Blind Items Revealed #39 - Old Hollywood

June 22, 2022

In this space I have written about several of the exploits of Eddie Mannix, but most of those involved paying off a couple of people or finding a willing reporter. There was one time though where Eddie paid off nearly two dozen people all to keep his studio bosses happy. There has been a lot written about a party held one night that resulted in the rape of a chorus actress and how Eddie bought off jurors and even the rape victim's lawyer. It is quite the story and absolutely ruined the life of the actress. Instead of the $400K she was offered and a seven year contract, she got nothing, and nothing happened to her rapist. 

What no one asks is why did the studio go to such great lengths to protect a salesman/rapist. They didn't put on the full court press because of the salesman, they did it because they didn't want anyone focused on what else happened that night. There was a 15 year old who was there. She was going to be the studio's biggest star. She had been putting off the studio head and the executive second in charge. There had been some groping by both men, but she refused to sleep with them. That night though, they didn't give her a choice. The studio boss and the executive took turns assaulting her. They tried to get her drunk, but she refused. Several people were standing outside the room where it was taking place and watched it happen. There are stories that because of it, it inspired the salesman to do the same thing. Others said, the salesman was ordered to rape someone at the party so all the guests would talk about that one and not the one by the two studio bosses. In her very unfinished biography, the actress talks about both men but only refers to the groping. She had barely written anything before giving up on the project. In the publisher's archives there are letters which refer to it though, as well as her unfinished manuscript.

Eddie managed to keep everything quiet by focusing the world's attention on the chorus actress.

Patricia Douglas/MGM/Judy Garland/The Wizard of Oz/Louis B. Mayer