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INTRODUCTION |
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HER
STORY |
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QUOTES |
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TRIVIA |
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NICKNAME |
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GALLERY |
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CURIOS |
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VOX
POPULI |
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SHOP |
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LINKS |
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FILMS |
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BOOKS |
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WALLPAPERS |
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E-CARDS |
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MAGIC |
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SORCERESS |
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VAULTS |
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CHAT |
Ciro's, Earl Carroll's, the Mocambo, Slapsy Maxie's, the Trocadero, the
Cocoanut Grove. For the average filmgoer, the names of these famous
Hollywood night spots were enough to evoke an atmosphere of glamour and
sophistication.
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The subject of who were the best
party-givers in Hollywood was much discussed in the fan magazines. In an
August 1939 Photoplay story, Elsa Maxwell-- who certainly qualified as an
expert-- rated her movieland correspondents. High on her list were the
Bennett sisters, Constance and Joan, Kay Francis, the Gary Coopers, Mrs.
Samuel Goldwyn, Myrna Loy and Arthur Hornblow ("best chicken sandwiches and
cake at their Sunday afternoons"), the Rathbones, Louella Parsons ("greatest
barbecue thrower"), Chaplin ("educational evenings" with Albert Einstein and
Thomas Mann), Douglas Fairbanks (the "Continental touch"), the Darryl
Zanucks ("most elaborate dinners west of the Hudson"), and the Jack Warners
("spectacular").
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Norma's beauty and charisma cast a spell upon whomever was fortunate
enough to be graced with her presence. Modest and gracious as she was, her
nevertheless vibrant glow was reflected and multiplied a thousandfold
thanks to her multi-faceted inner glow. Witness...
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Agnes De Mille |
Agnes De Mille |
Agnes De Mille |
George Cukor |
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George Cukor |
George Cukor, cast
and crew of Romeo and Juliet |
George Cukor, cast
of The Women |
Gilbert Adrian |
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Gilbert Adrian |
Gilbert Adrian |
Gilbert Adrian |
Gilbert Adrian |
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Gilbert Adrian |
Douglas Shearer |
Douglas Shearer |
Douglas Shearer |
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Douglas Shearer |
Conrad Nagel |
Conrad Nagel |
George Arliss, Marie
Dressler, Lionel Barrymore |
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Marie Dressler |
George Arliss, Marie
Dressler, Lionel Barrymore |
Lionel Barrymore |
Leslie Howard, Gary
Cooper, Lionel Barrymore |
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Gary Cooper
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Rooney, Montgomery,
Gable, Mayer, Powell, Taylor, Russell, Barrymore |
Clarence Brown,
Leslie Howard, Clark Gable |
Clark Gable and Ria
Langham |
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Clark Gable |
Helen Hayes, Clark
Gable |
Helen Hayes |
Tyrone Power |
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Tyrone Power |
W.S. Van Dyke
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Hunt Stromberg, W.S.
Van Dyke |
William Randolph
Hearst |
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Marion Davies |
Ernst Lubitsch,
Marion Davies, Ramon Novarro, Philippe DeLacy |
Ramon Novarro, Ernst
Lubitsch, other crew members of The Student Prince |
Ramon Novarro, Ernst
Lubitsch, other crew members of The Student Prince |
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Ramon Novarro, Jean
Hersholt |
Robert Z. Leonard
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Robert Z. Leonard
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Johnny Mack Brown,
Robert Z. Leonard |
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Sam Wood and Johnny
Mack Brown |
Sam Wood and other
crew member of The Latest from Paris |
Irving Thalberg,
Jean Harlow |
Irving Thalberg,
Jean Harlow, Jean Harlow Carpenter, Marino Bello, Paul Bern
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Mary Pickford |
Mary Pickford and Lady
Sylvia Ashley |
Robert Evans |
Robert Evans |
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naturalization official
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Don Wilson |
unidentified announcer |
Irving Thalberg, Jr. |
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Irving Thalberg, Jr. |
Brian Aherne |
James Kirkwood, Reginald
Barker |
George Fitzmaurice |
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Lord Marley, Ralph
Forbes, Edmund Goulding, Herbert Marshall |
Clifton Web,
Reginald Denny and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. |
Jean Simmons,
Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr |
Mrs. Jorge Guinle,
Robert Cummings, Martin Arrouge and Mary Cummings |
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Thomas Mitchell,
Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson |
Franklin Ardell,
Paulette Goddard, Charlie Chaplin |
Athole Shearer,
Binnie Barnes, ski instructors |
Louis B. Mayer and
Lord Astor |
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Victor Fleming and
Mervyn LeRoy |
production team of
He Who Gets Slapped |
Mae Busch, Reginald
Barker |
Professor W. D.
