Lola Lane was in the cast of the first movie made about Luciano. Later she inherited the sidewalk café that some people had said he wanted.

Marked Woman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

        

Marked Woman
theatrical poster
Directed by	Lloyd Bacon Michael Curtiz (uncredited)
Written by	Robert Rossen Abem Finkel Seton I. Miller (uncredited)
Starring	Bette Davis Humphrey Bogart
Music by	Score: Bernhard Kaun Heinz Roemheld David Raksin (all uncredited) Songs: Harry Warren Al Dubin
Cinematography	George Barnes
Editing by	Jack Killifer
Studio	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	April 10, 1937 (1937-04-10)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Marked Woman is a dramatic crime film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins. Set in the underworld of Manhattan, Marked Woman tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
The film was a major success for Warner Brothers, and was one of Davis' most important early pictures. Davis had recently filed a lawsuit against Warners, with part of her protest being the inferior quality of scripts she was expected to play. Although she lost the lawsuit, she garnered considerable press coverage, and Marked Woman was the first script she filmed upon returning to Hollywood. She was reported to be very pleased with the script and the dramatic possibilities it afforded her. Jack Warner was said to be equally pleased by the huge public reaction in favour of Davis, which he rightly predicted would increase the appeal and profitability of her films.
Co-stars Humphrey Bogart and Mayo Methot met on the set of Marked Woman and were married in 1938.^[1]

 

• 1 Background
• 2 Plot
• 3 Cast
• 4 Production
• 5 Awards and honors
• 6 Notes
• 7 External links

Background

Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the film that asserts that the story is fictitious, Marked Woman is loosely based on the real-life crimefighting exploits of Thomas E. Dewey, a District Attorney for Manhattan who became a national celebrity in the 1930s, and two-time Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1940s, due to his fight against organized crime in New York City. Dewey indicted and convicted several prominent gangsters; his greatest achievement was the conviction of Lucky Luciano, the organized crime boss of the entire city. Dewey used the testimony of numerous call girls and madames to convict Luciano of being a pimp who ran one of the largest prostitution rings in American history. Dewey's dramatic achievements led Hollywood film studios to make several films about his exploits; Marked Woman was one of the most prominent. Humphrey Bogart's character, David Graham, is based on Dewey.
Warners purchased the rights to a Liberty series on Luciano, but was forced to make alterations in the story, such as changing the women's profession from prostitutes to "nightclub hostesses", because of censorship concerns.^[1]

Plot

This section requires expansion with: section. (October 2010)

Mary Dwight Stauber (Bette Davis), a nightclub hostess who works for the notorious gangster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) briefly meets and befriends a young man (Damian O'Flynn) who confides in her that he does not have the money to repay the gambling debt he has accrued during the night. He feels that it's a game, but Mary warns him that he is in real danger. She is shocked, but not surprised to learn soon after that he has been murdered, by Vanning's henchman Charlie Delaney (Ben Welden).
Questioned by prosecutor David Graham (Humphrey Bogart), Mary and the other women refuse to implicate Vanning. They fear his retribution, and while privately detesting him are powerless to free themselves from his influence. Mary's younger sister Betty (Jane Bryan) comes to visit, and unaware of the dangerous situation she has entered, behaves recklessly against the advice of her older sister. When she is killed, Mary agrees to testify against the gangster. Beaten by his thugs, scarred and disfigured, she becomes the "marked woman" of the film's title, but rather than silencing her, it strengthens her resolve to testify. Aware that they can only be free of the gangster if they find the strength to stand against him, the other women agree to testify also.

Cast

Bette Davis as Mary.

