The Andy Edmonds Connection

 A

 The name of Brian Anthony appears on some of the Thelma Todd fanzines in the 1990s*. The name of Brian Anthony also appears with that of Andy Edmonds on a 1998 book about Charley Chase. 

In 1998 Brian Anthony was also on the Thelma Todd "Mysteries And Scandals" program wih Andy Edmonds.

The story that Luciano had Thelma Todd murdered was in both the book and the television program. The fact that someone who was involved with both was also involved wih the fanzine means that it was connected not just with that story ( which can be found in a number of places ), but with Andy Edmonds herself.  They evidently just didn't let that bother them. 

*Issue #2 listed him as a contributor to an article about Anita Garvin.

"Smile when the Raindrops Fall" by Brian Anthony and Andy Edmonds :

https://books.google.com/books/about/Smile_when_the_Raindrops_Fall.html?id=S45ZAAAAMAAJ 

Thelma Todd Mysteries And Scandals program:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1363670/

A

Thelma Todd Fanzine Flipflop

 A

I liked the Thelma Todd fanzine, but I didn't like all the arguments that came with it. They argued that I had been claiming that Luciano had murdered Thelma Todd without my doing that, and claimed that the Andy Edmonds book was my source for that story while I had seen it in other books before that, regardless of how I might have regarded that story.  

Their fanzine had endorsed that story and that book in the first issue, I later found out. Something they might not want to have known, since the same group afterwards insisted that viewpoint could not be tolerated.  

"Best book on the subject".

Ad for the Andy Edmonds book.

So this particular publication reversed it's position regarding that particular book. And that is that.

A

Fan Mail

None too neat or well done, but hey, we'll toss it out there anyway. After all, somebody tossed it our way to begin with.

And maybe I oughta toss it out. But these things can have their uses. You can always stuff the stuff in the cracks to keep the wind out. Or use it to blow your nose on if you haven't got a hankie. Or stick it on your blog on a slow news day.

But hey, shouldn't someone have written their name on that thing?

A

The Girls From Lawrence

Another early Thelma Todd picture, from the Andy Edmonds book, by way of facebook.

A

SMILE WHEN THE RAINDROPS FALL By Brian Anthony And Andy Edmonds

A

SMILE WHEN THE RAINDROPS FALL is another book about Charley Chase.

The story is that this is the book Andy Edmonds thought she was going to write to begin with when she decided to do a book about Thelma Todd instead ( HOT TODDY ), and that the Charley Chase book was only written after Brian Anthony contacted her and expressed an interest in the project. Brian Anthony is said to have actually written most of the book, although it is largely based on Edmond's original research.



SMILE WHEN THE RAINDROPS FALL preview:
http://books.google.com/books/about/Smile_When_the_Raindrops_Fall.html?id=Z_7T2JWhJdUC





A

THE CHARLEY CHASE TALKIES 1929 - 1940 by James L. Neibaur

A new book about Charley Chase has just become available.

 

 

I read a previous book about Charley Chase, SMILE WHEN THE RAINDROPS FALL, by Brian Anthony and Andy Edmonds. This book seems to have much the same story, but concentrates more on the later part of his career, after sound came in.  I was able to read a little of the new book online at this site:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/167880825/The-Charley-Chase-Talkies-1929-1940


To me, the films of Charley Chase were a mixed bag. Some of them I liked, and then again there were some I didn't like. But since he was one of Thelma Todd's most frequent costars in the early sound era, he does play a part in the story of Thelma Todd.




A look at Charley Chase's talkies on "The World Of Charley Chase":
http://charleychase.50webs.com/talkies.htm

World Of Charley Chase home page:
http://www.charley-chase.com/



A

Loni Anderson In WHITE HOT

Loni Anderson played Thelma Todd in the movie WHITE HOT.