MacDonald and the dean of the University of Southern California |
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Professor W. D.
MacDonald and the dean of the University of Southern California |
Basil Rathbone,
Sidney Franklin, and crew member of The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
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Owen Moore, Sidney
Franklin |
Robert Montgomery,
Lewis Stone and other cast members of The Divorcee |
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Robert Montgomery
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June Allyson
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Hobart Henley
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studio nurse Irma
Petersen, injured set electrician |
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cast and crew of "We
Were Dancing" |
MGM Manicurist Lola
Beardsley |
Louella Parsons
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Sydney Guilaroff
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Kalloch |
Darryl Zanuck
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George Murphy
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Leslie Howard |
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Van Johnson
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William Wyler,
Howard Hawks |
Sid Grauman
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Edith Shearer
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Lily Pons |
Billy Burke (with
Judy Garland in background) |
Bette Davis, Miriam
Hopkins |
Dolores Del Rio |
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Robert Montgomery |
Robert Montgomery |
Louis B. Mayer |
Moss Hart |
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Clark Gable,
Clarence Brown |
Irving Thalberg, Jr. |
Edith Shearer |
Miriam Hopkins,
Merle Oberon, Dolores Del rio, Countess di Frasso |
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Marjorie
Moss-Goulding and Lady Stanley |
Spencer Tracy
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Gilbert Adrian |
Alfred C. Vanderbilt |
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Clark Gable, Hunt
Stromberg |
Edith Shearer,
Athole Shearer |
Hedda Hopper |
Rosalind Russell,
Burgess Meredith |
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Clark Gable |
Canadian Olympic
Team |
James Stewart,
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Merle Oberon |
Sir Adrian Baillie,
Cedric Gibbons, Dolores Del Rio |
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Gary Cooper |
Claudette Colbert,
George Raft |
Paul Bern, Louis B.
Mayer, Aileen Pringle, H. L. Mencken, Irving Thalberg, Harry Rapf |
Irene Rich, John E.
Abbott |
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Jean Arthur |
Louis B. Mayer |
Martin Arrouge, Lana
Turner |
Merle Oberon |
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_wife_of_King_Leopold_of_Belgium_small.jpg)
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Merle Oberon |
Leslie Howard |
George Arliss, Marie
Dressler, Lionel Barrymore |
Princess De Rethy
(fourth from left), wife of King Leopold III of Belgium |
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Lana Turner, Martin
Arrouge |
Lionel Barrymore,
Marie Dressler |
Mickey Rooney,
Robert Montgomery, Clark Gable, Louis B. Mayer, William Powell, Robert
Taylor, Rosalind Russell, Lionel Barrymore |
wardrobe mistress |
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Mrs. Compton
Bilicks, Dolores Del Rio |
Robert Taylor |
Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks |
Peggy Hamilton |
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postman |
Kay Francis, William
Powell |
William Powell,
Errol Flynn, Marion Davies, Kay Francis, Jack Warner |
Don Wilson, Jack
Carson, Nelson Eddy |
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Robert Z. Leonard,
crew members Strange Interlude |
Sam Wood |
Fredric March, Lee
Garmes, Sidney Franklin |
Mickey Rooney |
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Van Johnson, Janet
Leigh |
Van Johnson, Janet
Leigh |
Robert Taylor,
Mervyn LeRoy, Lawrence Weingarten, Alla Nazimova |
Eddie Mannix, Clark
Gable |
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Robert Z. Leonard |
Gary Cooper |
Conrad Nagel |
George Raft, Mr and
Mrs Cooper |
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Chris McArthur,
James Stewart, Helen Hayes |
Gracie Allen |
Herbert Marshall,
Clark Gable |
Herbert Marshall,
Clark Gable |
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Cedric Gibbons |
George Cukor, Oliver
Messel |
Louis Hayward |
Merle Oberon |
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Louis B. Mayer |
Hobart Henley, Lew
Cody, Bebe Daniels |
James Montgomery
Flagg |
Cast and Crew of The
Women |
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Leslie Howard |
