EDNA ASLIN

In honor of the US primary contests I give you early 1930 Z-Western starlet Edna Aslin, here demonstrating a certain lack of decision by advertising both the GOP elephant and the Democratic donkey. Miss Aslin, who sometimes spelled her name Aselin, starred opposite Ed Cobb, Jay Wilsey and other Robert J. Horner Western stalwarts. 

                   

    

ETHEL BECK in GUN GRIT at Talisman Studio.

Well, actually, who is/was Ethel Beck? The nominal leading lady in a Jack Perrin western cum gangster movie Gun Grit (1936), she clearly was no actress. The film is a bottom-of-the-barrel effort from indie producer William Berke made at the cheap Talisman Studio and directed by one Lester Williams who was William Berrke under any other name. Miss Beck is seen her holding a baby billed in the film as "Baby Lester," who was actually the producer's own son, Lester William Berke. Junior took over from his father when William Berke suddenly passed away while helming the sci fi flick Missile to the Moon in 1958.

Gun Grit was released by Atlantic Pictures Corp. and was one of four Perrin "Blue Ribbon" westerns coproduced by Berke and the star himself. 

The Talisman Studio, formerly Fine Arts and Tiffany-Stahl, at 4516 Sunset Blvd but seen here from Lyman Pl.

The lot as it appears today

The home of MAY WYNN

'745 Domingo Dr., Newport Beach, CA

This rather drab condiminium complex near the Pacific Ocean in the Orange County community of Newport Beach is home to former Copa dancer Donna Lee Hickey who, under contract to Columbia Pictures in 1954, took the name of the character she played in The Caine Mutiny and became May Wynn. A true "Whatever Became of ...?" starlet, Wynn married TV actor Jack Kelly in 1956, a union described as one of Hollywood's most solid until the couple divorced in 1964.

       

                               

May Wynn and her leading man from The Caine Mutiny, Robert Francis, in their second film together, They Rode West (1955). May was dating the handsome Francis when he was tragically killed in an airplane disaster that same year. That Robert Francis was the male lover of billionaire Howard Hughes, as at least one modern writer claims, is wholly unsubstantiated. Then again, who could have blamed Howard?

   

  

The home of PATRICIA MEDINA and JOSEPH COTTEN

17800 Tramonto Dr., Pacific Palisades, CA

This forbidding home overlooking the Pacific once belonged to the Hollywood acting duo of Patricia Medina (1919-2012) and Joseph Cotten (1905-1994). Earlier, the abode housed Judith Exner, famous for sharing her not inconsiderable charms with both Mafioso Sam Giancana and President John F. Kennedy. And allegedly around the same time. The property is right above the infamous garage on Castellamare where blonde comedienne Thelma Todd was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning December 16, 1935.

    

                                       

CAROL KELLY of the acting Kellys.

Born in New York City in 1934, Carol Kelly was out of a performing family that also included sister Nancy Kelly and brother Jack Kelly, both of whom enjoyed long screen and television careers. Carol, though, not so much and her only prominent assignment came in Terror in a Texas Town 1958), a low budget but quite interesting western starring Sterling Hayden, directed by cult phenomenon Joseph H. Lewis and penned by actor Nedrick Young. The later, who was blacklisted, was unbilled. 

Carol  married prolific actor Joe Marross in 1958 but divorced him four years later. In her complaint, she alleged that her husband beat her and once even pulled her around the house by her ankles. "I guess I just can't adjust to marriage," Marross had explained in lieu of an apology. Carol was awarded full custody of their son, Michael. 

                              

The Home of MONA KNOX

1400 N. Gardner, West Hollywood, CA

The final home of 1950s starlet and popular girl-about-town Mona Knox (1929-2008)

    

                             

Richard Crane and Mona Knox in Thundering Caravans (Republic, 1952), which starred Allan "Rocky" Lane but came with no caravans at all.

    

The home of MYRNA HANSEN

2037 Coldwater Canyon Dr., Beverly Hills, CA

The current home of Myrna Hansen (b. 1934), Miss U.S.A. of 1953 and the runner-up in that year's Miss a Universe contest. Earned successive contracts with Universal-International (was there along with Mamie Van Doren and Rock Hudson) and MGM, but did mostly cheesecake layouts.

     

                                  

  

R.I.P. GREGG PALMER (1927-2015)

ZARAH TAZIL in A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT (c.1935)

Now how many Moroccan actresses do you think dabbled in Grade Z screenwriting in Hollywood in the 1930s? None, would be the obvious answer in a sane world. But this isn't a sane world and if you dig deep enough you'll actually come up with one Zarah Tazil, who is credited with writing or co-writing a handful of minuscule Bill Cody oaters released in the mid-1930s. Zarah also appeared as fiery senoritas in a couple of them but is probably best remembered as an equally fiery French-speaking, or rather French-screaming, villainess in Lon Chaney's A Scream in the Night, a very mild actioner set in "the Orient" that didn't enjoy a wide release until 1943, a good eight or so years after it had been filmed at the old Marshall Neilan studio on Glendale Blvd. Miss Tazil earned a "technical advisor" credit in that one but who exactly was she? And how did she end up being credited with writing Bill Cody westerns? Well, we just don't know. The only clue is that the producers of both the Cody Westerns and Scream, Ray Kirkwood, advertised six additional Lon Chaney films to be filmed, all scripted by Miss Tazil. Only The Shadow of Silk Lennox emerged but our Zarah was credited as art director rather than screenwriter. She seems indeed to have been closely connected to Mr. Kirkwood but just how close remains unknown. Was she actually Mrs. KIrkwood? 

TOVE LINDAN in HOUSE OF DANGER (1933)

I've come across the odd name Tove Lindan a couple of times while researching low budget early talkies. Tove, who according to the IMDb, hailed from Nebraska, rarely had much to do in those poverty row potboilers but according to a February 1930 wire service report, she was "a famous American unknown in America." She had lived in "the Orient" since childhood, the news story went on to reveal, and become a famous actress there. Perhaps. But if her brief appearance as a house party flirt in House of Danger (1934), a mild little whodunit from shoestring company Peerless starring Onslow Stevens, is anything to go by she wasn't a very good actress. But there you are. According to the California Death Index, Tove Lindan passed away aged 64 on July 6, 1965. Since I've failed to locate any photos of the lady, this screenshot will have to suffice.