought in a million years that Buster Keaton could be counted amongst them. All of it was a damnable lie, the wife and the children and the sophisticated parties, and most of all the sweet trepidatious Buster of the films. He wasn’t Rudolph Valentino’s Sheik or John Barrymore’s Don Juan, not her favorite character or star in other words, but she’d always found him charming; what girl didn’t? She had to wonder—were they all like this? Did Valentino have a nightly habit of robbing women of their virtue? Did Barrymore delight in dressing down girls until they felt about as small and as low as a bug? 

She rolled onto her side fitfully, fuming. It now seemed like a mistake to come to California. Perhaps it was just better to turn tail and go back to Evanston rather than spend another day in the employment of a man who had belittled her ambitions and her looks before she had a chance to get a word in edgewise. She could maybe work herself up to a couple starring roles in local productions, retire at the height of her career, marry, and host garden parties and luncheons for the Women’s Auxiliary Club just like her mother and aunts. Of course, the thought wasn’t a serious one. She was being paid a handsome twelve dollars a day, far more than she’d ever earned as a part-time governess in Evanston. She’d swallow her pride, finish out the picture, and use the experience as entrance into another picture, maybe not a laugh feature next time.

She let a fantasy of John Barrymore rock her off to sleep. Although she’d never seen him in Hamlet , she’d clipped a picture from the production from a magazine and glued it into her scrapbook: dark clothing, brooding brow, those strong hands that could clutch a girl and make her swoon. After Steamboat wrapped up, she’d return south to Hollywood and finagle her way onto the United Artists lot, where she would be cast as Katherine to Barrymore’s Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew . The last thought in her mind before she drifted off was of Barrymore’s big hands tearing the blankets off of Kate as she lay in bed, declaring them unfit for such a woman as his wife.

  The memory of what he’d said to the prop girl bit at Buster like a flea all the next morning. As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, his traitorous mind would wander to the incident and he’d be reminded unpleasantly of what a low thing he’d done. He stuck to one whiskey at lunch, even though he would have preferred a second. He tried calling Nate at the Villa, thinking that hearing her voice might provide some kind of consolation. The phone just rang and rang, until finally Edwin picked up and told him she was with Dutch.

At last, his conscience pricked him so much he left his dressing room early. He peeked in the canteen and cheers of “Buster!” erupted from the extras and the crew. He gave them a wave of acknowledgment and left. The girl wasn’t there. He exited and headed toward the prop house. Feeling slightly shy in addition to remorseful, he swung open the door when he got there. The prop girl didn’t notice him over the sound of the radio. She had her back turned to him at the workbench and was crunching an apple and reading a book.

“Hello,” he said. 

“Jesus Christ!” she said, nearly startling out of her skin and whipping her head around.  

Her swearing made him feel better. In his experience girls who swore could take care of themselves, which meant that maybe he hadn’t crushed her underfoot like a flimsy petunia blossom.

She blanched when she realized who it was. “Oh. Mr. Keaton,” she said. An expression resembling dislike settled on her face. 

He couldn’t blame her. He crossed the room and swung himself onto the workbench, dangling his legs. “I insulted you yesterday,” he said, studying her face. Despite the dainty little mouth she’d drawn on with lipstick, she couldn’t hide the fact that her lips were full. Her brown hair was done up in earphones in a faux bob. She reminded him a little of Evelyn Nesbit. Now that he had a good look at her, without the glaze of whiskey, he doubly regretted what he’d said about her looks. 

She stared straight ahead, expressionless, the apple forgotten in her hand. She still seemed a little nervous around him, but there was a set to her jaw that told him he was not going to be forgiven easily.

“There’s baseball practice tonight at seven. You’re invited,” he tried.

She finally met his eyes. “I have plans.”

“Okay,” he said, conceding. “You’re angry with me. I get it. Look, I was out of line yesterday. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for opening my big fat mouth. I was way out of line.”

She merely looked at him. 

“I acted disgracefully. There’s nothing wrong with your looks. I never should have said anything, I never should have—” He couldn’t bring himself to mention that he assumed she’d also been looking for sex. “I’ve been out of sorts lately and, look, I won’t start making excuses. It was wrong, plain and simple. I made assumptions and I shouldn’t have. What’s your name? Nelly?” he said, pressing. He wasn’t going to let up until that flea he called his conscience stopped biting.

“Nelly,” she confirmed in a flat voice. 

“Let me make it up to you, Nelly. Do you want to be an extra today? I’ll ask Bert to give you the afternoon off.” He could almost see her internal struggle. She set her half-eaten apple on the workbench and folded her hands in her lap. “I don’t want any favors,” she said, staring ahead.

She was a proud one. It should have annoyed him, but he found himself admiring her stubbornness. Anyway, he had a lot of practice in Natalie cracking tough nuts. He hopped off the workbench and sank to one knee, propping supplicating hands on her knee. “Please?”

She drew in her lips and he could tell she was trying not to smile. Ah, sweet victory. 

For his pièce de résistance, he broke into song. “ I can hear the robins singing, Nellie Dean. Sweetest recollections ringing, Nellie Dean .”

Nelly succumbed to the smile. “Alright,” she said, shaking her head and trying to hide it. 

“Good,” he said, getting to his feet. He crossed the room and poked his head into the area where all the costumes were stored. Although the film was ostensibly set fifty years ago, all of the women’s costumes were of the latest fashion. He thumbed through the rack and pulled out a few dresses halfway before selecting a pink sleeveless one embroidered with burgundy flowers. “Wear this,” he said, walking back into the main room and handing it to her.

She looked surprised. “Are you sure?” Her eyes told him she still didn’t trust him. 

“Of course I’m sure. Go dress and I’ll walk you to the set.”

Looking now as though she especially didn’t trust him, she nonetheless went into the costume room and closed the door behind her. She came out less than a minute later. She looked just fine—maybe not like a leading lady—but just fine. The shame nipped him again and he scratched it off, reminding himself that he was making it up to her.  

“Sure you don’t want something nicer for the shoot?” he said, noticing that she was wearing flat brown Oxfords.

“Oh, they’re fine. I don’t suppose the cameras will be anywhere near my feet.”

When he stepped closer to her, it clicked; she was a couple inches shorter than she’d been yesterday. He’d made her embarrassed of her height and she switched shoes. It was another reminder of how rotten his words had been. No taller than he was, she was certainly not a giant. He even had an inch on her, give or take. 

“Do I need to put on more makeup?” she said. 

He shook his head. “No, you don’t need to wear any if you’re in the background. We have to do it to stick out,” he said, indicating his powdered cheeks. 

“Alright then.”

“Hold on a minute.” He ripped a piece of paper from a steno pad on the workbench and wrote, Stealing Nelly for the afternoon. Will return her in a timely fashion. -Buster. He set the half-eaten apple on top of it for a paperweight and offered his arm to Nelly. She just stared at it and then at him. “I’ll walk you to the set,” he explained.

She continued to look unsure as she accepted it, but his conscience felt much lighter as they left the prop house together. 

The bright lights agreed with Nelly. They probably wouldn’t have appeared particularly bright to any proper budding starlet, but that Buster had made her an extra for a day, that she would actually be on film and tens of thousands of people would see her, was exactly what she’d been hoping for when she’d taken a train from Evanston to West Hollywood to Sacramento. 

It turned out that being an extra involved a lot of standing around waiting for direction while the cameras tracked the exploits of the main characters, namely Buster and his mouse-sized co-star Marion, whom everyone called Peanuts. The scene was about missed connections; Buster, encountering his girl on the street, tries to apologize to her. She ducks in and out of the telegraph office, debating whether to accept, then follows after him as he trudges away from her.

Peanuts needed the benefit of multiple takes. Buster was flawless, Nelly thought, in every one. Her role was to be one of the town inhabitants walking down the sidewalk. It was hot in the early afternoon sun and she was grateful that Buster had picked out a sleeveless dress for her. She tried to act casual while strolling back and forth and not get distracted by the action further down the sidewalk where Buster and Peanuts were.

After the scene had wrapped, the director and Buster moved onto the next one: Buster walks dejectedly up the street and a car whizzes his carpetbag out of his hands and onto its running board. She and the other extras gathered in a small crowd facing the car to watch. Behind the scenes like this, she began to see how the gags were accomplished. For this one, the camera tracked Buster on the left. When the car came into frame, it obscured most of his body. Because of this, the audience couldn’t see one of the actors in the car pluck the carpetbag from Buster’s hand in one fluid movement, which left him bag-free and bewildered after the car had passed. The hand-off was invisible. This scene took only a couple takes. Buster was all business in between, telling the other actors and the director in a serious way what he thought the scene should look like. It was all so fascinating to finally be on the inside and see the nuts and bolts. She watched carefully, trying to commit it to memory. 

For the next scene, the carpet bag was meant to tumble off the running board and trip up Buster, who was running at top speed after the car. It took around three or four takes for the bag to fall satisfactorily into Buster’s path. Each time it did, he would somehow tumble head over heels to miss it. The first time he accomplished the stunt, the extras hooted and broke into clapping. Buster flashed a quick smile, clearly pleased, and Nelly joined in the applause. No matter how many times he vaulted over the bag, going briefly vertical, she couldn’t tell how he did it. After that, it was back to the sidewalk for her even though she was too far in the distance, she thought, for the cameras to see her at this point.

After some time had gone by, Buster announced that it was a wrap. So that was that. She looked around at a couple of the other extras for guidance, wondering what came next. The logical thing to do would be to return the dress and finish out the rest of the day in the prop house, so she decided just to slip away rather than reveal herself as a rookie by asking. As she turned at the corner near the facade of the Western Union Telegraph building to take a shortcut, the sound of hurried footsteps made her look over her shoulder. It was Buster. The extras turned to look at them as Buster came to a stop. Nelly felt herself pale a little as she faced him. For all her bravery in the prop house earlier, she was still far from used to him.

“Coming to practice tonight?” he said, a little out of breath. 

She was surprised. She’d assumed that the invitation earlier had been flippant. “I can’t,” she said, before she had time to think about it. She had a hard time reading the answering expression on his face, but she thought it was puzzlement. “I have plans.”

However thrilling being an extra had been, part of her had not forgiven him. When she’d stepped back and looked at her torso in her bureau mirror that morning, all she could think about was his comment about her bosom being too big and her needing to lose twenty pounds. The words still felt like salt in a bleeding gash, even if he clearly did wish to make it up to her. Anyway, she wasn’t fibbing about having plans. She’d agreed to play blackjack with Joe and Maggie, the owners of the house on 22nd Street, that night. 

“Well, alright then,” Buster said, with a nod. “I’ll see you around.”

“Sure,” she said, feeling an upwelling of all sorts of emotions: regret at turning him down, pride at her own resolve, anxiety that he might decide to can her if she continued to rebuff him. “Thank you for letting me be part of the picture.”

“No problem.”

She nodded at him and they parted. 

The worst of the confused feelings had faded by eight that evening when she was at the leather-top folding table with Joe and Maggie in their sitting room, regaling them with stories from the day. By now, they knew that she was employed in the prop shop and not as an extra, so the fact that she really had been an extra that afternoon was of the utmost interest to both. She went over every detail, keeping back, of course, yesterday’s ignominious encounter with the picture’s star. As the conversation waned and they settled into the game of blackjack, she felt positively luminous. Not even Mary Pickford, she thought, could feel as famous as she did tonight. (Watch Steamboat Bill, Jr. here.)

[ginger-grimm]

OC TROPE CHALLENGE

Day 7.5: Pick Any Trope That Wasn’t Listed! - Odd Friendship aka a Human Disaster Goofball and a former Pageant Queen turned Gang Member turned Succubus become friends somehow and nobody expected it.

When Misty first arrived at the Hargreeves house after Reginald Hargreeve’s funeral she hadn’t expected a twenty-something-year-old dude to pull up in the driveaway and trip out of his van. 

She hadn’t expected to befriend that mess of a human being. Not on a more intense level than an allyship. But here they were. Aiden freshly turned into a vampire, almost having killed Joy. He waned to run. She needed to stop him. If Aiden ran now, he’d never come back. He’d never forgive himself. And he and Joy would never mend their relationship. Misty had known Aiden for four years now and he deserved more than being stuck in darkness for the rest of his life.

“This is my fault,” Aiden said, his voice barely audible.

Misty pulled Aiden into a hug. “No, it’s not. You don’t have this under control and we can work on that.”

Aiden pulled away from her. “How? Do you know of any vampires in town? Because I don’t. I’m alone in this. I just almost killed Joy! I ruined her life.”

“That is not true!” Misty insisted. Some people in the hallway turned to them and Misty pulled him into a more quiet corner, a sigh escaping her lips. “Look, I hate to say this, but this is just as much Joy’s fault as it is yours. She played with fire and now she got burned. I like her, she’s a great person, but she brought this on herself.”

Aiden shook his head. “Your just saying that because we’re friends. And because you want to stop me from taking off.”

“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any truth to what I say. I know you love Joy, and I love that you do, but she got you into this mess. And you didn’t attack her for no reason. You have resentment. But that still doesn’t mean that you should run.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

Misty threw her hands up. “You’ve been pining for this girl for five years and counting. Then you had her. And you had your baby. And then it all slipped out of your fingers. I don’t think you’ve actually taken a break and a day for yourself in forever.”

She took his hand and the started walking out of the hospital. “What I want you to do, is go off the grid for a couple of days. Maybe even weeks. I want you to take some time for yourself. To figure your new life out. And when you have some more control you can come back and work out your issues with Joy. Alright?”