Bette Davis as Mary Dwight Strauber Humphrey Bogart as David Graham Lola Lane as Dorothy "Gabby" Marvin Isabel Jewell as Emmy Lou Eagan Mayo Methot as Estelle Porter Eduardo Ciannelli as Johnny Vanning                      Rosalind Marquis as Florrie Liggett Jane Bryan as Betty Strauber

Allen Jenkins as Louie Damian O'Flynn as Ralph Krawford John Litel as Gordon Ben Welden as Charlie Delaney Henry O'Neill as District Attorney Arthur Sheldon Raymond Hatton as Vanning's Lawyer William B. Davidson as Bob Crandall Kenneth Harlan as Eddie, a Sugar Daddy

Cast notes

• Eduardo Ciannelli bears a physical resemblance to Lucky Luciano.^[2]
• Hymie Marks, who played the bit part of a gangster named "Joe" in the film, attracted the attention of executive producer Hal B. Wallis, who felt that he didn't look menacing enough – this despite the fact that Marks was a former gangster and henchman of Lucky Luciano, who had been specifically cast by director Lloyd Bacon because of that connection.^[3][3]
• Warners had originally cast Jane Wyman as "Florrie".^[1]

Production

Marked Woman went into production on December 9, 1936^[4] at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank^[5] under the working title "The Men Behind".^[1] Director Michael Curtiz stood in for Lloyd Bacon while Bacon was on his honeymoon.^[1]
When Davis was made-up for the scene in the hospital room, she was unhappy with the minimal bandaging that had been used, so on her lunch break she drove to her personal doctor, described the injuries that the script called her character to have, and had him bandage her accordingly. When she returned to the studio, a guard at the gate saw her bandages and called executive producer Hal B. Wallis to tell him that Davis had been in an accident.^[3]
Warners re-released Marked Woman in 1947.^[1]

Awards and honors

Bette Davis won the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actress in 1937. Director Lloyd Bacon was nominated for the 1937 Mussolini Cup.^[6]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} TCM Notes
2. ^ Allmovie Overview
3. ^ ^{a b c} Landazuri, Margarita "Marked Woman" (TCM article)
4. ^ TCM Overview
5. ^ IMDB Filming locations
6. ^ IMDB Awards

External links

• Marked Woman at the Internet Movie Database
• Marked Woman at the TCM Movie Database
• Marked Woman at AllRovi
• Marked Woman at Rotten Tomatoes

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MARKED WOMAN was based on the Lucky Luciano story and Lola Lane was in that movie. Some people said that Thelma Todd was killed because she opposed his plan to take over the sidewalk café, but that story would be considered hearsay, because there is no proof of it.  The prostitution case, on the other hand, was considered to have been proven by the authorities and Luciano was sent to prison in 1936 as a result.

Lola Lane later married Roland West and inherited the sidewalk café after his death in 1952.  In MARKED WOMAN, she played one of the "hostesses" whose operations were taken over by the Luciano character, played by Eduardo Ciannelli.

Mayo Methot played another. She had been in CORSAIR with Thelma Todd, a Roland West production which had been her first major speaking role in a motion picture, and in MARKED WOMAN she met Humphrey Bogart, who she would later marry.

Occasionally we come across references to Mussolini in connection with the movies of this period. Here we see that the director was nominated for the 1937 Mussolini Cup, an Italian award named after their leader. Mussolini had an interest in motion pictures and wanted Hal Roach to make movies in Italy. Lucky Luciano has also been mentioned in connection with Mussolini because Mussolini had cracked down on the mafia in Italy, with the result that Luciano was supposed to have contributed to the war effort to get even.



  .

Bette Davis, Jane Bryan, Isabel Jewell, Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis, and Mayo Methot in Marked Woman (1937)

 Eduardo Ciannelli and Bette Davis

Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart

Bette Davis, Isabel Jewell, Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis, and Mayo Methot

Lucky Luciano

Bette Davis
http://www.bettedavis.com/

CORSAIR:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/corsair.html

Hollywood And the Underworld:
https://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2018/09/hollywood-and-underworld_9.html

Hollywood And the Axis Powers:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/07/hollywood-and-axis-powers.html

Lola Lane
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0485439/

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/04/lola-lane-and-lois-lane.html


MARKED WOMAN
http://bogiefilmblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/marked-woman-1937/

Mayo Methot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_Methot

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0582551

Benito Mussolini:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini
/
Roland West:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/02/roland-west.html




A

"The Devil Was My Partner" - HOUSE OF MYSTERY #6

The "Ricky Rialto" character in this story is based on Lucky Luciano, who was deported to Italy following the second World War. Art by Curt Swan.


Reblogged from pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/

Some people like to argue about Luciano. I am not one of them. When they can't prove anything it can't settle everything, and when you don't have the required viewpoint they can't use it to argue against. Not that they let that stop them.



