Peeping Toms at Ronald Colman's

Madame Sylvia's next famous client in Hollywood Undressed, is Heartthrob Ronald Colman (February 9, 1891 - May 15, 1958).



He was recommended to her by director Herbert Brenon (picture above).


At the time, Ronald was living in Malibu. Because of the way things were in Malibu, stars were used to getting in each other's hair and business. During the time Sylvia had been seeing Colman, there had been a rash of peeping Thomas and Thomasina's. Fans were no different in the 1920s than they are today. Everyone wants to see their favorite star.



Ronald and Benita Colman

One Sunday morning, Madame Sylvia arrived at Ronald Colman's home. His Filipino servant wouldn't let her in because he thought she was a peeping Thomasina. He was planning on calling the police.

At the cries, William Powell (pictured about) and Philip Strange, two of Colman's cronies, jumped out of the guest bedrooms. Philip tried to get rid of Sylvia, but when Colman finally came out of his bedroom, he cleared up the whole mess saying that she was just here to give a massage. How embarrassing!

Next up - Ingenue Constance Cummings needs some major body adjustment.

Lovin' Lawrence Tibbett!

Lawrence Tibbett (November 16, 1896 - July 15, 1960) was known as one of the best opera singers ever to be produced by the United States. Because of his great gift, he did a variety of things during his career including opera, movies, radio, and recording star. He had a quite tragic end, falling prey to arthritis and alcohol. His voice is indeed fabulous. Check out some of the recordings that are attached at the bottom.

He was born in Bakersfield, California and trained in New York. Lawrence had a long career at the Metropolitan Opera from 1923 to 1950. One of the more traumatic instances in his childhood was that his father, a local sheriff, was killed by bandits when he was six years old.

During the 1930s he had a weekly music radio program sponsored by Packard Motor Car Company of America. With Jascha Heilfelz, Tibbett founded American Guild of Musical Artists in 1936 and served as President for 17 Years.

Grace Moore and Lawrence Tibbett

Lawrence Tibbett became Madame Sylvia's client after he heard that she took several inches off his costar Grace Moore. To quote Lawrence, "I hear you spanked Grace into shape . . . Well, I need the same treatments, only at the other end of my spine" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 73). Mainly, he wanted work on his face. He felt he didn't receive the best roles because his face was too fat. Lawrence didn't want people to say of him of his role in New Moon (1930), "It isn't a New Moon - it's a full one" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 74). Lawrence Tibbett was known for his "manly chest and Greek torso" and Sylvia wanted to take a peak. Unfortunately his wife was not keen on it, and told Sylvia, "Just a facial, please".

Lawrence and his Son

The Time obituary said of him: "Tibbett had a big, bronzelike, dramatically eloquent voice that combined ringing power with remarkable agility...." "...he left behind not only the echoes of a great voice but the memory of a performer who could feel equally at home with high art and popular entertainment, suggesting that there is a magical link between the two." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Tibbett)

Some Lawrence Tibbett Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Tibbett

http://www.lawrencetibbett.com/

Some Grace Moore Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Moore

http://avstop.com/news/os.html

Here is a super fun link to a Lawrence Tibbett scene http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWhpEH48UFQ&feature=PlayList&p=B5AD00211B5B343F&index=0&playnext=1 The poster disabled the embedding, so I can't add to the post. I never thought opera could be hilarious!

Another tidbit from Madame Sylvia: One night Lawrence wanted to serenade someone, so he wheeled himself over to Laura Hope Crews" (Best known as Aunt Pitty Pat in Gone With The Wind) house, and ran his car up on her lawn so as to throw the headlight on her bedroom window. And then he did a solo, accompanying himself on the car's French horn. His wife, Grace Tibbett was quite upset - not because he sang to another woman, but that he did it for free! (Hollywood Undressed, Page 74)

And here is the trivia for today - What honor does Lawrence hold with only 5 other actors?

Next up, the dashing Ronald Colman and Sylvia have a little peep show

Naughty Neil Hamilton

At first when I saw the name Neil Hamilton in Hollywood Undressed, I thought I had no idea who he was. Wouldn't you know that after a bit of research, I did know of him, but hadn't realized what a long career he had.



Neil Hamilton (September 9, 1899 - September 24, 1984), was a star of both silent and talkie films. He made an astounding 268 films! But he is best known for his portrayal of Commissioner Gordon in the 1960s Batman t.v. series (which is, sadly, the way I knew of him). I hate to admit it, but I used to stay up as a kid and watch them on late-night t.v.