 

  

Loni Anderson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Loni Anderson
Loni Anderson, 1992
Born	Loni Kaye Anderson (1945-08-05) August 5, 1945 (age 67) Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	Bruce Hasselberg (m. 1964 – 1966) «start: (1964)–end+1: (1967)»"Marriage: Bruce Hasselberg to Loni Anderson" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loni_Anderson) Ross Bickell (m. 1973 – 1981) «start: (1973)–end+1: (1982)»"Marriage: Ross Bickell to Loni Anderson" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loni_Anderson) Burt Reynolds (m. 1988 – 1993) «start: (1988)–end+1: (1994)»"Marriage: Burt Reynolds to Loni Anderson" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loni_Anderson) Bob Flick (m. 2008) «start: (2008)»"Marriage: Bob Flick to Loni Anderson" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loni_Anderson)

Loni Kaye Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress who is known for having played the role of Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati and for playing Jayne Mansfield and Thelma Todd in television movies.

Early life

Anderson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, August 5, 1945, the daughter of Maxine Hazel (née Kallin), a model, and Klaydon Carl "Andy" Anderson, an environmental chemist, and grew up in suburban Roseville. As a senior at Alexander Ramsey Senior High School in Roseville in 1963, she was voted Valentine Queen of Valentine's Day Winter Formal.^[1] She attended the University of Minnesota.^[2] As she says in her autobiography, My Life in High Heels, her father was originally going to name her "Leiloni," but then realized to his horror that when she got to her teen years it was likely to be twisted into "Lay Loni." So it was changed to just plain "Loni."

Career

Anderson's most famous acting role came as the resourceful receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982). She was offered the role when producers saw the poster of her in a red bikini; a pose similar to Farrah Fawcett's. WKRP's creator, Hugh Wilson, admitted that Anderson got the part because "She had a body like Jayne Mansfield and the overall sex appeal of Marilyn Monroe." She remained on WKRP until its end in 1982, after four seasons. She and future husband Burt Reynolds made one film together, the 1983 stock-car racing comedy Stroker Ace, a box-office failure.
Shortly after her divorce from Reynolds, she appeared as a regular in the final season (1993–1994) on the NBC sitcom Nurses. Anderson portrayed 1950s actress/sex symbol Jayne Mansfield in a made-for-TV biopic, The Jayne Mansfield Story in 1980, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mansfield's husband, Mickey Hargitay. She teamed with Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter in a 1984 television series, Partners in Crime.
Anderson made a series of cameo appearances on television shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s, such as the Spellmans' "witch-trash" cousin on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Vallery Irons' mother on V.I.P.. In 1991, she played the 1930s comedienne actress, Thelma Todd, in the TV movie White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd.

Personal life

Anderson has been married four times; her first three marriages were to: Bruce Hasselberg (1964–1966), Ross Bickell (1973–1981), and actor (and one-time co-star) Burt Reynolds (1988–1993). On May 17, 2008, Anderson married musician Bob Flick, one of the founding members of the folk band The Brothers Four.^[3][4] The couple had met at a movie premiere in Anderson's native Minneapolis a few years after Flick's group hit No. 2 on the pop charts with "Greenfields" in 1960. The ceremony was attended by friends and family, including son Quinton Reynolds.
She has two children: a daughter, Deidra Hoffman^[5] (from her first marriage),^[6] who is a school administrator in California;^[7] and a son, Quinton Anderson Reynolds (born August 31, 1988), whom she and Burt Reynolds adopted.^[8][9] Her autobiography, My Life in High Heels, was published in 1997.
Anderson has been a spokesperson for the National Lung Health Education Program’s campaign to increase awareness about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.^[10]
Anderson is currently a practicing Lutheran.^[11]

Filmography

• Vigilante Force (1976)
• Stroker Ace (1983)
• The Lonely Guy (1984)
• All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice of Flo)
• Coins in the Fountain (1990)
• Munchie (1992)
• 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)
• A Night at the Roxbury (1998)

Selected television work

• S.W.A.T. (1 episode, 1975) – "The Steel Security Blanket" (playing "Miss Texas")
• WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982) (88 episodes)
• The Incredible Hulk (1 episode, 1978) – "Of Guilt, Models and Murder," (playing "Sheila Cantrell")
• Three's Company (1 episode, 1978) – "Coffee, Tea, or Jack," (playing "Susan Walters")
• The Jayne Mansfield Story (1980)
• "Country Gold" CBS TV movie (1982)
• Partners in Crime (1984)
• A Letter to Three Wives (1985)
• Amazing Stories (1 episode, 1985) – "The Guilt Trip"
• Easy Street (1986)
• Blondie and Dagwood (1987, voice)
• Too Good to Be True (1988)
• Sorry, Wrong Number (1989)
• White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (1991)
• The Price She Paid (1992) TV Movie, she played Lacey.
• Nurses (cast member from 1993 to 1994)
• Without Warning (1994)
• The Mullets (2003–2004)
• So NoTORIous (2006)

