Wednesday, August 5, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOUELLA!

Pictured above are (L. to R.) Hedda Hopper, Mary Pickford,
Louella Parsons and Gloria Swanson.

Pictured at a wedding at Pickfair where Mary was Matron of Honor

Yes, the "Queen of Hollywood" was born on August 6th in 1881. No, not Cary Grant or Rock Husdon. Those queens were born on another day.

The real queen was Louella Parsons.
Louella reigned as one of two of the most feared gossip columnists in America. The other one was Hedda Hopper. But Hedda wasn't nearly as interesting as Louella.

Louella worked for the Hearst Syndicate of newspapers. It was always rumored that Louella got and kept her job because she was on the Hearst yacht the night Thomas Ince as murdered.

Who, you ask, was Thomas Ince? He was a Hollywood notable who was shacking up with Marion Davies, Mr. Hearst's mistress. Supposedly, Louella saw Mr. Hearst fire the gun on Ince, and kept it a secret all her life while keeping her powerful job thanks to Mr. Hearst.


Others have claimed that Louella got her job because she spoke well of Marion Davies in her column, which, of course endeared her to Mr. Hearst.


Regardless, Louella could make or break a career. And she often did.

Whenever Louella went to the Hearst Castle or Marion's beach house for a party, she always wrote it up in her column. And she always mentioned the parties on her national CBS radio show in her whiny, nasal voice.

And she always ended with the line: "...and Marion never looked lovelier."

I'm not making any of this up.
Honest.

1 comment:

Stephen said...

I had Mr. Ince's daughter as a Prof. at Loyloa Marymounnt University. She had some stories to tell...!
I remain a fan of your blog.
Best wishes from Portland.