The First Lady of Hollywood
Page 50
19. LAE, Feb. 9, 1938-
zo. LAE, Jan. 9, 1938.
2 1. LAE, Feb. 6,1938.
22. Clipping, n.d., LOP Scrapbook #23, AMPAS.
23. WRH to J. Warner, Jan. 22, 1938, Jack L. Warner Collection, University of Southern California.
24. "Il Duce's Phone Call to Vittorio in H'Wood Climaxed Italo-U.S. Idea," Variety, Oct. 13, 1937, 5-
25. Neal Gabler, An Empire ofTheir Own: How the Jews Created Hollywood (New York: Anchor, 1988); Steven Alan Carr, Hollywood andAnti-Semitism: A CulturalHis- tory up to World War II (New York: Cambridge University Press, zoos), 133-
2,6. "Actor Dale Robertson Returns to His Roots," Senior World, n.d., www. seniorworld.com/articles/a199710o6o95843.html (accessed Jan. 25, 2005).
27. "Hollywood's First Gossip," House Beautiful, Feb. 1943, 18-
28. Dorothy Manners Oral History, Hollywood Women's Press Club Collection, AMPAS.
29. Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz, Gone Hollywood (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 240-
30. "Tales of Hoffman," Hollywood Reporter (hereafter HR), Mar. 4, 1948, 5-
31. Louella Parsons, The Gay Illiterate (hereafter GI) (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1944), 171•
32. David Nasaw, The Chief The Life of William Randolph Hearst (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, zooo), 529-
33. LAE, June 18, 1937,1, 7.
34. Clipping, Mar. 15, 1938, LOP Scrapbook #z,, AMPAS.
35. "Parsons Double Soup Nixed by Mine Host," Daily Variety (hereafter DV), Nov. 12, 1937.
36. "Parsons, Bacher Plan New Show," Variety, Aug. 2, 1938-
37. Louella Parsons Oral History, Popular Arts Collection, Butler Library, Columbia University, 110.
38. Adela Rogers St. Johns, The Honeycomb (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969), 486.
39. LAE, June 9, 1937, 1.
40. GI, 136.
41. LAE, Nov. z8, 1937, V, 7.
42. "Louella Parsons Dead at 91," Variety, Dec. 13, 1972.
43. George Eells, Hedda and Louella (New York: Putnam, 1972), 107.
44. Delight Evans, "Learn about Vampires from Her," Photoplay, Sept. 1919, 64-
45. Gladys Hall, "The Lady Who Knows It All," Motion Picture, June 1931, 47.
46. LAE, July 11,1930.
47. LAE, Aug. 26, 1932, I, 11-
48. "The Gossipist," Time, July z8, 1947, 6o.
49. Jaik Rosenstein, Hollywood LegMan (Los Angeles: Madison Press, 1950), 29-
50. Collie Small, "Gossip Is Her Business," Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 11, 1947, 58-
51. Hedda Hopper, From under My Hat (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1952), 220.
52. "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" LosAngeles Times, Feb. 14, 1938, 9.
53. Hedda Hopper, with James Brough, The Whole Truth and Nothing But (New York: Doubleday, 1962), 64-
54. Cari Beauchamp, Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women ofEarly Hollywood (New York: Scribner's, 1997), 337.
55. Hopper, From under My Hat, 226.
56. Beauchamp, Without Lying Down, 337.
57. WRH to HH, July 30,
58. LAE, Mar. 8, 1939, 7.
59. Lyn Tornabene, Long Live the King (New York: Putnam, 1976), 235-
6o. Larry Swindell, Screwball.- The Life of Carole Lombard (New York: William Morrow, 1975), 251; Warren Harris, Gable and Lombard (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974), ,o6.
