← Who Did What Now
Who Did What Now
149. Mary Astor - Hollywood and Scandal
00:55:33
Femme Fatale and the Purple Diary Crime of the Century
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- [00:10]
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Katy Charlwood
Yep.
- [00:19]
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- [02:02]
Katy Charlwood
Hello delicious friends and welcome to who did what Now? The History podcast. That's not your history class. With me, your host, Katy Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. And I want to extend a really warm welcome to anyone who's made their way here directly from the Gossip at the Corpse Cart episode on the Wine and Crime Podcast. Hi, welcome to the Fuckworld History Show. Allegedly. Just start was you mean to go on. It's good to just shock the system. It's not your history class. I will swear I have colourful language and if you don't like it, you might want to exit stage left. And so yeah, I was on the Wine and Crime podcast and if they Ever ask me to guest again? You? Yes, yes. A thousand times, yes. I had such a good time. I had such fun. The gals are so fun. And not to blow my own trumpet, but at least two people contacted me to inform me that I am, in fact, a hoot. I am a hoot. And, yeah, so it was such a good time. And that was like my good, fun Internet time. This week I had less fun Internet time. Less than stellar, some might say, for two reasons. One, I have to keep explaining that my friend Paul is not my boyfriend. I actually disappointed my cousin's group chat. I've got a group chat with all my female cousins, by the way, and one of them's like, katie, who's this guy in your videos? And I'm like, oh, that's my pal Paul. And they were like. I could just feel the energy drain from the text chat because they were like, oh, man, I thought you had a new man. I thought something was happening. And, like, I just really brought the mood down. I really deflated the group chat. Everyone was so disappointed. They thought something was happening. And I'm like, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm. I'm probably closer to becoming a nun than I am to getting married. And that's where we're at today. So that was fun. If you have seen the videos where I'm just like, lip syncing with my friend Paul. Yeah, he's single ladies. Cisgender ladies who like nerdy men with beards, I guess, go to town, have fun. So, yeah, I mean, with his consent. Jesus. With his consent. Like, don't just try and kidnap my friend Paul. Please don't kidnap my friend Paul. Don't do that. Like, he. He's a gentle soul underneath all that trauma. But, yeah, so, like, that's. That's that. We are not a thing. We have never been a thing, though. We do escape rooms together. We get dressed up and we go places and like, that's. That's it. So that's what that is. So, yeah. And. And my other. My other less than stellar Internet experience this week is all to do with. How do I put it? People not understanding the parallels in history. Because history doesn't repeat. It rhymes, right? It's never going to be tracing paper over the blueprints. You know, there's always going to be alterations. And so I've been providing basic factual information and talking about. As some of you know, my actual, like, speciality is propaganda and misinformation. Like, technically my area of expertise is the rise of sensationalism and the use of print as propaganda in the late modern period. And I was recently reminded that when I was in high school, when I was in secondary school, history, my like, leaving cert essay was about the use of film as propaganda in the First World War. And yet here we are. Here's where I have. I have stationed myself. Bonjour, motherfuckers. So it's been, it's been a whole thing and it, it's led to me just getting like more disheveled and angry with people who are not taking in very clear information. It could be cognitive dissonance. So, like, I really shouldn't. But anyway, anyway, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, katie, chill the hell out. And also, quit your jibber jabber. In fact me. In fact you. I will. But first we've got to get our source on. Our sources are My Story, An Autobiography by Mary Astor. The Purple Diaries, Mary Aster and the Most Sensational Hollywood scandal of the 1930s by Joseph Egan. Investigation of UN American propaganda activities in the United States. The executive hearings of August 27, 1940. The great lie, the Creation of Mary Astor by Kathleen Spaltrow. Mary Astor's Purple Diary, the Great American sex scandal of 1936. Mary Aster, prisoner of Kicks by Dan Callaghan. I also have articles from Hollywood, Babylon, the LA Times and the New York Times. And let's not forget our old favourite, biography.com? are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then let's begin. So I decided that this month, the month of July, for absolutely no reason, I was going to talk about American history, North America, American history, to be precise. Well, US History, to be more precise, and the people therein. And this episode, before I start, was actually one of the stories I told on my US and Canada tour. And this was from Ellie at the Lyric Hyperion. Because I wanted to talk about Hollywood, darling, and I did, because I could. And I have so many more exciting things happening this month. And I've been doing so much research for a bonus episode for you that I think deserves to be told in today's day and age. And so I hope you'll forgive me, anyone who was at the LA show and they're going to hear this story again, with a few tweaks and changes, a few improvements, if you