Neil Hamilton grew up Roman Catholic in Lynn, Massachusetts. Hamilton started out as a shirt model. His big break came in D.W. Griffith's, The White Rose (1923). In the 1920s, he was a leading man for Paramount, although most of his films are not familiar to many today. Some of the more popular films he appeared in were Brewster's Millions, Beau Gueste, and Tarzan.

Neil Hamilton Trivia

• Neil appeared on the 1918 Thanksgiving cover of the Saturday Evening Post
  
• Neil's hobby was magic
  
• By the mid-1940s, his personal and professional life were at such a low point that he was seriously considering committing suicide. His plan was to jump from the mountains above Santa Monica, but on his walk he met a priest and told him the whole story. The priest encouraged him to make a novena, instead. At the end of the nine days of prayer, he was offered an acting job from Universal Studios and never looked back
  
• Neil Hamilton was a very distant cousin of Margaret Hamilton, The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz
  
• Neil modeled as the Arrow Shirt Collar Man, complimentary to the Gibson Girl during its day, or more recently the Malboro Man or Brawny Man. Men wanted to be him and women wanted him. At one point the Arrow Collar Man received a staggering 17,000 letters a day!

Madame Sylvia had quite a fun episode with Neil Hamilton. At the time, Neil was living in what they referred to as Actors' Row on Malibu Beach. Sylvia described it as "a bunch of dinky shacks built on piling in the beach sands". Sylvia would go door to door on Actors' Row, giving massages.

One night after Sylvia stayed late at Anna Q. Nilsson's, she decided to stop by Neil's, because there was a light on. As Sylvia approached - all the lights went out! She knocked on the door, and no one answered. Sylvia heard a bunch of commotion going on inside, so when she found that the door was open, she went inside.

Naturally, Sylvia was quite confused. Why on Earth did they turn the lights off when she came up the drive? The response she got was "Whatinell do you want to drive around in that kind of roadster for?" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 72).

Turns out Sylvia drove the same style car as the policemen who were charged with enforcing prohibition. Seems that Neil and co might have been "having a good time" as they say. And this from a man who would play Commissioner Gordon!

Some Neil Hamilton Links:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358076/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Hamilton_(actor)

http://tannensmagic.blogspot.com/2008/03/trickiest-man-in-hollywood.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100082/

Up next . . . Troubadour Lawrence Tibbett

Jack Holt and His Pastel Drawers

Jack Holt (May 31, 1888 – January 18, 1951) was a man's man in Hollywood. His career lasted through both silent films and talkies, mostly Westerns, up to his death in 1951.

Jack , a native New Yorker and son on an Episcopalian minister, who was expelled from Virginia Military Academy for bad behavior. He had aspirations of being a lawyer, but ended up traveling the country doing just about everything. He mined gold in Alaska, rode cattle, delivered mail, worked on the railroad, and was a civil engineer.

Author Zane Grey with Jack Holt

While employed as a surveyor in San Francisco in 1914, he got his big break into pictures. He offered to ride a horse off a cliff for a stunt, because no one else would do it. The director was so glad, he gave him a part in the film - and Jack Holt, actor was born.

Some Fun Facts About Jack:

• 
  
  His children Tim Holt and Jennifer Holt followed in his footsteps, making mostly westerns. Tim became quite a bit more famous than his father.


• 
  
  Chester Gould based the drawing of Dick Tracy on Jack Holt, particularly his granite jaw


• 
  
  Jack Holt was Al Capp's favorite actor and he drew his bumbling detective character Fearless Fosdick after Jack.


• 
  
  Became a life member of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of California on July 13, 1928 based on his direct descent from Capt. John Marshall, 1700-1795. His General Society membership number was 7810 and his California Society membership number was 364.
• He was Margaret Mitchell's choice to play Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind
  

Jack Holt and Norma Shearer

Sylvia gave Jack Holt facials quite regularly. She did not comment on anything about him, except that he preferred being naked, except for his silk purple drawers while getting his facial. Not quite what I expect from a macho western star.

Catch Jack in action in this flick

Next up - Why did Neil Hamilton freak out when Sylvia arrived on his doorstep?

Shy Ernest Torrence

Ernest Torrence (June 26, 1878 - May 13, 1933) was a silent film star, who made the transition quite well to talking pictures. Some of his best known roles include Captain Hook in 1924's Peter Pan and Buster Keaton's captain dad in Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928). Unfortunately he died of Gall Stone surgery complications at the age of 54.

