Lynne Baggett Revealed!

Lynne Baggett won't be remembered her for her lackluster screen career. Almost half of her appearances in film were uncredited, including a moment in Mildred Pierce as a waitress. Her last on screen gig occurred in 1951. She was 21 when she met producer Sam Spiegel, 19 years her senior.  Before she married Spiegel in '48, she had a fling with George Tobias (Abner Kravitz on Bewitched).  Speigel and Lynne had a rocky marriage. Lynne consorted with writer Irwin Shaw while hubby was busy producing The African Queen. (John Huston, the director, had been a witness at the Spiegel nuptials). After Spiegel threw Baggett out, she had a brief affair with Huston. In 1952, Sam filed for divorce and Lynne became a dance instructor at Arthur Murray.

On July 7, 1954 while on her way home from a party at Arthur Treacher's, she hit a station wagon filled with boy's coming home from summer camp. Joel Watnick was killed in the accident, an accident she doesn't report. Two days later, the police bring her in for questioning. The car she drove is traced to Tobias. Seems he'd loaned the car to her that day. 

Baggett is arrested, husband Sam pays her bail. She's convicted on a felony charge of hit and run driving, but is acquitted of a second felony count of manslaughter. She is given a 60 day sentence in jail of which she served 50 days. 

June 1959, Lynne attempts suicide, but makes a phone call prior to losing consciousness and is rescued. Prior to her successful suicide in 1960, she was diagnosed as partially paralyzed due to drug addiction.

Mystery Guest!

Anyone know who this broad is?

Lee Wiley

A well liked jazz singer, Lee died December 11, 1975. Here she sings, "I've Got Five Dollars" which was introduced by Harriette Lake (Ann Sothern) in the 1931 Rogers and Hart musical, America's Sweetheart.

Completed on this Date

Susan Cabot was born Susan Shapiro in Boston. She had an unspectacular acting career with her final film being The Wasp Woman and her last TV role a spot on Bracken's World. Married twice, it is said she had an affair with King Hussein. Gave birth to a son, Timothy Roman, a dwarf. Seems Timmy took experimental drugs for many years, hoping to cure himself of his wee-ness. These drugs didn't help his brain, or maybe his dwarfy brain grew larger than his skull? Also seemed Susan was odd, very possessive of her little son. On December 10, 1986, in Susan's Encino, CA home, little Timmy (who was 22 at the time) crushed his mother's skull with a barbell while she was in bed. In court, Susan, the victim, was painted as Susan, the perp. Little Timmy got a three year suspended sentence. Ah California and it's infamous legal system.

It isn't always about Joan and Christina

I enjoy reading Margo Howard over at The Women on the Web. The other Twin City paper, The Pioneer Press runs Abby's daughter's column. Her column I don't like so much, I like Margo's style better. Just read this little remembrance of Margo's which you'll find below. Makes me rethink my opinion of Ann just a little. As for the photo of Ann, I chose it because I'm mystified by what's going on with that hair. It appears as if she has a generous hank of regrowth which would usually lead a sighted hairdresser to say, "How 'bouts we give you a little bang today since your picture's being taken and the usual straight off the head seems a tad severe."

I also remember the evening when my mother and a gang of us were in a restaurant and she needed to make a call. I gave her a quarter for the payphone, and off she went- only to return to ask, "Where do I put the money?"

Nostalgia Ain't What it Used To Be

My childhood was riddled with emotional bullet holes. The enemy? My schoolmates. My youth was spent plotting paths of least resistance, avoiding obstacles and ducking snipers. I don't recall how, but I found out about a theatre group at our (then) new community center. It seemed the perfect "hiding place", especially since I so wanted to be Loretta Young. The director of this goofy venture is the reason why I write. You think I'm Norma Desmond? Elaine Sack was Norma Desmond. Ebony hair, heavily coaled eyes (with a nod to Cleopatra) and only dramatic blood in her veins; she made her entrance and I was entranced. I don't know if any of my fellow performers thought of her quite as I did. Sure, we probably giggled a bit, but I was awed. I didn't realize it then, but I was gazing at a role model.

Our first "season" (HA!) together, we did "scenes" from things. I don't recall everything, but I know we did a little bit from Bells are Ringing. Another scene was from Neil Simon...maybe it was Come Blow Your Horn, I'm not sure. There was a little snippet of The Odd Couple and maybe a drop of Auntie Mame. Last October, I sifted through my hometown's newspaper's microfiche at the public library and presented here is what was the highly anticipated "Season II." A whole play! As you can see, we did Six Flights Up. Never heard of it you say? Ah, but you have.

I have no memory as to how Elaine began this group. I know that she got no money from the community center, bupkis. So, what does a lady, with drama in her blood and not a penny do when money is supposed to be paid to the Samuel French Company when Neil Simon's, Barefoot in the Park is performed? Why, she simply changes the name! Yes, I was Paul Bratter, Nancy was Corey & David was Victor, who lived upstairs. In our show, he lived on the ladder. The saddest part of the whole thing is that we had no stage. What we had was a very large room, huge in fact. I think the building had been a hotel at the turn of the century and we must've been in the main dining room. What we were given were risers, like what an orchestra might use. They must've been 5 or 6 inches off of the floor. This was our stage. There were no walls behind or beside us. We weren't theater-in-the-round, we were theater-in-the-whatever. The audience (ahem) had folding chairs to sit on. There were swinging doors that must've gone into the kitchen, so the risers were close to these doors. This was our back stage. We did have some furniture because I begged my parents to loan us something from their store. I think the furniture was the best part, it certainly was the most real part. It was sad.