Aiden nodded. “But I still don’t know who to ask about this stuff.”

“I think I do,” Misty told him. His look urged her to go on. “Rudolph Easton. His protegé Valentino is a vampire. He can even walk in the sun. They’re bound to know something. I heard Rudolph likes to take in supernaturals who don’t know where to go.”

“Okay,” he nodded again. “Okay, yeah you’re right. This is gonna be good for me. And Jill and Jinx will keep an eye on Joy. It’s going to be fine.”

“I know it will be,” Misty smiled at him.

Aiden patted Misty’s arms. “Thank you for being my friend. I don’t really have any others.”

Misty nodded at him. “Of course.”

TAGGING: @hughstheforcelou @firsthorror @eddysocs @raith-way @foxesandmagic @reggiemantleholdmyhand-tle

[silent-era-of-cinema]

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his titular role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery Sr. and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.

For his contributions to the film industry, Beery was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star in 1960. His star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Beery was born the youngest of three boys in 1885 in Clay County, Missouri, near Smithville. The Beery family left the farm in the 1890s and moved to nearby Kansas City, Missouri, where the father was a police officer. He may have had an older sister based on a suspected recent found Victorian photo of a boy who strongly resembles Beery and an older girl.

Beery attended the Chase School in Kansas City and took piano lessons as well, but showed little love for academic matters. He ran away from home twice, the first time returning after a short time, quitting school and working in the Kansas City train yards as an engine wiper. Beery ran away from home a second time at age 16, and joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant elephant trainer. He left two years later, after being clawed by a leopard.

Wallace Beery joined his older brother Noah in New York City in 1904, finding work in comic opera as a baritone and began to appear on Broadway as well as summer stock theatre. He appeared in The Belle of the West in 1905. His most notable early role came in 1907 when he starred in The Yankee Tourist to good reviews.

In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios. His first movie was likely a comedy short, His Athletic Wife (1913).

Beery was then cast as Sweedie, a Swedish maid character he played in drag in a series of short comedy films from 1914–16. Sweedie Learns to Swim (1914) co-starred Ben Turpin. Sweedie Goes to College (1915) starred Gloria Swanson, whom Beery married the following year.

Other Beery films (mostly shorts) from this period included In and Out (1914), The Ups and Downs (1914), Cheering a Husband (1914), Madame Double X (1914), Ain't It the Truth (1915), Two Hearts That Beat as Ten (1915), and The Fable of the Roistering Blades (1915).

The Slim Princess (1915), with Francis X. Bushman, was one of the earliest feature-length films. Beery also did The Broken Pledge (1915) and A Dash of Courage (1916), both with Swanson.

Beery was a German soldier in The Little American (1917) with Mary Pickford, directed by Cecil B. De Mille. He did some comedies for Mack Sennett, Maggie's First False Step (1917) and Teddy at the Throttle (1917), but he would gradually leave that genre and specialize in portrayals of villains prior to becoming a major leading man during the sound era.

In 1917 Beery portrayed Pancho Villa in Patria at a time when Villa was still active in Mexico. (Beery reprised the role 17 years later in Viva Villa!.)

Beery was a villainous German in The Unpardonable Sin (1919) with Blanche Sweet. For Paramount he did The Love Burglar (1919) with Wallace Reid; Victory (1919), with Jack Holt; Behind the Door (1919), as another villainous German; and The Life Line (1919) with Holt.

Beery was the villain in five major releases in 1920: 813; The Virgin of Stamboul for director Tod Browning; The Mollycoddle with Douglas Fairbanks, in which Fairbanks and Beery fistfought as they tumbled down a steep mountain (see the photograph in the gallery below); and in the non-comedic Western The Round-Up starring Roscoe Arbuckle as an obese cowboy in a well-received serious film with the tagline "Nobody loves a fat man." Beery continued his villainy cycle that year with The Last of the Mohicans, playing Magua.

Beery had a supporting part in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1920) with Rudolph Valentino. He was a villainous Tong leader in A Tale of Two Worlds (1921) and was the bad guy again in Sleeping Acres (1922), Wild Honey (1922), and I Am the Law (1922), which also featured his brother Noah Beery Sr.

Beery had a large then-rare heroic part as King Richard I (Richard the Lion-Hearted) in Robin Hood (1922), starring Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood. The lavish movie was a huge success and spawned a sequel the following year starring Beery in the title role of Richard the Lion-Hearted.

Beery had an important unbilled cameo as "the Ape-Man" in A Blind Bargain (1922) starring Lon Chaney (Beery is seen crouching, in full ape-man make-up, in the background of some of the movie's posters), and a supporting role in The Flame of Life (1923). He played another historical king, King Philip IV of Spain in The Spanish Dancer (1923) with Pola Negri.

Beery starred in an action melodrama, Stormswept (1923) for FBO Films alongside his elder brother, Noah Beery Sr.. The tagline on the movie's posters was "Wallace and Noah Beery – The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."

Beery played his third royal, the Duc de Tours, in Ashes of Vengeance (1923) with Norma Talmadge, then did Drifting (1923) with Priscilla Dean for director Browning.

Beery had the titular role in Bavu (1923), about Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution. He co-starred with Buster Keaton in the comedy Three Ages (1923), the first feature Keaton wrote, produced, directed and starred in.

Beery was a villain in The Eternal Struggle (1923), a Mountie drama, produced by Louis B. Mayer, who would eventually become crucial to Beery's career. He was reunited with Dean and Browning in White Tiger (1923), then played the title role in the aforementioned Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923), a sequel to Robin Hood based on Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman.

Beery was in The Drums of Jeopardy (1923) and had a supporting role in The Sea Hawk (1924) for director Frank Lloyd. He also appeared in a supporting role for Clarence Brown's The Signal Tower (1925) starring Virginia Valli and Rockliffe Fellowes.

Beery signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. He had a support role in Adventure (1925) directed by Victor Fleming.

At First National, he was given the star role of Professor Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur epic The Lost World (1925), arguably his silent performance most frequently screened in the modern era. Beery was top billed in Paramount's The Devil's Cargo (1925) for Victor Fleming, and supported in The Night Club (1925), The Pony Express (1925) for James Cruze, and The Wanderer (1925) for Raoul Walsh.

Beery starred in a comedy with Raymond Hatton, Behind the Front (1926) and he was a villain in Volcano! (1926). He was a bos'n in Old Ironsides (1926) for director James Cruze, with Charles Farrell in the romantic lead.

Beery had the title role in the baseball movie Casey at the Bat (1927). He was reunited with Hatton in Fireman, Save My Child (1927) and Now We're in the Air (1927). The latter also featured Louise Brooks who was Beery's co star in Beggars of Life (1928), directed by William Wellman, which was Paramount's first part-talkie movie.