61. LAE, Mar. 30, 1939, I.
62. Wood, "The First Lady of Hollywood," 1o.
63. Ibid.
64. "Rambling Reporter," HR, July z6, 1939,2-
65. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Nov. 25, 1939, z; Ezra Goodman, The Fifty Year Decline and Fall ofHollywood (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961), 23-
66. GI, 172-
67. "Parsons Jr.: Produced What Mom Juiced," Hollywood Studio Magazine, Oct. 1982, 30, Harriet Parsons Clipping File, AMPAS; Hopper, The Whole Truth, 67; William J. Mann, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 (New York: Viking, zoos), 195-
68. Hopper, From under My Hat, 226-29.
69. Hy Gardner, "A Friend Named Hedda Hopper," Hedda Hopper Clipping File, AMPAS.
70. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Oct. z6.1939, 2.
71. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Nov. 2, 1939, 2-
72. DOS to Hebert, July 24, 1939, Administrative Studio Files, 1938-1943, David 0. Selznick Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin (hereafter Selznick Collection).
73. DOS to Hebert, Aug. 24, 1939, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
74. DOS to LOP, July 8, 1940, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
75. DOS to LOP, Oct. 7 1939, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
76. DOS to LOP, July 24, 1939, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
TWELVE. RAISING KANE
i. Los Angeles Examiner (hereafter LAE), Nov.15, 1939, 7.
2. Pat Kelly, "Lolly Parsons' Big H'wood Sendoff via Film Trailer but SF Reception So-So," Variety, Nov. 22, 1939, 45•
3. Ibid.; "LOP Holds 'Em Breathless at Golden Gate," San Francisco Chronicle, n.d., LOP Scrapbook #25, Louella Parsons Collection, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California (hereafter AMPAS).
4. Mildred Martin, "Overflow Crowd Flocks to See Louella O. Parsons," Philadelphia Record, n.d., LOP Scrapbook #25, AMPAS.
5. LAE, Nov. 27, 1939, 7.
6. "Rambling Reporter," Hollywood Reporter (hereafter HR), Dec. 6, 1939, 2.
7. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Dec. 1, 1939, 2-
8. "Loew's State, NY," Variety, Dec. 27, 1939, 37.
9. Ann Marsters, "LOP Tells Story of Start to Fame in Chicago," Chicago Sunday HeraldAmerican, Jan. 7, 1940, LOP Scrapbook #25, AMPAS.
io. "Chicago Honors Louella Parsons, Film Writer at College Inn Luncheon," clipping, n.d.; Andrew Kelly, "Starlets Are New York Hit in Vaudeville Tour," Washington Post, n.d.; "LOP to Introduce Future Stars to Washington This Week," Washington Post, Dec. z8, 1939, LOP Scrapbook #25, AMPAS.
ii. LAE, Nov. 23, 1939, 9-
12. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Jan. 17, 1940, 2.
13. B. R. Crisler, "This Singular Cinema," New York Times (hereafter NYT), Dec. 24, 1939, sec. 9, p. 6, col. I.
14. W. R. Wilkerson, "Tradeviews," HR, Nov. 21, Dec. 2, 1939, I.
15. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Jan. 6, 1940, 2.
16. Louella Parsons, Tell It to Louella (New York: Putnam, 1961), (hereafter TL), 105.
17. WRH to LOP, Jan. 14, 1940, Carton 15, William Randolph Hearst Collection, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley (hereafter Hearst Collection, UCB).
18. LOP to WRH, Jan. 16, 1940, Carton 15, Hearst Collection, UCB.
19. TL, 105; Clipping, n.d., LOP Scrapbook #25, AMPAS.
20. Ronald Brownstein, The Power and the Glitter: The Hollywood-Washington Connection (New York: Pantheon, 1990), 94-
21. LAE, July 29, 1939, 12-
2 2. LAE, Apr. 24, 1940, 7; Richard Meryman, Monk (New York: William Morrow, 1978), 244-45-
23- W. R. Wilkerson, "Tradeviews," HR, Mar. 12, 1941.