A

Dorothy Layton

Dorothy Layton said that everyone knew Thelma Todd as "Toddy", that
Thelma Todd was involved with Lucky Luciano, and that she thought that Thelma Todd had been murdered by Luciano. I'm not saying that the stuff about Luciano is true, but Dorothy Layton did know Thelma Todd and she did tell that story.



Dorothy Layton died in 2009.


Reblogged from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/5543719/Dorothy-Layton.html




Dorothy Layton
Dorothy Layton, has died on June 1 aged 96, she worked during the early sound era with some of the greatest comedians of the day, among them Laurel and Hardy – she was considered their last great female stooge. "Laurel was the brains behind the genius of Laurel and Hardy," she declared in 2003. "I heard rumours of fights between them but never witnessed anything to suggest their relationship was anything but professional. What I can say is the producer Hal Roach had to often stop the cameras rolling because Laurel and Hardy, who ad-libbed, used to have everyone rolling about in tears of laughter." She was born Dorothy Violet Wannenwetch on August 13 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father was one of the three founders of the Western Southern Life Insurance Co, and the family moved frequently before finally settling in Virginia. After attending convent school (where her teacher described her as "charismatic"), in 1929 Dorothy went to Santa Barbara, California, to visit a cousin. She intended to stay for a fortnight, but in the event she never left, and her mother joined her the following year, setting up in a small house at West Hollywood. Dorothy was soon going out with Roger Marchetti, a well-known lawyer who represented Howard Hughes, Louis B Mayer and Bing Crosby. He took her to Hollywood's premier restaurants, where they would be joined at the table by figures such as Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Hughes himself. With an ambition to become an actress herself, Dorothy quickly appreciated that the surname Wannenwetch was insufficiently catchy, and she decided to take that of her maternal great-grandmother, Layton. Meanwhile, whenever she had a screen test, Marchetti hired Max Factor to apply her make-up and the MGM costumier Gilbert Adrian to run up her gowns. It paid off. In 1932 Dorothy Layton – like Mary Astor, Joan Crawford and Clara Bow before her – was selected as one of the "WAMPAS Babies" (promising starlets chosen by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers). Soon afterwards she was signed to MGM, and appeared in a series of comedy shorts for Hal Roach, who had brought Our Gang, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy to the screen. She made her debut in Chickens Come Home (1932), with Laurel and Hardy and Thelma Todd. In 2006 Dorothy Layton recalled: "Everyone knew Thelma Todd as 'Toddy'. She became involved with mobster Lucky Luciano. She had such a tragic end. I believe Toddy was murdered by Luciano, but never dared make my opinion public as I feared for my own life." Roach cast Dorothy Layton opposite Laurel and Hardy in The Chimp, Country Hospital, and Pack up Your Troubles (all 1932). In the same year she was in the Charlie Chase comedy Young Ironsides. In 1933 Dorothy Layton appeared in Pick-up, which starred George Raft. But in the spring of that year she split up with Marchetti. She also broke with her agent, BP Schulberg, and her opportunities began to dry up. She made her last film for Hal Roach playing Billy Gilbert's secretary in Fallen Arches (1933) before appearing later that year in Louis Lewyn's epic Hollywood on Parade. In 1934 Dorothy Layton left the film business and went to live in Baltimore, where she married Howard Taylor, who ran a company selling mattresses. They had a son and a daughter. In 1947 she became a volunteer at Keswick Health Care Centre, and seven years later joined Keswick as a paid employee. She eventually retired in 1977, although five years later she returned to entertain patients and teach them bridge, a game she had been taught to play by Howard Hughes. "Volunteer work gave me a sense of belonging," she said, "whilst Hollywood was false and phoney." Dorothy Layton is survived by her son.



                                    *                                  *                              *


                      Wampus Baby Stars Of 1932 - Dorothy Layton seated at right in front row.

ON THE LOOSE ( 1931 )

Dorothy Layton is the other blonde in the picture, who can be seen at the bottom on the right.