will, thanks to some input from friends. Now our story starts, as many stories in the United States do, with immigrants. Mary Astor was born on 3 May 1906 as Lucille Vasconelas Laganque. In Quincy, Illinois. I don't know why I made her surname sound more like Hispanic when in fact it was German. She was born to her parents, Helen Marie de Vasconcelles, an American with Irish and Portuguese heritage, and Otto Ludwig Wilhelm Langonke, a German who emigrated to the USA from Berlin in 1891. Her parents were both teachers. Helen taught drama and elocution. So the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. And Otto, he taught German up until the US entered the First World War. And then he took up light farming. I shit you not, Light farming is the official, official piece of information there. Mary was homeschooled and also played the piano. And when I say also played the piano, I mean her parents forced her to continuously play the piano until she was perfect. I say perfect. But like they really, they really got into it. Like they demanded that she was going to be like good at it. And like her dad, he made her practice like every day, several times a day. Now this may shock you with her father being German, but they were not the most affectionate of parents. And her upbringing was fairly rigid or strict. And when she's 12 years old, she submits her picture into a contest in Motion Picture Magazine, which I'm fairly certain is the same one that Tallulah Bankhead sent her photo into. So she's in this contest and she gets to the semi finals and the next year she sends a picture in again, this time becoming a finalist and, and runner up in the national contest. And so this point the family had moved to Chicago as Otto had a job as something there, but he sees dollar signs. I love that like he got a job there. What was he doing? I think teaching, I'm not entirely sure because like he was and then he wasn't and then he was and I'm not that interested in Otto to be honest, because my focus is on Mary. So Otto, he sees dollar signs when he looks at his daughter. And so he moves them all the way to New York City for her to act in motion pictures. And Otto, he's basically the driving force for her career, but he also hinders it. So now all of the ladies, they need to get decent photos. You gotta have your headshots if you're gonna be doing any kind of like acting, performing, etc, etc, and so the Charles Alban, a Manhattan photographer, he takes her picture and this photo is seen by Harry Dunst. And this leads to her getting a six month contract with Paramount Pictures. And they decide that her name is too foreign sounding, it's too exotic and so they change her name foreign from Lucille Langanka to Mary Astor. A decision made by Walter Wanger, a producer, gossip columnist, Louella Parsons and Paramount Pictures chief himself, Jesse Laski. So she gets a screen test with Lillian Gish, who is so impressed with her charisma, her charm, her stage presence, her ability to recite Shakespeare, that she shoots over 1000ft of film with her. And Mary, she appears in one of the Lasky famous Player films. And then her contract expires. She's in Sentimental Tommy and it's great. She's amazing. And her contract just gone. Now Lillian Gish, she's just like, what the actual fuck? And she marches Mary aster over to D.W. griffith. And so she has this screen test with Griffith. And he loves her, right? He thinks she's amazing. But not Otto cannot stand Otto, right? So Mary's only what, like 14 years old, 15 years old at this point. And Griffith knows that Otto was going to be a pain. Like he watched him watch her and he was like, I don't like this vibe. And so by just his physical presence, Otto cost his daughter like career opportunities. So yeah, D.W. griffith does not sign her. Like, Otto has major dance mom vibes. Like that's the best way I can describe him. And so she ends up acting in, you know, independent movies like the Beggar Maid and the man who Played God. And she receives critical acclaim and she is being noticed. And so Otto moves them out to Hollywood and it's here that she signs a year long contract with Paramount Pictures. And then who shows up just like he did in the Tallulah Bankhead episode, which you should all listen to. It is one of my best. Just, I say it's not, it's not one of my best, but I fucking love Tallulah Bankhead. She is chaos personified. She is bisexual, chaos demon. Love her, right? Anyway, John Barrowmore, Drew Barrymore's grandfather. Drew Barrymore's grandfather, he shows up, he swings into the scene because he sees a picture of the teenage actress and is just like so into her ew. And also, ick. She is 17 at this point. He is 40. 17, 40. Just want to clarify that for everybody in the room. And he wants her to star in Beau Brummel with him at Warner Brothers. And during the screen test, he whispers in her ear, mary, Mary, you are so beautiful, you make me feel faint. Allegedly. Now, George Barrymore at this point, like he was a bonafide star. Like he's known as one of the finest actors of his generation. Like he is the cat's pajamas. Like, he, he's, he's, he's. He's kind of a big deal. And he convinces her parents to let them be alone together. Now, her parents would never let her be alone with anyone. Like, controlling is one way to put it. It's also the correct way to put it. But John Barrymore being John Barrymore, he convinces them to just like, let us be alone. He tells them that he wants to give her acting lessons first. He does this at their house so that they're comfortable with him. What's that called? Is it grooming? What? Who would say such