Ernest did not want to get a massage. This Scot was quite leary of a woman giving him a massage, which is not a new phenomenon. But as the wise Sylvia knows, "all boys get girlish and skittish when they have to take a professional interest in their looks, and big Ernest is no exception" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 67).

Sylvia's impression of Ernest's home life was quite interesting, "Like all those oversize fellows, Ernest has a small, firm-minded wife who bosses him around as if he were a young St Bernard" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 67). Poor Ernest! I don't know much about him, except he did fabulous in Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Well, Ernest's wife, Elsie Torrence asked Sylvia to give Ernest a massage because Ernest was too embarrassed to have a female masseuse. So Elsie and Sylvia went to scheming. While poor Ernest was in the tub, Elsie had Sylvia come over and get ready for the massage. Elsie told Ernest while he was in the tub that the masseuse was here. He was so upset, that he refused to take off his robe!

When Elsie Sylvia finally got his robe off, they found that the ingenius Ernest had safety pinned three towels together around himself. His wife, Elsie and Sylvia tore them off, and the massage commenced. No word on whether he enjoyed it or not :)

Up next, what color do you think Jack Holt's drawers were?

Ramon Novarro - Secret Vampire?

Ramon Novarro (February 6, 1899 - October 30, 1968), the well-known silent star heartthrob, was one of Madame Sylvia's clients. He lived a quite interesting life, and unfortunately traumatic death. To read about his life and death, check out http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003895/bio or http://www.ramonnovarro.com/.

According to Sylvia, Ramon lived with his Spanish father, mother, and 10 brothers. I'm not sure how accurate this is. Every other biography I have read about him, says he had 3 sisters and 4 brothers. Not sure who the other boys were.

Madame Sylvia had a 7 AM appointment daily to give Ramon a massage. What creeped her out, was his bedroom. According to Sylvia, Ramon's room was a replica of the burial crypt of a saint that resides in Vatican City. In fact, his bed was "high, narrow, and set on a pedestal, is a sarcophagus, under a purple canopy crowned with a wreath of thorns" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 65). Sounds quite creepy to me! I know it's modeled after a Saint, but it sounds like something Dracula would sleep in :)

The only observation Sylvia made about Ramon himself, was that he was soft and delicate. She thought he was quite a sweet person. The only time Madame Sylvia had a problem with him was after he got back from a trip to Germany. You see, he got quite a bit of a tummy after the trip. To prove the point, Sylvia decided to trick Ramon. One day, Sylvia saw Ramon in his pool and asked him if he could float indefinitely. He said he could while smoking an entire cigarette. Well, his fat was obvious. Ramon's excuse was "Who can resist Munchener beer?" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 66). Who could indeed?

Next Up: Ernest Torrence gets tricked into a massage

Mary Duncan, flasher and Murnau, murder victim?

Mary Duncan (August 13, 1895 - May 9, 1993) had a relatively short career by Hollywood standards. She made about 20 films before getting married and retiring to Palm Beach where she became THE person in society, counting among her friends the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Rose Kennedy. She spent her days socializing, doing charity work, and golfing until her death at 97 years old.

Mary Duncan first encountered our wonderful masseuse, Madame Sylvia in 1928. Mary asked Sylvia to be her full-time masseuse. This would involve giving Mary morning, noon, and night massages - plus dietary tips for a period of 1 year.

Sylvia wasn't so keen on the idea, worried that there would be the same drama she endured during her association with Mae Murray. However, Sophia Wachner, dress designer at Fox Studious, needed Sylvia desperately to be Mary Duncan's masseuse. Mary did not fit into any of her dresses at the hips for the upcoming production of one of the last silent pictures, "Our Daily Bread".

Naturally, Sylvia couldn't refuse, so she accompanied Mary Duncan on the set in Pendleton, Oregon along with Mary's Sealyham pup named Topsy, Mary's hairdresser and maid, a gallon of mineral oil *an ace-in-the-hole of all reducing diets at the time), and of course, Mary Duncan herself.