Dorothy Layton:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0493602/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Layton

http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/archive/articles/2009-06-dorothy.html

http://www.findadeath.com/forum/showthread.php?20994-Wampas-Baby-Starlet-Dorothy-Layton-1912-2009

www.lordheath.com/menu1_517.html





A

Hollywood And The Underworld

Gangster films were very popular during the thirties. And Hollywood had many dealings with the underworld in that period. The studios paid protection money to prevent sabotage of the theaters. There was more to it than that. The gangsters became involved in supplying the studios with different things, not all of them legal. Some of the studio bosses liked to gamble with the gangsters. Some stars frequented the speakeasies and gambling joints in the area that were controlled by the underworld. Some of the girls in comedies were somehow linked to gangsters.



Thelma Todd had trouble with gangsters. There were extortion notes ( some were said to be the work of a crazy fan, but later ones might not have been ) and problems related to the Sidewalk Café. They thought that the gangsters might have killed her. But they don't seem to have said much of anything about the gangsters at the time. Later writers attributed the problems to Lucky Luciano, but some more recent writers have cast doubt on that story.

What about Lucky Luciano? Was he actually involved? Could Thelma Todd have been connected to him in some way?


Here we see Pat DeCicco, Gene Malin, Thelma Todd, and Lois Wilson at the club New York in Hollywood in 1932.

In New York, Gene Malin had worked at the Club Abbey, a queer joint that was run by Dutch Schultz.  Dutch Schultz was involved with Lucky Luciano, but eventually Luciano had him killed... as has been said, the authorities watched Luciano after that, and he was not in California with Thelma Todd. But because of Gene Malin, Thelma Todd was linked to Luciano, if only indirectly.

Gene Malin's wife was involved with prostitution, like DeCicco, which could be another connection.* But Patsy Kelly was more closely associated with Gene Malin than Thelma Todd and Pat DeCicco. She was with Malin when he accidently drove his car off a pier into the ocean and drowned in 1933.




Geneva Mitchell was in NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS ( 1935 ) with Pat DiCicco, 

Pat DiCicco as Perseus in the rear at left, Geneva Mitchell as Hebe at center in front.

Today she is probably best known as the dance instructor in the Three Stooges comedy HOI POLLOI. History also tells us that she had some complaints about the underworld.

In 1932 she gave testimony in court that gangsters had kidnapped her brother. 

Kidnapping was in the news that year as the son of Lindbergh had been kidnapped. A number of movie stars received kidnap threats in the thirties. Thelma Todd and Mae West were both the recipients of kidnap threats that were said to have been the work of lone individuals rather than members of a gang. Bebe Daniels and her family went to live in England to escape this threat.

Doris Houk also worked with the Three Stooges. Today she is probably best known as the brunette who tried to pressure Shemp into marrying her in BRIDELESS GROOMS.

Reblogged from https://monstermoviemusic.blogspot.com/2016/02/brideless-groom-three-stooges-1947.html

 She married Fred Otash, a Los Angeles detective alleged to have underworld connections who was involved in a number of scandals. He was also associated with CONFIDENTIAL magazine, a publication that was noted for being scandalous.


June Brewster of the "Blondes and the Redheads" series at RKO married Guy McAfee, who was head of the vice squad. While in that position he owned brothels and gambling joints in Los Angeles.** Later he relocated to Los Vegas, where that stuff was legal, and she went with him.

Reblogged from http://derangedlacrimes.com/?tag=guy-mcafee - which has June Brewster confused with McAfee's previous wife, who had been a Los Angeles madam.

June Lang was in BONNIE SCOTLAND ( 1935 ) with Laurel and Hardy, and later made ZENOBIA with Harry Langdon and Oliver Hardy. 

In 1940 she married mobster Johnny Roselli, who was involved in the Chicago mob's extortion of millions of dollars from the motion picture industry. Roselli had also dated Lina Basquette, who was one of Thelma Todd's friends.


Lona Andre ( left ) and Iris Ardian ( right ) with Laurel and Hardy in OUR RELATIONS ( 1936 ).

Iris Adrian mentioned having been around Lucky Luciano in the 1930's. Although that was when she was in New York. She mentioned Stan Laurel being in New York during that period, too.