There was a fourth comedy with Hatton, Wife Savers (1929), then Beery starred in Chinatown Nights (1929) for Wellman, produced by a young David O. Selznick. This film was shot silent with the voices dubbed in by the actors afterward, which worked spectacularly well with Beery's resonant voice, although the technique was not used again during the silent era for another full-length feature. Beery then played in Stairs of Sand (1929), a Western also starring Jean Arthur (who would play the leading lady in the Western film Shane twenty-four years later) before being fired by Paramount.

Irving Thalberg signed Beery to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a character actor. The association began well when Beery played the savage convict "Butch", a role originally intended for Lon Chaney Sr. (who died that same year), in the highly successful 1930 prison film The Big House, directed by George W. Hill; Beery was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Beery's second film for MGM was also a huge success: Billy the Kid (1930), an early widescreen picture in which he played Pat Garrett. He supported John Gilbert in Way for a Sailor (1930) and Grace Moore in A Lady's Morals (1930), portraying P. T. Barnum in the latter.

Beery was well established as a leading man and top rank character actor. What really made him one of the cinema's foremost stars was Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler and directed by George W. Hill, a sensational success.

Beery made a third film with Hill, The Secret Six (1931), a gangster movie with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in key supporting roles. The picture was popular but was surpassed at the box office by The Champ, which Beery made with Jackie Cooper for director King Vidor. The film, especially written for Beery, was another box office sensation. Beery shared the Best Actor Oscar with Fredric March. Though March received one vote more than Beery, Academy rules at the time—since rescinded—defined results within one vote of each other as "ties".[8]

Beery's career went from strength to strength. Hell Divers (1932), a naval airplane epic also starring a young Clark Gable billed under Beery, was a big hit. So too was the all-star Grand Hotel (1932), in which Beery was billed fourth, under Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and Joan Crawford, one of the very few times he would not be top billed for the rest of his career. In 1932 his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid a dollar more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the world's highest-paid actor.

Beery was a German wrestler in Flesh (1932), a hit directed by John Ford but Ford removed his directorial credit before the film opened, so the picture screened with no director listed despite being labeled "A John Ford Production" in the opening title card. Next Beery was in another all-star ensemble blockbuster, Dinner at Eight (1933), with Jean Harlow holding her own as Beery's comically bickering wife. This time Beery was billed third, under Marie Dressler and John Barrymore.

Beery was loaned out to the new Twentieth Century Pictures for the boisterously fast-paced comedy/drama The Bowery (1933), also starring George Raft, Jackie Cooper and Fay Wray, and featuring Pert Kelton, under the direction of Raoul Walsh. The picture was a smash hit.

Back at MGM he played the title role of Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1933) and was reunited with Dressler in Tugboat Annie (1933), a massive hit. He was Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), described as a box office "disappointment"[9] despite being MGM's third largest hit of the season, and remains currently viewed as featuring one of Beery's iconic performances.

Beery returned to Twentieth Century Productions for The Mighty Barnum (1934) in which he played P. T. Barnum again. Back at MGM he was a kindly sergeant in West Point of the Air (1935) and was in an all-star spectacular, China Seas (1935), this time billed beneath Clark Gable.

O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) reunited Beery and Jackie Cooper. He had the lead as the drunken uncle in MGM's adaptation of Ah, Wilderness! (1936) and went back to Twentieth Century – now 20th Century Fox – for A Message to Garcia (1936).

At MGM he was in Old Hutch (1936) and The Good Old Soak (1937) then he was back at Fox for Slave Ship (1937), taking second billing under Warner Baxter, a rarity for Beery after Min and Bill catapulted his career into the stratosphere in 1931, during which he received top billing in all but six films (Min and Bill, Grand Hotel, Tugboat Annie, Dinner at Eight, China Seas and Slave Ship).

The status of Beery's films went into a decline, possibly due to a scandal in which Beery was implicated in the death of Ted Healy in 1937, which was apparently kept out of the newspapers by the studio's "fixer" Eddie Mannix, who eventually became head of MGM. After an abrupt European vacation, Beery was in The Bad Man of Brimstone (1938) with Dennis O'Keefe (and Noah Beery Sr. in a cameo role as a bartender), Port of Seven Seas (1938) with Maureen O'Sullivan, Stablemates (1938) with Mickey Rooney, Stand Up and Fight (1939) with Robert Taylor, Sergeant Madden (1939) with Tom Brown, Thunder Afloat (1939) with Chester Morris, The Man from Dakota (1940) with Dolores del Río, and 20 Mule Team (1940) with Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter and Noah Beery Jr., enjoying top billing in all of them.

Wyoming (1940) teamed Beery with Marjorie Main. After The Bad Man (1941), which also stars Lionel Barrymore and future US president Ronald Reagan, and was the remake of a Walter Huston picture, MGM reunited Beery and Main in Barnacle Bill (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1941), and Jackass Mail (1942).

Beery did a war film, Salute to the Marines (1943) then was back with Main in Rationing (1944). Barbary Coast Gent (1944), a broad Western comedy in which Beery played a bombastic con man, teamed him with Binnie Barnes. He did another war film, This Man's Navy (1945), then made another Western with Main, Bad Bascomb (1946), a huge hit, helped by Margaret O'Brien's casting.

The Mighty McGurk (1947) put Beery with another child star of the studio, Dean Stockwell. Alias a Gentleman (1947) was the first of Beery's movies to lose money during the sound era. Beery received top billing for A Date with Judy (1949), a hugely popular musical featuring Elizabeth Taylor. Beery's last film, again featuring Main, Big Jack (1949), also lost money according to Mannix's reckoning.

On March 27, 1916, at the age of 30, Beery married 17-year-old actress Gloria Swanson in Los Angeles. The two had co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College. Although Beery had enjoyed popularity with his Sweedie shorts, his career had taken a dip, and during the marriage to Swanson, he relied on her as a breadwinner. According to Swanson's autobiography, Beery raped her on their wedding night, and later tricked her into swallowing an abortifacient when she was pregnant, which caused her to lose their child. Swanson filed for divorce in 1917 and it was finalized in 1918.

On August 4, 1924, Beery married actress Rita Gilman (Mary Areta Gilman; 1898–1986) in Los Angeles. The couple adopted Carol Ann Priester (1930–2013), daughter of Rita Beery's mother's half-sister, Juanita Priester (née Caplinger; 1899–1931) and her husband, Erwin William Priester (1897–1969). After 14 years of marriage, Rita filed for divorce on May 1, 1939, in Carson City, Ormsby County, Nevada. Within 20 minutes of filing, she won the decree. Rita remarried 15 days later, on May 16, 1939, to Jessen Albert D. Foyt (1907–1945), filing her marriage license with the same county clerk in Carson City.

n December 1937, comedic actor Ted Healy was involved in a drunken altercation at Cafe Trocadero on the Sunset Strip. E. J. Fleming, in his 2005 book, The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine, asserts that Healy was attacked by three men:

Future James Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli

Local mob figure Pat DiCicco (who was Broccoli's cousin as well as the former husband of Thelma Todd and the future husband of Gloria Vanderbilt)

Wallace Beery

Fleming writes that this beating led to Healy's death a few days later.