Pendleton, Oregon was having a fair and they made Mary Duncan queen of the fair. They had her and Sylvia ride ponies down the street. Unfortunately, Mary did not know how to ride, and somersaulted off her horse and caused quite the scandal because she of course, was wearing no panties! How naughty of her ;)

During the filming, the crew and Mary (plus director Murnau) all rented bungalows in the city. Murnau is best known for the pivotal silent horror film, Nosferatu (which I watched Sunday night on TCM by the way). Murnau and the rest of the crew seemed to take advantage of Sylvia's skills, even though Mary was the only one paying her. This included massages and dietary food.

Well, one night Murnau couldn't make it over for dinner, so he asked Sylvia to make a meal of salad for him. One of the ingredients Sylvia used for weight loss was mineral oil salad dressing. As we all know, too much of it can make you quite sick. On this particular night, Sylvia had already dressed the salad. Sylvia's assistant did not realize this, so she put more mineral oil salad dressing on. The director Murnau got quite sick and accused Sylvia of poisoning him!

It was a complete accident, but Murnau did not trust her again. But the pain was so great, that he needed Sylvia's help to get better. madame Sylvia prescribed rice water, toast, and tea without cream or sugar.

Murnau

When the party got back to Hollywood to shoot the interior scenes for the film, Winnie Sheehan, a Fox Executive, with livid with Madame Sylvia. Not they though Mary Duncan was too thin, and this would wreck the continuity of the film. So of course, Sheehan fired poor Sylvia, or "that lemon squeezer", as he called her.


Up next - Madame Sylvia gives Ramon Navarro a rubdown

Diet Food Gone Wrong - the Mae Murray Episode

Mae Murray (May 10, 1889 - March 23, 1965) was a major Hollywood silent star, who unfortunately is remembered mainly for her loss of touch with reality and inspiring the character Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. She also happened to be Madame Sylvia's next famous Hollywood client.




The relationship between Mae and Sylvia began during the Christmas season of 1927. Mae asked Sylvia to go on a cross country trip with her as her masseuse. Sylvia was warned not to go, but she could not pass up this major opportunity. Mae Murray said this to get Sylvia on board:

"You come along with me on a coast-to-coast tour, and let's not talk dough. What you get by the week is - poof! - pin money. I've got plans for you. We'll launch a breakfast food! Say, we'll do a sanitarium right over in Westwood. There's millions in it! Think of your darling sons. Do it for them. They'll be rich!" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 26)

Now who could say no to that? I know I couldn't.





Well, it didn't quite work out that well. After the trip, Mae Murray and Sylvia ended up in court and they endured a 2 day trial. Mae wouldn't pay Sylvia for her work claiming she did nothing during the trip. Sylvia prevailed. Some of the juicy things that came out of the trial

• Mae had to be reprimanded because she threatened to start throwing inkstands at the participants of the trial


• Mae claimed Sylvia rubber her so hard that the arches in her feet fell


• To prove that Sylvia really did good work, starlet Alice White was a witness and was willing to "show the court how Sylvia reduced her". She appeared in court in virtually nothing and a sweet pea corsage on her shoulder. (Hollywood Undressed, Page 27)

The drama between Sylvia and Mae was mainly due to Mae's husband, Prince M'Divoni. He hated Sylvia and didn't like his wife "getting so intimate with a peasant" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 29). Seems funny to me, because Mae didn't exactly come from royalty. It is also funny because it is widely questioned whether he is is really a Prince.

During the trip, Mae and her husband would fight about what to get the Prince's son for Christmas, apparently daily. Every time Sylvia would try to give Sylvia a massage, Mae and the Prince would be arguing for hours about the Christmas present

Anyway, every time Sylvia would try to give Mae her massage, the Prince would refuse Sylvia admittance to their suite. Sylvia earned $275 a week for this fun time.

The "wonderful" Prince M'Divoni

Coincidentally, he was an extremely horribly man from all accounts. According to divorce documents,

On March 2, 1928, at their home in Los Angeles, Mdivani was alleged to have beaten his wife in the presence of a servant, to have cut her lip, to have chased her with a loaded gun, and to have used profanity and called her ugly names"

(http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/328/Prince+David+Mdivani/index.html)

And how did that diet food Mae and Sylvia worked on turn out? Well, According to Sylvia, it was canned and "looked like wood paste". Sylvia refused to even try it, let alone market it. When Sylvia said Mae could eat it if she liked it so much, Mae refused saying that Sylvia was the dietitian, she should eat it. Needless to say, it never was sold.

