gone but not forgotten - jean harlow

jean & mother jean

THE stage mama

signing autographs, 1935

having her hair fingerwaved june 25, 1933

strolling through the metro-goldwyn-mayer studio lot, april 1932

jean harlow with 2nd husband paul bern shortly after their marriage, june 6, 1932.

(bern would commit suicide in september of that year)

photographed by william mortensen, ca. 1927

with director victor fleming & co-star william powell having tea & toast on the set of the MGM musical melodrama reckless, 1935). photograph by virgil apger.

on the set of dinner at eight, 1933

photographed by george hurrell, 1934

attending the national air races, july, 1933

with ben lyon in hell's angels, 1930

1933

photographed by edwin bower hesser, ca. 1929

(photographed at griffith park!)

with her 3rd husband, cinematographer harold rosson. she was pressured to wed by the studio to avoid any scandal after paul bern's death. they were married only 8 months before quietly ending the union 1933.

with marlene dietrich at trocadero, 1935.

i guess if you're going to hang out with dietrich you just give up and go make-up less? 

in iron man directed by tod browning, 1930

photographed by clarence sinclair bull at home in her swimming pool, 1932

with love william powell, ca. 1936

(one of my favorite pictures of the two of them. she looks so in love).

at age 14, 1923

her funeral from above, june 11, 1937

the original platinum blonde.  happy birthday jean harlow (3 march, 1911 - 7 june, 1937)

it's so crazy to think she died a few months after her 25th birthday.

gone but not forgotten - mary nolan

photograph by charles gates sheldon, ca. 1920

photographed by charles gates sheldon, ca. 1920

in original costume by erté

photograph by edward steichen, ca. 1929

born mary imogene robertson in 1905, mary nolan started her show-business career as a teenage model. florenz ziegfeld jr. signed her for his follies show where she earned the nickname of "bubbles".  while there, she began a tumultuous & abusive relationship with top headlining comedian frank tinney, who was married at the time, which culminated in nolan being hospitalized for injuries he inflicted on her during a fight. the tabloids got wind of the scandal & despite her injuries she was summarily fired from the ziegfeld follies.
nolan fled to germany to avoid the negative attention & starred in a few films while there. in 1927, after 2 years spent in europe, she returned quietly to hollywood, changing her name to mary nolan. she worked on several films, including a few as the lead but her last film was in 1932.  in 1933 she sued hollywood producer edward mannix whom she accused of beating her. in 1937 she was arrested & jailed for an unpaid dress bill & while there faced a complaint from a local moter livery who complained that the actress owed him $43.50 for four days' hire.
broke and despondent, her self-destructive tendencies kicked in & she suffered several nervous breakdowns & her health declined due to acute manlnutrition & a variety of physical ailments. she started using heroin which spelled the end. in 1948 she died of cardiac arrest & liver problems at the age of 42.
so sad, she was such a beauty.

gone but not forgotten - john gilbert

with 4th wife, actress virginia bruce, 1932.

photographed by edward steichen for vanity fair, october, 1927.

in madness of youth,  1923.

with greta garbo in a woman of affairs, 1928

with marlene dietrich at a hollywood preview, october 9, 1935.

in the merry widow, 1925.

with renée adorée in the big parade, 1925.

the great lover

10 july, 1897 - 9 january, 1936

born john cecil pringle in logan, utah gilbert struggled through a childhood of abuse & neglect before moving to hollywood as a teenager. he became the protégé & leading man of the highly esteemed french director maurice tourneur.  in 1924, he moved to metro-goldwyn-mayer where he would become a full fledged star with such high profile films as his hour directed by king vidor; he who gets slapped & the merry widow directed by erich von stroheim.  in 1925, he starred in the big parade directed by vidor which became the second highest grossing silent film. 

in 1922, gilbert married his second wife, actress leatrice joy. they had a daughter but the rocky marriage only lasted 2 years.  in 1926, gilbert made flesh and the devil, his first film with greta garbo. they began a highly publicized affair that developed with ardor from gilbert's standpoint & characteristic ambivalence from garbo's. after several zealous proposals, garbo was browbeaten into acquiescing to marriage - it was to be a double wedding for 26 september of 1926; gilbert & garbo and king vidor & eleanor boardman. on the morning of the wedding, garbo bolted. gilbert was distraught & frantic. at that point louis b. mayer said to him "what's the matter with you, gilbert? what do you have to marry her for? why don't you just fuck her and forget about it?" gilbert went crazy & started strangling mayer & banging his head against the tiled wall of the bathroom. mayer's "bodyguard", ex-bouncer eddie mannix broke them up but the damage had been done.  eleanor boardman reported mayer hissing through clenched teeth: "you're finished gilbert. i'll destroy you if it costs me a million dollars." 