Around December 1939, Beery, recently divorced, adopted a seven-month-old girl, Phyllis Ann Beery. Phyllis appeared in MGM publicity photos when adopted, but was never mentioned again. Beery told the press he had taken the girl in from a single mother, recently divorced, but he had filed no official adoption papers.

Beery was considered misanthropic and difficult to work with by many of his colleagues. Mickey Rooney, one of Beery's few co-stars to consistently speak highly of him in subsequent decades, related in his autobiography that Howard Strickling, MGM's head of publicity, once went to Louis B. Mayer to complain that Beery was stealing props from the studio's sets. "And that wasn't all", Rooney continued. "He went on for some minutes about the trouble that Beery was always causing him ... Mayer sighed and said, 'Yes, Howard, Beery's a son of a bitch. But he's our son of a bitch.' Strickling got the point. A family has to be tolerant of its black sheep, particularly if they brought a lot of money into the family fold, which Beery certainly did."

Child actors, in particular, recalled unpleasant encounters with Beery. Jackie Cooper, who made several films with him early in his career, called him "a big disappointment", and accused him of upstaging, and other attempts to undermine his performances, out of what Cooper presumed was jealousy. He recalled impulsively throwing his arms around Beery after one especially heartfelt scene, only to be gruffly pushed away. Child actress Margaret O'Brien claimed that she had to be protected by crew members from Beery's insistence on constantly pinching her.

In his memoir Rooney described Beery as "... a lovable, shambling kind of guy who never seemed to know that his shirttail belonged inside his pants, but always knew when a little kid actor needed a smile and a wink or a word of encouragement." He did concede that "not everyone loved [Beery] as much as I did." Beery, by contrast, described Rooney as a "brat", but a "fine actor". Future author Ray Bradbury recalled meeting Beery as a young boy on a Hollywood street and that his autograph request resulted in Beery cursing and spitting on him.

Beery owned and flew his own planes, one a Howard DGA-11. On April 15, 1933, he was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Reserve at NRAB Long Beach. One of his proudest achievements was catching the largest giant black sea bass in the world — 515 pounds (234 kg) — off Santa Catalina Island in 1916, a record that stood for 35 years.

A noteworthy episode in Beery's life is chronicled in the fifth episode of Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea: In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating Jackson Hole National Monument to protect the land adjoining the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Local ranchers, outraged at the loss of grazing lands, compared FDR's action to Hitler's taking of Austria. Led by an aging Beery, they protested by herding 500 cattle across the monument lands without a permit.

On February 13, 1948, Gloria Schumm (aka Gloria Smith Beery, née Florence W. Smith; 1916–1989) filed a paternity suit against Beery. Beery, through his lawyer, Norman Ronald Tyre (1910–2002), initially offered $6,000 as a settlement, but denied being the father. Gloria had given birth on February 7, 1948, to Johan Richard Wallace Schumm. Gloria, in 1944, divorced Stuttgart-born Hollywood actor Hans Schumm (né Johann Josef Eugen Schumm; 1896–1990), but remarried him August 21, 1947, after realizing that she was pregnant. Prior to remarrying Hans Schumm, Gloria, on August 4, 1947, met with Beery at his home, where he gave her the name and address of a physician to submit an examination.[29] At or around that time, she also asked Beery to marry her to legitimatize the expected child (words), which Beery refused.

According to newspapers, Gloria claimed to have been intimate with Wallace Beery on or about May 1, 1947, at his home in Beverly Hills (in the court proceedings, however, she claimed to have been intimate with Beery on May 17, 1947). Beery conceded that he had known Gloria for about 15 years and that, under the pseudonym "Gloria Whitney", she had played bit roles in 6 films that he starred in. She again separated from Hans Schumm April 15, 1948.

Beery died of a heart attack on April 15, 1949 (14 months, 1 week, and 1 day after Johan Schumm's birth) — while the suit was pending. Beery had been reading a newspaper at his Beverly Hills home when he collapsed.[31] His body was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The inscription on his grave reads, "No man is indispensable but some are irreplaceable."

Beery died intestate. In the paternity suit, Gloria Schumm's attorneys demanded $104,135 against Beery's $2,220,000 estate. In February 1952, Judge Newcomb Condee approved a $26,750 settlement from the estate. Gloria Schumm accepted the settlement, and Beery's paternity of Johan Schumm was not acknowledged.

When Mickey Rooney's father died less than a year later, Rooney arranged to have him buried next to his old friend. "I thought it was fitting that these two comedians should rest in peace, side by side", he wrote.

The paternity suit, and subsequent suits – including appeals – extended through about 1952 and were internationally publicized, particularly in gossip columns and tabloids. The litigation has endured as case law with, among other things, treatises addressing the rights of illegitimate offspring against legitimate heirs in races for inheritance.

The upshot was that Schumm's paternity suit against Beery's estate put would-be half-siblings and other would-be family legatees, including a would-be uncle, Noah Beery, Sr., in the position as de facto defendants. Phyllis Ann Riley was not named in Beery's will. Part of plaintiff's claim, initially, hinged on whether an oral agreement was binding. Gloria had claimed that Beery, while alive, agreed to provide for the child. However, on November 17, 1949, Judge William B. McKesson (1895–1967) threw out Gloria's claim. The judge reasoned that any oral agreement between the two, specifically any that was intended to provide for maintenance and care of a minor, was not binding because the amount allegedly agreed upon was in excess of $500, which must be made in writing.

Another matter in the case hinged on a "peppercorn" rule. That is, in order for any agreement, oral or written, between Wallace and Gloria to be binding, there must be consideration. The court, initially, found that Beery agreed to an oral contract where Gloria would (i) include the name "Wallace" in the child's name if a male, or "Wally" if a female, and (ii) refrain from filing a paternity suit that both agreed would damage Beery's "social and professional standing as a prominent motion picture star."

Generally, under California state law at the time, a father who neither marries the mother nor acknowledges paternity does not have a right to name the child. That right belongs to the mother. In exchange for Gloria's promise to name the child "Wallace" or "Wally" (the promise representing a form of consideration), Wallace Beery agreed to arrange for the payment of $100 per week to the child (as a third-party beneficiary under the contract), plus a lump sum of $25,000 to the child when he or she attained age 21, in addition to the customary obligation to pay for the "maintenance, support and education according to the station in life and standard of living of Wallace Beery."