a thing? What, me? You? Yes, I did. Anyway. Oh. Oh, that's actually really funny. Cuz, like in my notes, it actually says here he grooms them. I mean, earns their trust. Go past me. That was smart. I love the fact that I'm on the same wavelength as my own self from, like several months ago. And so after a while, you. He's like, oh, she's so nervous and self conscious around you. She needs to be privately taught private acting with me, privately with my privates. I mean, I mean, privately away from the, the paparazzi. Is that even a thing yet? I don't know. Oh. And he's like, it would be so much easier to get her out of her dress, I mean, out of her shell, if she did the acting lessons. Away from you, securely behind closed doors where you cannot see her. And so, without further ado, Drew Barrymore takes the teenage Mary Astor to a hotel for acting lessons. And Otto and Helen, they allow it. And he has this whole predatory situation. I mean, what's no. Mary and John start this love affair. See, here's. Here's the thing. Mary didn't really receive a lot of affection from her parents. And so she like, equated sex with emotional love. And so she assumed that a man being attracted to her and, and wanting to boink her that that was love. And so they're shagging. But also, John Barrymore, he is actually helping her with acting. So he is doing what. He's doing what he says he's doing. He's also doing her. Like it's. He's doing both. Right? Who says a man can't have range? And so he's got her reading books and poetry and studying music and drama and art. Like he's molding her into be the woman he wants her to be. I mean, no, that's. He's just helping her in her career. And she's very much still under her Parents control. And he is helping her to become an independent thinker. So, I mean, a broken clock is still right twice a day, you know. And he goes on to divorce his wife, and he asks Mary to marry him, but she keeps telling him to wait because she's still under her father's control because, remember, she's still a teenager. Okay? And John Barrymore, he gets tired of waiting around, and so his eyes wander to Dolores Costello, who, yes, Drew Barrymore's grandmother. So, like, that happened at least. So this led to that, which is interesting. Would he have met Dolores? Would he have married Dolores Costello is the real question. He would have met her, but would he have married her, like, if this hadn't happened? If Mary Astor hadn't, you know, for lack of better term, rejected him? So this whole scenario, because he goes off and marries Dolores, this makes Mary think that being so under the thumb regarding her parents and is preventing her from finding love. And, like, she calls this her, like, big regret, like, not saying yes to John Barrymore, who I would like to add, lest we forget in the Tallulah Bankhead episode, flashed a teenage Tallulah in his dressing room to try and, like, woo the young impressionable, or he thought was impressionable teenager. And she was like, no and tottered off. Anyhow, in 1925, Mary's parents use her money to buy a mansion called Moorcrest, which, incidentally, Andy Samberg currently lives in at time of writing and recording. And basically, it's like a. It's like a Beauty and the Beast without the romance or the talking furniture. Yeah, they basically keep her locked in the mansion. They let her out to make money and pee. And then they hold her prisoner in the mansion that her parents bought with her money from her acting that she did, you know, and she. She's making money like, she is making money. She's raking in like $5,000 a month, which in today's money is $93,508.48. Yes, I did use a calculator. You're welcome. She is the family meal ticket and the sole earner for the family. And they know it. Like, that's why they're trying to keep her contained and controlled and ruled by them. And so Otto decides that he is going to manage her affairs for her, because of course he fucking is. He wants to hold the purse, drinks. I mean, she's earning five grand a month, and Otto puts her on an allowance of $5 a week, and he is in complete control of her finances and he is living the high life. And he is what we like to call Guian Lal Die. And it all gets to become too much for Mary. And at the age of 21, she runs away. She runs away from home. And, and, and I swear it is, it is like out of a movie because she climbs out of her bedroom window on the second floor. Like she ties her bed sheets together and just like climbs down like proper, proper cartoony. And so she leaves and she checks into a hotel and listen, it's not like she ran away to join the circus, which never happens anymore. Like people run away from the circus to join corporate America. That's a joke from a Far side graphic novel that I read when I was like 10 years old. I'm sorry. It's like, oh, Bozo and Jingle's kids ran away from the circus to join corporate America. Or something to that effect. Yeah, I used to love the Far side. I have no idea how I came across it. I'm gonna assume by my cool big brother, but I can only assume. So, yeah, she moves out and she comes to a financial agreement with her parents and like she doesn't actually get full financial control like for another five years until she's 26 because her parents sued her for financial support. And it's like between 1920 and 1930, like Mary kept $24,000 and gave Otto $460,000. But she's got two wonderful arms, she's got two wonderful legs. She's over 21 and she's free. And she's got a handful of honey for her little honey bee. I can't help myself sometimes. I really can't. This seems like a good time to take like a little break.