References

1. ^ "classmates.com yearbooks Ramsey High School 1963". http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Alexander-Ramsey-Senior-High-School-/19778?page=184.
2. ^ "Loni Anderson Biography (1945?-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/55/Loni-Anderson.html. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
3. ^ "Loni Anderson marries folk singer Bob Flick 15 years after divorce from Burt Reynolds". Star Tribune. May 18, 2008. Accessdate used without URL
4. ^ "Loni Anderson". Biography.Com. http://www.biography.com/people/loni-anderson-474322. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
5. ^ Dougherty, Margot; Linda Marx, Victoria Balfour, Lois Armstrong (1988-05-16). "Burt & Loni's Wedding Album". People. Time Inc. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20098964,00.html. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
6. ^ Schindehette, Susan (1993-09-13). "What a Mess!". People. Time Inc. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20106248,00.html. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
7. ^ Lipton, Michael A. (September 15, 2003). "Red-Hot Grandmama". People. Time Inc. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20141062,00.html. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
8. ^ "Deidre Hall's Miracle." The American Surrogacy Center, Inc., 1996. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
9. ^ BURT AND LONI, AND BABY MAKES GLEE (The Philadelphia Inquirer – September 3, 1988)
10. ^ "Ability Magazine: Loni Anderson interview by Chet Cooper and Gillian Friedman, MD". http://abilitymagazine.com/Loni_Anderson.html. Retrieved 2012-04-05.
11. ^ Famous Lutherans

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Loni Anderson

• Loni Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
• Loni Anderson at AllRovi

 

*                     *                       * 

 

 

 

Loni Anderson ( MY LIFE ON HIGH HEELS ): "In early 1991 I was cast as thirties vamp Thelma Todd in the tv movie WHITE HOT: THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF THELMA TODD. Todd was a comedienne and restaurant owner who had an affair with mobster Lucky Luciano, played in the movie by actor Robert Davi. At twenty-nine she was murdered, a crime that's still unsolved to this day. My costars wee Paul Dooley, who's Brent Butler's boss on GRACE UNDER FIRE these days; Linda Kelsey, my old friend from the University of Minnesota showboat: and Scott Paulin, who played the detective / narrator."

 

A review of WHITE HOT I wrote at the internet movie database:

White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd is basically faithful to the Andy Edmonds biography on which it is based, but ads fictional details such as private eye investigating the case and an imprisoned gangster who tells him some of the details of the case. Roland West is portrayed as quite a bit younger than he really was, and Pat di Cicco is portrayed as quite a bit older than he really was. Somehow, Zasu Pitts is left out of the story altogether, Patsy Kelly is here portrayed as being Thelma's screen partner all along ( actually Thelma Todd was first teamed with Zasu Pitts ) but Loni Anderson did a good job of portraying Thelma Todd and altogether it made and entertaining mystery movie for television.



Much of the same information that was in HOT TODDY had previously been published in Laurie Jacobson's HOLLYWOOD HEARTBREAK. I also have a word from Laurie Jacobson about this movie:

"I hated the Loni version. And when they had her getting into bed with Luciano...no way, made me crazy."



It doesn't sound like Luciano actually made it out to Los Angeles. William Donati in his books THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD and LUCKY LUCIANO: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MOB BOSS states that there are records of Luciano's whereabouts in the latter part of 1935 and that he was somewhere else.


But I liked Loni Anderson in WHITE HOT. It was just that the story could have stood some improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

TV GUIDE

 

 

 

 

TV GUIDE

 

 

 

 A publicity picture sent out before the movie aired on televison:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Publicity release that came out with the above photo:

 

 

HOT TODDY was one of the working titles they had for this one, another was THE THELMA TODD STORY. But the title they finally used was WHITE HOT.

 

 

 

Loni in one of the "Thelma Todd" costumes.

 

 

 

 

 

A 35mm slide of Loni as "Hot Toddy".

