Life Must, At The Very Least, Always Include....

Madcap Merriment

The Albertina Rasch Group

And Zany Hijinks

Ramon Novarro and friend.

Golly, Just Think Of It.......

While you read this blog (a blog for the Smart Set),

Louise Brooks is reading about you!

The Mystery Gets Revealed!

Sure 'nuff.....

Billie and Mister Holiday.

The 'direct-via-email' winner was the ever-spectacular Mistress MJ, who sent me a message with the answer mere minutes after the quiz was posted.

The 'guess-in -the-comments' winner is the lovely and demure Donna Lethal,  who mentioned a resemblance between Mister and her pooch Chester.  Now that she mentions it, I can see it.

For being the first answer MJ will receive, for her prize, on her next visit to Hollywood, a nice long walk.  Walking tour, that is.

Mystery Guest Will You Enter And Sit. Good Boy.

Oh who doesn't love a little variation on a theme.

*****IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS GAME PLEASE READ.  *****  If you've seen this picture before, or know for sure who/what this is, feel free to send me an email, but for the sake of unbridled mystery and tension, let the gang have a go at guessing in the comments section.

Meanwhile.....

.....who is this pooch?

Even The Most Manly Stars.....

Have a more artistic.....

Mr. James Coburn

.....and flamboyant side.

Mr. Coburn's home (designed by Tony Duquette)

Perspective On Fame.

"The motion picture business in those days was very different from the motion picture business of today. No other stars will ever hold the unique position occupied by Wallace Reid and Mary Pickford. The game has grown beyond that. There are too many attractive men and women, too much competition, too many theaters, too much interest now in the story, the settings, the cast, the photography. The motion picture fan has evolved, and the days of such enormous personal popularity as came to Wally are gone forever. No one can take Wally Reid's place because that place no longer exists. Like many another monarchy......it has become a republic."

- Adela Rogers St. Johns, Liberty Magazine, June 1928

Wallace Reid April 15, 1892 – January 18, 1923

Some Dame!

Alright, not really a Dame if you want to be technical.  More like a Baroness.

Born in 1874 little Marie Rose Antoinette Catherine de Robert d'Aqueria de Rochegude of Le Havre would, in 1895, marry in Paris and hence become the Baroness Catherine d'Erlanger.  In London where she and the Baron lived at 139 Piccadilly (Lord Byron's old joint, don't you know) she would be more commonly known as "Flame" for her hair color.

Flame as painted by William Bruce Ellis Ranken

Before you begin to feel to sorry for Flame being couped up in that city house, do know that it was one of three in which the Baron and she encamped.

139 Piccadilly exterior and....

interior.

Then there was Falconwood the Palladian manse outside of town:

Falconwood drawing room as painted by Sir John Lavery

And lastly, there was the place in Venice.  What.  Everyone needs a place in Venice.  But do they really need to name it Villa La Malcontenta?

La Malcontenta 

The Baroness loved the arts and she loved the artists.  Here she is being the art by participating in a tableau vivant, The Five Senses at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, 1900.

"Tasting" is the sense that the Baroness embodied.

Catherine cultivated the most astonishingly irreverent continental society of bohemians, artists and aristocrats at salons in her homes.  She was pals with Ravel, Debussy, Nijinsky and Proust.  She was also financial patroness to Diaghilev, The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and Cecil Beaton. (why buy art when you can buy artists?)

In short, she knew people.  So much so that when Helena Rubenstein was launching what would become her empire in 1908, she hired Flame to be her guide though the complex hierarchy of London Society.

The other thing we find out about the Baroness (and in Rubenstein she had a kindred spirit here) she was a junker -- a picker!  She absolutely adored trolling through the London flea markets searching for 'beautiful things'...at bargain prices.  Cecil Beaton once described her homes as being "decorated with an eclectic display of shell flowers, witch balls and mother of pearl furniture, all picked up for a song at the Caledonian market!"

Things in the 1930s, as we know, were getting a little dicey on the Continent, and at some point she appears to have loaded a container or two with some treasures and beat a path to North America.  Now, should you even be surprised when I tell you that her move led her to settle in Hollywood, U.S.A.?

She bought a lovely and shockingly unpretentious home just a couple of blocks north of the Sunset Strip.  Life did not slow down for our Flame.  It's probably also no surprise that she discovered and became dear friends with the fabulously mad decorator/artist Tony Duquette.  They would actually influence one another.

You can see elements of her Duquette-icised living room.  The crystal room divider.  Silver lame drapes with crystal valances.

In 1939, in the same building that would house Spago in the 1980s, our gal opened up Cafe Gala.

As Spago.

This was a few years after the infamous 'pansy raids' of the early 30s but make no mistake, Cafe Gala was quite pansy.  In a reserved sorta way.  No touching beyond a handshake and all that.  But the clientele made it clear and the place was jokingly known around town as Cafegaleh.  Often, after hours and after closing Bobby Short recalled that the place would be taken over by that wacky bunch from MGM:  Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Conny Salinger, Roger Edens, Lenny Hayton and Kay Thompson.  The Cafe Gala sparkled and shone for a decade. After it's happy run ended, the Baroness d'Erlanger opened "881".

This nightery was recently mentioned again in the Scotty Bowers book as he was the bartender who opened the place.  Shortly after this time though, after a very large, long and fabulous life, the Flame started to dim.  She was getting a bit dotty and slowly receded from public life.  She spent her days, tiara firmly on her head sitting in the garden behind her house and in 1959 booked passage on the Fabulon Express.