- [25:19]
Verizon Advertiser
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- [25:27]
Katy Charlwood
Yep.
- [25:27]
Verizon Advertiser
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- [25:50]
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- [26:09]
Katy Charlwood
And we're back. I hope you enjoyed the ads or a moment of silence. So Mary Aster, she goes full on utterly modern, Melly. She gets into jazz and liquor. She's smoking, she's drinking, she's dancing. She bobs her hair. She gets her own apartment on Whitley Avenue in Hollywood. And she gets engaged to some dude, but it doesn't stick. And she dates the writer John Mock Saunders for a while, all the while she is working. And when her Paramount contract ended in 1925, she was signed to Warner Bros. And she is filming Don Juan with Barrymore. Or are we surprised? Are we surprised or not surprised? In 1926, she was named one of the Wampas baby stars. That's a thing. That was a thing. The Western association of Motion Picture Advertisers. No, I'm doing it in the Voice. I'm doing it in the Voice. Western association of Motion Picture Advertisers. It honored 13 young starlets who they believed to be on the cusp of movie stardom. Dolores Costello, who married John Barrymore. Joan Crawford, who is also a Lucille. She was. Her name was Lucille Faye Le Sueur. Like, that is an amazing name. Imagine that being your name. But it was like, oh, no, we need to name her Joan. Like, okay, you had Dolores del Rio, Fay Ray, and probably a few more because that's less than 13. There's definitely more. 1928 is a really busy year for Mary. She's on loan to Fox and stars in Dress to Kill and Dry Martini. It's also the year that she meets director Ken Hawks. Kenneth Hawks. I don't know why I shortened his name. There. There was no reason for it. He had made a lot of money on the stock market and he decided, I want to get into the movies. And so they get married at Moorcrest, and he gets her a Packard automobile as a wedding present. And they moved to this house on Lookout Mountain above Beverly Hills. And it was so of the era. It would have been like, like top range, 1920s housing. And it's still there today. You can see it, like, from the outside. Like, don't go breaking into people's houses. That's not cool. But I. I saw it. I saw it after the show I did on Mary Aster, my friend. He drove me up to it and it was like the cloudiest, grayest day. And I got to see Mary Aster's house and it really, really meant a lot to me. And, like, it probably meant nothing to him to just, like, drive me up to this house. I didn't ask him to do it, but he did it anyway. And, like, probably some people don't realize, like, the little moments of kindness they do. And it really. It really meant a lot to me because I. I'm aware for a lot of people, history is like an abstract, like, concept that just kind of floats about. But for me, history is real. Like, these are real people. These are real lives. This is a real thing that happened. It's like when I was in Dublin and I went to the GPO and I put my fingers in the bullet holes in the pillars of the GPO from, like, when I was, I don't know, nine or something. And it meant something to me. Like, history, it's the lived experiences of people, and it fucking matters. And this little moment of kindness, which, again, probably just seemed like a very probably thing he does for everybody and everybody does for everybody. But, like, for me, it was really, really nice and very considerate and kind, and I really appreciate it. So anyway, she's making movies. Mary Astor is making movies. He's getting more into producing and directing. And at this point, she signed with Fox after her Warner Brothers contract had dissolved and film is making the transition from silent movies into Takis. And Fox gave her a sound test, and they release her from her contract because her voice sounded too masculine. Now there's a theory that they didn't quite know how to use the. The recording equipment, and they just made her sound more, like, masculine on the day. But, um, what are they gonna do? Admit that they're wrong? They haven't been to therapy. So she ends up taking eight months to, like, get herself ready for acting again. And she's taking voice coaching, singing lessons. If you've ever seen the movie Singing in the Rain, there's a scene where they're doing, like, elocution, which is. They do. Moses supposes his toes are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously. But Moses, he knows his toes is. Aren't roses, as Moses supposes his toes is to be. So they do. And that's where they go. They do the song. Moses supposes his toes is a roses, but Moses, he knows. Yeah, that's the one. They do that. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's a wonderful film. Everybody should watch. Sing it in the Rain. It's a great film. And not just because I love the Broadway rhythm number and Sid Sharice is in it. I love Sid Sharice. She's got legs for days. Anyway, I also love Dan o'. Connor. Oh, the Make Em Laugh is just. It's comedic perfection. I like classic comedy. Okay, Okay. I was like, I think I listened to A Rat Pack CD once. And it was just like a comedy, like rap. Not rap, that's wrong. Like a comedy, like skit thing they were doing. And I just remember laughing like so much because it was still funny. Like, if your jokes can last, like, then you're a really, really good comedian. Like, you can be like funny in that moment and. But like, for something to endure, like, it has to be really, really good. And it was. Anyway, anyway, the stock market crash of 1929 happened and Kenneth loses everything, like stock wise. Now he is still producing and directing, so he's not exactly destitute. Now they're doing okay, but the relationship doesn't have that spark physically. And so she writes in her diary about how she was maybe a little disappointed with Kenneth in the sack. Other than that great relationship, she's content. Then tragedy strikes. At the age of 23, Kenneth Hawks dies. He's in this plane to create this flying sequence in Such Men Are Dangerous. It's an aerial sequence over the Pacific and the plane collides with another plane. And everybody, everybody involved dies. And Mary, she is so distraught, she moves in with her friend Florence Eldridge and Eldridge's husband. And so she stays with them and they look after her and she takes a long time to heal. And eventually she decides to put herself out there again. And she dates Lee Tracy, an actor who liked to party. And by like to party, I mean he was a raging alcoholic. One night he parties a little too hard and a doctor is called, and a handsome doctor at that. Mary finds herself enthralled by the Good Handsome doctor, Dr. Franklin Thorpe. He was smart, he was gorgeous, and he was a good listener. He wasn't part of Hollywood. He wasn't part of that scene. He was a doctor. It was a real person job. That being said, he wasn't exactly turned off by her fame and money. And in a crazy, random happenstance, Mary has the marks on her tummy, which turned out to be tb. Now, this was a time in Hollywood where you could have been ostracized for having tuberculosis. Like having tuberculosis in Hollywood was a black mark. Like you could easily be just done for that. But Dr. Thorpe, he catches it early, treats her and keeps it all under wraps. Probably because she had to quarantine for months. And he was the only person she saw, along with a maid. You know, she's like my hero. And they get married on 29th June, 1931. The same year she stars in Smart Women. The next year they buy a yacht and sail to Hawaii. Where their daughter is born, Marilyn Hauole Thorpe. Now, Hauole, it means like happiness, joy. Like, it's like a celebratory name. I know that I mispronounced it at the, at the LA show because it basically means like, bad white person, whatever way I pronounced it or which Marilyn Thorpe might be fine. I mean, she might not necessarily, but that feels like a bad name to put on your kids. But no, it's meant to be like joy, happiness, like that kind of niceness. Like. Yeah. And so when they return to California, Mary stars in Red Dust with Clark Gable. By now, she is refusing to pay for Murcrest, you know, the mansion that her parents bought with her money. She's like, no, I'm not doing it anymore. And her dad has to sell it at a loss. Meanwhile, for the Thorpes, the honeymoon is over because Dr. Franklin Thorpe is a prick. And by prick, I mean he's physically and verbally abusive. And so she asks for a divorce. And he begs and pleads her not to do that. And she is worn down and stays with him. Anyway, she decides for. It's time for a wee trip away. And so she goes to New York City to see her very dear friend Marion Seltzer, a script editor for Paramount. And she's like, you should meet my Pulitzer Prize winning friend, George S. Kaufman. And so she does, shockingly. You're gonna be shocked. This will be your shocked face. This is the start of a torrid love affair because dun, dun, dun, they're both married. Do you remember the diary that I mentioned earlier? Well, she kept a very, very detailed diary and it included very specific, sordid details about her love life. And so she writes about it like her entire life. This was a time where people used to write their diaries on the assumption that no one was ever gonna read them because it was a very normalized thing to do. You wrote in your diary. And so she would write about going to lunch with one person, boinking another, you know, just day to day things. She did use code names. And by code names, I mean letters, because that, that