This "wonderful treat" was "tested" when Mae stopped in Chicago. She was supposed to take out a troop of girls to eat after their show. Instead, she had Sylvia mix up three cans of their "health food" with olive oil to teach the girls how to "eat healthy" (Hollywood Undressed, Page 42). They hated it and went to the doughnut shop after Mae left the room. The youngest girl of the group tried it and spit it out. Mae was apparently oblivious, and thought the girls loved her "treat".

Note, all photos are of Mae Murray unless otherwise noted

Next up, Mary Duncan fights for Sylvia's services.

Marie Dressler - Sylvia's First Hollywood Client

Marie Dressler (November 9, 1868 - July 28, 1934) was quite an unconventional star, but she was quite famous. Marie appeared in silent movies in the 1910s, went away do to illness, and them had a career comeback in the 1920s. While many may consider her a ham, she was quite a good actress, even winning a Best Actress Academy Award in 1931 for her work in Min and Bill. And who could forget her fabulous portrayal as Carlotta Vance in Dinner at Eight?

Madame Sylvia attributes Marie's fame to the fact that "she is competition for no one. Marie is nobody's rival for a beauty prize" (Page 13). In fact, to quote Marie herself, "I'm too homely for a prima donna and too ugly for a soubrette."

Marie Dressler started visiting Sylvia in 1925. Sylvia was recommended by a doctor at the Ambassador Hotel to Marie when she came in for gastritis. As time went on, Marie visited Sylvia intermittently because Madame Sylvia improved her looks too much, and as Marie put it "My fat is money in the bank (Page 22)." How many actresses would say that?

When Marie Dressler made it big, the first thing she did was to check into the Ambassador Hotel, the second was to send for her astrologer Nella Webb. Marie did nothing without her astrologer's o.k. Her astrologer, Nella Webb, prophesied that Marie would make it in Hollywood when she was getting nowhere in New York (Page 19). Some things I have read claim that Marie and Nella were lovers.

Marie knew that she was a valuable commodity. For example, when time came up for her to get a raise, the studio held out. She refused to cave, so Marie rented a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, got herself a second car ("just a little Packard for the servants, my dear!") and laid in a winter's supplies and high-priced Filipino Chef to cook them. Marie even went so far as to leave for Grand Central Station threatening never to return to Hollywood. It worked - for studio executives met her at the station with a new contract for twice what she asked (Page 24).

A fun side note, during the filming of The Callahans and the Murphys, Marie had to drink 12 steins of near beer every day for a week camera. Needless to say, Madame Sylvia was not pleased with this.

For some great sites about Marie Dressler, check out:

Marie Dressler Q & A with Matthew Kennedy http://www.altfg.com/blog/actors/marie-dressler-matthew-kennedy/

The Marie Dressler Story http://www.mariedressler.ca/

Marie Dressler at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0237597/

Marie Dressler's Broadway Appearances http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=7532

Marie Dressler Profile on TCM http://tcm.tv/thismonth/article/?cid=202406&mainArticleId=201929

Up next, Madame Sylvia's entanglements with Mae Murray gets quite dicey.

And the winner is . . . . Madame Sylvia!

The winner by overwhelming margin was Hollywood gossip, courtesy of Masseuse to the Stars Madame Sylvia. I found this really cool book, Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia Ullback as noted by her Secretary. 

Sylvia working her magic

We will hear more about Sylvia herself later, but I will start out with a few tidbits today. Please keep in mind that this book is from 1931, so the stars we will be hearing about were famous in the 1920s and 1930s.

Sylvia Stretching What I found out to be most interesting when I tried to find out info about the book and Madame Sylvia was that even though she was quite a famous masseuse, virtually nothing is known about her life. Many things I have read seem to confuse Sylvia (the masseuse) and restaurant owner Sylvia Wu. They are very different, so I am not quite sure what information is true. The Glamorous Madame Sylvia Hollywood Undressed, is about the exploits of the stars, and Sylvia's interaction with them. Much of it interesting, frustrating, and some quite juicy. This book is written from the perspective of Sylvia's secretary, but from what I was able to find out - Sylvia penned it herself. This was designed, apparently, to protect Sylvia's relationship with her clients and from libel. Some Sylvia tidbits for today: Sylvia paddled Jean Harlow on the rear for being hefty

Sylvia swatted an unnamed talkie star for being fat and not fitting into her gowns. As Sylvia says "The fat comes out through the pores like mashed potato through a colander"

And what did Madame Sylvia charge for her "beatings"? A mere $15

Tomorrow we will hear all about Sylvia's relationship with Marie Dressler.