Here we see Dorothy Appleby and Barbara Pepper with George Raft and Edgar G. Robinson in MANPOWER ( 1943 ). Dorothy Appleby and Barbara Pepper appeared in many comedies. Dorothy Appleby was engaged for a time to a lawyer named Sidney Korshak who was linked to gangsters. George Raft had underworld connections and is frequently mentioned in connection with Pat DeCicco. Raft was also associated with gangster Bugsy Siegel, who he knew from New York. Bugsy Siegel and George Raft Bugsy Siegel was associated with Lucky Luciano, who is said to have sent him out west. Some people have thought Siegel was around Thelma Todd. He was in Hollywood during the last years of her life, and was around some of the same people. Thelma Todd made her last public appearance at the Trocadero, a Hollywood night club owned by William Wilkerson. William Wilkerson later became involved with Bugsy Siegel in building the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas. Bugsy Siegel is frequently mentioned in connection with Jean Harlow, who appeared in Laurel and Hardy comedies before she was a star.                      Stan Laurel, Jean Harlow, and Oliver Hardy in DOUBLE WHOOPEE ( 1929 ) Frequently their association is said to have been friendly, but there were also stories of a less pleasant nature. Some people said that he was extorting money from her. Evidently Siegel had a habit of "borrowing" large sums from people which they were afraid to ask him to pay back. Virginia Hill was another woman who was associated with Bugsy Siegel. Reblogged from https://www.al.com/expo/news/erry-2018/07/c0bffcff0d2972/virginia_hill_went_from_lipsco.html She wasn't a movie star, but people sometimes thought that she was. She hung out with the stars. She was considered to be something of a celebrity herself.

 Included in the photo are- Ava Gardner, Mickey Rooney, Groucho Marx, Ann Rutherford and Virginia Hill (yes the mob queen) in Hollywood.

The story is that Virginia Hill was introduced to Bugsy Siegel by Pat DiCicco. And Bugsy Siegel was associated with Lucky Luciano. Although Luciano was in prison by the time that DeCicco made the introduction.

Luciano allegedly had Bugsy Siegel killed, just as he'd allegedly had Dutch Schultz eliminated. They said it had something to do with the Flamingo Hotel, on which Siegel had spent vast sums of money after taking the project away from William Wilkerson. Like many other stories about Luciano it was never really proven, but accepted as fact nonetheless.


*Luciano eventually controlled all the prostitution in New York, which was also what he was convicted of, and imprisoned for, in 1936.

**Guy McAfee ran the Clover Club, a Sunset Strip gambling casino that Thelma Todd is known to have gone to.



Iris Adrian:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0012441/


Dorothy Appleby:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/08/dorothy-appleby.html

The Man Who Kept The Secrets ( Sidney Korshak ) - Dorothy Appleby mention
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/1997/04/The-Man-Who-Kept-The-Secrets

Newspaper article announcing engagement:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19350918&id=H5NOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y7UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6675,1660600



June Brewster:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/09/june-brewster.html


Pat DeCicco:
https://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2018/08/pat-decicco-and-his-pals.html


Gangsters' extortion of money from the studios:
http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-chicago-outfit-made


Jean Harlow ( Official site ):
https://www.jeanharlow.com/


Doris Houck:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0171723/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/06/doris-houck.html



Laurel And Hardy:
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/



Lucky Luciano:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luciano


Gene Malin and Patsy Kelly:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/09/patsy-faces-death.html


Guy McAfee:
http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/guy-mcafee


Geneva Mitchell:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2015/07/geneva-mitchell_11.html

Geneva Mitchell ( Denny Jackson's Glamour Girls Of The Silver Screen ):
http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/689/Geneva+Mitchell/index.html



Fred Otash:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0652756/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Otash



George Raft:
benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/10/george-raft.html



Johnny Roselli:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roselli

Johnny Roselli and Lina Basquette:
https://books.google.com/books?id=LQsB66qPGmgC&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=johnny+roselli+william+donati&source=bl&ots=asev3Jw4P1&sig=S65XOKJ__rimr_PuF0QjQO8QguQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirkbjTh7bdAhVQ5awKHcY0D-oQ6AEwB3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=johnny%20roselli%20william%20donati&f=false


Bugsy Siegel and Virginia Hill:
http://filmstarfacts.com/2016/05/02/bugsy-and-virginia-a-hollywood-romance/



William Wilkerson:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/10/william-wilkerson.html





A

Los Angeles Time May 29, 2002

A more recent article from the Los Angeles Times.

