Her death created a sensation in Hollywood, both from her manner of accomplishing it and the note which she left behind. With newly-minted Wall Street millionaires flaunting their mansions and opulent lifestyles in a style akin to the protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgeralds 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, it was easy for an average Joe to dream big and envision parlaying a few dollars in hard-earned savings into a similarly vast fortune. A jury found the work indecent but preferred not to hold them responsible for it. Future: Heaven only knows what.. Mustaches bristled when a gaming scandal involving the Prince of Wales become the talk of Britain in 1890. During her acting career, she also became well-known to the authorities, being involved in numerous automobile accidents, to the point that her studio bosses provided her with a chauffeur and insisted that she use him. The first highly-publicized Hollywood scandal, the September 1920 drug overdose death of archetypal movie flapper Olive Thomasshe had starred in The Flapper earlier that yearhad excited the yellow press and shocked the public, but it was nothing compared to what came next: The Arbuckle Affair. His arrest had the newspapers dubbing him, the Boy Jones. Despite increased security, he would cause more furor over an apparent inability to stay away from the palacehe was caught again in 1841 and sentenced to hard labor. Wikimedia. Actress Jean Harlow was a scandalmongers dream, openly flaunting her sexuality on screen to the point that new censorship restrictions were written to curb her filmed allure. Lana Turner was the classic blonde bombshell of the 1940s, a popular pinup among American servicemen and teenage boys and a favorite co-star with Clark Gable. He was so material-minded that his wife, Lilian, demanded an annulment, allegedly because he preferred to cover her naked body in jewels rather than make love. The rise of cheap, sensational newspapers in the nineteenth century meant that shocking scandals weren't just whispered about behind fluttering fans and raised teacups. Wikimedia. After . According to acquaintances when together they fought constantly and with equal exuberance. Prohibition began in the United States, and . Critics grumbled about flappers refusal to engage in traditional courtship and their flippant attitudes toward long-held social conventions. In the 1930s the sign, already famous, read Hollywoodland, and it was from the H that a young actress, despondent over her career, committed suicide by jumping in 1932. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Pres. Others claimed Olive committed suicide after learning of the reason her husband carried the mercury with him on his travels. The newspapers made this incident Hollywood's first truly major scandal. He documented, often through little more than innuendo, potential homosexual activity, drug use, alcohol use (both during and after prohibition), sexual peccadilloes, extramarital affairs, and political beliefs. She also attracted her share of inappropriate attention, including untoward advances from 50-something Stanford White. Several leading ladies were counted among the customers as well, including Talalluh Bankhead, Jean Harlow, and Barbara Stanwyck. Still others, cognizant of the fact that Mary Pickford despised her sister-in-law, believed Mary arranged for Olive to ingest the mercury through means not fully explained. In the end, the murder of William Taylor was never solved, other than by Hollywood gossips who were sure they knew who the killer was and what their motive had been. 1920. Women won the right to vote in 1920 with the adoption of the 19th Amendment, the first commercial radio broadcast aired, the League of Nations was established, and the Harlem Renaissance began. Fittingly, Harlows Hollywood career had begun with her as a starlet under the wing of Howard Hughes. 2007, William Desmond Taylor: The Unsolved Murder. (Eve Blue eventually gave up on petting parties after she was nearly raped.) The notion that anyone can be a millionaire was strong in the 1920s, Hendley says, and never went away.. Throughout the decade, there were murders, explosions, kidnappings, and disappearances, many of which were never solved. Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and several other leading men of the time were known to frequent the building known as the House of Francis. The woman who found the body thought that the scene was so grisly that it had been set up using a mannequin for the purpose of shocking the police and witnesses. She probably didnt mind that much, since she and Millais had eight children together. