Thursday, April 09, 2015

Today's Blind Items - The Garden Of Allah - Old Hollywood

This actor is probably best known for his roles in several early horror movies, but later in his life when any reporter asked about why he left his status as a potential A-list leading man rather abruptly he always replied with an "I don't want to talk about it" or "next question please". The real facts behind his exit from Hollywood and returning to the worlds of Broadway and summer stock is among the most sordid I've ever heard and shows how fast a career begins and ends.

Back in the 1930s, there was this hotel called the Garden of Allah owned by actress (and lesbian) Alla Nazimova. Many celebrities stayed there and held wild parties almost every night. Back then, if you were gay or lesbian, this was the place to go to be yourself, without the prying eyes of the studio PR people telling you to act straight and signing cease-and-desist orders so various incidents didn't wind up in a gossip column. Occasionally, gay and lesbian actors and actresses were picked up by the police for solicitation... which where then squashed by a studio's PR department for fear of hurting the star and the studio's image. Some stars, like actor William Haines, defied the studio's gag order and left Hollywood altogether. Others, like actor Ramon Novarro and actress Lilyan Tashman, kow-towed to the studio's pressure but as part of the deal got film roles of lesser quality. Our actor was not publicly out of the closet back in the mid '30s, but everyone knew he was gay. One night, after wrapping a day's work for a film, he was invited to the Garden of Allah for a "surprise party" for an openly gay A-list director and Oscar winner/nominee. He was told only two instructions: #1: put on a blindfold and never take it off, and #2: strip down to your underwear.

So he was taken to the Garden of Allah, where some members of Hollywood's secret gay, lesbian and bisexual community were holding a party for the director. We're talking the A++ list here, names you would instantly recognize. The actor was brought in, blindfolded and nearly naked, and told to go on all fours like a dog. Then out came the paddle.. his briefs were quickly taken off and some of the male partygoers had their way with him. He wasn't the only actor naked on all fours: a B-list stage/film actor (not openly gay but struggled with his sexuality and with manic depression for most of his brief career) who was a rising star at his studio in a series of low budget comedies was also being taken advantage of. Photos were taken (and later destroyed) and later used to keep the actors in the closet as a form of blackmail. Well, the second actor didn't take it so well and he later killed himself. The first actor was told by actor #2's longtime friend, an A++ list actress and Oscar winner/nominee, to get out of town as soon as possible before the scandal was leaked to the press. He did just that and never looked back.

43 comments:

  1. Tricia 133:12 AM

    Vincent Price/Cecil B DeMille and..

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  2. Gummibear3:14 AM

    i'm thinking judy garland is the friend

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  3. sandybrook3:16 AM

    Bela Lugosi

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  4. Tricia 133:17 AM

    Price/DeMille/Joan Crawford and John Garfield for B lister(mebbe)

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  5. selenakyle3:19 AM

    Not Price, who had a long career, even working up until 1993 when he died at age 82. (or so says imdb...)

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  6. Derek Harvey3:22 AM

    Why are all the blinds today so old fashioned?

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  7. MontanaMarriott3:27 AM

    Everyone I can think of had a loooong career or married several women. More research to be done....

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  8. MerlinDBear3:28 AM

    Not Lugosi. He continued to work until his death in 1956 mainly because he would literally take any role offered.
    A personal quote attributed to him from IMDB: " I'll be truthful. The weekly paycheck is the most important thing to me."

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  9. Kno Won Uno3:32 AM

    It's old hollywood day
    We Oldsters like it

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  10. Kno Won Uno3:33 AM

    They often married women, the forefathers of modern bearding.

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  11. TheDude783:35 AM

    Enty mentioned earlier in the week that today would be all Old Hollywood.

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  12. sandybrook3:38 AM

    Maybe possibly Peter Lorre??

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  13. MontanaMarriott3:40 AM

    Duke York? Played several monsters in the 3 Stooges movies

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  14. jgvanillasky3:40 AM

    I want to say John Dall and Bette Davis but can't make it fit.

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  15. Rocky3:41 AM

    Concur with Kno.
    Old Hollywood, bad or good, still had some order to it.
    Everything is too in your face.

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  16. Jenny3:43 AM

    David Manners was my thought, but it looks like he left acting all together.

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  17. TopperMadison3:43 AM

    Not Price or Lorre. They had huge careers.

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  18. Canucklurker3:46 AM

    I think I know this one, David Manners, Romantic male lead of the early 30's, hero in Dracula, The Mummy, The Death Kiss, The Black Cat, was named by Katherine Hepburn as a huge help in her early career . Was a leading man when he up and left Hollywood in 1936 for no apparent reason to do some sporadic Broadway and regional theater and paint. He lived with his partner Bill Mercer on a ranch for 30 years. Not sure of the b lister

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  19. Jenny3:47 AM

    When asked why he left Hollywood it looks like he would just say he was board.