From the Los Angeles Times, May 29, 2002:
A Mystery Revisited A building that figured in the unsolved death of actress Thelma Todd is for sale.

By ROBERT W. WELKOS,

Times Staff Writer

The main stairway and entry to the Pacific Palisades property that has been put on the market by Paulist Productions. They found actress Thelma Todd's lifeless body on the morning of Dec. 16, 1935, slumped over in the front seat of her chocolate-colored 1934 Lincoln Phaeton convertible, her car parked in a two-car garage near her married lover's brooding cliff-side mansion in Pacific Palisades.

She was dressed in a mauve and silver evening gown, expensive mink wrap and adorned with a small fortune in jewelry, after attending a party in her honor into the wee hours of the morning with her Hollywood friends at the famed Trocadero nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.

The death of the blond, wisecracking comedian dubbed "Hot Toddy" who had appeared in more than 40 films, including "Horse Feathers" and "Monkey Business" opposite the Marx Brothers, would unleash a media frenzy rivaling the O.J. Simpson case six decades later and spawn endless theories over what led to the 30-year-old starlet's untimely demise.

Now, a piece of this Raymond Chandler-like mystery is up for sale, and, from the looks of it, the public's appetite for the long-simmering Hollywood scandal has not abated.

Just down the hill from the death scene in the Castellammare section of Pacific Palisades, a sprawling, three-tiered Spanish-style building that housed Todd's swank ocean-view apartment in the 1930s went on the market this month for the first time in decades. The asking price: $4.7 million.

The salesman handling the property said he has been deluged with phone calls from prospective buyers, many of them local residents, who are entranced as much by Todd lore as they are by the rare opportunity of buying a prime piece of commercially zoned real estate on Pacific Coast Highway that goes for $300 a square foot.

"The first day my sign went up, I had 75 phone calls within six hours," recalled Rene Soto of Les Small & Co., a real estate consulting firm in Century City. "I'm averaging about 50 calls a day."

Soto noted that prospective buyers are not just asking him about the building, they want to hear the Thelma Todd saga. Like other scandals from Hollywood's early days, from "Fatty" Arbuckle to William Desmond Taylor, the strange death of Todd was a tale filled with glamour, intrigue and enough colorful characters to populate a novel.

Even today, authors, film buffs and local residents vigorously debate what happened that fateful night as they try to fill in the blanks around this dark chapter in Hollywood history. At the time, her death was a nationwide sensation. "Body of Thelma Todd Found in Death Riddle," read the front-page headline in the Los Angeles Times. Her mysterious death has been a cause for speculation ever since:

Was she murdered by her business partner and sometime lover, a fading screen director and producer named Roland West?

Was she followed home from the Trocadero that night by her abusive ex-husband, Pat De Cicco?

Did gangland boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano order his boys to rub her out after she allegedly balked at allowing casino gambling above her restaurant?

Or, was it all just a tragic accident?

The three-story, 15,000-square-foot building in which Todd once lived is only a pedestrian bridge away from the beach at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway--a familiar sight to thousands of motorists who zip along daily between Santa Monica and Malibu.

Using the actress' fame as a draw, West and Todd opened a popular restaurant on the ground floor of the building called Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café. One floor up was their private nightclub named Joya's, which played host to Hollywood's rich and famous. Given its flashy history, then, it is no small irony that today the building is owned by a religiously oriented motion picture and television production company called Paulist Productions.

Thelma Todd, in costume for a film, in an undated photo with Pat De Cicco. Wide World Photos Founded in the 1960s by a much-beloved Catholic priest, the late Father Ellwood E. "Bud" Kieser, Paulist Productions came to prominence in Hollywood for its award-winning television series "Insight."

How the production company acquired the property has a Todd connection. The owner, Lola Lane of the singing Lane sisters, had married Roland West and inherited the building after his death in 1952. She remarried and, after converting to Catholicism, she and her husband met Kieser and were so impressed that they invited him to set up shop on the ground floor of their large residence. The property was later deeded to Paulist Productions.

