Ann MacMahon

 In 1925 Thelma and her friend, Ann MacMahon, were chosen to enter the Hood Practice School to get practical experience in teaching.


A letter from Thelma Todd to Ann MacMahon, written on a Sidewalk Café menu.

An autographed picture signed "To Mac."

Lawrence site for Thelma Todd site mentions Ann MacMahon:
http://queencityma.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/thelma-todd-1906-1935/





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Lawrence, Massachusetts In The Old Days

A few pictures from old Lawrence.



                                                                  Empire Theater

 Which later became the Warner Theater.

Labor Day Parade At The Hampton Beach, 1915.

NRA Parade in Lawrence, 1933.

 Flood.

Special thanks to Minga Valley page on facebook and Michael Williams for their aid in providing some of the pictures on this blog.


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Thelma Todd In The Glee Club

Thelma Todd is listed as a member of the Glee Club at the Lawrence State Normal School in 1925.

Posted by Jack Taylor in The Hal Roach Studio Group on facebook.

The first page of the same publication, with the name at the top.

THE TEXT:
https://archive.org/details/textvol7no14



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Napoleon Demara

Napoleon Demara was the manager of a Lawrence theater who was involved in Thelma Todd's being signed by Paramount in the silent era. He was mentioned in the newspaper article about her being too pretty to work in a dime store.

Reblogged from https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14764857271/

THOMAS F. TOOMEY and NAPOLEON DEMARA The theatrical business in Lawrence is largely represented in the enterprises of the Toomey & Demara Amusement Company. This concern controls four of the leading playhouses of the city, embracing three branches of the theatrical profession, viz., drama, vaudeville and motion pictures. The Empire, given over to vaudeville, is one of the largest and best equipped theatres in New England. It has a seating capacity of 2,300. The Broadway, with a seating capacity of 1,500, and the Premier, with a seating capacity of 700, are devoted exclusively to motion pictures. The Colonial, whose seating capacity is 1,650,provides drama. The last named is at the present writing sub-leased to a stock company. Thomas Toomey, to whom much of the success of the concern is due, came to Lawrence in 1906, when he opened the old Nickel theatre as a picture house, in what had been the Casto theatre. The first days receipts were only $8.20. The venture was extremely gloomy at the start.

  

The Empire Theater in Lawrence. The newspaper article called Napoleon Demara the theater's manager, but it has been said that he may actually have been the theater's owner.

                                               *                 *               *


Napoleon Demara's nephew Ferdinand Demara gained some notoriety for impersonating other people in order to undertake various positions,  such as doctor, prison warden, and chaplain. The movie THE GREAT IMPOSTOR was based on the story of his life.

Ferdinand Demara himself played a doctor in THE HYPNOTIC EYE, a role that was related to his having impersonated a doctor in real life..

Napoleon Demara at the Empire / Warner Theater
http://www.pbase.com/jroy/warner

Theater Row in Lawrence:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/07/theater-row-in-lawrence-massachusetts.html

Ferdinand Demara:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0218075/




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Too Pretty To Work

An early publicity story about Thelma Todd, from THE PITTSBURGH PRESS, Sun., Apr 11, 1926. G. D. Hamann  ( THELMA TODD IN THE THIRTIES ) sent in this one.

Napoleon Demara and the Empire/ Warner Theater:
http://www.pbase.com/jroy/warner



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Merry Christmas

Thelma Todd was from Lawrence.  Here is a 1921 Christmas postcard from Lawrence.

From the "Lawrence, Lawrence" page on facebook:

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Link To Lawrence Photos

Thelma Todd was from Lawrence, Massachusetts. Michael Williams sent me this link to a site which has many photos of Lawrence.

Neil DeLuca‎Mingya Valley

Found this great site that has thousands of collections of Lawrence, some dating back to 1800's: Lawrence History Center Photograph Collection from "Digital Commonwealth", Massachusetts Colletions Online: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search…



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Thelma Todd's Birthday

Thelma Todd was born on July 29, 1906 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Today would have been her 108th birthday were she still with us.

A birthday remembrance in last year's Lawrence EAGLE TRIBUNE:
http://www.eagletribune.com/lifestyle/x1913001271/In-remembrance-Thelma-Todd-on-her-would-be-107th-birthday




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Hood School, Lawrence, Massachusetts

Hood School in Lawrence, where Thelma Todd once taught students before she became famous. Her tenure as a teacher there was brief, but was frequently exaggerated by publicity once she was in Hollywood.

