THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOODHOSTED BYADAM ROCHE
An ongoing series of specially produced histories, bringing to life the stories and secrets that shaped cinema. @moviehistories secrethistoryofhollywood.com www.patreon.com/attaboysecret
Popular Clips
Searches and biographies have expressed doubt about Hill's statements. But what is known about the brief and unhappy marriage to Friedrich Mandel is that by 1937, Hedi had become convinced that she must escape his oppression. Hedi became a literal prisoner in their home, so jealous had Mandel become. The doors at their apartment in Vienna were fitted with 7 locks, all requiring separate keys, which were given to 7 different staff members. So as to see that Hedi was kept trapped. I knew very soon that I could never be an actress while I was his wife. He was the absolute monarch in this marriage. I was a doll. I was like a thing, some object of art which had to be guarded and imprisoned, having no mind, no life of its own. After several failed escape attempts, she finally broke free from Mandel. When one of her personal maids left the house's employment, Hedi carefully vetted applicants until she found Laura a girl roughly the same height and build as herself. Over the course of the following weeks, Hedi began to study Laura's movements and mannerisms. Slowly perfecting them before covertly stealing some of Laura's own makeup. On the occasion of a gathering, Heddie managed to convince Mandel to let her wear her grandest jewelry so as to impress their guests. When the evening came to an end, she managed to return all but the most expensive pieces to Mandel's safe. I immediately mailed some jewel and money to a trusted friend, she said later. Early that Thursday morning, I put 3 sleeping pills in Laura's coffee, packed her suitcase, left her some money, dressed in a mate's costume with the collar turned up.
Instead of tears of joy, he saw the familiar Carolyn Cagney scowl. The arms slowly begin to fold at her chest, and her chin elevates 10 or so degrees in defiance. And why would I want all my things brought here? Ma, this is your new home. She glared about herself. Why would I move out here to the end of the Earth? Well, because we'd be near to you, plus it's beautiful out here. We seem to have very differing ideas about beauty, she said. How often does the Christmas parade pass this house? Well, where's the nearest Chinese laundry? I'll buy you a washing machine. Where are the movie houses? I'll buy you a movie projector. Where are all the New Yorkers? I'll buy you an ant farm, he cried. Grumpily, they drove back to Jimmy's house in silence, and 2 weeks later, Carolyn left Martha's Vineyard, never to return. Perhaps displaying some of Carolyn's defiant attitude, Jimmy again attempted to rehome his stubborn mother, purchasing for her a grand house on Palm Drive in Beverly Hills. Reasoning that if she wouldn't move out to where he lived, then perhaps she could move out to where he worked. The first few minutes of the tour were spent hopefully pointing out the many modern conveniences that the house held, from laundry chutes to fully paid up house servants. Carolyn mused on the place for at least 3 minutes before again adopting the patented scowl, slowly folding her arms and elevating her chin to the required 10 degrees. It's too quiet, she sneered. I'll buy you a circus, he groaned. I don't want housemaids and butlers sea and stupid great monstrosity houses like this thing.
To join the supporting cast. The paycheck was more than generous, but the part required her to sing and dance. The singing was no problem, but the dancing was hampered by the growing stiffness in her hips and the needles of pain that were beginning to form in her legs. Rehearsals began, and for the 1st 2 weeks, Lena fought against morning sickness and monstrous fatigue through 14 hour days and uncomfortable rides home on cold crowded buses. Somehow, the day of the show's opening arrived with Lena's role still intact. The nest egg gently being feathered by Al Jolson's money was looking more and more like the kind of money that could see a single mother through a winter with perhaps a little extra. Her contract was for 10 weeks, by which time she estimated that the bulges around her middle and on her thighs were going to be too difficult to disguise to anyone with half a brain. It had also land her smack in the middle of October when winter winds will begin to bite harder on those early mornings, that time of year when all nesting creatures retreated into their pile of leaves to see out the winter with their young. It was on a Sunday in the full bloom of August that she decided to stretch her legs in the park and spent an afternoon walking around the zigzag paths and grabbing lunch at a nearby deli. It was as she was walking the dozen or so blocks back home that she was suddenly caught by a shooting pain that leaped through her legs and into her pelvis, forcing her to fall against the wall. She felt her arm being taken by strong hands and turned to see a police officer. Are you alright, miss? He asked. Yes. I I think so. I watched you for a block. You were a little, unsteady. The small frown on his brow
Sam said later, the concept of celebrity wasn't as viral as it is today. Everyone let him be. I remember him dancing soft shoe in our dining room. I think I even remember him dancing on the table. He wasn't shy about singing or dancing or carrying on. On one visit, signing their names and the date August 30, 1948, a mark that remains to this day on the door of the property. I remember him being very tough and athletic, physically and mentally, Sam said. He could fill a room, but never in an ostentatious way. He was unassuming, like one of the guys. He came to our Hart Haven Climbakes. I have pictures of him with my dad there. However, word soon bled to the outside that the famous James Cagney was now a vineyard. And it wasn't long before more strangers began to show up at the post offices and at the general stores claiming to be friends and asking how they could get to Cagney's farmhouse. These visitors were generally either told to buzz off or given false directions, but an industrious few hung around the stores drinking sodas, waiting for a possible glimpse of Jimmy. 1 afternoon, Bill answered a knock at the door and found on her porch 3 teenagers who trekked along the coastline and who breathlessly and excitedly demanded to see James Cagney. Flustered, Bill told them that she was a cook, and that her master was most definitely not James Cagney, but a French spinster who was visiting relatives in Paris. The teens were convinced, and gloomily made their way back along the coastline. When Jimmy arrived home and was told what had happened, he sent word out through the islanders that the hired hands of the farm all had shotguns.
As powerfully as she could. Instantly, his grip on her vanished, and he staggered back, clutching at his injury. His face distorted in anguish and an impossibly high pitched howl of torment, rising from somewhere in the depths of his chest. She caught her breath and pressed her hand to her bleeding lip, but even as her senses began to return to her, heavy footsteps had arrived, and the rough, gloved hands of 4 guards had seized her. Violently, they began to drag her across the lawn so quickly that she was unable to find her feet. Behind them, her host screamed orders, his voice still wracked with high pitched bitter anguish. A light in a doorway and the puzzled expression on a butler's face, A melee of voices, of words echoing against stone walls, a corner being turned, a long narrow stairway and then a large dark wooden door, adorned with intricate carvings. They stopped here and she wriggled in their grip as her host stormed his way ahead of them and began to wrench at a bunch of keys. Cursing, he selected 1 and thrust it into the lock, flung open the door and commanded the men to throw her onto the vast square bed, above which was hung a giant swastika. She landed in a tangle and twisted around to see the guards leave. Adolf Hitler threw the bolt on the door and limped angrily to the bed. Madam, he spat, I do not wish to force you, but if you do not give yourself willingly, I shall take what I want. With that, he grabbed at her dress and began to tear it roughly from her body. My god, he gasped, as her flesh was revealed, and threw himself upon her. Furiously, she began to pound on his arms, his shoulders, anywhere her fists could connect.