Today, officials at Paulist Productions say it just doesn't make sense for the production company not to utilize the money that can be realized from selling the property. "This is an asset," said Father Frank Desiderio, a Catholic priest who heads Paulist Productions, "and we've been sitting on it rather than putting it to work."

Just touring the building is nostalgic. Desiderio points to a frayed menu from Todd's eatery that is framed and mounted on his office wall. Among the menu offerings: Gin Fizz--35 cents, Thelma Todd Knockout--$1, Thelma Todd Milk Punch (gin base)--45 cents, and a Thelma Todd Rickey--45 cents. "A hot weather suggestion."

The current lobby of Paulist Productions is reached by ascending a grand staircase, and up a small, winding stairway is a hexagon-shaped, third-floor ballroom that in Todd's heyday had a dance floor and bandstand but now serves as living quarters.

Because the building has such a rich history, Father Desiderio has become well-versed in the Todd mystery, although he does not hold himself out as an expert on the case.

"She was a magnet," he said. "She would bring people in. She was a huge star. But because she also liked to go out, there were some nights she wasn't here, which would drive Roland West up the wall. He would say, 'You're my moneymaker, and if you're not here, I'm not making money.'"

Desiderio then leads a visitor along a dirt path behind the property to the old West mansion, still as stately and ominous-looking as ever. The garage in which Todd died is still here too. On the night before her death, Todd had gone to the Trocadero, where a party in her honor was thrown by British actor Stanley Lupino, the father of then-ingénue Ida Lupino, who was one of Todd's close friends. Along with the Lupinos, other guests that night included theater mogul Sid Grauman, movie choreographer Arthur Prince and theatrical agent Al Kaufman.

Todd left the Trocadero about 3 a.m. in a car driven by a chauffeur, arriving at the cafe about 3:45 a.m. Police theorized that after the chauffeur left, she discovered the door to the cafe locked and walked up a long flight of steps to West's house. But some of those familiar with the case challenge the notion that Todd, who had recently been diagnosed with a heart ailment, would have walked up the steep flight of steps to West's garage.

She could have gone into the garage, located at 17531 Posetano Road, climbed into her car, and turned on the ignition to warm herself from the cold wind that blew over the Palisades that night, authorities speculated. But critics of the police version note that she was a bright, former schoolteacher and would have been well aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide.

Her maid, Mae Whitehead, discovered the body. Todd's skin was crimson, a telltale sign of carbon monoxide poisoning. The coroner believed that coagulated blood found around her face, on her dress and inside the car had been caused when her head struck the steering wheel. There was no sign of a struggle.

Randy Young, a local historian who interviewed Castellammare residents who were around in the mid-'30s, said he believes the actress was murdered by her sometime lover, West, who then covered up the crime.

"We knew the gentleman who was a service station operator and jack-of-all-trades in the Palisades," Young said. "He was the first one on the scene before the police came. He saw she was hit in the head. He said there was a lot of blood on her. She had not fallen on the steering wheel and hit her head. She was in the passenger seat and was kind of leaning over."

Film historian Marc Wanamaker, who knew the late Hollywood producer Hal Roach, a close friend of Todd's in the early days of Hollywood, posits the theory that Todd wasn't murdered, but that West was responsible for her death.

"I believe, and Roach confirmed, that she went out to this party on Saturday night," Wanamaker said. "Upon leaving the house to go to the party, there was an argument between her and Roland West [that she be back by 2 a.m.]. ... When she came back around 4 in the morning, he wouldn't let her into the house. "I believe West ran after her down there, she turned on the ignition, and he shut the door to the garage so she wouldn't leave," Wanamaker added. "I don't believe he knew what carbon monoxide was. It wasn't suicide or murder. It was manslaughter on his part."

No arrests were ever made.

Because of the tantalizing story behind the building, locals don't want to see the stylish building on Pacific Coast Highway where Todd lived and played fall victim to the bulldozer once it is sold. "If somebody buys it and wants to tear it down, we would fight and have it 'landmarked,'" said Lorraine Oshins, president of the Pacific Palisades Historical Society. As for the Todd case, the mystery shows no sign of evaporating.

Young noted that mystery writer Raymond Chandler had lived in the Palisades and knew the Todd story and the terrain well. "He took a lot of what was out here," Young said, "and wrote them into his novels."

