The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals Page 12

  Once it was her turn to take to the stand, Clara was asked if she had ever authorized cheques to be written by Daisy DeVoe and in particular if she gave permission for a series of whisky purchases. “I authorized Miss DeVoe to spend whatever was necessary to maintain the household,” she replied, before adding, “I trusted her. If she wanted to buy whisky, why, I supposed she made out the checks and signed them.”

  “Didn’t you ever check the books?” DeVoe’s attorney asked. To which Clara replied sadly, “No, that’s why I was so silly. I trusted her.”

  When asked if her ex-secretary had ever spent her own money on household expenses, Clara could not believe her ears, resorting to her Brooklyn slang in order to answer the question.

  “She never spent anything out of her dough for me!” she replied. “She didn’t have a cent until she worked for me.”

  At one point Clara broke down when asked about the birthday present that had been bought with her own money, and a cheque for $825 which had been signed by the actress and used by DeVoe to buy herself a fur coat.

  “That is my cheque, I signed it myself,” Clara sobbed. “But Miss DeVoe brought it to me and said it was to go on my income tax and I signed it because I trusted her.”

  More sorrow and embarrassment came when the telegrams from various beaus were introduced into evidence and read aloud in court. Why the private contents had to be revealed was a mystery, and much to her dismay, Clara found that not only were the telegrams heard by everyone in attendance, but there were also plans to reproduce them in the newspapers the next morning. The actress was in obvious dismay; her private life with ex-partners were about to be made public and there was nothing at all she could do about it. But that wasn’t all, as later came a dramatic turn of events when a document was read to the court which apparently showed Daisy DeVoe being asked how much of Clara’s money she had appropriated for her own use. Shockingly she had boldly replied:

  “About $35,000. I can’t tell exactly.”

  When the unapologetic woman was asked when she started to acquire the money, she revealed in the document that it had been around September or October 1929, and gave a halfhearted attempt at an explanation:

  “It’s so hard to see a girl like Clara with everything and no respect for anything. It was her fault. If she had paid attention to business I wouldn’t have taken a dime from her because she would have known about everything.”

  The woman then went on to complain that the actress refused to write her own cheques and as a result, “she put me in a position to take everything I wanted. Of course I didn’t blame her.”

  One example of the “no respect” that DeVoe attributed to Clara came in the shape of a diamond-studded vanity case which the actress was said to have cared so little about that she let her dogs play with it. The secretary was horrified to see such an expensive item treated this way and took it upon herself to rescue it from their canine clutches and place it in her safety deposit box. It would appear, of course, that this was not after any negotiation with Bow, who seemed oblivious to the case ever being taken.

  Then more damning testimony came when it was claimed that shortly before her arrest, DeVoe had arrived at the bank and drawn out $22,000 from the “Special Account”. She then told staff that she was withdrawing the money as she did not wish Clara to invest in any of Rex Bell’s “wild schemes”. “I’m going to place it in the safe deposit box where Clara can’t find it,” the secretary told an officer at the California Bank. It would appear that in this instance, the safety deposit box she was referring to belonged to Clara, though the money did not appear to have ended up there, as when Clara requested to see the box several days later, it was apparently empty.

  All these revelations and titbits of information were compelling and the court was transfixed by what they had heard. However, this was nothing, as when Daisy DeVoe took to the witness stand herself, all hell broke loose. In the space of an hour Clara’s world imploded when the secretary declared that her employer played poker at least six nights a week; drank extreme amounts of alcohol; and bought jewellery as presents for a variety of different men. Of the latter, Daisy claimed that her ex-employer had spoiled married Earl Pearson with a $4,000 watch, while Harry Richman received a $2,000 ring. She also claimed that Clara bought herself a $10,000 engagement ring, though declined to tell the court to which man she planned to become betrothed.

  All these revelations were too much for the fragile actress, who was still suffering from a serious cold. Sent to bed by her doctor, Wesley Hommel, her condition was described as “not serious”, though she was revealed to be running a high temperature and suffering from nervous exhaustion. Sadly, the emotional distress put upon Clara during the trial was very much the shape of things to come and it would seem that she never fully recovered from her days in court.

  On 23 January 1931, after dozens of revelations about Clara Bow’s love life, personal habits and financial affairs, as well as two days of deliberation and disagreements, the jury were ready to give their verdict. It had been a hard slog, with many arguments behind the scenes, but finally Ralph H. Boynton, foreman of the jury, stood up to speak.

  “Have you reached a verdict?” asked the judge.

  “Yes sir, we have, your Honour,” replied Boynton.

  Thirty-five slips of paper were then handed over to the judge, who read them to himself over the course of the next few minutes. Finally the drama of the court case and the stress of waiting for the verdict took its toll on the normally bolshie DeVoe, who lay her head on the table and sobbed uncontrollably to herself.