gilbert had just signed an ironclad contract for 6 pictures at $250,000 each but it is rumored that mayer deliberately gave him bad scripts & ineffective directors in an effort to void the contract. his first romantic role on the talking screen was his glorious night in 1929. according to film reviews of the day, audiences laughed nervously at gilbert's performance & high pitched voice.  

when garbo finally ended their on again-off again relationship in 1929, he immediately married 3rd wife, stage actress ina claire. they divorced in 1931. in 1932 he married his 4th wife, actress & singer virginia bruce & they had a daughter together. they divorced in 1934.

in 1933, at garbo's insistence, gilbert was cast to play opposite her in queen christina.  at the time of the film the reception was lukewarm & did nothing to reinstate gilbert's popularity. in his last picture, the captain hates the sea, he was surrounded by a cast of hard drinkers that did nothing to help with his downward spiral & drinking problems.  

by 1934, alcoholism had severely damaged gilbert's health. he had been having a torrid affair with marlene dietrich & according to dietrich's daughter, she was in bed with gilbert when the end came on the night of january 9, 1936. at the age of 38, gilbert suffered a heart attack & choked to death on his own tongue. frantic at the prospect of a scandal & aware of the morality clause in her contract, dietrich called a doctor & then bundled all her belongings into a pillow case, fleeing to the safety of her beverly hills mansion. after 4 marriages & many love affairs, gilbert died alone. 

gone but not forgotten - mae murray

ca. 1923

by hill studio

in peacock alley, 1922

in the fashion row, 1923

in the masked bride, 1925

by moffett studio, 1913

by charles gates sheldon 

by ruth harriet louise, 1926

mae murray’s marriage in 1926 to prince david mdivani.  pola negri and rudolph valentino were matron of honor and best man.

by arnold genthe

mae murray (10 may, 1889 - 23 march, 1965)

the girl with the bee-stung lips

born marie adrienne koenig in the lower east side of new york, murray began dancing in 1906 with vernon castle. in 1908 she joined the chorus line in the ziegfeld follies & was headlining by 1915. 

she made her film debut in 1916 in to have and to hold & had reached stardom by 1919 when she starred with rudolph valentino in the delicious little devil.

her most famous role was in 1925 the merry widow opposite john gilbert & directed by erich von stroheim. she made her talkie debut in peacock alley in 1930 (a remake of her earlier 1921 silent version) - it was not a success. she made 2 more films in 1931 & both were panned.

part of her downfall occurred after she married her 4th husband, david mdivani, in 1926. mdivani was supposedly a prince - his brother serge married actress pola negri & alexis married the heiress barbara hutton. mdivani became her manager & told his wife to leave MGM - making a powerful enemy in studio boss louis b. mayer. she was blacklisted from working in hollywood due to this animosity. in 1927 she was sued by her masseuse, the famous hollywood fitness guru sylvia of hollywood for the outstanding amount of $2,125 in a humiliating & detailed court case.

murray & mdivani had one child, koran david mdivani, born in 1927 - they divorced in 1933. koran was raised by sara elizabeth "bess" cunning who began taking care of him in 1936 while he recovered from a double mastoid operation (cunning's brother was the surgeon). when murray attempted to regain custody in 1939, cunning & her brothers refused to give the child back. murray & her former husband mdivani then entered into a bitter custody dispute. it ended in 1940 when murray was given legal custody.....although the boy continued to live with bess cunning who adopted him in 1940 & changed his name to daniel michael cunning.

at her peak in the 1920's murray was earning $2,000 a week but by now her finances were in ruin & for most of her later life she lived in poverty. she died at the motion picture house in woodland hills at the age of 75.

after one of her comeback attempts she was quoted as saying, "you don't have to keep making movies to remain a star. once you become a star, you are always a star."