I’ve called these starlets elusive because they were not in the mainstream and,even though some were well known in their day and made some very famous films, were not widely remembered by the general public beyond their era.  Some had very short careers and went on to lead normal everyday lives, some died young and some turned to character roles becoming secondary to the leads and sometimes unrecognisable. Some even turned away from acting altogether and went into other successful careers.

Gerald Haines, was a starlet for example, due to the fact that after coming out of the closet and being told his career was finished as a result, went on to become a famous interior designer who designed furniture for the likes of Joan Crawford and Carol Lombard.

He was by all counts a wonderful actor and very handsome too but this was not enough. It had been public knowledge that he was gay. Instead of renouncing his homosexuality he renounced show biz.

Highly commendable indeed.  Instead of being washed up he retained a huge Hollywood following.

Just look at some of his designs.

Another very well known starlet , Thelma Todd, even owned her own restaurant,’The Sidewalk Cafe’. Thelma was a comedienne who shot to fame after making ‘Horse Feathers’ with The Marx Brothers.

Much good it did her trying to diversify. She had opened the restaurant with her lover who just happened to be a very famous producer who lived next door to the cafe with his wife. Thelma had been married to the mafia and her husband who was alway flying into jealous rages and beat her more than once.
To cut a long story short Thelma was murdered and to this day the murder has not been solved.

There were rumours that the mafia had used the cafe as a base and had gambled away the profits. It would never be on the Hollywood social calendar again.

An actor by the name of David Manners was a huge star in his day.Dashing and handsome he made many films with other great stars of the day including  Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. In fact Katherine Hepburn was so in awe of David Manners that she credited him with teaching her a thing or two about acting. They were cast together in ‘A Bill Of Divorcement’ and were magic on screen. Manners, however, really shone in ‘Dracula’ with Bela Lugosi and Helen Chandler. It was that film that made him a star. He made other horror films too including ‘The Mummy’ and ‘The Black Cat’ with Julie Bishop.

Yet he is not remembered by the general public.  Why?  He only worked in films up until the mid 1930’s and then retired. He too was gay and while this was not the reason for his early exit from the film world it was a significant  reason for his wanting to be more authentic.

Helen Chandler was also an elusive. In fact I only found out about her when I looked up ‘Dracula’  An etherial looking actress with a ,dove caught in the headlights, look about her she was perfect for the horror genre.

Patsy Kelly starred with Thelma Todd in many short films and was a star in her own right.  A well known comedian she was not a looker and therefore was not given top billing. She was also gay which meant that she was not available for ‘romantic’ roles. She and Jack Carson, a major star of the day, worked together on radio.This, of course, hampered her career. She eventually ended up becoming Talluhla Bankhead’s personal assistant and one said ‘Talluhla was such a gossip she’d talk about you behind your back to your face.’ There are so many more but I guess you’ll just have to wait for the next instalment to find out who they are.

© Renee Dallow: ( Hybiscus Bloom )

27/11/2018.