  After reading the outcome, it was announced that the former secretary was not guilty of thirty-four of the counts brought against her, but was guilty of one: the charge that Daisy had bought herself a fur coat with money Clara believed was to pay her income tax bill. The jury pleaded for a recommendation of leniency, but even this was too much for DeVoe to handle. As the verdict was read out, her sobs became even more violent and then, unbelievably, members of the jury dissolved into tears too.

  The entire episode was like something from a bad movie, and at this point many spectators jumped on to the backs of their seats in order to get a better look at what was going on. The whole court was erupting into hysteria and bailiffs tried to restore order and get people to sit down, but it was an almighty task. As bedlam ensued, Daisy’s sobs could be heard echoing all around the courtroom.

  Then finally, her sobs began to turn into disgruntled words, and Daisy began shouting her displeasure between the tears.

  “If they were going to convict me at all why didn’t they convict me of everything? I’m just as guilty on all counts as I am on one.”

  Then the time came for her to leave the courtroom, which she did while leaning heavily on the arm of a bailiff and a newspaper reporter.

  “I can’t stand it; I can’t stand it,” she cried, as she was led to the jail.

  When the room eventually emptied, one of the jurors earned her fifteen minutes of fame by speaking to reporters outside the courtroom; telling them that “I’m sorry for Miss DeVoe, but I felt that pity should not be allowed to interfere with the necessity of upholding the laws of the State of California.” She then went on to speak for many minutes, declaring that DeVoe needed to be made an example of and that justice would only ever be served by a conviction. She then added, “In the end, Miss DeVoe will see herself that it was best for us to convict her”, though in reality it was pretty clear to everyone that Daisy would never agree with that remark.

  Back in Beverly Hills, Clara was still ill as a result of flu and stress. Contacted by reporters, her statement was short and sweet: “I harbour no ill will against Miss DeVoe,” she said. “For Daisy’s sake, I hope the court will be lenient.”

  For the next few months, Daisy DeVoe tried to obtain her release from prison and at one point was let out on bond, though she was soon carted back after she failed to win an appeal. Clara, meanwhile, was going through hell in her Beverly Hills ho
me, fighting depression and collapsing on set – a move which was to lead to her being replaced in at least two separate movies. Then another disaster came when it was revealed that publisher Frederick Girnau had been arrested for sending an obscene article about Clara through the US mail service.

  The article was full of lies – terrible at best and libellous at worst – but for Clara it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She suffered a full-blown nervous breakdown and was immediately rushed to Glendale Sanatorium, where she was ordered to rest for six months, while at the same time being put through a series of cures to “relieve” her stress, including electric shock treatment and an abstinence from all visitors. “Absolute quiet is necessary for recuperation,” the doctor told concerned friends, while Clara herself managed to get word out that she was planning to retire from pictures indefinitely.

  Studio boss B. P. Schulberg pretended not to be too worried; after all, his star had made threats to leave at various stages of her career in the past, and nothing had ever come of it. He told reporters that no decision would be made until Clara was well enough to talk, but that “she is in no condition to talk business at the present time”.

  However, just days later came the shock news that Clara was adamant about her retirement and had requested that her contract be cancelled immediately. Paramount were beside themselves, as their star still had two more films to make before the projected end of her contract in October 1931. At the same time they knew that there was nothing they could ever do to control Clara Bow; they had never succeeded in doing so in the past, and they knew they wouldn’t in the future. It was with a heavy heart, therefore, that they reluctantly agreed on the termination and Schulberg released a statement: “In accordance with Clara’s wishes, we have consented to tear up her contract with Paramount.” He then went on to say how difficult it was to discard an association he had enjoyed for many years, “particularly with one who has earned our personal liking and admiration . . . I am sorry to see her leave Paramount for she is a great and popular screen star.”

  While Paramount licked their wounds and wondered who would become the next It Girl, from her sick bed, Clara released her own statement:

  “I am deeply grateful. Already I feel much better than I have for many weeks, as I struggled to regain my health so that I could carry on. I wanted my contract broken if Paramount saw fit, so that I might get back on my feet again . . . Now that this worry is over I can face the task of regaining my health with a free mind. It’s like leaving home to leave the studio after so many years, but I know it is the best thing for me to do.”

  A few days later Clara Bow travelled to Nevada to spend time with Rex Bell and recuperate on his ranch, telling reporters, “I am going to forget anything and everything connected with pictures.” She then added, “as soon as I’m able, I will become what is known as a freelance player, contracting for a single production at a time”. She also denied rumours that she would sign with another studio, although she did admit to having various offers, all of which she had turned down, until the time was right that she could “stage a comeback”.

  In the end, Clara Bow never did make the big comeback she hoped for, though she did marry Rex Bell and gave birth to two sons whom she adored. She was never far from scandal and health problems, with another threat of a lawsuit from a casino and several breakdowns adding to her problems in future years. She also never obtained the full happiness she had always looked for, and she was unable to recover from the Daisy DeVoe trial, which had sent her over the edge in the first place. She died of a heart attack on 27 September 1965 at the age of sixty, and ex-lover Harry Richman was chosen to be one of the pall-bearers at her funeral.

