From Beneath the Hollywood Sign

When you drive through Beachwood Canyon, don't be fooled by the droves of tourists vying for the perfect shot of the Hollywood sign or the beautiful stone gates of the village that lead to storybook houses covered with ivy and brilliant bougainvillea. The canyon has had its share of strange, and often dark, Hollywood history including religious cults, suicides, and a love triangle murder that involved popular and prolific Hollywood actor PAUL KELLY. Join us as we explore the happenings that occurred “from beneath the Hollywood sign." _________________________________________ Sources: Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon (2011) by Leo Braudy; Hollywoodland (Images of America) (2011) by Mary Mallory; Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide (2013) by James Zeruk; Peter Duel: A Biography (2105) by Paul Green; “Jury Convicts Man of Stalking Madonna,” by Andrea Ford, The Los Angeles Times, January 9, 1996; "Hollywood Actor Killed, Rival Held," New York Times, April 19, 1927; "Coroner's Jury Finds Kelly Killed Raymond," Associated Press, April 21, 1927; "Paul Kelly's Trial for Murder Starts," Associated Press, May 9, 1927; "Testifies Kelly Was Aggressor," Associated Press, May 11, 1927; "Miss Mackaye Denies Nights in Kelly's Flat," Associated Press, May 17, 1927; "Japanese Houseboy on Stand Reveals Secrets of Paul Kelly and Dorothy Mackaye," Los Angeles Times, May 17, 1927; "Kelly on the Stand Admits Fist Fight," Associated Press, May 18, 1927; "Kelly Guilty, Asks New Trial," Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1927; "Kelly Sentenced to From One to 10 Years at San Quentin," June 1, 1927; "Dorothy Mackaye Gets 1 to 3 Years," Associated Press, July 2, 1927; "Dorothy Mackaye Leaves Prison," Associated Press, Jan. 1, 1929; "Kelly Will Be Paroled Next Friday," Los Angeles Times, July 20, 1929; "He's Heading for Comeback Trail," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 3, 1929; "Paul Kelly to Wed Widow of Raymond," New York Times, Feb. 11, 1931; "Actress Pens Prison Story," by Grace Kingsley, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 12, 1932; "Dorothy Mackaye, Former Actress, Dies of Auto Injuries Received Near Ranch," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 6, 1940; “Paul Kelly, Actor on Stage and Screen Dies,” The New York Times, November 7, 1956; __________________________________________ http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone in old Hollywood can probably be connected by whom they dated, married, or slept with. Two of the most desirable lovers of the era were LANA TURNER and AVA GARDNER, both Hollywood superstars who shared a friendship, similar backgrounds, and many romantic partners, including a husband. Join us as we connect the romantic dots through old Hollywood using Lana and Ava’s little black books as our guide. __________________________________________ Sources: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth: Lana (1982) by Lana Turner; Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner (1995) by Jane Ellen Wayne; Detour: A Hollywood Story (1988) by Cheryl Crane; Movie Star & The Mobster: Lana Tuner, Johnny Stompanato and Homicide in the Pink Bedroom (2016) by John William Law; Ava: My Story (1990) by Ava Gardner; Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing (2006) by Lee Server; Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations (2014) by Peter Evans; Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister: My Lively Life In and Out of Hollywood (1977) by Evelyn Keyes; The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life and Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown’s Most Powerful Lawyer (2013) by James Gladstone; Artie Shaw: The King of Clarinet: His Life and Times (2011) by Tom Nolan; The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney (2015) by Richard Lertzman; ________________________________________ http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Planted firmly in the middle of Hollywood is the Knickerbocker Hotel, a big, boxy, building with a faded facade appearing like a sad relic from a gayer time. Only the illuminated block letters of its sign that light up the Hollywood night sky hint at the lively history of this Hollywood landmark that BETTE DAVIS, MAUREEN O’SULLIVAN, and DICK POWELL once called home. From affairs to arrests to seances to suicides, we take a deep dive into the sordid past of this once grand dame of Hollywood. _________________________________________ Sources: The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History (2005), by Gregory Paul Williams; www.paulrwilliamsproject.org; “Off the Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Knickerbocker Hotel’s Haunted History,” by Hadley Meares, KCET.com, June 19, 2015; “Doom and Board: Four Ghost Stories From Four of LA’s Most Famous Haunted Hotels,” by Christine Wolfram, Los Angeles Magazine, October 5, 2015; Doris Day: Her Own Story (1976), by Doris Day and A.E. Hotchner; wikipedia.com; _________________________________________ http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollywood’s Oscar ceremony is like the Super Bowl for cinema lovers. But beyond the clothes, the speeches, and the musical numbers, it’s all about the winners. And some leave us scratching our heads. Did How Green Was My Valley really deserve the Best Picture Oscar over Citizen Kane in 1941? How did CARY GRANT and MYRNA LOY never win competitive Oscars? And who the hell is LUISE RAINER, and how did she rob IRENE DUNNE and BARBARA STANWYCK of their Oscars? Join STEVE CUBINE, writer of the Emmy-Award winning series Break A Hip, and NAN MCNAMARA, renowned actress and director, as they discuss some of the most baffling Oscar fumbles in the history of the Academy Awards. ___________________________________________ Sources: Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards (1986), by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona; They Didn’t Win The Oscar (1980), by Bill Libby; The Real Oscar: The Story Behind The Academy Awards (1981), by Peter H. Brown; Seventy-Five Years of the Oscars: The Official History of The Academy Awards (2003), by Robert Osborne; Oscar Dearest (1987), by Peter H. Brown and Jim Pinkston; The MGM Stock Company (1973), by James Robert Parish & Ronald L. Bowers; The Film Encyclopedia (1994), By Ephraim Katz; Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia (1994), by Leonard Maltin; imdb.com; ____________________________________________ http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact [email protected] if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you want Tyrone Power instead of Tom Hardy, Jennifer Jones instead of Jennifer Lawrence, or Robert Mitchum rather than Robert Pattinson, then FROM BENEATH THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN is the gin joint for you. Each week, writer and producer STEVE CUBINE and actress NAN MCNAMARA explore, discuss, and dissect the magical, mysterious, amusing, and sometime bizarre tales of Old Hollywood. So sit back and revisit a time when the pictures were still big and everyone was ready for their close-up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices