Comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was at a party with an unknown actress, Virginia Rappe, and they ended up in a hotel bedroom together. The files were held for the purpose of blackmail, and were extensive collections of personal information and activities. A jury found the work indecent but preferred not to hold them responsible for it. The married (and very Catholic) Kennedy was soon involved in an extramarital affair with the actress, one which saw him maneuver to dominate her career, her social life, and her financial affairs. 18 Salacious Scandals from the Golden Age of Hollywood - History Collection That eagerness played right into the hands of the Roaring Twenties legions of fast-talking promoters, charlatans and outright swindlers, who enticed the would-be wealthy with scores of seemingly foolproof schemesfrom stock in companies that didnt really exist, to speculation in Florida real estate or California oilfields, to Boston-based conman Charles Ponzis promise that investors could make a 50 percent return in 90 days time by investing in a bizarre plan to redeem overseas postal coupons. Others claimed Olive committed suicide after learning of the reason her husband carried the mercury with him on his travels. manufacturing. Their affair was the talk of society in both Hollywood and Boston, where Rose Kennedy chose to ignore it, at least publicly. But after authorities began to suspect him of cooking the books and other improprieties, he sold his collapsing company and avoided a mail fraud indictment by fleeing to Shanghai, where he committed suicide. She was linked to sexual relationships with both men and women, among the latter were Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Hattie McDaniel of Gone With the Wind fame. Wall Street offered its share of get-rich-quick schemes as well. After meeting Charles Chaplin at a dinner party, J. Edgar Hoover began using the resources of the FBI to compile a dossier on what he considered to be the Hollywood stars un-American beliefs and activities. In June of 1972, burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington D.C. Like the Rhett Butler character he portrayed, Clark Gable was fond of patronizing brothels, as did many of Hollywoods leading men. 10 Twisted 19th-Century Serial Killers Everyone Forgets, Top 10 Vicious 19th-Century Australian Slaughters, 10 Ghastly Prison Practices Of The 19th Century, Prince William's Dancing Is The Latest Of 10, 10 Crazy Conspiracies That Rocked Governments, 10 Golden Hollywood Scandals That Were Covered Up, 10 Biggest Scandals Of The Obama Presidency, Top 10 Celebrity Scandals Misrepresented By The, Top 10 Bizarre YouTube Scandals That Shocked Everyone, 10 Controversial Toys You Might Already Have in Your Home, Ten Absolutely Vicious Fights over Inherited Fortunes, 10 Female Film Pioneers Who Shaped the Movies, Ten True Tales from Americas Toughest Prison, 10 Times Members of Secretive Societies and Organizations Spilled the Beans, 10 Common Idioms with Unexpectedly Dark Origins, 10 North American Animals with Misplaced Reputations, 10 Historical Events With Hilarious Forgotten Details, 10 Little-Known Aspects Of Ancient Roman Family Life, 10 Failed Conspiracies That Would Have Changed Everything. The combination of a female sex symbol, a mobster, and her daughters involvement was too much for the press to resist and the trial became a media circus. December 2, 1975, Fatty Arbuckle and Hollywoods First Scandal. Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis via Getty Images. The Life and Times of a Leading Lady. Morrow and one of the children were decapitated by the helicopters rotor; the other child was crushed beneath the machine. After . Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in a scene from 1921s Brewster's Millions. Edward Jones, seventeen years old, son of a tailor and by all accounts as unattractive as homemade sin, was discovered in Buckingham Palace in the dressing room next to Queen Victorias bedroom. In a day when a womans reputation could still be irreparably damaged by divorce or an illegitimate child, petting let flappers thumb their nose at the convention while still protecting themselves against the repercussions of sex. Inside 'Babylon': The Real Scandals & History of 1920s Hollywood Koretz was an accomplished actor who lived a lie for most of his life, playing the role of millionaire oil baron who was willing to share his success with his relatives and friends, explains Dean Jobb, a journalism professor at University of Kings College in Nova Scotia and author of the 2015 book Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated a Nation. A scene from the film The Soul of Youth, the director of which, Desmond Taylors murder was never solved. Wikimedia. Normands cocaine use and resulting connections to organized crime figures were also considered, but no firm evidence could be found. Her death created a sensation in Hollywood, both from her manner of accomplishing it and the note which she left behind. In the 1940s the Swedish-born actress Ingrid Bergman displayed her versatility as a performer with roles as Ilsa in Casablanca, a near saintly nun in Bells of St. Marys, and an actual saint, as well as virgin, in the title role in Joan of Arc. READ MORE: 8 Ways The Great Gatsby Captured the Roaring Twenties. Tracy was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, alongside his wife