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. When Tracy died at the home he shared with Hepburn, she reacted by calling his wife and then removing herself from the scene, in order to avoid embarrassing her. Whether suicide or murder, there is little doubt that the premature death of Olive Thomas once called the most beautiful woman in the world was painful in the extreme. Their seven-year marriage produced two sons. The growing demand for petroleum to fuel automobiles also led to oil drilling schemes concocted by promoters who mailed out literature and handed out flyers that promised a fabulous return. Traditional girls cared about getting married and raising kids; flappers wanted to party instead of settling down. Its popularity was such that it was in high demand in reruns for years, and eventually was adapted as a full-length motion picture in the early 1980s. The womans husband, Theodore Tilton, sued Beecher in 1875 for the act of criminal conversation and demanded $100,000 in restitution. As a result of the dearth of physical evidence innuendo and gossip soon provided theories as to who killed the director. As Americans dreamed of amassing fabulous fortunes, many became vulnerable to cons. They did so discreetly. NY Daily News Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, Acquitted For Murder Of Virginia Rappe In 1922, Never Recovered From All The Bad Press, Timeline The Mysterious Death Of The Most Beautiful Woman On Earth, Medium The Death of William Desmond Taylor, Factinate Dramatic Facts About Gloria Swanson, Hollywoods Iconic Diva, FBI to keep files on stars, directors, producers, and reporters. Entwistles promise as an actress was stressed in the sensationalized reports of her death, including her performance on a New York stage with luminary Billie Burke (later Glinda in The Wizard of Oz) and a young actor by the name of Humphrey Bogart. Arbuckle was formally barred from acting by a newly formed censorship board, and the press and public subjected him to continuous condemnation, as well as ridicule over his substantial girth. It was the body of Elizabeth Short, who became known as the Black Dahlia in the sensationalized aftermath of her murder. Although he escaped the rape charge, he was convicted of committing an indecent assault. Instead they hired young agents who stood out in the hot sun and convinced buyers to put down a non-refundable down payment on a parcel. For some, it was a long kiss; for others, it involved more intense physical contact. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The prowlers were soon connected to President Richard Nixons reelection campaign. Many of the purchasers couldnt afford to actually pay off the loans; instead, they were gambling that land prices would rise even more, so that they could resell and walk away with a profit. From 1941 until his death, the two maintained an affair which was an open secret in Hollywood. Public discussion of sex was regarded as disgraceful. Neal eventually married a receptionist named Gale Bennett, living with her in Palm Springs until 1965, when she was murdered. And Topeka, Kansas, police told the Times in 1923 that they intended to break up petting parties to clean up college campuses. According to Halpins affidavit, when the child was born, Cleveland used his political influence in the city to have Halpin committed, and sent the child to an orphanage. manufacturing. Average, law-abiding citizens had no problem buying illegal booze from such people. After her arrest, Ann Forester took over the operation, and it remained in business until 1948, when a drive to clean up local corruption among the elected officials of Los Angeles and the police department they supervised led to the business being closed. In 1936, the wife of Max Baer, the former Heavyweight Champion of the World (and eventually the father of Max Baer Jr, who portrayed Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies), named Jean as one of the women with whom her husband had been unfaithful to his marriage. In the third, he was acquitted, though the press and the public had long before convicted him. Both girls, 17-year-old Peggy Satterlee and Betty Hansen, also 17, accused Flynn of seducing them, Peggy on Flynns yacht and Betty in the home of a friend. When Nesbits husband, Harry Thaw, learned of Whites sexual impropriety years after the fact, he did what any gentleman would do: He shot White dead in front of hundreds of witnesses. Tune in to Comedy CentralTuesdays at 10:30/ 9:30con Comedy Centraland on the Comedy Central app to see what they're up to next. It was a party that proved to be his downfall. Petting was a means to be safe and yet not sorry, writes Fassa way to explore ones sexuality without experiencing things like the loss of virginity, pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Needless to say, the tabloid press loved her. During her short career, she was linked romantically with Clark Gable, William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Hughes, Baer, Paul Bern, Louis B. Mayer, Franchot Tone, Lee Tracy, James Stewart, and others, including Talullah Bankhead, Clara Bow, and Joan Crawford. D.H. Lawrence, author of the controversial Lady Chatterleys Lover, also faced criticism for an earlier novel depicting sexual acts, 1915s The Rainbow. Harry Hamburg/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images. He operated his grandly named Bayano Syndicate swindle for almost 20 years, far longer than any Ponzi scheme survived until Bernie Madoffs multi-billion-dollar