 

 

 

 

 

 

An autographed picture that Loni Anderson sent me:

 

 

 

 

 

She also played Jayne Mansfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 WHITE HOT

 

 

 

 

 

A picture of Loni Anderson as Thelma Todd was used on the cover of a later edition of the book HOT TODDY by Andy Edmonds.

 

 

 

 

Loni Anderson:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000756/

 

 

 LUCKY LUCIANO: THE RISE AND FALL OF A MOB BOSS By William Donati:

http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Luciano-Rise-Fall-Boss/dp/0786446668

 

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD By William Donati:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Death-Thelma-Todd/dp/0786465182

 

 

 

WHITE HOT:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103248/

 

http://journeysinclassicfilm.com/2012/08/02/white-hot-the-mysterious-murder-of-thelma-todd-1991/

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-05-05/news/tv-1777_1_thelma-todd

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-05-05/news/tv-1779_1_thelma-todd

 

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-05-04/entertainment/ca-883_1_thelma-todd

 

 

A

 

Death Of Thelma Todd: MYSTERIES AND SCANDALS Series

The death of Thelma Todd was discussed on an episode of the television series MYSTERIES AND SCANDALS.

Mysteries and Scandals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Mysteries and Scandals
Also known as	Mysteries & Scandals
Genre	Infotainment
Created by	Michael Danahy
Directed by	Joel K. Rodgers Liz Flynn
Presented by	A.J. Benza
Narrated by	A.J. Benza
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	152 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Betsy Rott Gary Socol Michael Danahy
Producer(s)	Chip Bell Victoria Chapman Liz Flynn Karin Londgren Alison Martino Daniel Schwartz Lynne Morgan Colin Whelan Dan Abrams
Running time	22–24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	E!
Original run	April 9, 1998 (1998-04-09) – February 19, 2001 (2001-02-19)

Mysteries and Scandals (also known as Mysteries & Scandals) is an American television program hosted by A.J. Benza.^[1] The series was originally broadcast on the E! network from March 1998 until February 2001.

 Synopsis

The series detailed the lives of various celebrities, both well known and somewhat obscure. Most celebrities that were featured endured hardships or died untimely deaths. The series interviewed various celebrities who knew the subject along with still photographs accompanied by narrations, and dramatic reenactments.
The show was highly stylized and presented each episode in a noir fashion with backdrops set in various Hollywood locations and narrated in a deadpan fashion by Benza. His memorable catchphrase "Fame, ain't it a bitch," would later became the title of Benza's autobiography.^[2]
The series aired for three seasons. Episodes were repeated on E! for a period of time after the series' initial run.

 References

1. ^ "E! Mysteris & Scandals". The Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0155428/. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
2. ^ A.J. Benza book review

 External links

• Mysteries and Scandals at the Internet Movie Database
• Mysteries and Scandals at TV.com ‹See Tfd›
• Mysteries and Scandals at epguides.com

Thelma Todd was the subject of the seventh episode of this series. Andy Edmonds ( author of the book HOT TODDY )

 

 

 and Marvin Wolf ( author of the magazine article THELMA TODD'S MURDER SOLVED ) both appear in this program.

It's interesting to see Andy Edmonds and Marvin Wolf on camera, but neither proves anything and they weren't even the first ones to tell the stories that are often associated with them. About the same story that Andy Edmonds had can be found in John McCabe's MR. LAUREL AND MR. HARDY , and the story that Marvin Wolf presented ( and as "new" ) can be found in Laurie Jacobson's
HOLLYWOOD HEARTBREAK* - which he actually had listed in the bibliography of his book FALLEN ANGELS, where he previously written about Thelma Todd. FALLEN ANGELS also reused one of the same pictures of Thelma Todd that was in HOLLYWOOD HEARTBREAK.

William Donati also appeared in this show. More recently he came out with his own book, THE LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THELMA TODD.**

 

 

Donati's book represents the accident theory as the more likely solution, just as he did on this show. But I don't suppose we'll ever know for sure.






* HOLLYWOOD HEARTBREAK also mentions Luciano in connection with Thelma Todd, but doesn't have the same story as in John McCabe's book - which didn't mention Luciano by name.




