Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“My face has been my misfortune… a mask I cannot remove. I must live with it. I curse it.” —Hedy Lamar born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (1914 – 2000).
“My face has been my misfortune, a mask I cannot remove. I must live with it. I curse it.”
—Hedy Lamar b. Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler (1914 – 2000)

Louis Jacques-Mandé Daguerre Portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper. The earliest surviving photograph of a woman, 1839 or 1840.
Louis Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
Portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper. The earliest surviving photograph of a woman, 1839 or 1840.

 

James Nares oil on canvas
James Nares
oil on canvas

 

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida Spanish artist, 1863-1923 “Mother”1895
Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Spanish artist, 1863-1923 “Mother” 1895.

 

Margit Lisa Roeder. "Smoking break (Spiral-staircases)". Wendeltreppen, Hamburg. 2013

Margit Lisa Roeder, “Smoking Break (Spiral-staircases),” Wendeltreppen, Hamburg. 2013.

 

Mary Nolan (1902 - 1948) b. Mary Imogene Robertson, was a Ziegfeld girl at the age of 15. Her nickname was “Bubbles.” She gained notoriety for her very public affair with Frank Tinney, a huge vaudeville star who was very married. Nolan eventually made her way to Hollywood where in 1928, she co-starred in West of Zanzibar. The film stars Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore, with Nolan cast as Chaney's defiled daughter Maizie. The film was a hit and Nolan's performance is spectacular.
Mary Nolan (1902 – 1948) b. Mary Imogene Robertson, was a Ziegfeld girl at the tender age of 15. Her nickname was Bubbles — which gives  some insight into young Mary’s character. She gained notoriety for her very public affair with Frank Tinney, a popular vaudeville star who was married. Nolan eventually made her way to Hollywood where in 1928, she co-starred in West of Zanzibar, directed by Tod Browning. The film stars Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore, with Nolan cast as Chaney’s defiled daughter Maizie. The film was a hit and Nolan’s performance is superb.

 

In 1929, Nolan starred in Desert Nights opposite John Gilbert, once again the Kentucky born Nolan turned in a finely calibrated performance. Unfortunately, Nolan had a taste for abusive men. She carried on an affair with MGM fixer Eddie Mannix, who beat Nolan to a pulp wench she threatened to tell Mannix's wife of the affair. Nolan was hospitalized for six months and endured fifteen surgeries. Basically, except for small parts in small movies, her career was over.
In 1929, Nolan starred in Desert Nights opposite John Gilbert. Once again the Kentucky born Nolan turned in a finely calibrated performance. Unfortunately, Nolan had a taste for abusive men. She carried on an affair with MGM fixer Eddie Mannix, who beat Nolan to a pulp when she threatened to expose their relationship to Mannix’s wife. Nolan was hospitalized for six months and endured fifteen surgeries. Except for small parts in small movies, Nolan’s career was over.

 

Nolan put together a night club act. She sang, she told stories of her glory days as a Ziegfeld girl and a Hollywood star. She was also a heroine addict. The picture was taken in 1937. Nolan was but 35 years old. In 1948, her body was discovered in her small apartment, dead from an overdose of Seconal. She was 48 years old.
Unable to find work in Hollywood, Nolan put together a nightclub act. She sang, she danced, she told stories of her glory days as a Ziegfeld girl and a Hollywood star. She was also a heroin addict. This picture was taken in 1937 when  Nolan was but 35 years old. In 1948, Nolan’s body was discovered in her shabby Los Angeles bungalow, dead from an overdose of Seconal. She was 46 years old.

 

Naum Gabo “Construction-in-Depths” 1944, Oil-on-board-15-x-18-in.
Naum Gabo
“Construction-in-Depths”
1944, Oil-on-board-15-x-18-in.

 

“My life is fair game for anybody. I spent an unhappy, penniless childhood in Brooklyn. I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don’t relax because I don’t know how. I don’t want to know how. Life is too short to relax.” —Susan Hayward b. Edythe Marrenner (June 30, 1917 - March 14, 1975)
“My life is fair game for anybody. I spent an unhappy, penniless childhood in Brooklyn. I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don’t relax because I don’t know how. I don’t want to know how. Life is too short to relax.”
—Susan Hayward b. Edythe Marrenner (1917 – 1975)

 

Moira Dryer (American, 1957–1992) Untitled , 1987 casein on panel 48.2 x 48 x 3 in.
Moira Dryer (American artist, 1957–1992)
Untitled 1987
casein on panel
48.2 x 48 x 3 in.

 

Robert Doisneau The Last Waltz Paris, 1949
Robert Doisneau
The Last Waltz
Paris, 1949

 

Agnes Martin Untitled , 1977
Agnes Martin, American-Canadian artist, 1912 – 2004
Untitled 1977

 

Robert Capa (born Endre Friedmann, 1913 – 1954) Israel, 1949.
Robert Capa (born Endre Friedmann, 1913 – 1954)
Israel 1949

 

Robert Riggs (American artist, 1896–1970) "Catcher on the Line"
Robert Riggs (American artist, 1896–1970) “Catcher on the Line”

 

“I am not temperamental. I just know what I want and if I don’t have it, I try to get it.” —Paulette Goddard b. Pauline Marion Goddard Levy (1910 – 1990)
“I am not temperamental. I just know what I want and if I don’t have it, I try to get it.”
—Paulette Goddard b. Pauline Marion Goddard Levy (1910 – 1990)

 

Antonio del Pollaiuolo - Profile Portrait of a Young Lady (1465)
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Profile Portrait of a Young Lady, 1465

 

Fernando Taborda Linhas incidentes, Incident Lines, 1954
Fernando Taborda
Linhas incidentes, Incident Lines, 1954

 

Sam Francis (American,1923 – 1994) “Untitled” 1964 Acrylic on paper, mounted on masonite 40.875 x 27.375 in (103.7 x 69.5 cm) Guggenheim, N.Y.
Sam Francis (American,1923 – 1994)
“Untitled” 1964 Acrylic on paper, mounted on masonite 40.875 x 27.375 in (103.7 x 69.5 cm) Guggenheim, N.Y.