Leslie Howard |
Ralph Forbes, Edna
May Oliver |
Robert Evans |
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Peggy Shannon, Nancy
Carroll |
Leslie Howard |
Gilbert Adrian |
Merle Oberon |
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Melvyn Douglas, Lee
Bowman |
Melvyn Douglas, Lee
Bowman |
the dean of the
University of Southern California |
Prince William of
Sweden, Sam Wood, Ralph Forbes |
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Leslie Howard |
Miss Waterbury,
Merle Oberon |
Jack Holt |
Eva von Berne |
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Polly Moran, Jackie
Cooper |
Greer Garson |
Mignon Weidemann,
Mrs Ned McLean, Van Johnson, Mrs Gary Cooper |
Yves Montand |
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Carl Laemmle |
Marion Davies, Merle
Oberon |
Mr and Mrs Gary
Cooper, Myrna Loy |
Irving Thalberg,
Marion Davies, Mr and Mrs Will Hays |
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Gene Raymond,
Jeanette MacDonald and ??? |
Leslie Howard and
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??? |
Luise Rainer, Clark
Gable and Jean Harlow |
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Martin Arrouge and
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Gilbert Adrian |
Brian Aherne, Chico
Marx, Martha Raye |
Irving Thalberg,
Marion Davies |
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Louis B. Mayer |
Irving Thalberg,
Leila Hyams, S. Charles Lee, Owen Lee, Raquel Torres, Sidney Weisman |
Charles Laughton,
Fredric March |
cast of The Women |
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Lucille_Watson |
Mary Pickford,
Martin Arrouge |
Tyrone Power |
William Powell,
Louella Parsons |
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Mrs Compton Belicke,
Dolores Del Rio |
J. Robert Rubin,
Nicholas M. Schenck, Irving Thalberg |
Melvyn Douglas,
Louella Parsons |
Irving Thalberg, Mr
and Mrs Clark Gable, Mr and Mrs Robert Montgomery |
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Leslie Howard |
Leslie Howard |
Spencer Tracy |
Lew Cody |
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Arthur Rubinstein,
Patricia Knight, Cornel Wilde, Martin Arrouge |
Louis B. Mayer, Will
Hays |
Robert Taylor, Chill
Wills |
Douglas Shearer |
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David Niven |
George Raft and Gary
Cooper |
Lon Chaney |
Greer Garson, Donald
Crisp, Mary Pickford, Claudette Colbert |
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Louis B. Mayer,
Helen Hayes, Tyrone Power |
Merle Oberon |
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Additional photographs of
Norma socializing can be found in following galleries :
Mrs. Thalberg
beyond Thalberg
dueling eyebrows
color photographs
[ click here to return to Norma's
galleries ]
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At a partry thrown by William
Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, with an all-American theme, Norma
Shearer, who disliked being dictated to, chose to disregard the terms of the
invitation and arrived as Marie Antoinette. Her period skirts were so
voluminous that the seats had to be removed from her car before she could
enter it, and she was unable to pass through the main door of the Davies
beach house. Marion, according to her own account, told Shearer she would
have to take off the dress. A noisy argument ensued, which was joined by
Hedda Hopper, who berated Shearer for indelicately appearing as a
Frenchwoman when Mr. Hearst had just been thrown out of France. The Queen of
the M-G-M lot eventually managed to effect an entrance by way of the
ballroom.
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Party Girl |
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Hearst and Davies were the
movie colony's most inveterate and extravagant part-givers. Marion, in
particular, was never more ebullient than when she was playing the role of
hostess.
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Mary Pickford was one of the
organizers of the Mayfair Society, the club comprising the aristocracy of
the film community, which held ceremoniously elegant white-tie dinner-dances
each month, first at the Biltmore, later at other hotels. In 1936 Carole
Lombard was chairman of the ball and her escort that evening, Cesar Romero,
recollects an incident that came close to upsetting the decorous traditions
of the society: "Carole was in charge of the ball and she decreed that all
of the ladies should wear white. Carole and I got there early, because she
was to be in the reception line. The ladies were all coming in, everybody
beautifully gowned in white. Except Norma Shearer. she was wearing bright
red. And Miss Lombard had a few words to say to her! But nobody was going to
tell Norma Shearer.
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_wife_of_King_Leopold_of_Belgium.jpg)
