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. Stompanato was killed and Turners daughter was charged with manslaughter. 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. She neither confirmed nor denied her sexuality, referring to herself in one interview as ambisexual. Here are 10 celebrities and their scandals you may or may not be familiar with. Eventually, though, the market stalled, prices fell, and many were stuck with properties worth far less than theyd expected. Though the scam became known as a Ponzi scheme, its namesake wasnt the only one who perpetrated it. 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. She succeeded in trashing Chaplins reputation while relieving him of $800,000 (about $11 million today). In the end, the murder of William Taylor was never solved, other than by Hollywood gossips who were sure they knew who the killer was and what their motive had been. She was 30 years old. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. He proceeded to spend his windfall on complete frivolity that captivated the public and press: He collected silk gowns, covered his bedroom in velvet, and even modified his cars exhaust to spray perfume. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Talullah: My Autobiography. During the 1920s, three Republicans occupied the White House: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. Julie Miller, Vanity Fair. (The judge disagreed, sentencing them to 6 months inprison, but that got overturned on a technicality.) Scandals, such as the Harding Administration Scandal and Teapot Dome Scandal, and illegal activity, such as the gangster Al Capone, became eminent and symbolized corruption of the 1920s. A jury found the work indecent but preferred not to hold them responsible for it. 1 Charlie Chaplin's Teenage Brides Charlie Chaplin's work in the. All Rights Reserved. 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. Later, it was revealed that some of the money allocated for the weapons was funneled secretly to Nicaragua to support the anti-communist Contras, counter to a law barring the U.S. government from supporting them. Inside 'Babylon': The Real Scandals & History of 1920s Hollywood 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. The crime was never solved and the sensational nature of the murder, widely covered by an ill-informed and voracious press, was a scandal in Hollywood for years. June 5, 2019, The Black Dahlia. Sex with minor females those under the age of 18 in California was statutory rape, and Flynn found himself so charged by not one, but two underage young ladies, threatening his reputation, his career, his marriage, and his freedom. Average, law-abiding citizens had no problem buying illegal booze from such people. 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. Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle was one of Hollywoods biggest stars in 1921, the first to pocket $1 million per year, and well known around town for his hedonistic pursuits. The boy hadnt stolen the moneyhed earned it sleeping with gentlemen at a house on Cleveland Street, and so did other young telegraph boys. Paul Feldman, Los Angeles Times. After their child was born, Bergman obtained a divorce from her husband, and within a week married the Italian director, though she had to travel to Mexico to do so. LAPD. Divorced again, Tone began pursuing Barbara Payton, another actress who was also involved with an actor and former boxer named Tom Neal. She cut her hair short, wore dresses that showed off her fashionably slender figure, used daring slang and dated multiple men before marriage. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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. Others, however, have faded into obscurity, even though the public indulged in their salaciousness during their heyday. The case of Saurin v. Starr and Kennedy stirred up English anti-Catholic sentiments as well as selling a great many newspapers and scurrilous pamphlets. Flynn was eventually acquitted in both cases, and during the trials, his attorneys managed to point out both girls had been previously involved with other married men, of lesser fame and wealth. Seven American hostages were being held by Iranian-backed terrorists in 1985. In the 1930s the sign, already famous, read Hollywoodland, and it was from the H that a young actress, despondent over her career, committed suicide by jumping in 1932. Franchot Tone was a film and stage star of sufficient stature to marry Joan Crawford in 1935. Americans love a rags-to-riches story, Hendley says. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976. 1. His magnificent moustaches were torn, his clothes ripped off, and the dread Hangman of Arad, abandoning his dignity, fled to a nearby inn for sanctuary. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. 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. As a result of the dearth of physical evidence innuendo and gossip soon provided theories as to who killed the director. Their declining popularity can probably be explained by the maturation of flappers and their petting partnerswho needs a petting party when youre already married? With stock prices rising, small investors were tantalized by the prospect of bigger returns on their savings than bank accounts would pay in interest. Jack Pickford was the brother of Mary Pickford, arguably the most powerful woman in Hollywood in 1916. 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. The 1920s were a time of great economic change in the United States. Sex Scandals of Early Hollywood - ReelRundown She had no children, but at least four abortions at a time when the procedure was illegal throughout most of the country. Banks were . 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. Witnesses gave accounts of Saurins supposed crimes, which included eating strawberries and cream (the wicked woman!) and being excited in the presence of a visiting priest. Despite all the goodwill equity he had built up over the years, the public was aghast when Beecher was accused of sleeping with a married parishioner in 1872. Clinton vehemently denied the allegations, which were later revealed to be true. There was, after all, that pesky fact that he was a foreigner (Flynn was Australian) and xenophobia was at its height in the early days of the Second World War. When The Washington Post published a glossary of the flappers philosophy in 1922, it defined life as One long petting party accompanied by jazz. In 1846, after wedding John Ruskin, the leading critic of the age, the beautiful, young, and bright Euphemia Effie Gray expected her life to go the usual wife and motherhood route. Some scandals are timeless: The Fatty Arbuckle trial, the Black Dahlia, and the Sharon Tate murder are still well-known decades after they occurred. They were let off with stern warnings. The Teapot Dome Scandal was an American political scandal of the early 1920s. In April 1958, after a heated argument in her home during which Stompanato allegedly threatened to kill her, Turners daughter came to her mothers defense with a kitchen knife. November 21, 2015, Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. Many wanted to use this valuable oil source. 2003, American Gigolo. The Biggest Political Scandals in American History - HISTORY Criminal conversation, beastly behavior, sexual shenanigans its all here in these ten shocking scandals that rocked nineteenth century society to its well-bred core. 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. manufacturing. During the 1930s an apartment complex on Sunset Strip known as the Hacienda Arms Apartments offered more than just leases on residential quarters. Kennedy, determined to become a Hollywood mogul to supplement the income derived from his stock market and real estate fortunes, didnt care a whit about Swansons character. According to acquaintances when together they fought constantly and with equal exuberance. Public outcry in America was strong, and Senator Edwin Jackson railed against her in the US Senate. French artist John Singer Sargent hoped his work would draw notice, but he could never have imagined the hysteria that followed his Portrait of Madame X. We are working as much to improve the behavior of young boys and girls attending the picture shows as for the character of the shows themselves, a reformer told Variety. Karen Burroughs Hannsberry. The notion that anyone can be a millionaire was strong in the 1920s, Hendley says, and never went away.. 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. 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. Talullah Bankhead. READ MORE: The First Birth Control Pill Used Puerto Rican Women as Guinea Pigs, Flappers at the bar of Isa Lanchesters nightclub in London, 1925. Blog - JAMES STEWART When police arrived on the scene, they found Taylor lying on the living room floor with at least one bullet in the back. 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. In 1936, the wife of Max Baer, the former Heavyweight Champion of the World (and eventually the father of Max Baer Jr, who portrayed Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies), named Jean as one of the women with whom her husband had been unfaithful to his marriage. Eve Blue, a college undergraduate, was there for the fun. In 1932 she told an interviewer that she had accepted a film part only so that she could sleep with Gary Cooper, though she substituted a common four-letter word for sleep with in the interview. The shocking expose not only opened the floodgates for other women to declare similar affairs, it actually ended up getting Clinton impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.