MYSTERIES AND SCANDALS Episodes:
http://epguides.com/MysteriesandScandals/

Photoplay's Weight Loss Series Of 1926 - End

We jump ahead to the last issue ( September 1926 ) of the series because it's handy. There was another one in between that I couldn't seem to lay my hands on.

 

 

 I am not familiar with some of the excercise machines mentioned in this article. It could be that they are no longer in use. Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts were shown using exercise machines in RED NOSES.

 

 The Paramount acting school mentioned on this page is the same one that Thelma Todd went through at the time.

 

 I am familiar with the effects of Thyroid pills as I take them every day ( my thyroid gland doesn't work and I need to ). I have had my weight fall off when the dosage was too high. Thyroid horomone isn't something to fool around with.

 

 

 

And here's an article that ascribes the death of Barbara La Marr to excessive dieting.

 

The death of Wallace Reid was said to be related to drugs that had been perscribed by his doctor. Some doctors used to be careless in perscribing things like morphine or even heroin. So they say.

 

Barbara La Marr was one of Zasu Pitt's friends, and I remember her death being mentioned in some of the books. But I'm not sure how often they ascribe her death to extreme dieting.

 

 

I think excessive dieting was a problem for Thelma Todd, but I don't think it's usually been emphasized in most of the books I recall. But there was one that put some emphasis on the subject.

 

 

 

HOT TODDY by Andy Edmonds

 

 

The book HOT TODDY by Andy Edmonds said Thelma Todd was taking diet pills that contained amphetemines. But diet pills containing amphetemines seem to have come into use after the second World War. Something that criticism of the book seems to have somehow missed, even though some of the same people found lots of other mistakes, some of which aren't even in there.

However, some of the diet pills that were in common use in the 1920's contained thyroid horomone, which could also cause problems, including heart trouble. Thelma Todd suffered from some sort of heart trouble, as did her replacement at the Roach studio, Lyda Roberti.

The problem of extreme dieting is still with us today. There's a whole industry based on it, so the people involved in that industry have an interest in keeping the thing going.


Barbara Lamarr:
http://barbaralamarr.com/


Jean Morgan ( girl in the pictures said to be a graduate of Paramount's acting school ):
http://www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1998/winter98/marsh.shtml


Wallace Reid:
http://www.goldensilents.com/stars/wallacereid.html


Thelma Todd Dieting Though She Disliked It ( Pittsburgh Press Article ):
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19351224&id=1kwbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DEwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4514,1736957

Anita Garvin appeared in a number of comedies at the Roach studio.

Anita Garvin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anita Garvin (February 11, 1907 - July 7, 1994) was an American actress and comedienne who appeared in both silent and sound films. She is best known for her work with comedians Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase.
Garvin was born in New York City. Later, she moved to California where in 1924, she initially worked for Christie Film Company's comedies. She then began work for Educational Pictures and eventually, in 1926 Hal Roach, where she appeared in many silent films with Charley Chase, James Finlayson, and Max Davidson as well as playing occasional supporting roles in feature films.
In 1928, she was teamed with Marion "Peanuts" Byron as a short-lived female version of Laurel and Hardy. Garvin appeared in a total of eleven Laurel and Hardy films. In the sound era, she also appeared in comedies produced at Educational, Warner Brothers/Vitaphone, RKO Radio Pictures, and Columbia Pictures.
Garvin's last film appearance was in the Three Stooges film Cookoo Cavaliers (1940) as a customer requesting a haddock. She then gave up acting to raise a family.

 Selected filmography

• The Sleuth (1925)
• Why Girls Love Sailors (1927)
• With Love and Hisses (1927)
• Sailors Beware (1927)
• Hats Off (1927)
• The Battle of the Century (1927)
• From Soup to Nuts (1928)
• Their Purple Moment (1928)
• Night Watch (1928)
• Trent's Last Case (1929)
• Blotto (1930)
• Whispering Whoopee (1930)
• Be Big! (1931)
• Show Business (1932)
• Swiss Miss (1938)
• A Chump at Oxford (1940)
• Cookoo Cavaliers (1940)

 External links

• Anita Garvin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview angelfire.com
• 1991 Article by Jesse Green maryellenmark.com
• Anita Garvin at Findagrave.com

Persondata
Name	Garvin, Anita
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 11, 1907
Place of birth
Date of death	July 7, 1994
Place of death

   

Rate this page

                                                        *                       *                         *

Anita Garvin was the lady who sat on a pie in THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY.