24. LOP to WRH, May 14, 1940, Carton 15, Hearst Collection, UCB.
25. LOP to WRH, July 2, 1940, Carton 15, Hearst Collection, UCB.
26. LOP to WRH, July 14, 1940, Carton 15, Hearst Collection, UCB.
27. LAE, Aug. 18, 1940, 9; LAE, Aug. 27, 1940, 12.
2,8. LAE, Aug. 27,
29. "RKO Hears Hearst Threat over `Kane,"' Daily Variety (hereafter DV), Jan. 13,1941,4-
30. "Miscellany," Newsweek, Sept. 16, 1940, z; Louis Pizzitola, Hearst over Hollywood (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 396; LAE, Nov. 13, 1940, 9.
31. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Jan. 3, 1941, 2-
32. "Hollywood Insider," DV, Jan 3, 1941, 2-
33. Frank Brady, Citizen Welles (New York: Scribner's, 1989), 273-
34. Hedda Hopper, with James Brough, The Whole Truth and Nothing But (New York: Doubleday, 1962), 70.
35. Bra
dy, Citizen Welles, 277.
36. Friday later printed a retraction. See "Citizen Kane Is Not about Louella Parsons' Boss," Friday, Feb. 14, 1941, 9-
37. Welles to LOP, Jan. 8, 1941, Orson Welles Collection, Lilly Library, Indiana University.
38. "Hearst Bans RKO in Newspapers," DV, Jan. 10, 1941,
39. Warrick quoted in The Battle over Citizen Kane, videorecording directed by Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein (Boston: PBS Video, 1996).
40. LOP to Laurence Mitchell, Feb. 5, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
41. "Hearst-Kane Reprisal Will Slap All Majors," DV, Jan. 13, 1941, 1•
42. Douglas Churchill, "Orson Welles Scares Hollywood," NYT, Jan. 19, sec. 9, p. 5, col. 6.
43. LOP to Joe Willicombe, Jan. 14, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
44. Nelson Rockefeller to Louella Parsons, Jan. 14, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
45. "Schaefer Curbs Kane Preview Setup," DV, Jan. 17, 1941, 5; "RKO Announces Huge Natl Campaign for Kane," Variety (hereafter V), Jan. 22, 41,
46. "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood," LosAngeles Times, Jan. 15, 1941, 12; "Welles to Demand RKO Release His Kane Pic," DV, Feb. 4, 1941, 7.
47. LOP to Joe Willicombe, Mar. 10, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
48. Ronald Gottesman, ed., Focus on Citizen Kane (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971), 83-
49. Brady, Citizen Welles, 288.
50. John O'Hara, "Citizen Kane," Newsweek, Mar. 17, 1941, 6o; Pauline Kael, The Citizen Kane Book (Boston: Little, Brown, 1971), 43-
51. "Mr. Genius Comes Through; `Kane' Astonishing Picture," HR, Mar. 12, 1941, 3-
52. "Hearst Opens Blast on RKO-Schaefer; Citizen Kane Release Still Indef," V, Feb. 19, 1941.
53. "Welles Suing RKO on `Citizen Kane' in Effort to Force Pic's Release," V, Mar. 12, 1941, 16.
54. "Luce Rumored on Citizen Kane Deal," HR, Mar. 12, 1941.
55. "Welles' Suspicion," V, Apr. 16, 1941, 52.
56. LOP to WRH, May 23, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
57. Ezra Goodman, The Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1961), 23.
58. LOP to JW, Apr. 4, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
59. LOP to WRH, Dec. 4, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
6o. LOP to WRH, Dec. 29, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
61. WRH to LOP, Dec. 31, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
62. "Citizen Welles Raises Kane," Time, Jan. 27, 1941, 71.
63. O'Hara, "Citizen Kane," 6o.
64. "Omaha Slashes Louella," DV, Apr. 17, 1941, 2-
65. LOP to WRH, Aug. 6, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
66. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Apr. z, 1941, 2.
67. "Hollywood Inside," DV, Jan. 8, 1941, 2-
68. "Louella Parsons Deal Hinges on Ability to Get Pic Stars," DV, Jan. 23, 1941, 4-
69. "Hollywood Inside," DV, Feb. 10, 1941, 2-
70. "Louella Gets on Soap Box March 28," HR, Mar. 10, 1941, 7.