works. That's not decipherable. And so after her trip in New York, she goes back to LA in 1934 and again asks for a divorce. And she takes their daughter and moves out. But Dr. Thorpe refuses the divorce. And he keeps saying no, but he's not an idiot. And so he raids the house and finds her diaries because she's. She's accumulated a few because she's been keeping them for years. And he reads he reads them and he reads all of the many, many, many considerable terrible but true things that she had written about them. She goes on about how he's bad with money and spends hers. She hates his name dropping and social climbing. She writes about how he's a failure in the bedroom and she makes fun of him for trying to grow a mustache like Clark Gable. Oh, look at you, pal, and your wee tiny moustache. How's that moustache coming along? Basically, it was not a very flattering portrayal of the Doctor. It was, however, very, very flattering about G. Just the letter G. And today's letter is the letter G for gonads. Listen to the Chicago testicle thieves. It's not the best episode I've ever made, but it's probably the funniest. So Franklin Thorpe, he tries to use the diary to blackmail Mary and into not divorcing him. And she is like, fuck this for a game of soldiers, and continues to sleep with Kaufman. It gets to the point where Dr. Franklin Thorpe shows up at Kaufman's hotel and begs him to stop seeing Mary. Like, he is banging on the door like, jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm begging of you, please don't take my Mary. And Kaufman pretends that he's absolutely not going to keep seeing Mary. He's like, um, sure, sure, definitely, definitely gonna do that. That's definitely something I am definitely, 100% absolutely gonna do. Like, that's the thing. It's definitely, definitely happening. Anyway, Mary decides the divorce is happening and Thorpe demands full custody of Marilyn or he's going to leak her diary to the press and have her ruined. You'll be done. G will be done. Your friends will be done. Then there's a rumor that she rated every male star she ever slept with. Like, every, every male star, every person she's ever shagged. She's rating them, like, what, four smiley faces out of five? Like, what is the ranking process? If she ranked them, I want to know where it is. Is it on skill? Is it on foreplay? Is it on bedroom talk? Is it the ability to unhook a bra? Is it orgasm based? How is this rated? Is it a starring system or is it just like variants? This. I've thought too much about this. I think so in these diaries as well. She has friend secrets and such. And because she's got that in there, that's she agrees to not ruin their lives because she's like, I can't fuck over my friends, the men I've shagged. Sure, whatever Screw them, because I did. But not my friends. Okay, listen, real talk. She is worried about her own scandal. She's worried about how this is going to affect her personally. But it's not just her that gets hurt in this scenario. It's everyone. And so she decides that she's gonna keep stumm, she's gonna keep it low, and she's just gonna agree and keep things civil with himself. That is, until a year later, when she discovers bruises on Marilyn's body. And she decides that she just doesn't care about the scandal anymore. She just wants to protect her daughter. And so a huge custody battle ensues. The trail is set for 29 July, 1936, while she's filming Dodsworth with director William Wyler. And basically, she has to stop filming to attend the trial of the century. And this is Hollywood, so time is money. And Thorpe, he is an absolute vindictive shit. Before the trial starts, he leaks some diary pages to the press and basically paints Mary as a whore. And these diaries are known as the Purple Diaries because allegedly they were written in purple ink. Now, that is wrong. It was brown. It was brown ink. Now listen, I guess brown ink was popular at the time, or easy to get, but it was brown ink. So once these pages hit the press, it is big news. And it becomes this salacious, sordid trail. It is such big news that it ends up knocking like Franco in Spain. It knocks him off the front page. It knocks Hitler off the front page. That is how big this story was. And all eyes are on Mary. This is not a drill. 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- [45:47]
Katy Charlwood
