Thelma Todd

BRIMMING WITH STAR QUALITY: Thelma Todd (1906-1935) possessed comedic timing that was as remarkable as her beauty. (Original Hal Roach photo from the author's personal collection.)

Called her, "Hot Toddy,"
the ice cream blonde with a smile
that could melt your heart.



Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd were Hal Roach's female answer to Laurel and Hardy. The duo worked together in 17 comedy shorts before Pitts left Roach Studios in 1933. Pitts was replaced by Patsy Kelly; and, with her new partner, Todd went on to make 21 more two-reelers before 1935.


For The Marx Brothers, Todd provided a luscious alternative to Margaret Dumont, Groucho's usual foil. Pictured with the actress in this still from "Horse Feathers" are Zeppo (left) and Harpo (right).


TWO TOWHEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: A playful candid of Todd and Harpo Marx. (From the author's personal collection.)


In August of 1934, the actress opened Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. It became a favorite of celebrities, tourists and much less desirable characters.


Thelma Todd was found dead in the garage above her restaurant on December 16, 1935, a victim of monoxide poisoning. She was 29 years old.


Todd's death certificate.

Thelma Alice Todd was a teacher but her participation as Miss Massachusetts in The 1925 Miss America Pageant brought her to the attention of motion picture talent scouts. With her striking beauty and vivacious personality, Todd exuded a rich sense of comedic timing that made her a natural for the likes of Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers. Ten years later, the rising star with 120 films under her belt was found dead, slumped over in her car inside her garage, from monoxide poisoning. The coroner ruled it an accident but rumors of fowl play still abound. She was 29, a restaurateur, divorced from shady businessman Pasquale "Pat" DiCicco, living with married director Roland West and rumored to be having an affair with mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. What really happened to Thelma Todd remains one of Hollywood's greatest unsolved mysteries.



With Buster Keaton in a scene from "Speak Easily."


A sexy studio portrait.


In an odd twist, the building is now occupied by Paulist Productions, a company dedicated to producing film and television projects that teach Christian values and tackle modern moral dilemmas. The structure is also reported to be haunted.


The eternally youthful, stylish and lovely Thelma Todd.



 

Hollywood Boulevard

SEEING STARS: At the time of this writing, there are 2,403 stars spanning 3½ miles along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, with more being added regularly. For additional information and to find the location of specific stars, visit the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's official Walk of Fame website.

Where the stars line up
to be walked all over and
used as stepping stones.

Paradise Lost

THE GARDEN OF ALLAH was a mansion estate turned bungalow village hotel at 8152 Sunset Boulevard. Built and ruled by controversial (and openly bisexual) silent screen siren Allah Nazimova, some of the villa's illustrious and notorious guests and residents included: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Benchley, Ernest Hemmingway, Gloria Stuart, The Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Parker, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Clara Bow, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Swanson, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Ernst Lubitsch, Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Lewis, Artie Shaw, Marlene Dietrich, George Kaufman, Laurence Olivier, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Woollcott, Orson Welles, Somerset Maugham, Jascha Heifetz, Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn — to name a few!

Refuge for talent.
A den of iniquity.
Gaud's little acre.



"I'll be damned if I'll believe anyone lives in a place called 'The Garden of Allah,'" wrote Thomas Wolfe, in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, dated July 26, 1937.




During the filming of the 1939 remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Charles Laughton would return home to The Garden for lunch, still in character as Quasimodo, and float in the pool on his back with his face aimed skyward, to avoid ruining his complex makeup.

Following its heyday, The Garden of Allah endured years of neglect. In summer, 1959, it was torn down to make way for progress. The song "Big Yellow Taxi," by Joni Mitchell, mourns the incredible landmark's passing in the famous lyrics, "They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."

The Art of Survival

GERMAN & JEWISH ARTISTS IN EXILE: Only those who've endured it themselves can know what these and other talented individuals went through. But it's thanks to them that we have classics like "The Maltese Falcon," "Some Like It Hot," "Double Indemnity" and "Casablanca," not to mention the entire genre of film noir.

Fleeing Hitler's rule,
they brought a new look and voice
to film in the states.



Although satire, "To Be Or Not To Be" (1942), starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, captures effectively the pervading mood and climate of war-torn Europe.  The film was Lombard's last and was released posthumously.


THE SPIRIT OF DEFIANCE: This is, perhaps, the most powerful scene in Warner Brothers' 1942 masterpiece, "Casablanca." To those in the know, what makes it even more stunning is that it's cast largely with performers who escaped the Nazi terror and ultimately death, leaving behind home, family, friends and careers, some having lost all and having to start over with nothing. (Clip copyright © Warner Home Video)


A clip from the PBS documentary, "Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood." At the time of this writing, there was no word of a DVD release.  (Clip copyright © 2010 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.)

