The Girl Under The Hollywoodland Sign.

The Death of Peg Entwistle.

I've known who Peg Entwistle was since I was a little girl but like most people, I knew only about her death. Since I'm very fond of Peg, I've made it my goal to learn more about her life and to uncover some documents from when she was alive. But for now, I'll tell the story of her sad death at the age of 24.

Early Sunday morning on September 18th, 1932 a woman was hiking on the Hollywood land hills when she suddenly came across a woman's personal belongings. She found one shoe and a jacket, a little way's farther she found a purse. The purse contained a suicide note that read:

"I'm afraid, I'm a coward. I'm sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain."

It was signed P.E

The woman looked up the hill toward the Hollywoodland sign and saw a dead body of a woman directly under the 50 foot tall H. She gave the woman's belonging's to the police.

Police were unable to identify her. They published her suicide note in hopes that someone will claim to know who she is. During the search, she was dubbed as "The Hollywood Sign Girl", a nickname that's still used today.

Police soon identified her as Peg Entwistle, a stage actress who also played a bit part in the movie "Thirteen Women" but most of her scenes were cut from the film.

Oddly enough, a day after her death she received a letter in the mail that offered her a starring role in a play. She would star as a girl driven to suicide.

Jack and Olive Picture

A new photo of Jack and Olive has been released!

If I'm not mistaken, this was taken while Jack was one his way to shoot Tom Sawyer; hence the clothing. This must have been circa 1916.

June Marlowe.

Today, I'm talking about my favorite teacher, June Marlowe aka Ms. Crabtree. (I'm on a Little Rascals obsession lately..)

June was born as Gisela Goetten in St. Could Minnesota (Whoop whoop!!) November 6th, 1903, to mother Hedwig and father John. She was the oldest of five children.

As a child, June loved the movies, she would even imitate Theda Bara. When June was in her teens the family moved to the "big city" Minneapolis. June stated once that Minneapolis was "the most beautiful city in the world". 

June got a role in a film called, "Kitty Reid", when she became June Marlowe, the lady of Hollywood.

Harry Carr recommended June to Jack Warner, of The Warner Brothers. Jack was very impressed with June, offering her a contract with his studio. It wasn't long before June started making plenty of more films.

Even though June starred in a number of films, she is mostly remembered as Ms. Crabtree from Our Gang, aka, The Little Rascals. When I was a child, I remember my mom buying a VHS tape of Our Gang, containing three different episodes, one with June in it. I would rewind the tape over and over again just to watch her, I was so fascinated with her.  I'm surprised the tape never broke on me..

What wasn't to love about June as Ms. Crabtree?? She was the nicest teacher and the prettiest girl. I also loved Jackie Coopers crush on her-SO adorable.

June was a natural brunette, but Hal Roach decided she would be better blonde, so she wore a wig everyday on set.

June passed away on March 10th, 1984, when she was eighty years old. June rests in a family plot in San Fernado Mission Cemetery.

Even though June's not a huge part of cinema history, she is kept alive by many generations who love the Rascals series, and will be kept alive for many more.

Mary Kornman

Today, I'm going to talk about the lovely Mary Kornman!

I've been a fan of hers since I was just a little girl, I would actually dress up and act like her!  Who didn't wan't to be a Little Rascal when they were young?

Mary was born December 27th, 1915 in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Her father Gene Kornman was a photographer, he shot Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, and many others!

Mary started acting when she was eight years old, she was best known for playing the darling little Mary in Hal Roaches Our Gang shorts, today commonly known as The Little Rascals. Mary and the other's in The Gang where replaced by younger children as soon as talkies came along. 

She then played a similar role in Hal Roaches, The Boyfriends, a comedy series. Her boyfriend on screen was the same guy whom she starred with in the Gang, Mickey Daniels. 

I remember watching a whole marathon of The Boyfriends a few years ago on TCM. I thought the show was very funny, I've always loved the chemistry that Mary and Mickey had. In my opinion, I think their one of the greatest comedic couple's that has ever graced the screen. Mickey was not afraid to look goofy or weird (hence, the photo above) he was very funny. Getting off topic, I loved his little cameo in The Great Ziegfeld, where he played a telegraph boy. He was and still is one of the most under-rated actors, he deserves SO much more credit! 

What worked great about this "couple" was that Mary was the natural, sweet, caring girlfriend to a goofy, awkward boy. 

I love the clip of Mary and Mickey in The Voice of Hollywood, where they are doing an interview on the radio. Mickey wants to sing but Mary wants to tap dance. They fight over who's going to perform as the camera pans over to the radio show host, and all you hear is Mickey yelling and noises of someone getting hit. It pans back to them and Mickey's on the ground with his hands up, his shirt and hair all messy, Mary's holding the microphone-like shes about to hit him. Mickey agrees to let Mary perform, Mary gladly puts the microphone away and starts dancing like nothing happened.

Mary, Mickey and other former Gang members with the new Gang. 