So this is a custody trail. And Thorpe's lawyers are claiming that Mary's tawdry, immoral, and basically that she's morally unfit to care for their daughter. In George S. Kaufman, like, during the trial, he is in LA to work on a Marx Brothers films, and because he's, like, around, they decide to subpoena him. And so they find him, they issue a subpoena, and he just gets the heck out of Dodge. So he doesn't have to testify. Like he is sweeped out of the county, you know. During the trial, Mary is claiming that these diaries are forgeries designed to bring down her reputation. Allegedly Franklin Thorpe did make some stuff up to release to the press. Like, did she write it? Did he just imagine it? Like, allegedly some of the handwriting was a bit different. And it has raised concerns. Now Mary, she has one of the top lawyers of the time, she has the attorney Roland Rich Woolley, and he just goes to Town on Dr. Thorpe. What his angle was was that Thorpe's immorality counterbalanced that of his estranged wife. He had a cavalcade of women coming over and spending the night while Marilyn was there. There was even a record of, of a drunken brawl with a woman and that the police had to come and physically remove this woman from the house. Like, how is he better? And at one point they paused the trial so that Mary Aster could finish her movie. Like, the studio initially wanted to like fire her from Dodsworth over the Kaufman affair, but Samuel Goldwyn kept her. He was like, no, no, no, no, she stays. And so when she returns, she is ready to rock. She was cool as a cucumber during cross examination, showing that she wasn't just some crazy, wild whorish slut of Babylon. Now that same year as well, right, in 1936, she marries Mexican film editor Manuel de Campo, right? Which is just like part of this. So Thorp's lawyers, they are just railing her with questions about the diaries, the sordid tales within. And it gets to the point that even the judge tells them to knock it off because this isn't divorce proceedings. This is about the custody of a four year old girl. And they're told this isn't going to reopen. The divorce case says sort it out. And they do. They hash out this very fair custody agreement. Mary gets Marilyn during the school months and Thorpe gets her on weekends and holidays. And Mary, she's convinced that after the trial she's just going to be cancelled, ousted from Hollywood, blacklisted. But when Dodsworth is released in September 1936, when she first appears on the screen, audiences would clap and cheer. She's a sensation. The people love her. They love her. And so the diary, the diary that is like the center of this whole scandal, the judge orders it to be locked away. And it was until 1952 when it was removed from the bank vault and in front of a judge. Mary Astor and Franklin Thorpe, the pages were set ablaze and turned to ash before their very Eyes. Now, also in 1952, they, she was in a sanatorium. Like she was visiting sanatoriums because she had been struggling with alcoholism over the course of 20 years, which is unsurprising when you look at her life. And like let's, it's Hollywood and like the 20s and 30s, like these people had stories to tell. So the year after the trial, Miri returns to the stage in no cowards tonight at 8:30. And then she gets into radio and she continues on the stage and making motion pictures. She's in the Prisoner of Zenda, the Hurricane, Midnight, Brigham Young, the Maltese Falcon. She's in the Maltese Falcon, one of the most famous noirs in all of existence. It's, it's the Maltese Falcon. I, I love film noir. I love crime noir, I love old noir. I love it so much. I love those hard boiled detective stories. They're just, there's just something about it. I just, I love mysteries and puzzles and solutions. Right? I love, I love that stuff. I love puzzles. I love being able to solve a puzzle. I love, it's why I love escape rooms, right? It's perfect for an ADHD brain because you're being forced to do a puzzle and you have a time limit. So you've got pressure and it's just, it's a really good dopamine hit. Who needs drugs when you've got escape rooms? So I love it, I love it so much. Like next time I go to la, I want to go to the La Brea Tar Pits. Is it called Brea Bria La Brea Tar Pits? Someone will correct me because they always do. So, yeah, I just, I love, I love this. And yeah. So back to the story. Maltese Falcon. She wins the Oscar for best supporting actress in the Great Lie. And in that same year, she divorces Manuel Del Campo. She performs in movies, musicals, she's on Broadway. She marries Thomas Gordon Wheelock and they're together for 10 years and then, and then they divorce. She continues working. She authors five novels. She writes My Story, an autobiography, A Place Called Saturday, A Life on Film, the Incredible Charlie Carew, and Goodbye Darling, Be Happy. But on top of that, she's still acting. And her final screen performance was in the classic Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte as Jewel Mayhew. And after 109 films, Mary Aster retires from acting. And on 25th September 1987, Mary Astor passes away at the motion picture home in Woodland Hills at the age of 81. And so ends the story of Mary Astor. If you liked my Retelling of this story. Feel free to rate and review. 