Tuesday, September 05, 2017

Today's Blind Items - Old Hollywood - The Syphilis King

Plenty of studio heads in Old Hollywood basically forced actresses to have sex with them for roles. It wasn't so much a casting couch as it was sexual assault. One of the most famous studio heads, is still famous today, many years after his death. He is so famous that multiple movies have been made about his life. Funny though, most of those movies fail to discuss the horrors of working for him or being an actress under contract at his studio.

If you didn't agree to have sex with him, he would rape you. If you did agree to have sex with him then the odds were high you would contract syphilis. There was one actress who told her husband she was a virgin when they married. She wasn't. The husband figured it out when he contracted syphilis from her and divorced her almost immediately after marrying her. There was another actress who was set to marry our executive but suddenly didn't. Reason? Our executive basically sold her to a very rich man.

One of the women he really wanted but couldn't pressure because of her A+ list fame got secretly married. This enraged our executive who had the husband murdered. It was always portrayed as something else, but the executive did the killing and then had a torrid fling with the actress who was afraid she would be killed if she didn't.

Another actress who our executive loved kept putting off the executive by getting married. What did the executive do about it? Paid off the husbands to divorce the actress until she finally gave in and started sleeping with the executive. She also contracted syphilis from the executive and refused to have children for fear of passing it to them through birth.

There was an actress who was probably A- list. Academy Award nominee. There was always a fiction that she never slept with the executive. The story was he pursued but she declined. No such thing. He pursued and she slept with him and contracted syphilis. When she gave birth to a child with severe defects there was a story concocted as to why.

 

61 comments:

Today’s Blind Items – Old Hollywood – The Syphilis King | Celebrity Review said...

[…] Plenty of studio heads in Old Hollywood basically forced actresses to have sex with them for roles. It wasn’t so much a casting couch as it was sexual assault. One of the most famous studio heads, is still famous today, many years after his death. He is so famous that multiple movies have been made about his life. Funny though, most of those movies fail to discuss the horrors of working for him or being an actress under contract at his studio. If you didn’t agree to have sex with him, he would rape you. If you did agree to have sex with him then the odds were high you would contract syphilis. There was one actress who told her husband she was a virgin when they married. She wasn’t. The husband figured it out when he contracted syphilis from her and divorced her almost immediately after marrying her. There was another actress who was set to marry our executive but suddenly didn’t. Reason? Our executive basically sold her to a very rich man. One of the women he really wanted but couldn’t pressure because of her A+ list fame got secretly married. This enraged our executive who had the husband murdered. It was always portrayed as something else, but the executive did the killing and then had a torrid fling with the actress who was afraid she would be killed if she didn’t. Another actress who our executive loved kept putting off the executive by getting married. What did the executive do about it? Paid off the husbands to divorce the actress until she finally gave in and started sleeping with the executive. She also contracted syphilis from the executive and refused to have children for fear of passing it to them through birth. There was an actress who was probably A- list. Academy Award nominee. There was always a fiction that she never slept with the executive. The story was he pursued but she declined. No such thing. He pursued and she slept with him and contracted syphilis. When she gave birth to a child with severe defects there was a story concocted as to why.   The post Today’s Blind Items – Old Hollywood – The Syphilis King appeared first on CRAZY DAYS AND NIGHTS. Source: Today’s Blind Items – Old Hollywood – The Syphilis King […]

sandybrook said...

Louis Mayer?

Tricia13 said...

Samuel Goldwyn?

Heather Duke said...

Howard Hughes

Heather Duke said...

Gene Tierney as the actress who had a child with birth defects.

Tricia13 said...

The A+lister Liz Taylor/Husband who died Mike Todd?

Tricia13 said...

Joan Crawford for the actress who never had children (she adopted)

shakey said...

The "germaphobe".

Tricia13 said...

Dorothy Dandridge for actress whose daughter had deects(brain damage)

Tricia13 said...

*birth defects

sandybrook said...

I forgot this POS did movies.

Simon said...

Jane Russell

Simon said...

She adopted her kids

Tricia13 said...

He directed a couple of movies but was a businessman/investor inventor etc. I thought....
What studio did he head?

Nurk said...

Selznick (Jones, Walker, daughter).

sandybrook said...

RKO

Tricia13 said...

?thx:)

The Aviator said...

Advanced syphillis can result in mental illness, which would explain Hugh's bizarre behavior towards the end. I wonder who he murdered.

Kimberley said...

Whoever this is, what an evil bastard. Hope he's frying in Hell!

Maxine Waters Wig said...

Preminger for the director

Leah said...

This part is definitely about Ava Gardner:

Another actress who our executive loved kept putting off the executive by getting married. What did the executive do about it? Paid off the husbands to divorce the actress until she finally gave in and started sleeping with the executive. She also contracted syphilis from the executive and refused to have children for fear of passing it to them through birth.

Maxine Waters Wig said...

No, HH for the director.

Maxine Waters Wig said...

Also, Bette Davis had a husband that died.

Topsy said...