For his contributions to the film industry, Wallace Beery posthumously received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Beery is mentioned in the film Barton Fink, in which the lead character has been hired to write a wrestling screenplay to star Beery.

In the 1968 comedy "The Projectionist" actor and comedian Chuck McCann impersonates Beery quoting a line from "Min and Bill"

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his titular role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery Sr. and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr.

For his contributions to the film industry, Beery was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star in 1960. His star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Beery was born the youngest of three boys in 1885 in Clay County, Missouri, near Smithville. The Beery family left the farm in the 1890s and moved to nearby Kansas City, Missouri, where the father was a police officer. He may have had an older sister based on a suspected recent found Victorian photo of a boy who strongly resembles Beery and an older girl.

Beery attended the Chase School in Kansas City and took piano lessons as well, but showed little love for academic matters. He ran away from home twice, the first time returning after a short time, quitting school and working in the Kansas City train yards as an engine wiper. Beery ran away from home a second time at age 16, and joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant elephant trainer. He left two years later, after being clawed by a leopard.

Wallace Beery joined his older brother Noah in New York City in 1904, finding work in comic opera as a baritone and began to appear on Broadway as well as summer stock theatre. He appeared in The Belle of the West in 1905. His most notable early role came in 1907 when he starred in The Yankee Tourist to good reviews.

In 1913, he moved to Chicago to work for Essanay Studios. His first movie was likely a comedy short, His Athletic Wife (1913).

Beery was then cast as Sweedie, a Swedish maid character he played in drag in a series of short comedy films from 1914–16. Sweedie Learns to Swim (1914) co-starred Ben Turpin. Sweedie Goes to College (1915) starred Gloria Swanson, whom Beery married the following year.

Other Beery films (mostly shorts) from this period included In and Out (1914), The Ups and Downs (1914), Cheering a Husband (1914), Madame Double X (1914), Ain't It the Truth (1915), Two Hearts That Beat as Ten (1915), and The Fable of the Roistering Blades (1915).

The Slim Princess (1915), with Francis X. Bushman, was one of the earliest feature-length films. Beery also did The Broken Pledge (1915) and A Dash of Courage (1916), both with Swanson.

Beery was a German soldier in The Little American (1917) with Mary Pickford, directed by Cecil B. De Mille. He did some comedies for Mack Sennett, Maggie's First False Step (1917) and Teddy at the Throttle (1917), but he would gradually leave that genre and specialize in portrayals of villains prior to becoming a major leading man during the sound era.

In 1917 Beery portrayed Pancho Villa in Patria at a time when Villa was still active in Mexico. (Beery reprised the role 17 years later in Viva Villa!.)

Beery was a villainous German in The Unpardonable Sin (1919) with Blanche Sweet. For Paramount he did The Love Burglar (1919) with Wallace Reid; Victory (1919), with Jack Holt; Behind the Door (1919), as another villainous German; and The Life Line (1919) with Holt.

Beery was the villain in five major releases in 1920: 813; The Virgin of Stamboul for director Tod Browning; The Mollycoddle with Douglas Fairbanks, in which Fairbanks and Beery fistfought as they tumbled down a steep mountain (see the photograph in the gallery below); and in the non-comedic Western The Round-Up starring Roscoe Arbuckle as an obese cowboy in a well-received serious film with the tagline "Nobody loves a fat man." Beery continued his villainy cycle that year with The Last of the Mohicans, playing Magua.

Beery had a supporting part in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1920) with Rudolph Valentino. He was a villainous Tong leader in A Tale of Two Worlds (1921) and was the bad guy again in Sleeping Acres (1922), Wild Honey (1922), and I Am the Law (1922), which also featured his brother Noah Beery Sr.

Beery had a large then-rare heroic part as King Richard I (Richard the Lion-Hearted) in Robin Hood (1922), starring Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood. The lavish movie was a huge success and spawned a sequel the following year starring Beery in the title role of Richard the Lion-Hearted.

Beery had an important unbilled cameo as "the Ape-Man" in A Blind Bargain (1922) starring Lon Chaney (Beery is seen crouching, in full ape-man make-up, in the background of some of the movie's posters), and a supporting role in The Flame of Life (1923). He played another historical king, King Philip IV of Spain in The Spanish Dancer (1923) with Pola Negri.

Beery starred in an action melodrama, Stormswept (1923) for FBO Films alongside his elder brother, Noah Beery Sr.. The tagline on the movie's posters was "Wallace and Noah Beery – The Two Greatest Character Actors on the American Screen."

Beery played his third royal, the Duc de Tours, in Ashes of Vengeance (1923) with Norma Talmadge, then did Drifting (1923) with Priscilla Dean for director Browning.

Beery had the titular role in Bavu (1923), about Bolsheviks and the Russian Revolution. He co-starred with Buster Keaton in the comedy Three Ages (1923), the first feature Keaton wrote, produced, directed and starred in.

Beery was a villain in The Eternal Struggle (1923), a Mountie drama, produced by Louis B. Mayer, who would eventually become crucial to Beery's career. He was reunited with Dean and Browning in White Tiger (1923), then played the title role in the aforementioned Richard the Lion-Hearted (1923), a sequel to Robin Hood based on Sir Walter Scott's The Talisman.

Beery was in The Drums of Jeopardy (1923) and had a supporting role in The Sea Hawk (1924) for director Frank Lloyd. He also appeared in a supporting role for Clarence Brown's The Signal Tower (1925) starring Virginia Valli and Rockliffe Fellowes.

Beery signed a contract with Paramount Pictures. He had a support role in Adventure (1925) directed by Victor Fleming.

At First National, he was given the star role of Professor Challenger in Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur epic The Lost World (1925), arguably his silent performance most frequently screened in the modern era. Beery was top billed in Paramount's The Devil's Cargo (1925) for Victor Fleming, and supported in The Night Club (1925), The Pony Express (1925) for James Cruze, and The Wanderer (1925) for Raoul Walsh.

Beery starred in a comedy with Raymond Hatton, Behind the Front (1926) and he was a villain in Volcano! (1926). He was a bos'n in Old Ironsides (1926) for director James Cruze, with Charles Farrell in the romantic lead.

Beery had the title role in the baseball movie Casey at the Bat (1927). He was reunited with Hatton in Fireman, Save My Child (1927) and Now We're in the Air (1927). The latter also featured Louise Brooks who was Beery's co star in Beggars of Life (1928), directed by William Wellman, which was Paramount's first part-talkie movie.

There was a fourth comedy with Hatton, Wife Savers (1929), then Beery starred in Chinatown Nights (1929) for Wellman, produced by a young David O. Selznick. This film was shot silent with the voices dubbed in by the actors afterward, which worked spectacularly well with Beery's resonant voice, although the technique was not used again during the silent era for another full-length feature. Beery then played in Stairs of Sand (1929), a Western also starring Jean Arthur (who would play the leading lady in the Western film Shane twenty-four years later) before being fired by Paramount.