Thelma Todd ( Lawrence site ):
http://queencityma.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/thelma-todd-1906-1935/


http://books.google.com/books?id=LQsB66qPGmgC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=thelma+todd+hood+school&source=bl&ots=aqkv1Jr0W8&sig=EXz_UD-JPo-DpijJjX-LNaS70yc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=FPk9U_vZJMXt2QXMiICgBQ&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=thelma%20todd%20hood%20school&f=false



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Lawrence's Theater Row In Ripley's Believe It Or Not

Theater Row in Lawrence, Massachusetts made RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT.


Reblogged from https://www.facebook.com/groups/52335722822/

"4 Movie theatres in a row! Main Street, Lawrence, Mass.
The 'Strand', 'Modern', 'Broadway' and 'Palace' - all operated by the same company."



                                                                BELIEVE IT... OR NOT!


And here is a vintage postcard that shows these theaters as they once looked.

Reblogged from https://www.facebook.com/groups/52335722822/

Theater Row in Lawrence:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/07/theater-row-in-lawrence-massachusetts.html



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Todd Family Cabin At Forest Lake

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Reblogged from http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/thelmatoddclub/

Winter scene from Forest Lake. The place Thelma Todd visited. - Michael Williams.







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Essex Street

I'm not familiar with Lawrence, Massachusetts, and I hadn't known anything about Essex Street, but they talk about it on the Minga Valley page on facebook.


Brian Parent It was / is the main Shopping district for 60 plus years.

Donna Landry DiMauro My mother came from Lawrence. She told me that when Thelma Todd walked down Essex St., people would stare at her. She was beautiful.

( Again, another day ) My mother told me Thelma Todd would walk down Essex St. & everyone would look at her cause she was so pretty with her blond hair.


Reblogged from https://www.facebook.com/groups/52335722822/


Essex St. in the 1920's.

 

 

 

 

Another old photo shows and establishment on Essex Street.

 

 

 

 

A couple of recent photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Forrest Lake

Michael Williams owns the cabin by Forrest Lake that used to belong to the Todd family, we've had  his pictures of it here before. Here is a picture he took of the lake itself.

Michael Williams: "Here's a pic of Forest Lake  the place Thelma Todd visited."


This is mentioned on page 82 in Donati's book, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THELMA TODD.




Forrest Lake:
http://www.ci.methuen.ma.us/index.php/forest-lake-information-othermenu-432.html




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Thelma Todd's Family's Cabin

Michael Williams is the owner of a cabin that used to belong to the family of Thelma Todd, this cabin was mentioned in Donati's book. Michael also has a scrapbook that was left in the cabin with pictures of some of Thelma Todd's relatives. Here are some of the pages and pictures from the scrapbook, along with some of his comments.



Reblogged from the Thelma Todd Club at groups.yahoo.com/group/thelmatoddclub/


"Todd Family Cabin As It Once Was
When Phil Fluet visited us he gave us some pics of the cottage before he remodeled it. So that is what it looked like when Thelma was here. The green building was a two seater outhouse. We do have modern indoor plumbing today . The outhouse is long gone.Best wishes Michael Williams"

 

 

 

 

Relatives

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Williams: Another pic from the lake house book. Looks like a family pic of Thelma's aunts and uncles The old woman seated in the middle is Thelma's grandmother Eliza. The little girl being held is Shirley Raymond. This must be somewhere in the late 20s

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond in the canoe

 

 

 

 

 

 Signature of Mrs. Alice Todd, who was Thelma Todd's mother.

 

 

 

 

Another signature of Mrs. Alice Todd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley Raymond and her Todd cousins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The pic on the right is dated 1939 and it is of Shirley Raymond at age 16 doing something on the boat dock with Frieda Todd. Now the two pics on the left have to be much earlier cause I recognize Shirley in the center, she looks to be about 10. That would date the pics around 1933. The girl on the far right is of Edna Todd she and her brother Bill are the ones that helped Bill Donati with his book. He dedicated his book to them. The little blonde girl on the far left is of Thelma Todd the second"

 

 

 

 

A closer view of two of the pictures above.

 

 

 

 

 

Signature of  Thelma Todd's "niece" ( actually a cousin ) Thelma Todd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newspaper article about Donati's book. 

 

And finally, here is a picture of the "other" Thelma Todd that was published in a Lawrence newspaper in 1935.

 

 

 

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