fraud was exposed a decade ago.. It turned street-corner thugs such as Al Capone into millionaires. French artist John Singer Sargent hoped his work would draw notice, but he could never have imagined the hysteria that followed his Portrait of Madame X. In 1998, news broke of President Bill Clintons clandestine affair with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Some even chartered buses to round up potential investors and drive them out to the oil fields for a look-see. 1. In April 1958, after a heated argument in her home during which Stompanato allegedly threatened to kill her, Turners daughter came to her mothers defense with a kitchen knife. From adulterous affairs yielding secret children to hotel break-ins and secret gun deals, scandal has always followed American politicians. He proceeded to spend his windfall on complete frivolity that captivated the public and press: He collected silk gowns, covered his bedroom in velvet, and even modified his cars exhaust to spray perfume. The Teapot Dome was the biggest political scandal of the 1920's. The Teapot Dome was an oil field that belonged to the U.S. Navy. Annie Besant, a noted feminist, Theosophist, and womens rights activist, and Charles Bradlaugh, an infamous atheist, published The Fruits of Philosophy: the Private Companion for Young Married Couples, a pamphlet by an American doctor, Charles Knowlton, and previously judged obscene. Most of the information he collected and held secretly was intended to be used for his personal benefit, and the vast majority of the information was collected without regard to its accuracy or its relevance to the mission of the FBI, as were most of Hoovers personal files. and being excited in the presence of a visiting priest. Wikimedia. For most people, the Roaring 20s conjures up images of flapper dresses, sparkles, and bootleggers wearing fedoras. The long affair between Katherine Hepburn and the married Spencer Tracy was an open secret in Hollywood. He insisted their marriage was invalid because of their religious differenceshe was Catholic and she was Protestant. Petting parties only added to this reputation. Her death was less a scandal than a sensation, and in 2014 a group of roughly 100 film fans gathered to mark her demise by viewing 13 Women in a Hollywood parking lot, an event geared towards raising awareness (and money) for suicide prevention. In 1932 she told an interviewer that she had accepted a film part only so that she could sleep with Gary Cooper, though she substituted a common four-letter word for sleep with in the interview. Check out 11 scandals that caused more than one decent citizen to nearly drop her hand fan. Wikimedia It was 1931, and the air in Chicagos 57th Street art colony crackled with sexual tension. Both her marriages became tabloid fodder as a result of her physical and alcohol-fueled public brawls with her husbands. Among her lovers was the Prince of Wales (Queen Victorias eldest son, heir to the throne, and later King Edward VII). Once word got out, Pickfords career might have been derailed if not for the fact that Moore was reported to be abusive. It was the largest divorce settlement in American history at the time. During its so-called Golden Age, Hollywood produced scandals which went beyond mere titillation of the public. In Babylon, some of the most infamous bona fide scandals of the 1920s are omitted - say, the unsolved 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor - or glancingly invoked, like the infamous . Tracy was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, alongside his wife Louise. In 1874, it was revealed that he had fathered an illegitimate child and was paying the mother support. Roscoe's roommate had thrown a party in their suite which was crashed Virginia Rappe who fell seriously ill and died a few days later. UPI, The New York Times. They republished it anyway. Their affair was the talk of society in both Hollywood and Boston, where Rose Kennedy chose to ignore it, at least publicly. But Kellerman rejected this notion, preferring a tighter one-piece suit that left the arms and legs bare. She cut her hair short, wore dresses that showed off her fashionably slender figure, used daring slang and dated multiple men before marriage. The 1950s slang In Like Flynn, meaning one had it made, failed to take into account his legal difficulties over underage women. And to some, the very thought of a party devoted to sexeven a relatively chaste versionwas cause for outrage. When police arrived on the scene, they found Taylor lying on the living room floor with at least one bullet in the back. Gloria Swanson was one of the leading actresses in Hollywood, on her third husband when she met Joseph P. Kennedy. The ruse worked a little too well: She was hauled off to a mental institution. The queen had recently given birth to her first child. Silent film star Pickford tested her audiences adoration of her by committing an unthinkable act: She divorced her husband, Owen Moore, in 1920, and married Douglas Fairbanks less than a month later. Stompanato wooed Lana with flowers and