Irving Thalberg signed Beery to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a character actor. The association began well when Beery played the savage convict "Butch", a role originally intended for Lon Chaney Sr. (who died that same year), in the highly successful 1930 prison film The Big House, directed by George W. Hill; Beery was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Beery's second film for MGM was also a huge success: Billy the Kid (1930), an early widescreen picture in which he played Pat Garrett. He supported John Gilbert in Way for a Sailor (1930) and Grace Moore in A Lady's Morals (1930), portraying P. T. Barnum in the latter.

Beery was well established as a leading man and top rank character actor. What really made him one of the cinema's foremost stars was Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler and directed by George W. Hill, a sensational success.

Beery made a third film with Hill, The Secret Six (1931), a gangster movie with Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in key supporting roles. The picture was popular but was surpassed at the box office by The Champ, which Beery made with Jackie Cooper for director King Vidor. The film, especially written for Beery, was another box office sensation. Beery shared the Best Actor Oscar with Fredric March. Though March received one vote more than Beery, Academy rules at the time—since rescinded—defined results within one vote of each other as "ties".[8]

Beery's career went from strength to strength. Hell Divers (1932), a naval airplane epic also starring a young Clark Gable billed under Beery, was a big hit. So too was the all-star Grand Hotel (1932), in which Beery was billed fourth, under Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and Joan Crawford, one of the very few times he would not be top billed for the rest of his career. In 1932 his contract with MGM stipulated that he be paid a dollar more than any other contract player at the studio, making him the world's highest-paid actor.

Beery was a German wrestler in Flesh (1932), a hit directed by John Ford but Ford removed his directorial credit before the film opened, so the picture screened with no director listed despite being labeled "A John Ford Production" in the opening title card. Next Beery was in another all-star ensemble blockbuster, Dinner at Eight (1933), with Jean Harlow holding her own as Beery's comically bickering wife. This time Beery was billed third, under Marie Dressler and John Barrymore.

Beery was loaned out to the new Twentieth Century Pictures for the boisterously fast-paced comedy/drama The Bowery (1933), also starring George Raft, Jackie Cooper and Fay Wray, and featuring Pert Kelton, under the direction of Raoul Walsh. The picture was a smash hit.

Back at MGM he played the title role of Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1933) and was reunited with Dressler in Tugboat Annie (1933), a massive hit. He was Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), described as a box office "disappointment"[9] despite being MGM's third largest hit of the season, and remains currently viewed as featuring one of Beery's iconic performances.

Beery returned to Twentieth Century Productions for The Mighty Barnum (1934) in which he played P. T. Barnum again. Back at MGM he was a kindly sergeant in West Point of the Air (1935) and was in an all-star spectacular, China Seas (1935), this time billed beneath Clark Gable.

O'Shaughnessy's Boy (1935) reunited Beery and Jackie Cooper. He had the lead as the drunken uncle in MGM's adaptation of Ah, Wilderness! (1936) and went back to Twentieth Century – now 20th Century Fox – for A Message to Garcia (1936).

At MGM he was in Old Hutch (1936) and The Good Old Soak (1937) then he was back at Fox for Slave Ship (1937), taking second billing under Warner Baxter, a rarity for Beery after Min and Bill catapulted his career into the stratosphere in 1931, during which he received top billing in all but six films (Min and Bill, Grand Hotel, Tugboat Annie, Dinner at Eight, China Seas and Slave Ship).

The status of Beery's films went into a decline, possibly due to a scandal in which Beery was implicated in the death of Ted Healy in 1937, which was apparently kept out of the newspapers by the studio's "fixer" Eddie Mannix, who eventually became head of MGM. After an abrupt European vacation, Beery was in The Bad Man of Brimstone (1938) with Dennis O'Keefe (and Noah Beery Sr. in a cameo role as a bartender), Port of Seven Seas (1938) with Maureen O'Sullivan, Stablemates (1938) with Mickey Rooney, Stand Up and Fight (1939) with Robert Taylor, Sergeant Madden (1939) with Tom Brown, Thunder Afloat (1939) with Chester Morris, The Man from Dakota (1940) with Dolores del Río, and 20 Mule Team (1940) with Marjorie Rambeau, Anne Baxter and Noah Beery Jr., enjoying top billing in all of them.

Wyoming (1940) teamed Beery with Marjorie Main. After The Bad Man (1941), which also stars Lionel Barrymore and future US president Ronald Reagan, and was the remake of a Walter Huston picture, MGM reunited Beery and Main in Barnacle Bill (1941), The Bugle Sounds (1941), and Jackass Mail (1942).

Beery did a war film, Salute to the Marines (1943) then was back with Main in Rationing (1944). Barbary Coast Gent (1944), a broad Western comedy in which Beery played a bombastic con man, teamed him with Binnie Barnes. He did another war film, This Man's Navy (1945), then made another Western with Main, Bad Bascomb (1946), a huge hit, helped by Margaret O'Brien's casting.

The Mighty McGurk (1947) put Beery with another child star of the studio, Dean Stockwell. Alias a Gentleman (1947) was the first of Beery's movies to lose money during the sound era. Beery received top billing for A Date with Judy (1949), a hugely popular musical featuring Elizabeth Taylor. Beery's last film, again featuring Main, Big Jack (1949), also lost money according to Mannix's reckoning.

On March 27, 1916, at the age of 30, Beery married 17-year-old actress Gloria Swanson in Los Angeles. The two had co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College. Although Beery had enjoyed popularity with his Sweedie shorts, his career had taken a dip, and during the marriage to Swanson, he relied on her as a breadwinner. According to Swanson's autobiography, Beery raped her on their wedding night, and later tricked her into swallowing an abortifacient when she was pregnant, which caused her to lose their child. Swanson filed for divorce in 1917 and it was finalized in 1918.

On August 4, 1924, Beery married actress Rita Gilman (Mary Areta Gilman; 1898–1986) in Los Angeles. The couple adopted Carol Ann Priester (1930–2013), daughter of Rita Beery's mother's half-sister, Juanita Priester (née Caplinger; 1899–1931) and her husband, Erwin William Priester (1897–1969). After 14 years of marriage, Rita filed for divorce on May 1, 1939, in Carson City, Ormsby County, Nevada. Within 20 minutes of filing, she won the decree. Rita remarried 15 days later, on May 16, 1939, to Jessen Albert D. Foyt (1907–1945), filing her marriage license with the same county clerk in Carson City.

n December 1937, comedic actor Ted Healy was involved in a drunken altercation at Cafe Trocadero on the Sunset Strip. E. J. Fleming, in his 2005 book, The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine, asserts that Healy was attacked by three men:

Future James Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli

Local mob figure Pat DiCicco (who was Broccoli's cousin as well as the former husband of Thelma Todd and the future husband of Gloria Vanderbilt)

Wallace Beery

Fleming writes that this beating led to Healy's death a few days later.