Louise. This bombshell resulted in the infamous Mordaunt divorce trial. The scandal, which was fed by the Catholic Legion of Decency, numerous newspapers and magazines, and from the pulpits of churches across the country drove Bergman from the United States. Online, The Tragic Story of Peg Entwistle, the Actress Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign. Why? Getty Images One of the biggest Hollywood scandals of all time was the murder of mobster Johnny Stompanato, the boyfriend of Lana Turner in 1958. Tracy did not seek a divorce, nor did he return to married life to attempt a reconciliation for the rest of his life. Once citizens had crossed that moral line and started frequenting illegal speakeasies and buying black-market booze, they naturally became more receptive to sleazy but enticing pitches to invest in get-rich-quick schemes., READ MORE: How Prohibition Put the Organized in Organized Crime. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Henry Paget may not have invented the phrase spoiled brat, but he certainly did enough to cement its definition. Widespread press reports speculated that she had been murdered, fed by the fact that her car was parked in an area thick with sticky mud, though her shoes were clean. Instead, she ended up, as they say in movieland, on the cutting room floor, her part eliminated, her work rejected (according to most stories of her suicide, in fact, she wasnt cut out of the final print of the film until after her death, though her fourteen-minute appearance had been reduced to four). The long affair between Katherine Hepburn and the married Spencer Tracy was an open secret in Hollywood. Few women in history were more involved in scandals than Talullah Bankhead, and few ever cared less about it. Those frontiers suggest the potentialand actual exampleof great riches, and boom times make credit easier to obtain., People wanted to follow the example of heroes such as automobile mogul Henry Ford and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who had dared to dream. Taylor's murder became a nationwide scandal & proof to many of Hollywood's depravity . She was never tainted by scandal because she welcomed the controversy, as evidenced by her once saying of cocaine, Cocaine isnt habit forming and I know because Ive been taking it for years., The secret cross dresser J. Edgar Hoover kept personal files on hundreds of people in part to protect himself from blackmail and innuendo. Traditional girls cared about getting married and raising kids; flappers wanted to party instead of settling down. Twenty minutes after the first copies went on sale, the pair were arrested following a complaint by the Society for the Suppression of Vice. 1991, The Mysterious Death of Massachusetts Movie Star Thelma Todd. Online, Medium Hollywoods Golden Age Era Of Secretly Bisexual, Homosexual And Lesbian Stars, Alabama Public Radio Tallulah! The scandal involved ornery oil tycoons,. Payton vacated the marital home and returned to Neal, and Tone, perhaps wisely, decided to resolve the issue in court rather than in another bout. At the trial, Dickenson alleged that the colonel had tried to raise her skirts, put his hand in her underwear, and kiss her many times on the lips. After many appeals, the case went in his favor. Luciano was the prime suspect of many, and following her death, he assumed control of her restaurant, an event she had once told him, before witnesses, would occur only over her dead body. So damaged were delicate public sensibilities that Besant and Bradlaugh were put on trial. Warned by her father to avoid men and alcohol in New York, she told an interviewer, He never said anything about women and cocaine. It was she who uttered one of the most deflating political put downs of all time, referring to Republican Presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey as resembling the little man on the wedding cake. Eventually, Neal was convicted of manslaughter in her death. Though made by an American studio, it was filmed entirely in Europe. November 21, 2015, Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. Several leading ladies were counted among the customers as well, including Talalluh Bankhead, Jean Harlow, and Barbara Stanwyck. The LAPD also investigated the murder as part of a lesbian affair, identifying one suspect only as Queer Woman Surgeon in their files. African American Sports In The 1920s | ipl.org He also managed to convince many of his investors to reinvest their paper profits in more worthless Bayano stockin effect, conning them twice. Teapot Dome Scandal - Definition, Dates & Effects - HISTORY The two took it upon themselves to republish a work titled Fruits of Philosophy: or The Private Companion of Young Married Couples, a how-to in contraceptive habits. History, FBI.gov. Wikimedia. Nene Adams is a published author, editor, historian, and American expatriate living in the Netherlands in a mnage trois with her book collection and her lovely partner. A mugshot of Elizabeth Short the Black Dahlia taken when she was arrested for underage drinking before becoming the victim of a grisly murder. Lana Turner was the classic blonde bombshell of the 1940s, a popular pinup among American servicemen and teenage boys and a favorite co-star with Clark Gable. Marlow Stern, The Daily Beast. William Taylor was a highly prolific director between 1915 and 1921, and as such, he was one of the first directors