Roach tried teaming Anita Garvin and Marion Byron in a couple of films as a sort of female Laurel and Hardy team.

Two Girls and a photographer deal with difficult lighting.

Two guys and a girl dealing with another fine mess.

FROM SOUP TO NUTS, 1928

Here we see Anita Garvin and friends in HATS OFF, a lost film.

Stan Laurel with Anita Garvin, Lorette Loredo, and Georgette Rhodes in BLOTTO.

There were foreign language versions in French and Spanish, and each of the other girls got the part in one of the foreign language version.

 Lupe Velez once told Anita Garvin that she was "Leetle" and that Anita Garvin was nicely "Beeg and Fot". Which somehow isn't quite what I would have said myself.

In 1979, Anita Garvin and her husband Red Stanley attended a Sons of the Desert meeting and were photographed with fellow Roach star Rosina Lawrence.

An Anita Garvin interview, reblogged from The Mabel Normand Hompage ( http://www.angelfire.com/mn/hp/anita1.html )

Interview with Anita Garvin

At the age of 87, Anita Garvin, one of the great, albeit unsung, slapstick queens of films passed away in 1994 at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. In her last years Anita was very frail. Nevertheless, I was able to obtain the following interview from her in the course of my earlier research on Mabel Normand. Anita began her career on the stage as a young girl, appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies. One of her earliest recollections was of how Will Rogers allowed her, of all the Ziegfeld girls, to hold his rope. After some years working and touring with vaudeville, she went into films where she first got a job with Al Christie. Later, she went to work for Hal Roach and appeared in films with, among others, Mabel Normand, Zasu Pitts, Charley Chase and Thelma Todd. It is her work, however, with Laurel in Hardy in some of their silent films, like From Soup to Nuts and Battle of the Century, however, for which Anita will probably be best remembered. In the late thirties, Anita later quit films to settle down and have a family when she married band leader Red Stanley. The marriage lasted happily 49 years, up until his death, and Anita always a maintained great loyalty, love and affection for him. As all who knew her can attest, Anita was one of the most sweet, funny and warm people you could possibly know. Although she is greatly missed, she will not be forgotten. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WTS: You appeared with Mabel Normand in a three reeler, "Raggedy Rose," at the Roach studios. What are your very earliest recollections of her?
AG: I think I just loved her. When I was a kid I adored her, I worshipped her. But after I met and worked with her she was just a normal person!
WTS: That's how it always seems to turn out, doesn't it?
AG: (laughing) Yes.
WTS: How did she compare in popularity with someone like Mary Pickford?
AG: Oh she was a big star. They were close as being the same as far as (fans') admiration and love for her. She was married to Lew Cody, and he was an angel. He would always be standing by on the set for her. She was losing her mind about that time - or having some kind of problems, and he was absolutely wonderful!
WTS: He was some ladies man wasn't he?
AG: Oh yes, the women loved him!
WTS: What was it like playing with Mabel in "Raggedy Rose?"
AG: Mabel was hard to work with. She would move her way - which would confuse you if you were working with her. She kept you jumping, you didn't know what to expect. One thing I remember which she didn't do perfect was that she couldn't find her spot. She would get a little wild and not stay within camera range where she was supposed to be, if you know what I mean. But you must realize that this happened in her later days. She was trying to make a come back at that time (1926), but it didn't work out.
WTS. What do you remember about Charley Chase?
AG. What I recall is that he always wanted me to wear a blonde wig. But my hair was jet black then, now it's pure white. At that time he liked blondes for some reason or another so I wore a blonde wig. He was a real nice guy.
WTS. I noticed that you wore the blonde wig in "Raggedy Rose?"
AG. That because she (Mabel) was dark - like opposites.
WTS. Her hair was black wasn't it?
AG. Maybe it was dark brown, but I thought it was black.
WTS: About that time, (1926) did you ever hear comments, said behind her back, to the effect that she was all washed up?
AG: Yes, but I never listened to that. I liked her, she was nice. But I only worked with her on the one picture, so you see it's hard to remember very much. It's so long ago.
WTS. It was "Battle of the Century" where you fall on the pie.