phone calls while she was filming The Lady Takes a Flyer, and unaware of his reputation and mob contacts, she began dating him. Online, Gloria and Joe: The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy. However, the plethora of old Hollywood scandals that have since come to light prove that the movie industry has always been a dark place behind its bright lights. Their trial was a sensation. During the party actress Virginia Rappe was heard screaming in a room from which Arbuckle later emerged. American actors such as Gloria Swanson (b1899), Mary Pickford (b1892), and Clara Bow (see below) would make their names in the silent films of the 1920s, joined by the likes of Gary Cooper (b1901) John Gilbert (see below) and the British actor Charlie Chaplin (b1889). But the reality wasnt as simpleor as scandalousas it seemed. The press was largely against Flynn (like Chaplin before him, Flynn was a foreigner, and thus possessed of un-American morals). Tone was beaten soundly, with his opponent inflicting a broken cheekbone and nose, a concussion, and a no doubt severely bruised ego. SFGate The Death Of An Actress In San Francisco. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Morrow and one of the children were decapitated by the helicopters rotor; the other child was crushed beneath the machine. Tone, well-connected with powerful MGM, used his influence to ensure that Neal was unable to find acting roles in Hollywood. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. After his departure from the scene Swanson was nearly broke, virtually unemployable following the debacle of her most recent film, and soon to be divorced by her irate husband. She wasnt, though she later bore him two sons. Later, it was revealed that some of the money allocated for the weapons was funneled secretly to Nicaragua to support the anti-communist Contras, counter to a law barring the U.S. government from supporting them. Florida, which attracted northerners who were eager to escape winter weather, also became a paradise for land speculators, who bought properties at cheap prices and sold them for large profits. She also became involved with gangsters, investing in restaurants which became money laundering activities for the likes of Lucky Luciano. All Rights Reserved. Franchot Tone derailed his own career by becoming enmeshed in several scandals in the 1930s and 40s. Scandals in the Hollywood periodicals of the day, later amplified by the mainstream press, were fed by the FBI files as Hoover attempted to discredit Hollywoods elite. Here are 10 celebrities and their scandals you may or may not be familiar with. United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars . Homosexuality being illegal, a trial proceeded which scandalized the city. Rather than live with Hepburn, Tracy resided in hotels for the most part, with his main employer, MGM, helping to continue the charade of his having a happily married life. New England Historical Society. From Al Capone to Bonnie and Clyde, these famous gangsters of the 1920s prove that they just don't make criminals like they used to. The 1920s were a time of great economic change in the United States. So much so that when Haynau visited a brewery during a trip to London in 1850, the draymendrivers of the wagons used to deliver the barrels of beerattacked him with whips, brooms, and stones. Harding's campaign slogan, "A return to normalcy," aptly described American politics for the entire period. Wikimedia. All Rights Reserved. Dina Di Mambro, Classic Hollywood Bios. The press eventually went on to other things, but Flynns image was permanently damaged, and he never again enjoyed the reputation of being a romanticized gentleman, cultured and debonair. Eyman, Scott. What Happened In Room 1219? Both mens character witnesses painted impeccable pictures. The Newport Bellacourts have never met a scandal they didnt like. To understand famed Australian swimmer Annette Kellermans bravado, you have to have a grasp on how hopelessly proper the beaches of the early 1900s were. During the filming of the motion picture, an on-set accident involving a helicopter led to the death of popular actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, with multiple injuries to the helicopter crew and film personnel onboard. Pickford was a notorious man about town, with the result of being stricken with syphilis, then treated with highly toxic mercury. During their lengthy affair, Tracy was also unfaithful to Hepburn, having an affair with actress Gene Tierney which made the tabloids, and speculation was often rife over others. It was among the most well-known and popular brothels in Hollywood, with several of the leading stars of the day counted among its satisfied clientele. The morning of January 15, 1947, saw the beginning of one of Hollywoods greatest scandals as well as one of its most famous unsolved mysteries. Banks were . That winter morning the mutilated body of a woman, later determined to have been dead for about ten hours, was discovered by a woman and her three-year-old daughter, out for a leisurely morning stroll. Those frontiers suggest the potentialand actual exampleof great riches, and boom times make credit easier to obtain., People wanted to follow the example of heroes such as automobile mogul Henry Ford and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who had dared to dream. Hollywood obliged, with both steamy rumors of illicit affairs and reports of sexual activities which were at the time illegal. Leo Koretz, right, who was brought down with the helpState's Attorney Robert Crowe, left. But not everyone approved of the fashions and fads of these newly liberated young women. 