Around December 1939, Beery, recently divorced, adopted a seven-month-old girl, Phyllis Ann Beery. Phyllis appeared in MGM publicity photos when adopted, but was never mentioned again. Beery told the press he had taken the girl in from a single mother, recently divorced, but he had filed no official adoption papers.

Beery was considered misanthropic and difficult to work with by many of his colleagues. Mickey Rooney, one of Beery's few co-stars to consistently speak highly of him in subsequent decades, related in his autobiography that Howard Strickling, MGM's head of publicity, once went to Louis B. Mayer to complain that Beery was stealing props from the studio's sets. "And that wasn't all", Rooney continued. "He went on for some minutes about the trouble that Beery was always causing him ... Mayer sighed and said, 'Yes, Howard, Beery's a son of a bitch. But he's our son of a bitch.' Strickling got the point. A family has to be tolerant of its black sheep, particularly if they brought a lot of money into the family fold, which Beery certainly did."

Child actors, in particular, recalled unpleasant encounters with Beery. Jackie Cooper, who made several films with him early in his career, called him "a big disappointment", and accused him of upstaging, and other attempts to undermine his performances, out of what Cooper presumed was jealousy. He recalled impulsively throwing his arms around Beery after one especially heartfelt scene, only to be gruffly pushed away. Child actress Margaret O'Brien claimed that she had to be protected by crew members from Beery's insistence on constantly pinching her.

In his memoir Rooney described Beery as "... a lovable, shambling kind of guy who never seemed to know that his shirttail belonged inside his pants, but always knew when a little kid actor needed a smile and a wink or a word of encouragement." He did concede that "not everyone loved [Beery] as much as I did." Beery, by contrast, described Rooney as a "brat", but a "fine actor". Future author Ray Bradbury recalled meeting Beery as a young boy on a Hollywood street and that his autograph request resulted in Beery cursing and spitting on him.

Beery owned and flew his own planes, one a Howard DGA-11. On April 15, 1933, he was commissioned a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Reserve at NRAB Long Beach. One of his proudest achievements was catching the largest giant black sea bass in the world — 515 pounds (234 kg) — off Santa Catalina Island in 1916, a record that stood for 35 years.

A noteworthy episode in Beery's life is chronicled in the fifth episode of Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea: In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating Jackson Hole National Monument to protect the land adjoining the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Local ranchers, outraged at the loss of grazing lands, compared FDR's action to Hitler's taking of Austria. Led by an aging Beery, they protested by herding 500 cattle across the monument lands without a permit.

On February 13, 1948, Gloria Schumm (aka Gloria Smith Beery, née Florence W. Smith; 1916–1989) filed a paternity suit against Beery. Beery, through his lawyer, Norman Ronald Tyre (1910–2002), initially offered $6,000 as a settlement, but denied being the father. Gloria had given birth on February 7, 1948, to Johan Richard Wallace Schumm. Gloria, in 1944, divorced Stuttgart-born Hollywood actor Hans Schumm (né Johann Josef Eugen Schumm; 1896–1990), but remarried him August 21, 1947, after realizing that she was pregnant. Prior to remarrying Hans Schumm, Gloria, on August 4, 1947, met with Beery at his home, where he gave her the name and address of a physician to submit an examination.[29] At or around that time, she also asked Beery to marry her to legitimatize the expected child (words), which Beery refused.

According to newspapers, Gloria claimed to have been intimate with Wallace Beery on or about May 1, 1947, at his home in Beverly Hills (in the court proceedings, however, she claimed to have been intimate with Beery on May 17, 1947). Beery conceded that he had known Gloria for about 15 years and that, under the pseudonym "Gloria Whitney", she had played bit roles in 6 films that he starred in. She again separated from Hans Schumm April 15, 1948.

Beery died of a heart attack on April 15, 1949 (14 months, 1 week, and 1 day after Johan Schumm's birth) — while the suit was pending. Beery had been reading a newspaper at his Beverly Hills home when he collapsed.[31] His body was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The inscription on his grave reads, "No man is indispensable but some are irreplaceable."

Beery died intestate. In the paternity suit, Gloria Schumm's attorneys demanded $104,135 against Beery's $2,220,000 estate. In February 1952, Judge Newcomb Condee approved a $26,750 settlement from the estate. Gloria Schumm accepted the settlement, and Beery's paternity of Johan Schumm was not acknowledged.

When Mickey Rooney's father died less than a year later, Rooney arranged to have him buried next to his old friend. "I thought it was fitting that these two comedians should rest in peace, side by side", he wrote.

The paternity suit, and subsequent suits – including appeals – extended through about 1952 and were internationally publicized, particularly in gossip columns and tabloids. The litigation has endured as case law with, among other things, treatises addressing the rights of illegitimate offspring against legitimate heirs in races for inheritance.

The upshot was that Schumm's paternity suit against Beery's estate put would-be half-siblings and other would-be family legatees, including a would-be uncle, Noah Beery, Sr., in the position as de facto defendants. Phyllis Ann Riley was not named in Beery's will. Part of plaintiff's claim, initially, hinged on whether an oral agreement was binding. Gloria had claimed that Beery, while alive, agreed to provide for the child. However, on November 17, 1949, Judge William B. McKesson (1895–1967) threw out Gloria's claim. The judge reasoned that any oral agreement between the two, specifically any that was intended to provide for maintenance and care of a minor, was not binding because the amount allegedly agreed upon was in excess of $500, which must be made in writing.

Another matter in the case hinged on a "peppercorn" rule. That is, in order for any agreement, oral or written, between Wallace and Gloria to be binding, there must be consideration. The court, initially, found that Beery agreed to an oral contract where Gloria would (i) include the name "Wallace" in the child's name if a male, or "Wally" if a female, and (ii) refrain from filing a paternity suit that both agreed would damage Beery's "social and professional standing as a prominent motion picture star."

Generally, under California state law at the time, a father who neither marries the mother nor acknowledges paternity does not have a right to name the child. That right belongs to the mother. In exchange for Gloria's promise to name the child "Wallace" or "Wally" (the promise representing a form of consideration), Wallace Beery agreed to arrange for the payment of $100 per week to the child (as a third-party beneficiary under the contract), plus a lump sum of $25,000 to the child when he or she attained age 21, in addition to the customary obligation to pay for the "maintenance, support and education according to the station in life and standard of living of Wallace Beery."

For his contributions to the film industry, Wallace Beery posthumously received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 7001 Hollywood Boulevard.

Beery is mentioned in the film Barton Fink, in which the lead character has been hired to write a wrestling screenplay to star Beery.

In the 1968 comedy "The Projectionist" actor and comedian Chuck McCann impersonates Beery quoting a line from "Min and Bill"

[evelynzumaya]

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