AG. They (televison) ruined the cutting of that one. You know they had to fit it into a TV version. Originally as I slipped and fell on the pie I get up and walked back the way I came. They had an insert of a damp spot just in the shape of the pie and it wasn't funny. They just ruined it.
WTS. Laurel and Hardy loved music, didn't they? Did you get to see that side of them?
AG. Oh yes. Babe had a beautiful singing voice.
WTS. Did you only see them on the set, or what was your relationship?
AG. I knew Stan and his wife and the baby. I say "baby" but she's an old woman now like me. I knew them socially they were nice people.
WTS. I know you worked with Al St. John, who, along with and in the company of Keaton, Arbuckle and Cody, was an accomplished practical jokester off the set. Was Laurel ever like that?
AG. No. Stan was the type that concentrated on the picture at all times; thinking of funny things to happen.
WTS. Did they (L & H) ever have disagreements among themselves?
AG. No never, absolutely never. I swore that after what they wrote about Thelma Todd, you know "Hot Toddy," I swore after I was interviewed on the thing I would never do this again: because they screwed the whole thing up! They were absolutely out of their minds. There wasn't anything in that book that was worth five minutes of her time. What they did to Thelma Todd! "Hot Toddy" they liked the title, but I could see through whoever wrote it. (groans) Oh God!
WTS. That was Andy Edmonds.
AG. I know Andy Edmonds. But I knew Thelma very well, and she was straight laced. She never went through all these things. And she (Edmonds) even got my husband and I - had our business and things - she got that all wrong. It was at the old Monmart on Hollywood Blvd. near Highland. She had us on out on the strip someplace before there was a strip. She got everything backwards. And she interviewed me and I gave her the straight scoop on Thelma. But I think she just decided she knew because she probably liked the title "Hot Toddy" and thought she was going to make it "Hot Toddy!"
WTS. In the pictures, you are rarely smiling. You seem like you are scheming with that wry, dead-pan expression of yours.
AG. I never over-acted in other words.
WTS. There alway seems to be something going on behind your eyes like you knew what you wanted, and were going to have it. Where did that character come from?
AG. It was me, just me. A lot of these things I could be doing something and I said this is isn't funny so I put a little something into it; trying to make it funny. You know, I did mostly comedy or wicked women. [(laughing) Yea, I know what you mean.] There is a charicature here in my room that Nancy Bourbon [Nancy Beiman] did and she caught that in the sketch that she made. I thought "how did she get the expression there?" But she did!
WTS. You really were an incredible doll and a lot more attractive and talented than movie history on the surface has seemed to have given you credit.
AG. Well, I think that was because of my kids. I quit the business just when I had a seven year contract on the Fox lot of Winnie Sheehan's desk waiting to be signed and I wouldn't.
WTS. You'd married (band leader) Red Stanley then? (1930)
AG. Yes, fifty beautiful years of the most wonderful guy in the world!
WTS. What was his music like?
AG. Oh, his music was nothing compared to his dancing. He introduced the "Charleston" in Paris. He was wonderful. A marvellous dancer!
WTS. I can see why he was dancing.
AG. He was darling .
WTS. And you're a great-grandmother?
AG. Yea.
WTS. Seems like things turned out all right for you.
AG. I don't know about that. I can't walk. I can't write.
WTS. O.K., but how old are you?
AG. Eighty-six!
WTS. Well that's pretty old, for pete's sake.
AG. You're darn tootin!

 

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After first reading this interview some years ago, I checked HOT TODDY by Andy Edmonds and failed to find the mistakes about the restaurant that Anita Garvin was talking about.

Evidentally Anita Garvin was offended by Andy Edmonds' account of Thelma as having a drinking problem, a drug problem, and being involved with
the infamous gangster Lucky Luciano. There are two sides on the drinking/ drugs/ morals issue. Hollywood gossip portrayed Thelma in a bad light, but friends defended her. Hollywood gossip also linked Thelma with Lucky Luciano, but according to the records it seems Luciano wasn't in the area at the time.

 

And here's some leg art with Anita Garvin in a blonde wig.

 

 

Anita Garvin at Bill Cappello's blog:
http://billcappello.blogspot.com/2008/06/anita-garvin.html

Marion Byron:

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/03/marion-byron.html