Mary starred in countless films, with many great actors and actresses. One of them being John Wayne, in The Desert Trail. I've seen that film a looonngg time ago, but from what I remember, I enjoyed it very much. I've always been interested in Mary as an adult, I've always thought she was beautiful and very talented, I've always wished she had done more movies. But Mary wasn't very interested in making films-she stopped making them in her mid-twenties, she even started her own salon at some point. 

Some years after Mary's first marriage, she married Ralph B. McCutcheon, who she devoted her life to, since she never had any children. Mary's sister and actress Mildred Kornman tells people that they where very much in love. Mary never went back to films, but she kept in touch with Hollywood friends and former co stars. 

After a long time illness, Mary passed away on June 1st, 1973 at age 57, with her husband and sister Mildred by her side. Her husband Ralph soon followed in 1975. Their both buried at the Lin Grove Cemetery in Greely, Weld County, Colorado. 

Even though theres only a little group of people in the world who knows Mary Kornman, she is remember by fans of The Little Rascals, and is remembered for being a sweet, caring girl. She did surprisingly well after leaving the Gang, most of the kids never made it in Hollywood, if Mary would have continued being in films, she would have gained the popularity that she deserves so much. 

Rest in Peace Mary, I've always enjoy watching all of your films!

Happy Birthday Jack Pickford!

Taking some time to acknowledge the fact that today marks Jack Pickford's birthday!

Lets celebrate the way Jack would, with a party and all of our friends along!

1916 Tom Sawyer. 

1926 The Bat.

Picture Frame.

When I'm not working or researching, I make things! 

I recently took my love for Jack and Olive to the next level and created this picture frame! Hopefully I'll be able to make more and sell them! 

Jack and his Women.

Jack is remembered today for being a womanizer and for having relationships that were violent on his part. But whats said about Jack and his Women are mostly rumor's nowadays. No one really knows what went on except for Jack and his wives. 

Rumor's are said about Jack being a cheater, abuser, and possibly even a murderer. 

It all started with Olive Thomas. Both Jack and Olive loved to party and occasionally drink. They had a "strange" relationship and fought a lot. When Olive mysteriously died, people automatically assumed it was a fight between Jack and Olive that led to Olive's tragic demise(To read more on Olive's death go to my Tragic Night in Paris post). Which over years and years of exaggerating stories on what happened that night, people believe that it was Jack that killed Olive. Even though it was by Olive's own hands. People rule out what actually happened, it was an accident! People always find ways to blame Jack because they don't want to believe that someone could make a mistake like that. Excuses like, Jack had syphilis and he used mercury to treat it, that's why they had the pills in the first place. Mercury was the most common way to treat syphilis back then, but it was a very common household item. It was used as a cleaning product, so having this product in a hotel bathroom doesn't seem so suspicious when you think about it. It was never proven whether or not Jack even had syphilis. People believe it, Olive Thomas' biographer said he contracted it in 1917, how she got that information, I have no idea. There is not a validated document that says he ever had it. Not a medical record, nothing. So everyone, stop jumping to conclusions about why they had Mercury, everyone had it back then, a lot of people made the deadly mistake of taking mercury pills. Olive was just one of the famous ones to actually die from taking them. It's been reported that hundreds and hundreds of people have died from ingesting Mercury in those days.

Jack and Olive before fatal trip.

It's no doubt that Jack felt responsible for Olive's death, even though she made that deadly mistake on her own. After her death, that's when Jack's bad boy reputation really began. No one really noticed it back in those days but when we look back, we can see a broken man. He didn't make many films after that night and his marriages seemed to have gotten worse.

In his second marriage to actress and Ziegfeld dancer, Marilyn Miller he was allegedly abusive towards her. Whether he hit her or not is unknown but he was not kind to her. Marilyn decided that she had enough and sought a divorce. Their divorce was finalized in 1927, on the grounds of desertion and neglect.

Jack and Marilyn Miller.

His third and final marriage to Ziegfeld dancer, Mary Mulhern, was just as bad as his second, if not worse. Within three months of marrying Jack, Mary grew afraid. Allegedly he spent days being abusive towards her and other days being off somewhere drunk. Jack was hospitalized in late 1932, with years of not taking care of himself caught up with him, and Mary sought out a divorce. Mary said in court that Jack once tried to break her door down, and chased her outside where she hid in the bushes. "He was a very nasty man," said Jack and Mary's maid. Eileen Witfield, who wrote the biography on Mary Pickford (Jack's very famous sister), The Woman Who Made Hollywood, wrote "He was a very hard man to get along with."

Their divorce was finalized in 1932.

Jack and Mary Mulhern. Note that Jack was only 33 years old here, you can see how ill he was becoming. 

In a sad and cruel twist of fate, Jack was all alone and ill in Paris, staying in the same hospital Olive was at 13 years earlier. His last wish was to see his second wife, Marilyn Miller, saying "I'd like to see Marilyn one more time, if she isn't mad at me." Marilyn agreed to see Jack but passport problems halted her journey to Paris. Marilyn never made it to his bedside.

Jack's last words where, "After all, I've lived more at thirty-six than most people have in a lifetime."