71. LOP to DOS, Mar. z6, 1941, Administrative Studio Files, 1938-1943, Selznick Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University ofTexas, Austin (hereafter Selznick Collection).
72. "Hollywood Premiere," Radio Daily, Apr. 11, 1941.
73. "SAG CRACKDOWN ON PARSONS," DV, Mar. 27, 1941; "Storm Breaks over Body Odor Broadcast," DV, Mar. 27, 1941, I.
74- "A Letter from Louella Parsons to SAG," DV, Mar. z8, 1941.
75. "Parsons Free Shows Kayoed," DV, Mar. z8, 1941, I.
76. "Rambling Reporter," HR, June 2, 1941, 2-
77. "Columnist Fans," Radio Life, June 29, i94i.
78. San Diego Radio, May 11, 1941, LOP Scrapbook #26, AMPAS.
79. Joseph Weissmans, "Hollywood Dots," Radio Daily, June 6, 1941, LOP Scrapbook #z6, AMPAS; "Parsons Mike Technique Still off the Beam," DV, Mar. 31, 1941,4-
8o. "Hollywood Inside," V, Aug. 29, 1941, 2.
81. LOP to WRH, n.d., Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
82. LOP to WRH, Aug. 7, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
83. "Home Town Hails Louella Parsons," News of the Day, vol. 13, no. zoz, Sept. 17, 1941, newsreel, Film and Television Archive, University of California, Los Angeles.
84. Louella Parsons, The Gay Illiterate (hereafter GI) (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1944), 163-
85. Thomas Schatz, Boom and Bust: The American Cinema in the 19405 (New York: Scribner's, 1997), 34.
86. Ibid.,13.
87- Ibid., 20.
88. Ibid., 36, 40.
89. "Deseret News Columnist Here," Sept. 13, 1941, LOP Scrapbook #26, AMPAS.
9o. LOP to WRH, Sept. 18, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
9i. WRH to LOP, Aug. 6, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
92. GI, 146.
93. "Double Dates," Time, Sept. 22, 1941, 55•
94. "Hedda's Legion Queening in Milwaukee Splits Billing with Lolly's Fete in III," V, Sept. 17, 1941, 2.
95. LOP to WRH, Dec. 4, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
96. LOP to WRH, Oct. 22, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
97. LOP to WRH, Oct. 19, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
98. LOP to WRH, Dec. 9, 1941, Carton 35, Hearst Collection, UCB.
99. Weissmans, "Hollywood Dots."
100. "Parsons vs. Hopper," Pic, May 13, 1941, Louella Parsons Clipping File, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
101. "Hedda Makes Hay," Time, May 25, 1942, 51.
1o2,. "Hollywood Inside," DV, May 8, 1942, 2-
103. Ibid.
THIRTEEN. THE GAY ILLITERATE
i. "Hedda Makes Hay," Time, May 25, 1942, 52-
2. Ibid.; Francis Sill Wickware, "Hedda Hopper," Life, Nov. 20, 1944, 63-
3. Wickware, "Hedda Hopper," 63; "Hedda Makes Hay," 52-
4. "The Gossipist," Time, July 28, 1947, 6o.
5. Collie Small, "Gossip Is Her Business," Saturday Evening Post, Jan. 11, 1947, 14•
6. Ibid., 15-
7. "The Gossipist," 6z.
8. Letter from Alex Tiers to George Eells, n.d., George Eells Collection, Arizona State University (hereafter Eells Collection, ASU).
9. George Eells, Hedda and Louella (New York: Putnam, 1972), 271.
10. "The Gossipist," 6z.
11. David McClure, interview by George Eells, n.d., Eells Collection, ASU.
12. Jaik Rosenstein, Hollywood Leg Man (Los Angeles: Madison Press, 1950), 21.
13- "The Gossipist," 6z.