 

Wheelbarrow by Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld embodies key elements of the De Stijl movement: basic geometric shapes and primary colors. Gerrit Rietveld, Child’s Wheelbarrow, 1923. Painted wood.
Child’s Wheelbarrow by Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld embodies key elements of the De Stijl movement: basic geometric shapes and primary colors, 1923. Painted wood.

 

Tsukioka Kogyo Fireflies c.1900
Tsukioka Kogyo
Fireflies
c.1900

 

William Klein, EvelynTripp, Paris, 1958
William Klein, EvelynTripp, Paris, 1958

 

mildredpierce1

Eve Arden in Mildred Pierce, 1945. Screenplay by Ranald McDougall based on the novel by James M. Cain.
Eve Arden in “Mildred Pierce,” 1945. Screenplay by Ranald McDougall based on the novel by James M. Cain

 

Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan, 1920s
Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan, 1920s

 

Etrog Container Piet Cohen, Dutch, b. 1935 Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1995 Silver; synthetic string 3 3/16 × 11 1/2 × 3 3/16 in.
Etrog Container
Piet Cohen, Dutch, b. 1935
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1995
Silver; synthetic string
3 3/16 × 11 1/2 × 3 3/16 in.

 

Robert J. Avrech, Silent Picture, Going Through the Car Wash, Los Angeles, 2016.
Robert J. Avrech, Silent Picture, Going Through Car Wash, Los Angeles, 2016.

 

Ariel and Pinchas wish all our friends and relatives a happy and uplifting Shabbat.
Ariel and Pinchas wish all our friends and relatives a happy and uplifting Shabbat.

 

Ed Ruscha, The Absolute End, dry pigment on paper, 1982.
Ed Ruscha, The Absolute End, dry pigment on paper, 1982.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Another eclectic and interesting Friday.

    Robert, my daughter and her photo are in the Summer issue of Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles. She is starting to do a little painting of her own. She is the one connected with LA Louver in Venice.

  2. Of course I’d love to tell you how wonderful your friday editions are, but it would go to your head and I won’t be responsible for the results. Love the pic of the Azerbaijanis and I can’t see a picture of Ms. Kiesler without thinking Hedley. I just can’t!

  4. As always wonderful selection. Before I started reading Seraphic Secret I did not know of all the stars who lived miserable lives on the pedestal . That movie starlet you profiled who committed suicide with Rex Harrison seems to stay with me.

    Carole Landis.

    Amazing how so many people can get to such heights and like a Greek tragedy because of character flaws destroy themselves.

    On Paulette Goddard – who almost became Scarlet O’Hara in GWTW – look at her screen test and she was every bit as good as the iconic Vivien Leigh.

  5. I agree with Joe, your Friday photos/paintings are a delight. In today’s selection, I enjoyed the spiral staircases. It is very reminiscent of some M. C. Escher work.

  6. I always look forward to your Friday Photos, Robert.

    Before reading Seraphic Secret, I’d never heard of James Nares. Now I seem drawn to every painting of his that you post. I love the color selection and his brush-stroke technique. Now, I must remember to hide the fact that he has a line of Coach Purse products or my wife will go shopping!

    Mary Nolan sounds like another Hollywood tragedy. A young woman, beautiful and determined, who makes bad choices and dies young, broken and penniless. You said she was addicted to Heroin, but I thought she was addicted to Morphine as a result of the Eddie Mannix beatings. Perhaps both at different times… ? I’m curious about your reference to the nickname “Bubbles”. My parents went to (a very small) high school with a girl nicknamed Bubbles. One day I asked Dad why she had that nickname and he said it was because she developed (large) breasts at an early age. I have never associated that nickname with wild/promiscuous behavior… did I miss some memo?

    By the way, great photos of the car wash and your grandchildren!

    Have a wonderful Sabbath.

    • I think Nares has also done a line of scarves. Good for him. Very little is known about Nolan. She wrote a confessional for the Heart newspapers that is highly unreliable, but contains some interesting hints at various facts. Unfortunately, she’s too minor a star to ever warrant a full length bio. Bubbles is a name I associate with the Roaring 20s and chorus girls taking baths in champagne. Heroin or morphine. In a sense they are so closely related that the distinction is merely one of chemical refinement. In reports about her addiction, both are named. The car wash is fun. I plan to take the grandchildren through on their next visit to LA.

    • The Eddie Mannix connection may not be all that scandal mongers with in fact. Eddie wasn’t all that bad a guy. And promiscuous goes with Mary Nolan like a twin sister.

        • I am suggesting that Mary Nolan, as Robert has described, is unreliable, and that Eddie Mannix for decades functioned at MGM as a high level executive and absolutely nothing in his life or lifestyle is consistent with this behavior. That does not mean I believe his to be Santa Claus, but along with Howard Strickling, Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg and later on Dore Schary, ran the place with consistency and sanity.

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