    But, maybe Hepburn told him to leave.

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  20. Judy Garland was a child in the mid-1930s.

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  21. Great research. I think you nailed it. The director was probably George Cukor, who directed Katherine Hepburn many times. There were rumors that Hepburn was also gay.

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  22. June Gordon3:58 AM

    Not sure about the actor who left, but I think George Cukor and Katharine Hepburn are in this.

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  23. June Gordon4:02 AM

    Manners was serendipitously "discovered" by the gay film director James Whale at a Hollywood party,

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  24. Jimmy4:27 AM

    OK. Who's actor #1?

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  25. TheDude784:30 AM

    Seems like David Manners, he fits perfectly. George Cukor for director, Katherine Hepburn for A++ list actress. The questions is, who was actor #2, who later killed themselves.

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  26. Jenny4:51 AM

    If shit like this was going on there, I really don't feel sorry for Alla losing it & it becoming a hotel later, that she still lived in, then it being demolished.

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  27. Mary Jane4:53 AM

    He was the man who made Edward Scissorhands, and did narration for that MJ tune.

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  28. Mary Jane4:58 AM

    Reminds me of reading Rona Barrett with my Granny! :)

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  29. msstreeet5:08 AM

    Maybe George Reeves for actor #2?

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  30. ettacettera5:37 AM

    He was my first thought too..I recall a story about his dying outside a movie theatre...to me, he'll always be the insane guy catching flies

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  31. Planet J6:00 AM

    +1
    I like this answer...and @Ivee's answer,with the George Cukor being the director guess!

    I've read a few books about The Garden of Allah..That was one crazy place! I would have loved to have witnessed some of those pool party's! I hate that they tore the place down.

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  32. Django706:20 AM

    I'm going to take a stab at Colin Clive as the thwarted leading man. He did the first 2 Frankenstein films, both directed by James Whale. Started on Broadway and had a lot of quality as an actor. Clive was married to actress Jeanne de Casalis in what was long rumored to be a lavender marriage. He also died from alcoholism in 1937. I do believe he was well liked and respected by his actress costars, one of whom was Hepburn.

    Thank god for something different. Old Hollywood day rocks. Way too much energy is spent on reality "stars" and idiot celebs.

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  33. June Gordon6:59 AM

    George Reeves is a bit too late in the 30s to match the other guesses.

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  34. nancer7:12 AM

    actor who (not the official line, but strongly rumored) killed himself and had the A++ actress BFF has to be montgomery clift and liz taylor. don't know who the guy is that left town.

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  35. June Gordon7:20 AM

    Montgomery Clift was ten in 1930. So that would make it even more scandalous!!!!

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  36. bean álainn rua9:38 AM

    My first post after reading for years! I agree with Canucklurker, this is Manners, Cukor and Hepburn. The B-list actor is Ross Alexander. Depressed, he was dead at 29 in 1937 from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. Started acting on Broadway as a teen. Worked in Hollywood only 5 years and made 17 films. Closeted homosexual involved in a gay sex scandal that Warner Bros. didn't want to deal with. He had 3 lavender marriages and stalked Bette Davis. His last film for Warner's, "Ready, Willing and Able" was released posthumously. Oddly enough, he appears in his boxers in a scene in the film.

    Bio:
    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0018717/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

    Ross film clip, in his boxers:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKf1YqO6AiI

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  37. Wow, it's easier to get away with outright gang rape if the victims are in the closet? So fucked.

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  38. No, that would be Dwight Frye.

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  39. Jess Sayin'1:06 PM

    I had not known about David Manners; he was a very pretty man. I see that he lived until age 98, so I'm glad he was able to get away from Hollywood and have 30 wonderful years with his partner.

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  40. baw241:14 AM

    Ross Alexander definitely fits the description for Actor 2. Being asked to wear nothing but your underwear and a blindfold? Nothing good could ever come of that :(

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  41. back again1:23 AM

    +1 @baw24

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  42. back again1:28 AM

    Nice One @bean alainn rua !!! Nothing like coming in with the winning answer on a tough Blind!!! Thanks for the info...so sad though...Damn,Old Hollywood was NOT a very nice place(alot of cruelity) behind all that glittered & glowed..

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  43. Planet J1:46 AM

    I just read his bio on imdb..how sad and tragic. I believe actor #2 is him. poor guy. :(

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