5 stars. If you didn't like it, you don't have to say anything. It's fine. Don't worry about it. Yeah, my throat is really sore after doing that. Actually, I think it was the Jolene. I think the Jolene got me. Jolene got me. But, yes, if you like this written review, if you didn't, it's fine. You don't have to. You don't have to do anything. You can just keep it to yourself. Yep. And if you want to follow me, like, out with the podcast, I'm on Patreon, and if you join as a free member. My Internet is down at home, so I'm not as good at uploading right now. But what I've started doing in the last week or so is because I know some people don't want to be on Meta or TikTok or anything like that, is that I've started posting any of the videos that I post on, like, TikTok or Instagram. I also post now on. On the Patreon. I am trying to get them on YouTube as well, but my Internet is down in my house again. And so it's gonna take me a couple hours to upload this episode because I'm doing it through mobile data. Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Listen. My actual phone signal, like, my mobile signal, cell phone signal at home, my area is not great. So I really do rely on having, like, fiber broadband in my house. And for the second time this year, it's down and they're like, it might be fixed in five days, and I'm like, night it. And so here we are. Here we are. I did get to tell a very. A very lovely customer service agent about the Pope's pet elephant that was buried at the Vatican. I may have. I may have shared that information, but I did get money off my bill for that, so, I mean, hooray. So if you want to see me be, like, unhinged, threads is probably the place to be, because I say a lot of stuff there. Not all of it cohesive, not all of it sane, to be honest. And that just seems to be where. Where my brain leaks. Yeah. Yeah. I've caught some issues on threads. I think I can't be trusted. But I am on, like, Facebook, apparently. I mean, I post there. I'm not active on it. I. Because a lot of. A lot of abusive old people tend to be on Facebook, But I'm. I'm everywhere else. And, like, TikTok exists and it's doing okay, but it's weird. It's weird. It's not translating. It's not a point. I'm not going to rant about it now, because that's weird. But, yeah, I'm on. I'm on the socials. I never post on the thing formerly known as Twitter. I'm not there. I'm. I'm just not in Elon's mess. I just cannot. Okay, so I'm there. I'm here, I'm everywhere. I'm still writing my book. It's not out yet, much to my editor's chagrin probably, but that is how things are. And I do have some bonus stuff coming to the Patreon this month. This month, I. I am getting it. It's just, again, the Internet issue seems to be causing a problem, but I'm doing what I can. Please don't hate me. Anywho, without further ado, it's recommendation time. So for watching, just watch Taskmaster. I want to be on Taskmaster. Actually, I want to be on Taskmaster. And I want to see. I want to see the new Superman movie. Who wants to take me to the new Superman movie? It can be a date. It's fine. Oh, what are you doing, Katie? Whoring myself out in the podcast so that I can see Superman. I can go on my own. It's fine. But I love the cinema. Like, I love going to the pictures. It's always been a fun experience for me. I always like to treat it as. Like, it's a little special because it wasn't something you got to do a lot when I was a kid. And it was like a real treat to go to the pictures, you know, for listening. Wine and Crime podcast. Did I recommend them last week, too? Maybe I did listen to Wine and Crime. This is America month. They're Murrican. Listen to America. I don't know why I do that. Is even Minnesota, eh? Is it Minnesota? I have to stop doing voices. Clearly things are getting more tired at the end of this. And for. And for reading. Ooh, there's a choice. You know what? Reading. Go read the Maltese Falcon. Go read it. Go read some old timey books. Have a good time. I was like, what can I recommend? Just the Maltese Falcon. What should you watch? The Maltese Falcon. What did you eat? Listen. I actually don't know if Malta has falcons. I do know that Malta has two official languages which are Maltese and English. And it was like, apparently the best place to be gay and do crime. I used to date a Maltese man in case you're wondering why I have information about Malta specifically, I pay attention. Anyway, that being said, enjoy. Watch some stuff, read some stuff, learn a few things, and I will see you for a very special bonus episode on the 4th of July. Adios. Au revoir. Au revisen, my friends. Bye bye.
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Katy Charlwood
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