14. Ibid.
15. Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz, Gone Hollywood (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 135-
16. Ibid.
17. Val Holley, Mike Connolly and the Manly Art of Hollywood Gossip (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2003), 116.
18. "Hollywood Inside," Daily Variety (hereafter DV), Mar. 5, 1942, 2-
19. Ronald Davis, The Glamour Factory: Inside Hollywood's Big Studio System (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1993), 149•
20. Walter Seltzer, telephone interview by author, May 1, 2004.
2i. Louella Parsons, Tell It to Louella (New York: Putnam, 1961), 68.
22. Hedda Hopper, with James Brough, The Whole Truth and Nothing But (New York: Doubleday, 1962), 66.
23. "The Gossipist," 62.
24. Joan Fontaine, No Bed ofRoses (New York: Berkley, 1979), 16o.
25. Frances Marion, interview by George Fells, n.d., Eells Collection, ASU.
26. Sam Kashner and Jennifer McNair, The Bad and the Beautiful.- Hollywood in the Fifties (New York: Norton, 2002), 277.
27. Whitney Bolton to DOS, Nov. 2, 1943, Administrative Studio Files, 1938-1943, David O. Selznick Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin (hereafter Selznick Collection).
28. DOS to Joe Steele, May 24, 1943, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
29. DOS to Bolton, Sept. TO, 1941, Administrative Studio F
iles, Selznick Collection.
30. DOS to Steele, May 25, 1943, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
31. "Hollywood Inside," DV, Feb. 2, 1942, 2.
32. DOS to Bolton, Apr. 25, 1942, Administrative Studio Files, Selznick Collection.
33• "Rambling Reporter," Hollywood Reporter (hereafter HR), Aug. 4, 1942, 2.
34• "Hollywood Inside," DV, Aug. 27, 1941, 2-
35• Clayton Koppes, "Regulating the Screen," in Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 194os, ed. Thomas Schatz (New York: Scribner, 1997), 269; John Morton Blum, V Was for Victory (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), 92-94.
36. Photoplay, 1944, Box 2, Louella Parsons Collection, Cinema Television Library, University of Southern California.
37. "Hollywood Inside," DV, July 21, 1943, 2-
38. Louella Parsons, The Gay Illiterate (hereafter GI) (New York: Doubleday Doran, 1944), 97.
39. Rob Wagner, Red Ink, White Lies: The Rise and Fall ofLos Angeles Newspapers, 1920-1962 (Upland, CA: Dragonflyer Press, 2ooo), 163-64.
40. Jim Heimann, Out with the Stars: Hollywood Nightlife in the Studio Era (New York: Abbeville Press, 1985), 209-12-
41. Koppes, "Regulating the Screen," 262-81.
42. Los Angeles Examiner (hereafter LAE), Jan. 24, 1941,1,13.
43. Thomas Schatz, ed., Boom and Bust: American Cinema in the 1940S (New York: Scribner's, 1997), 36, 320-
44. LAE, Feb. 7, 1942-
45. LAE, Mar. 4, 1942-
46. "Rambling Reporter," HR, July 29, 1942, Z.
47. GI, 193.
48. Harriet Gustason, "Hollywood Trip-a la Louella," Looking Back, vol. 1: 1982-1985 (Freeport, IL: Stephenson County Historical Society, 1994), 61.
49. On St. Johns, see "Writer Adela Rogers St. Johns Dies at 94," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 11, 1988, 3-
5o. Mac St. Johns, interview by George Eells, n.d., Eells Collection, ASU.
51. LAE, Dec. z8, 1942; "Dr Harry W. Martin Claimed by Death," LAE, June 25, 1951, Louella Parsons Clipping File, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California (hereafter AMPAS).
52. "Rambling Reporter," HR, Feb. 3, 1943, 2-
53. Michelle Mason," Louella Parsons Is Just a Woman at Heart," Radio Life, Nov. 2, 1941, LOP Scrapbook #29, AMPAS.
54. Charles Maland, Chaplin and American Culture (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989), zoo.
55. Wickware, "Hedda Hopper," 63.