                                                          *                    *                     *


Although the Paulist fathers tried putting the Sidewalk Cafe up for sale, it did not sell, so they are still in posession of it and are still using it as a center for the production of religious television programs.

Hal Roach is said to have told people that he thought Roland West accidently caused the death of Thelma Todd. He is also said to have complained about the article in LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE by Marvin Nader and Katherine Wolf that quoted him as having said that. Evidently he didn't entirely agree with everything that they said in that article.

Roland West was not a fading director and producer at the time of the death of Thelma Todd. He was a retired movie director and producer, whom I occasionally refer to as a has-been. He did not like having studio bosses telling him what to do and would freely say so in interviews conducted while he was still employed by the movie industry. This is the man who always worked at night because there weren't so many people around then to bother him.

Roland West is frequently mentioned in connection with the death of Thelma Todd, as is Lucky Luciano. Quite often they say that they think Roland West is the more likely choice. This is a matter of opinion, and anyone who wants to can have whatever opinion he wants on the subject, as nothing has ever really been settled.

Certainly not by people who like to argue about it.

 A

Lawrence Eagle Tribune Article On Donati's Book

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune article about William Donati's new book.

LAWRENCE — Thelma Todd was a drop-dead gorgeous blonde who was born and raised in Lawrence and went off to Hollywood to become a star at a time when the motion picture industry was moving from the silent era to the talkies.

By the time of her death at the age of 29 on Dec. 16, 1935, she was a sassy starlet nicknamed "Hot Toddy" who had appeared in about 100 films — silents and talkies — including "Horse Feathers" and "Monkey Business" opposite the Marx Brothers.

Her death would unleash a media frenzy and spawn endless theories worthy of movie scripts about what led to her demise.

As evidenced by this weekend's Academy Awards, Hollywood in the past year or so has been looking back to its roots in silent films. Two movies — "The Artist" and "Hugo" — are nominated for best motion picture.

Coincidentally, feeding into this nostalgia is a new book "The Life and Death of Thelma Todd" by University of Las Vegas English professor William Donati.

"The purpose of my book is to set the record straight about Thelma Todd. She deserves an honest biography," Donati said during a telephone interview from Nevada.

"She died too young and was not able to fulfil her potential either as an actress or a business woman. Hers is the classic story of the American dream. She would go see movies in Lawrence and like many dreamed of being in them and she was able to achieve that," said Donati, whose book was published last month by McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers of North Carolina.

Todd was found dead slumped over the front seat of her car in a garage at a restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway in Hollywood.

Rumors swirled about it being a mob hit, the act of a jealous lover or suicide. Her death was ruled an accident due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Donati first learned about Todd while talking to Ida Lupino, the English-born actress and director who knew Todd. Donati has also written biographies about Lupino and gangster Lucky Luciano.

For the book, Donati spent several days in Lawrence speaking with Todd's cousins, who showed him scrapbooks and other memorabilia. He also visited Saunders School and South Congregational Church on South Broadway which Todd attended. He strolled through Campagnone Common, something Todd often did.

"I did my best to walk in her footsteps. I really got a sense of her presence there," he said. "She was always so happy to come back to Lawrence because she felt at home."

It was in Lawrence that Todd got the acting bug. Todd entered beauty pageants first becoming Miss Lawrence, then winning Miss Massachusetts in 1925. She went on to compete for Miss America. Todd appeared in two silent films in Lawrence before entering the Paramount School in New York.

Donati did much research at the Lawrence History Center and Lawrence Public Library looking through city directories, photographs, and reading newspaper clippings about Todd.

Donati said his goal was to debunk the myths about her death. "She was slowly climbing the ladder in Hollywood; she had no reason to commit suicide because she was really happy," he said.

This is the first biography written about Todd since "Hot Toddy", published in 1989, followed by a TV movie based on that book, "White Hot" with Loni Anderson.

Hal Roach Studios publicity photo of Thelma Todd



You can preview this book at Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_and_Death_of_Thelma_Todd.html?id=LQsB66qPGmgC

Y can buuy this book online from Amazon Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Death-Thelma-Todd/dp/0786465182/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330450622&sr=1-1