A true Tinseltown landmark building smack dap on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (Notice the tourists trying to decipher who on earth "Clyde Cook" was.) In alphabetical order the onetime Hillview Hotel Apts. was the home of: Joan Blondell, Viola Dana, Oliver Hardy, Barbara LaMarr, Lottie Pickford, and Mack Sennett. In fact, it was reportedly here Sennett's intended, the star comedienne Mabel Normand, found him in flagrande delicto with Mae Busch with more than bruised egos as a result. Famous murder victim Elizabeth Short, aka Black Dahlia, who seems to have haunted every rooming house in town at one time or another, a la George Washington, reputedly stayed here as well. But since I'm in that mood, I'm featuring early Danish-American screen comedian "Smiling Billy" Mason (1889-1941), who called the Hillview home in 1930.
"Smiling Billy" in Why Husbands Flirt, a surviving Christie comedy from 1918. Below one of those inter titles that are unintentionally humorous today.
No comments:
Post a Comment