I don't know why she gave me the male lead. Back then, I was so limp, so nelly, I imagine the girl who played my wife was butcher than me. I guess she saw something. Or maybe the other two boys wouldn't take on the role, I don't know. As you might imagine, the audience was made up of our families, I don't think that front page story and advertisement packed the house. What I do know is that Elaine Sack was a wonderful lady who gave us a lot of her time, because she wanted to. I know I was awful at memorizing my lines and blocking and she pushed me and dammit, I did it. I'd always hoped that I would run into her somewhere or get a chance to look her up. It was earlier this year that my sister connected with Elaine's daughter and I found out that Elaine is gone. The information was sketchy, some sort of cancer, and there was also a fire at some point, so photos of Elaine are rare. I asked for a copy of anything and her daughter sent me this, instructing me to keep it. She seemed so happy that someone was remembering her mother. Remember her? I could never forget her.

Moguls and Movie Stars and Who?

Just a few moments ago, I finished watching installment six of TCM's interesting, "A History of Hollywood- Moguls and Movie Stars." Tonight was all about the 1950s and the collapse of the movie studios as we'd known them. Getting quite close to the end, the show mentioned rock & roll and teenagers. Roger Corman had a few things to say about his movie making at the time. The critic, Leonard Maltin was saying that there'd always been lone wolves, mavericks, what we now all know as independent film makers. The narrator, Christopher Plummer then mentions Samuel Arkoff and James Nicholson, the men that formed American International Pictures, a studio that catered to that large, teenage audience. The photo you see above is what one saw as Christopher spoke. Immediately I laughed. I thought, why the fuck is there a photo of Ferrante and Teicher? Instantly I knew I was wrong. Then thought, wait a minute, am I learning something I'd never known? Something else to rival Marion Davies' rosebud? No. Some yutz who put this documentary together probably couldn't come up with a photo of Arkoff & Nicholson and found this delightful shot of Sandler and Young and figured, ah, who'll know the diff.

A Wikileak from Christina in December, 1960?

Here's our favorite daughter dearest building the foundation for what was to come.
Personally, I think the shot the paper chose of Christina is quite flattering.

Una Pregunta....

Happened to see a photo of Anna Nicole Smith on the latest Los Angeles magazine. This got me wondering; I work with people that were quite broken up when she died. This amazed me. I'm guessing there's already a generation coming up that have no idea who Miss Smith was, myself included. Soon, she will be a very trivial pursuit question, yes? And that brings me to Marilyn. Do you think her candle burns as brightly as it did? What with Warhol, the 60s and into the 70s, Marilyn was almost alive. Even the 80s seemed unready to give her up. But now, I think she's slipping away. Am I wrong? Is it just me slipping away?

Lip(s) Smacking Good

I've been enjoying Moguls & Movie Stars every Monday night on TCM. Personally, I'm
always a sucker for any kind of documentary about Hollywood, new or old. So, this past week's episode taught me something that I may have known once (and forgot) but will surely never forget it again.

We all know how much trouble Orson Welles went through making Citizen Kane. How Mr. Hearst did everything he could do squash the picture. Well, that magical word 'Rosebud', the word that yoked the whole picture together, did you know where this word came from? Did you know that 'Rosebud' was Mr. Hearst's pet name for Marion Davies' honey pot? Welles never admitted this, but Roger Ebert claims that Herman Mankiewicz, the films writer knew exactly what Rosebud was. Isn't that delicious? Oh, pardon me, bad choice of words.

So, did everybody know this but me?

"I rest my case," said Christina Crawford.

Her 93rd Thanksgiving

Somebody's got to get combed out and wheeled
to the dining room table! Extra stuffing please!

That poor, defenseless pig.

Chemists at the Max Factor lab in Hollywood test a new lipstick on the shaved stomach of a guinea pig. “The under skin of the baby pigs is ten times as sensitive as that of the human being and is used to test all [of] Factor’s makeups.” January 1939.

Fran Lebowitz

Hope y'all will get to see the new HBO/Scorcese documentary that premiered tonight. Pearls' swan dived from those lips. I went to a bookstore signing years ago in Harvard Square where I found Fran sitting at a small desk, alone, with no one else around. I was so shocked to find her this way, I barely said anything, which in retrospect was a good thing. I'm no Fran Lebowitz. Of course, I easily could've ended up being named Fran Lebowitz. And I did wear my hair just like this once.

Tisha Sterling!

Tisha Sterling, daughter of Ann Sothern and Robert Sterling was all over the small screen in the 60s and 70s. It seems she guested on just about every television series that aired. The Donna Reed Show, Batman, Charlie's Angels, Bonanza, Run For Your Life, McMillan & Wife and Get Smart are just a few of the many. Though not as plentiful, her film credits were building and she got good notices for her "hippie" Linny Raven in Coogan's Bluff. It seemed a forgone conclusion that she would have a long and fruitful career, just like her mother, but it wasn't meant to be. She said she'd been living a hard, fast life and left it to follow her mother to Idaho in 1986. She did play a younger version of Sothern's character in The Whales of August (Ann's last film) and Tisha's last film appearance came in Breakfast of Champions (1999).
















Now a florist, Sterling lives in a small condominium south of Ketchum , Idaho. Tisha purchased her home in 2002 for $105,000 which was the legally restricted price. Seems most real estate in that area was/is quite high; too high for average working stiffs like Tisha. The local government stepped in and subsidized some housing so working stiffs could have a shot at a home. Of course, it's hard to think of the daughter of two Hollywood stars as an "Average Joe," but as she said, "My mother made millions and lost millions, and when she died, there was nothing left." Tisha's dad, actor Robert Sterling, was known most notably for his role on the television series Topper playing along side his second wife, Anne Jeffreys.



















Ann Sothern, daughter Tisha
and granddaughter Heidi.



Thank you everyone for your terrific guesses!