IMDb, I Said

THE INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE: Where movie and TV info goes and where we all go to get it.

Direct to YOUR screen!
Plots! Bios!! Facts and CREDITS!!!
Film's final roundup.

You can find the Internet Movie Database at www.IMDb.com.

Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco

In the mid-1970s, if you were young, wild and into glitter, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco at 7561 W. Sunset Boulevard was the place to be and to be seen. Rodney, the club's owner (second from right and surrounded by his then-usual assortment of jail bait and actress Mackenzie Phillips), caused a second British invasion that included artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex and Slade, and brought to light the American underground sounds of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Blondie and The New York Dolls, all of whom frequented his shabby hole-in-the-wall. The site is now a martial arts studio and Rodney is a deejay on KROQ.

Glam rock's Babylon —
where Starmen and Jean Genies
danced in platform shoes.



Zolar X was a fixture at Rodney's and got great reception.


A weekend regular at Rodney's, this adolescent fan and music scene junior reporter was dubbed "Gladys The Night Tripper" by Wolfman Jack and guested occasionally on his radio program.

8433 Sunset

From 1940 through the late 1950s, Ciro's nightclub was "the" Hollywood hot spot frequented by Tinseltown's elite. But it was also a hangout for the local mob. Crime boss Mickey Cohen ran more than a few illicit businesses out of Ciro's back room and basement, with several other types of "acts" and "hits" being performed regularly. Even Cohen himself received a bullet wound while on the premises.

The whitewash of mirth
now roars through yesterday's halls,
but rooms hold secrets.



Today, the building houses The Comedy Store, a world famous comedy club owned by Mitzi Shore and her son, comedian Pauly Shore. On numerous occasions, staff, talent and guests have reported inexplicable and, at times, frightful goings on. It seems that laughter raises all sorts of spirits.

Milt Larsen's Castle

The Magic Castle is one of Hollywood's most exclusive private clubs, as well as the home of the Academy of Magical Arts. There's only one way in, and it's not through the door.

Where greeting an owl
is your passage to wonder,
as if by magic.



Who goes there?  Yes, here.

This Book Belongs To...

This 1915 photoplay edition book belonged to Wardrobe Designer Ralph Jester (1901-1991) who received an Oscar nomination for his costumes in Cecil B. DeMille's, "The Ten Commandments" (1956). Considering the costumes, he may have used the book for research purposes.

The silent stills spoke
to his creative nature,
commanding attire.

A Sign Of The Times

THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN GETS A TEMPORARY FACELIFT: The Trust For Public Land has until April 14 to raise funds to purchase the property surrounding the famous landmark, or the real estate goes up for sale on the open market.

Once, development.
Now, legendary icon.
Soon, high-priced condos?

To learn more, visit www.SaveHollywoodland.org.

Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

Comedian-Writer-Director Roscoe Arbuckle was one of the most beloved performers of the 1910s. He served as a mentor to Charles Chaplin and was instrumental in bringing to film the talents of Buster Keaton and Bob Hope.

The gossip columns
demonized a gentle soul,
and killed a career.



In 1921, Arbuckle was accused falsely of committing homicidal rape against model-actress Virginia Rappe and became the subject of a gossip-fueled, highly sensationalized scandal that played out on the pages of the tabloid press. Although acquitted of all charges, his career, public image and personal life never recovered. He died of a heart attack in 1933 at age 46.

Sign Of Disillusion

On September 16, 1932, Broadway Actress Peg Entwistle (also known by the stage name Mary Cecilia Brown) leaped to her death from The Hollywood Sign's letter H, after her first (and only) film with RKO Pictures, "Thirteen Women," received bad reviews in test screenings.

Somehow, Mary Brown
failed to see the wisdom in,
"Look before you leap."



The Hollywood Sign as it appeared in 1923. The last four letters were removed in 1949.


BROWN/ENTWISTLE'S DEATH CERTIFICATE: Sadly, she never got to read the letter offering her a starring role in a Beverly Hills Playhouse production that arrived only days following her suicide.


A rare clip of Peg Entwistle performing as Hazel Cousins in "Thirteen Women" (1932).

Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd dangling from a rooftop set near the intersection of 9th and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, 1923. (SIDE NOTE: The theater in the background — The Majestic — is where Lon Chaney, Sr. gave his last stage performance, in 1913.)

A silent clown whom
one might never wish to ask,
"How is it hangin'?"



DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: Lloyd climbed this building while missing the thumb and forefinger of his right hand, the tragic result of a real bomb being mistaken for a prop, and wore a flesh-tone glove to conceal his handicap.