Gene Tierny had a daughter with major birth defects. "Daria was born prematurely in Washington, DC, weighing three pounds, two ounces and requiring a total blood transfusion. The rubella caused congenital damage: Daria was deaf, partially blind with cataracts, and severely mentally disabled. She was institutionalized for much of her life." The claim was that Gene contracted rubella from a sick fan.

Maxine Waters Wig said...

Bette Davis' husband?

Do Tell said...

Jack Warner. Notoriously abusive, king of all assholes.

SuperCool Manchu said...

I am surprised that nobody killed this guy.

LizOz said...

My thought too

Kelly said...

Have they made movies about Jack Warner though? I'll be honest, I've never heard of him....

commentator said...

Totally agree. Think the murderess could have gotten away with it. The studio head's family sure wouldn't want the truth out there. No trial, terrible accident, soorree!

Sadie said...

and Agatha Christie wrote a mystery book about it "The Mirror Cracked" and Liz Taylor starred in the movie.

Apricot said...

this is totally Howard Hughes. Explains his insanity for not ever treating his syphillis. Gene Tierney had a mentally disabled daughter.

MaloneDB said...

Darryl Zanuck head at Fox, had a standing "casting" appointment every day.

Laine said...

In August 1943, Davis' husband, Arthur Farnsworth, collapsed while walking along a Hollywood street and died two days later. An autopsy revealed that his fall had been caused by a skull fracture he had suffered two weeks earlier. Davis testified before an inquest that she knew of no event that might have caused the injury. A finding of accidental death was reached. Highly distraught, Davis attempted to withdraw from her next film Mr. Skeffington (1944); but Jack Warner, who had halted production following Farnsworth's death, convinced her to continue.

bean àlainn rua said...

My guess is it is supposed to be Paul Bern, Jean Harlow's husband. Paul Bern was responsible for purchasing Harlow's contract for MGM from Hughes. Bern & Harlow were married just 2 days after their engagement, with not much planning. Bern died 2 months after the wedding from a gunshot wound to the head. The studio said it was a suicide.

Morninglorri said...

Would Rita Hayworth be the one he sold to a rich man? They had a relationship, she married prince Ali khan.

meagain said...

Wow. What a nightmare this person was. Hopefully his privates shriveled up and fell off before he died. This should be exposed. Maybe it didn't come out while he was alive, but let the truth tarnish his memory.

shakey said...

That movie scared me when I was a kid.

shakey said...

If anyone wants to take this course, they can: http://study.com/academy/lesson/howard-hughes-women-katherine-hepburn-his-wife-girlfriends.html

OKay said...

Sadly, there's no such place.

just sayin\' said...

if you google howard hughes syphilis there are many references to his having contracted it.

PK491 said...

Subject clearly Howard Hughes

A- list nominee definitely Gene Tierney

2nd to last paragraph, Ava Gardner??

3rd to last paragraph, Jean Harlow, husband who was murdered Paul Bern?

epiphany said...

HH didn't have Mike Todd killed - he insisted on flying his private plane during a terrible storm, and the wings iced up. However, there's an interesting story regarding HH and Taylor, bacause he really was obessed with her for a while, prior to her marriage to Todd. Liz was basking by the pool of a Beverly Hills hotel - she was still in her late teens - HH walked up to her, opened a briefcase over her body, and poured out a heap of diamond jewelry. When Liz sat up and fumed at him for disturbing her, HH said, "get dressed, we're getting married." Taylor laughed in his face, threw all the jewelry she could manage to grab into the pool, and walked out.

Anne said...

Yup, HH. Paul Bern murdered.

Anne said...

It's kind of common knowledge

Anne said...

No one could get to him.. he was so deeply protected

Anne said...

No movies about him

Anne said...

No movie about him

Anne said...

No movies were made about Him

Anne said...

No movies made about him

Anne said...

Again-

No movies made about him
As stated in the blind

Anne said...

Nope
She was sick of Mickey Rooney cheating on her so she left

She and Sinatra were going to kill each other after 6 yrs married so they divorce

Kelly said...

Great story - thank you for sharing! Makes me love Liz even more!

Leah said...

How do you explain the multiple abortions each time she got pregnant?

Katia said...

Anne - since you seem to be so in the know, why don't you fill in the blanks when it comes to the women in the blind?

D Brown said...

The gossip was that he and Davis had a fight two weeks earlier and that she had hit him with an object. Consequently she is a popular guess in the blinds about the movie actress who got away with murder.

Katia said...

That's what we were told for reasons...how does anyone know what really went on?

Read Between The Lines said...

Kudos to Liz.

Read Between The Lines said...

Rita Hayworth had a terrible life. Horrific relationship with her father, sold off, then her last years with Alzheimer's. :,-(

Tom Cervo said...

"Caught" (1949) is a film by Max Ophuls about a naive young model who marries a dynamic millionaire who soon shows himself to be controlling and sadistic. Even at the time there was talk that Ophuls had based him on Hughes, whom he'd worked for. The Hughes avatar is a given now, and Robert Ryan is brilliant in the part.

Natasha said...

Harry Cohn.

Asshat.

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