The Hollywood rumor mill, as well as Hearst's enemies in the publishing world, quickly came up with new nefarious versions of what happened on the Oneida. Forty eight hours later he was dead of heart failure. Ince felt so ill that he got off at Del Mar, where Nell rushed to join him. Goodman sent him on the first train back to L.A.
Later that evening Ince suffered acute indigestion, often the sign of a heart attack. After Ince arrived they celebrated dinner, replete with plenty of illegal liquor. They were waiting for the guest of honor, birthday boy Thomas Ince, who was late due to negotiations with Hearst's film company. The party included Charlie Chaplin, Hearst gossip columnist Louella Parsons, and Dr. On November 16, 1924, a mirthful group of friends partied with the couple on Hearst's boat, Oneida, moored in San Diego. Whatever her flirtations, Marion really loved old "W.R.," and he did everything to keep the highly social blond happy. Few understood the large old man with the icy blue eyes' hold over the kind, bubbly actress, and rumors of infidelities abounded. That man was William Randolph Hearst - newspaper tycoon, art collector, war-maker, and slavish lover of longtime mistress Marion Davies. Naval Historical Center Photograph/Wikimedia Commons The Oneida was purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1922 | U.S. At Inceville, he developed the studio unit system, with producers controlling different shingles, and later founded the studios that went on to become MGM and Paramount.īut the memories of all these accomplishments were to be subsumed in the legend of a greater man. He is credited with developing the first detailed shooting script and for creating the first modern studio - the 460-acre ranch in the Pacific Palisades known as Inceville.
Ince quickly set about revolutionizing the movie industry. Nell often helped write and edit his early films, and in 1911 they moved to California. Louis native Elinor "Nell" Kershaw, was an actress whom he had met on the Broadway stage. Born on Novemin Rhode Island, he climbed his way from part-time actor to director of some of the first Westerns and Civil War pictures. Ince was a flashy and charming self-made man who helped make Hollywood. Firstly, it was a 280-foot yacht called the Oneida, and secondly it began forty-two years earlier with the birth of Thomas Ince.
You could say it all began on a boat, but the true story would be short-changed. And the first time, at least, all the rumors proved to be 100% wrong.
What I didn't know then is that this building has been inspiring romanticized conjecture since its construction began in 1927. I let that mystery carry me out of the gates and back to my home a few short blocks away, my imagination running wild. It was school time on a weekday and I wondered what she was doing there.
As I was led out of the room, I saw a young girl in civilian clothes being led upstairs by a Sea Org member, a plastic to-go container in her hands. For all the banality of the audition, which was much less odd than many I have been on, I was uneasy. Men and women in the militaristic uniforms of the Sea Org, two of whom took me into another small Louis XIV inspired room for the audition. I stepped into the lobby surrounded by soaring molded and gilded faux-French design, only to notice how faded and utilitarian everything felt - like a great house taken over by soldiers during a war.Īnd there were soldiers of a sort there. As I passed through the gates, I entered a beautiful garden where good-looking people sipped on espresso. I once even accepted an audition to act in one of the church's innumerable instructional films just so I could go inside. Countless times over glasses of champagne or Pabst, my friends and I have had hushed conversations about what goes on in that seven-story structure, which has been Scientology's Celebrity Centre and auditing headquarters since the church bought the building for one million dollars in 1973. You are now on the teeming downtown block of Franklin Village, where I have spent a good chunk of my adult life.Ĭountless times I have been sitting at Birds, or La Poubelle, or browsing at Native, or standing in the interminable lines at UCB, and looked up above the fence at the towering white Norman castle that dominates the skyline, so bright it dims light on the sunny side of the street. Once you cross to the other side of Franklin Avenue the mood changes dramatically. The sidewalk lining the fence is dark and cold and one can feel security cameras and occasional human eyes watching your every move. A very tall fence, not uncommon in Hollywood, reinforced with fabric like a blackout curtain, built atop a low ivy covered stone wall.