Just another day in a Hollywood garden.

The Day After Easter - It's Still Not Too Late.....

Then you too can be part of the "in" crowd.

Remodling The Bathroom?

Try installing a some faux stone in the shower.........

The Big Five O Oh....A Love Letter.

Yup, about 2 1/2 years later, I arrive at my 500th post! 

In my first post I used a photo of the Warner Bros. first Hollywood studio (not much more than a barn really) and noted that in starting the blog I had no idea where the endeavor would take me.  Well, the coincidence is, the property in that old picture is now a featured stop on my Walking Tour!

I want to thank all you guys.  From the very start you've given me companionship, support, clarity, love and courage.  Courage to follow the dream I am now living!

So without further adieu.....

You may recall a post I did in September of 2010 on the fabulous El Royale apartments, but since you have a life, chances are, you don't.  To refresh your memory it's here.

I'm bringing this up because to celebrate my 500th, I want to turn this post over to YOU!  Recently one of you, a wonderful fellow named James Pappas sent me a message offering to share some pictures of the El Royale with us if I would like.  Would I ever!

James grew up in Hollywood and his dad was a lifeguard at the Ambassador Hotel pool in the '40s and '50s!  Of that star-studded poolside he had particular memories of gangster Johnny Roselli being an almost daily fixture.

As an adult, James lived in the building for many years.

Here are the 4 beautiful shots he sent for us:

From James' email:

"I have had these from my own collection for years. I also have an Architectural Digest with pictures from when George Raft lived in the penthouse. Even Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures had the other penthouse at one time. They was a bust in the parking garage in the 40’s with some gangsters."


Thank you James.  Thank you readers.  Thank you tour guests.  Now on to the next 500.

Enough, Already. ENOUGH!!!

Money grubbing Developer Madness looks like it's about to strike again.....

It started life in 1919 as a studio built by Presenter Jesse Durham Hampton.

In 1922 Doug and Mary gave it their name.

In 1927 it becomes the United Artists Studio.  Sam Goldwyn also becomes a partner in the lot property.

In '33 Joe Schenk and Darryl Zannuck bring their fledgling 20th Century Pictures in to join the rest of the gang on the lot.  They would leave a couple of years later when they merged with Fox.  (Don't Mary and Doug look delighted?)

In 1939 Sam wrangles a name change - to his name.  It will hold that name until 1980 when.....

....Warner Bros. buys the property to be their Hollywood annex.

In 1999 Warner's sold the facility to a company called B A Studios (?) who renamed their acquisition "the lot".  the lot "is managed exclusively by Skye Partners".

B A and Skye have bided their time for over a decade now and, apparently, it's time to strike.  Like all development in Hollywood that involves historic property, there is a complete hush-hush, lack of disclosure going on about this but, from what people have been able to discern, they intend to demolish somewhere between 4 buildings and the entire lot at the end of April to redevelop the land.

Now if all the other recent development in town is a guide, this will result in more glass towers with lofts/condos/rental units upstairs (that will wind up somewhere below 50% occupied) and chain store retail on the street level.

SO, TO ARMS! TO ARMS!

Some lovely people have created an online petition as a gift for the developers and it would mean ever so much to me if you would go and sign it.  It's as easy as clicking here

They have a facebook page as well that you can like here

I'm so tired of crying after these place come down.  It would be wonderful to maybe head it off for a change.  At least we can try.  Thanks folks.

p.s.  wanna here something funny?  I got all of the images for this post from the Skye Partners website!  Apparently they just love the history - for marketing purposes.

UPDATE:

Apparently the property is now in the clutches of CIM developers.  Here is an article from the LA Times....

***Major Update***

If you are in the LA area and are available this Sunday, April 1, come on out and do a little picketin' and protestin' with me!

***Final Update...Scenes from a Murder***

Drove From Paris To The Amsterdam Hilton.....

The bed-in began 43 years ago today.

Dress Codes

The Mystery Gets Revealed!!!

Well done my friends!  There were some great guesses, none of them correct of course, but great.  And, no Cookie, it is most assuredly not Jane Withers, because I saw our Janie live and in person a few months back!

About 10 years before the mystery photo was taken our enshrouded guest lived here:

It looks like a lovely home if you don't consider the big sign in the back yard:

But the years, lack of quality work, and addictions had not been kind.  Our photo was snapped waaaay down the hill inside this apartment building:

In this downstairs corner apartment:

Behind this door:

And if this 1956 photo was scary to you, well I think that might have made our mystery guest very happy:

After all, Bela Lugosi had been scaring us since our childhoods.

Say, What Goes On Here...........

Oh my, how long has it been since we've all gathered 'round to play the Mystery Photo game?

*****IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS GAME PLEASE READ.  *****  If you've seen this picture before, or know for sure who/what this is, feel free to send me an email, but for the sake of unbridled mystery and tension, let the gang have a go at guessing in the comments section. 

 Okay, ready?

What goes on here????????

How To Go From....

Handsome

To Harried....

....in one simple HUAC hearing.

Toy Boy

18 year old Roddy McDowall takes us into his room......

Dreams of staging an itty-bitty production of "The Women"

This, above all others, is My Pretty Pony

Gee, Ramon Novarro.....sigh.

....to show us his stuff.