to rely on what would later become known euphemistically as the casting couch. In Babylon, some of the most infamous bona fide scandals of the 1920s are omitted - say, the unsolved 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor - or glancingly invoked, like the infamous . The legend that she was discovered by a Hollywood mogul at Schwabs Pharmacy has long been debunked, but the scandal which surrounded her in 1958, after her daughter stabbed to death reputed mob figure Johnny Stompanato, has not. It was 1931, and the air in Chicagos 57th Street art colony crackled with sexual tension. and more. Explore American politics in the 1920s to understand why this was a period of transition and corruption. Some of the speculators never actually went to Florida themselves. She also became involved with gangsters, investing in restaurants which became money laundering activities for the likes of Lucky Luciano. During the party actress Virginia Rappe was heard screaming in a room from which Arbuckle later emerged. 26 Famous Gangsters From The Height Of The Public Enemy Era View Gallery After her arrest, Ann Forester took over the operation, and it remained in business until 1948, when a drive to clean up local corruption among the elected officials of Los Angeles and the police department they supervised led to the business being closed. Guests (friends of Arbuckles) who found the 30-year-old actress claimed that she was fully clothed at the time; her friends later claimed she was raped, by Arbuckle, though a subsequent physical examination revealed no physical evidence of sexual assault. NY Daily News Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, Acquitted For Murder Of Virginia Rappe In 1922, Never Recovered From All The Bad Press, Timeline The Mysterious Death Of The Most Beautiful Woman On Earth, Medium The Death of William Desmond Taylor, Factinate Dramatic Facts About Gloria Swanson, Hollywoods Iconic Diva, FBI to keep files on stars, directors, producers, and reporters. Critics grumbled about flappers refusal to engage in traditional courtship and their flippant attitudes toward long-held social conventions. One of the greatest scandals in Hollywoods, indeed in all of American history, was the abuse of power routinely practiced by the man who considered himself to be the greatest lawman in America throughout his long and self-serving career. During the 1950s the phrase In like Flynn meant that someone was in an enviable position, with the success of whatever venture was being undertaken all but ensured. It turned street-corner thugs such as Al Capone into millionaires. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The Boston-based Ponzi told investors that hed discovered a way to make a fortune by buying Spanish mail coupons and redeeming them for U.S. stamps, to take advantage of the weakness of Spanish currency. Hollywood obliged, with both steamy rumors of illicit affairs and reports of sexual activities which were at the time illegal. The affair continued until at least 1930 when Kennedy summarily dumped his paramour in the aftermath of her completing a film, Queen Kelly, which was a critical and box office failure. As Americans dreamed of amassing fabulous fortunes, many became vulnerable to cons. February 14, 2014, When Congress Slut-Shamed Ingrid Bergman. Unfortunately for Gloria, she married her fourth husband before her divorce from her third was complete, adding bigamy to her list of questionable moral activities. Ordinary members of the public could sit down at the breakfast table and over tea and toast, read every juicy, salacious, delicious detail of who did what and to whom. Wikimedia. October 26, 2017, Pilot Distraught that Morrow Never Looked Up. Harding's campaign slogan, "A return to normalcy," aptly described American politics for the entire period. Among the men later suspected of being involved in the murder were actor/director Orson Welles, several newsmen including the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Norman Chandler, who it was claimed dismembered the body to hide the fact of her pregnancy; a small-time criminal named Jack Anderson Wilson; and George Hodel, a Los Angeles physician who was accused of the murder by his own son, LAPD detective Steve Hodel. To the Protestant jurys great disappointment, the mother superior later testified she hadnt meant that kind of excitement. The collective skirts of Victorian society were practically blown off by the news that married socialite Lady Harriet Mordaunt had been carrying on with the Prince of Wales and other partners in 1870s Warwickshire. She enjoyed drugs and alcohol, and didnt attempt to hide the fact from the public. Axel Madsen. Criminal conversation, beastly behavior, sexual shenanigans its all here in these ten shocking scandals that rocked nineteenth century society to its well-bred core. Identify the areas of the American economy that were in decline even before the 1929 stock market crash. William Desmond Taylor. Some of the nations greatest film heroes were subject to damaging tales, some true, some speculative, and some criminal. Most have been generally dismissed as urban legends, but Clara did give rumourmongers grist for the mill. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Scandals of Warren G. Harding The nation plunged into mourning, little suspecting that the beloved leader they eulogized as "an ideal American" would soon be revealed to have been the head of the most corrupt administration in the nation's history. She got the matrimonial ring in a secret church ceremony in 1857. Get-Rich Scams of the Roaring Twenties - HISTORY If petting parties are rare today, its not because theyre not funbut because we no longer need them. Silent film star Pickford tested her audiences adoration of her by committing an unthinkable act: She divorced her husband, Owen Moore, in 1920, and married Douglas Fairbanks less than a month later. Ingrid Bergman, with Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcocks Notorious, was forced to live in exile from Hollywood for several years after her affair with Rossellini. After the divorce was final Lita remarried at least three times more, and in the 1960s published a partial autobiography entitled My Life With Chaplin in which she revisited many of the old allegations. Finally offered a film contract in 1933, a dozen years after the scandal, he died of a massive heart attack before the project could be started. The revelations caused unflattering comment on her character in the papers. She developed a reputation of being hard to work with, temperamental, and a sex symbol relying on her looks as much as her acting ability. 'Petting parties' added some steam to Jazz Age soirees. Once word got out, Pickfords career might have been derailed if not for the fact that Moore was reported to be abusive. Wikimedia. Warren G. Harding's secretary of the interiorto oil tycoons Edward L. Doheny and Harry F. Sinclair.Fall, who had received as much as $400,000 in bribes, became the first . Worse, hed once been caught with the queens underwear stuffed down his pants! Prince Victor Albert, nicknamed Prince Eddy was also an alleged customer. Wikimedia. Actor Vic Morrow (right) with Ric Jason on the set of the popular 1960s series Combat!. April 2008, The Sunset Strip: The Story of a Hollywood Icon. For most people, the Roaring 20s conjures up images of flapper dresses, sparkles, and bootleggers wearing fedoras. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Arbuckle was tried three times, with the first two resulting in mistrials due to juries unable to render a verdict. The money may have dried up, but the allure of easy wealth had become a permanent part of the American psyche. Arbuckle was formally barred from acting by a newly formed censorship board, and the press and public subjected him to continuous condemnation, as well as ridicule over his substantial girth. 11 Jaw-Dropping Scandals from the Turn of the Century Wilful Peggy (1910), The New York Hat (1912), Tess of the Storm Country (1914), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Stella Maris (1918), Daddy-Long-Legs (1919), Pollyanna (1920), Sparrows (1926) FURTHER READING Balio, Tino. Despite warnings, they kept selling the book. Wikimedia. All Rights Reserved. Some even chartered buses to round up potential investors and drive them out to the oil fields for a look-see. Probably there exists no more famous icon of Hollywood than the sign which spells that name in the Hollywood hills. Pickfords action evolved from scandalous to courageous, and her reputation emerged unscathed. The first highly-publicized Hollywood scandal, the September 1920 drug overdose death of archetypal movie flapper Olive Thomasshe had starred in The Flapper earlier that yearhad excited the yellow press and shocked the public, but it was nothing compared to what came next: The Arbuckle Affair. Babylon: The truth behind the outrageous Hollywood epic In other wordsdont hesitate to invest your cash!, Prohibition also played a role in making the citizens susceptible, according to Hendley. Public discussion of sex was regarded as disgraceful. In some ways, the get-rich-quick schemes were the inevitable by-product of an optimistic era in which anything seemed possible. And Topeka, Kansas, police told the Times in 1923 that they intended to break up petting parties to clean up college campuses. However, the plethora of old Hollywood scandals that have since come to light prove that the movie industry has always been a dark place behind its bright lights. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. J. Edgar Hoover, with his penchant for keeping records damaging to the reputations of anyone he deemed too powerful and influential, ensured the FBI was active in Hollywood for decades, collecting what should have been private information in order to protect the nations morals. 2007, William Desmond Taylor: The Unsolved Murder. Hed been sneaking in since 1838. But after U.S. postal inspectors started probing his scheme, it collapsed, and Ponzi went to prison. They were eventually acquitted in terms of criminal liability, but civil penalties were assessed. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 against the Austrian Empire, a man stood out for his violent tactics in suppressing the revolutionaries: Julius Jacob von Haynau, an Austrian general who earned the nickname, the Hyena. News of his brutality, particularly against Hungarian women, excited much anger in the English public. Wikimedia. Some scandals are timeless: The Fatty Arbuckle trial, the Black Dahlia, and the Sharon Tate murder are still well-known decades after they occurred. He was so material-minded that his wife, Lilian, demanded an annulment, allegedly because he preferred to cover her naked body in jewels rather than make love. 1. Arbuckle found his fame was a liability rather than an asset as he denied the charges of rape, and the subsequent trial was a media sensation for weeks. Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle in a scene from 1921s Brewsters Millions. The scandal remained at the tip of Hollywoods wagging tongues for months, and is still considered from time to time in various media today, though the probability of solving the crime was destroyed by the LAPD nearly a century ago. Parisian culture took one look at her naked shoulders and wedding ring and assumed the worst. She regularly and openly consorted with known gangsters, including Bugsy Siegel, and in response to her husbands impotence (at least according to wagging tongues in Hollywood), she carried on an affair with Clark Gable, one which she thought belonged in the headlines of the local papers, much to his chagrin. The dramatic nature of her demise, including the manner in which her body had been found (by a hiker who also found her suicide note), led to the inevitable gossip around town, which was fed further by the elaborate funeral she was given by the film community, attended by several stars. Florida, which attracted northerners who were eager to escape winter weather, also became a paradise for land speculators, who bought properties at cheap prices and sold them for large profits. (The judge disagreed, sentencing them to 6 months inprison, but that got overturned on a technicality.) Campbell claimed hed only gone to the party in a dress so he could witness the vice for himself and later preach against it. Karen Burroughs Hannsberry. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Eve Golden. Entwistles promise as an actress was stressed in the sensationalized reports of her death, including her performance on a New York stage with luminary Billie Burke (later Glinda in The Wizard of Oz) and a young actor by the name of Humphrey Bogart. Stompanato wooed Lana with flowers and phone calls while she was filming The Lady Takes a Flyer, and unaware of his reputation and mob contacts, she began dating him. Swanson was a walking scandal for most of her Hollywood career, at least during its so-called Golden Age, but today is considered one of that eras greatest stars. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Paul Feldman, Los Angeles Times. From 1941 until his death, the two maintained an affair which was an open secret in Hollywood. Library of Congress. Katharine Hepburn was interred in Connecticut, thirty-six years after Tracys death. On the podcast | America's "Roaring Twenties": everything you wanted to know What had started as a wild bohemian party was now something more intimate. Gloria Swanson was one of the leading actresses in Hollywood, on her third husband when she met Joseph P. Kennedy. The proliferation of get-rich-quick scams in the 1920s was so intense that titans of industry began to worry about the con artists and fly-by-night firms corrosive effect on the system, even if they were willing to look the other way at the misrepresentations that their own kind sometimes perpetrated. The Scandalous Sex Parties That Made Americans Hate Flappers Sports was one of these to blow during the 20's. During the 1920s there were many forms of sports rising up, with baseball being one of the older sports it has always been a long time favorite for Americans despite the dangers of the sport and the 1919 World Series scandal. Dont be timid. Eyman, Scott. As a result of the dearth of physical evidence innuendo and gossip soon provided theories as to who killed the director. Cleveland was still able to capture the vote by owning up to the incidentthough he was a bit of a glutton for punishment, later marrying a woman 27 years his junior while still in the White House. When she was introduced to film director Irving Thalberg, for whom she was to star in a Hollywood production, she asked him, How do you get laid in this dreadful place? Supposedly a sneering Thalberg told her to ask anyone. He also carried on a long-term affair with the wife of a local dry goods store owner who blackmailed him for $50,000 and a cruise to China during the 1920 election. Though the scam became known as a Ponzi scheme, its namesake wasnt the only one who perpetrated it. The morning of January 15, 1947, saw the beginning of one of Hollywoods greatest scandals as well as one of its most famous unsolved mysteries. It was a party that proved to be his downfall. Gustavo Turner, Discover Los Angeles. His arrest had the newspapers dubbing him, the Boy Jones. Despite increased security, he would cause more furor over an apparent inability to stay away from the palacehe was caught again in 1841 and sentenced to hard labor. Paget went on to build a playhouse so he could perform with a hired repertory company: His specialty was a fluid, vaguely erotic dance routine. Old Hollywood Scandals - Hollywood Scandals You Forgot About - Woman's Day Having lost Joan, Tone turned to a fashion model and actress named Jean Wallace. Thaw was no prize himselfhe had a reputation as a cocaine fiend and woman-beaterbut the public nonetheless sided with him over White, who was married at the time of his indiscretion (Nesbit, who would marry Thaw later, was not then attached). Others, however, have faded into obscurity, even though the public indulged in their salaciousness during their heyday. Bergman chose to remain away from America for many years.