  Clara’s life and career were over and, for some considerable years, her films were forgotten. However, in 2011 the producers of The Artist became inspired by the actress and looked at her style in order to create the look of one of the main characters in the film. Since then, interest in her has had something of a revival, with a new documentary broadcast in the UK during December 2012 and an exclusive showing of her movie It played to a packed-out audience in London in January 2013.

  But what of Daisy DeVoe? Well, when she was released from prison in April 1933, the former secretary went to work in the aviation industry. Of her time in jail, she later declared, “I had a ball”, while explaining that the prison wardens had loved her as she always volunteered to polish their nails . . .

  10

  Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign

  Although her career has been long since forgotten, Peg Entwistle gains the grisly and tragic honour of being the only person to ever commit suicide by jumping to her death from the Hollywood sign.

  Millicent Lilian (Peg) Entwistle was born in Port Talbot, Wales, in 1908. She was brought up in London and New York, although her childhood was not a happy one. The details are still shrouded in mystery, but it is said that she tragically endured the death of her mother, stepmother and father, all by the year 1922.

  Determined that her adult life would be better than her childhood, Peg became a stage actress, appearing in Boston and on Broadway, where she began to forge a busy career. She acted in plays such as The Home Towners and Tommy, and treated her career very seriously, studying hard and insisting that she would prefer to play roles that carry conviction rather than the standard Hollywood fluff. “To play any kind of emotional scene I must work up to a certain pitch. If I reach this in my first word, the rest of the words and lines take care of themselves,” she told an interviewer early in her career.

  As time went on, her career really began to take off, but unfortunately Peg was still unfulfilled in her personal life. This seemed destined to change in April 1927, however, as while acting in Eugene O’Neill’s The Great God Brown she met actor Robert Keith and the two hit it off straight away. Incredibly, such was the attraction that the two decided to marry just four days later – a decision that she was later to regret.

  Predictably, the marriage was not a happy one. The couple fought constantly, and when they divorced in 1929 Peg said that her life with Keith had been a continuous round of pain and suffering. According to the actress, he had torn her hair from her head and also failed to tell her he was the father of a six-year-old son from a former marriage. Suddenly marrying after only days of knowing each other did not seem such a good idea, and she would never make the same mistake again.

  Free from the abusive marriage, in 1929 Peg visited California with the New York Theatre Guild to appear at the Geary Theater. Unfortunately, on her return to New York, her career seemed to slow somewhat and she ended up appearing in several plays that did not enjoy the same success as she had previously experienced. In April 1932, Peg decided to leave her Broadway career behind and instead travel back to Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune in the movies. Once there, she moved into her Uncle Harold’s Beachwood Drive home and was ecstatic to win a part in the play The Mad Hopes by Romney Brent. Her joy was short-lived, however, when the play was not deemed a success and closed very quickly, taking Peg’s hopes of stardom with it.

  Still, she refused to give up on herself. Until the downturn she had experienced on Broadway, Peg’s career had been relatively successful and she was determined it would be even better in the future. Her dreams looked set to come true when RKO offered her a part in their film, Thirteen Women, though after completion she heard rumours that most of her work had ended up on the cutting-room floor. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the film itself was delayed during editing, preventing its release for some time to come.

  Once again her confidence was shaken; her first big role had possibly ended up on the cutting-room floor and no other films were on the horizon. She became depressed, but this time Peg did not have the strength to pull herself and her career back together again. Her spirit was broken, her nerves shot, and friends blamed it all on the depressing part she had played in Thirteen Women. Aged just twenty-four, Peg believed her career was over and on the evening of 16 September
she decided she could go on no more.

  At her home at 2428 Beachwood Drive, a heartbroken Peg put pen to paper and wrote the following note: “I am afraid. I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P. E.”

  She folded the paper and placed it in her handbag, before telling her uncle Harold that she was meeting friends at a nearby store. If this was indeed her plan, she never made it, and instead walked two miles to the famous Hollywood sign – the symbol of hope for many would-be actors and actresses including, at one time, Peg herself.

  We will never know how long Peg stood at the sign that night. Did she look out over the town, its lights glimmering with the possibility of glamorous film premieres and parties? Did she wonder where it had all gone wrong, and if there was any possibility she could put it all back together again? Who knows. All we know for sure is that at some point during the evening, Peg went to the back of the letter H, located the workmen’s ladders and proceeded to climb up. What went through her mind and how long she stood there will forever remain a mystery, but at some point while standing looking out at the city below, Peg Entwistle took a deep breath and threw herself from the fifty-foot letter, sending herself careering down the mountainside, her body a mass of broken bones and dreams.

  The next morning, an unidentified female hiker was taking a stroll through the Hollywood Hills when she came across a shoe, jacket and purse. There was no sign of the owner, so the concerned woman looked inside and discovered Peg’s last note. Having read it, she immediately thought the worst, and started to look around for a body. She did not have to search long, as when she happened to gaze down the mountainside, much to her horror she saw a crumpled body lying there.