26 Famous Gangsters From The Height Of The Public Enemy Era View Gallery Australia had banned daylight swimming or bathing, and female swimsuits were almost religious affairs, covering the wearer from head to toe. Wikimedia. Chaplin was not alone. When William Charles Yelverton met, wooed, and ultimately became twenty year old Theresa Longworths lover, he ruined her in the eyes of Victorian society because they werent married. All Rights Reserved. Divorced again, Tone began pursuing Barbara Payton, another actress who was also involved with an actor and former boxer named Tom Neal. Paget went on to build a playhouse so he could perform with a hired repertory company: His specialty was a fluid, vaguely erotic dance routine. To the queens fury, the married Prince of Wales was called upon to testify about his relationship with Lady Mordaunt in open court. Luciano was the prime suspect of many, and following her death, he assumed control of her restaurant, an event she had once told him, before witnesses, would occur only over her dead body. Koretz was an accomplished actor who lived a lie for most of his life, playing the role of millionaire oil baron who was willing to share his success with his relatives and friends, explains Dean Jobb, a journalism professor at University of Kings College in Nova Scotia and author of the 2015 book Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated a Nation. Bergman chose to remain away from America for many years. That eagerness played right into the hands of the Roaring Twenties legions of fast-talking promoters, charlatans and outright swindlers, who enticed the would-be wealthy with scores of seemingly foolproof schemesfrom stock in companies that didnt really exist, to speculation in Florida real estate or California oilfields, to Boston-based conman Charles Ponzis promise that investors could make a 50 percent return in 90 days time by investing in a bizarre plan to redeem overseas postal coupons. Bakers trial caused discussion over the British class system since it was argued, quite rightly, that if hed been in third class, hed have gotten away with it. Payton and Neal became engaged after Tone won a divorce over the issue of adultery, but the marriage never came off. The jury decided Besant and Bradlaugh hadnt meant to deprave the public and they were ordered not to republish the pamphlet. They repeatedly made lurid claims that . Like the Rhett Butler character he portrayed, Clark Gable was fond of patronizing brothels, as did many of Hollywoods leading men. Much of the hand-wringing about petting parties focused on the supposed immorality of the young woman who attended them. October 26, 2017, Pilot Distraught that Morrow Never Looked Up. Courage is good. As the games continued, the party noticed Gordon-Cumming was altering his bet after the cards had been dealt. A jump from the H in the Hollywoodland sign ended the life of actress Peg Entwistle. Her funeral was studded with Hollywood celebrities and her ghost is said by some to haunt the New Amsterdam Theater in New York, where she had first gained attention as one of Flo Ziegfelds girls. The civil and criminal actions which occurred subsequent to the accident which was more the result of negligence than misfortune was scandalous, and the films director, John Landis, was charged and tried for manslaughter, along with other members of the film crew. During the 1950s the phrase In like Flynn meant that someone was in an enviable position, with the success of whatever venture was being undertaken all but ensured. Some of the speculators never actually went to Florida themselves. 1988, Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow. This gave the lie to the LAPD theory that she had exited the car to insert a hose into the exhaust pipe, the other end feeding into the cabin in which she died from carbon monoxide inhalation. During the 1920s, three Republicans occupied the White House: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Eventually, Neal was convicted of manslaughter in her death. He denied the adultery. Although even the most avid movie fan today is likely unaware of Thelma Todd, the actress appeared in more than seventy films, performing with luminaries including the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy. Over the next four years, they tried to have children with no success; Crawford suffered two miscarriages and their marriage dissolved when his drinking became out of control. 1. Though made by an American studio, it was filmed entirely in Europe.