Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons | |
---|---|
Born | Louella Rose Oettinger August 6, 1881 Freeport, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | December 9, 1972 Santa Monica, California, U.S. | (aged 91)
Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1902–1965 |
Spouses | John Dement Parsons
(m. 1905; div. 1914)John McCaffrey Jr.
(m. 1915; div. 1929) |
Children | Harriet Parsons |
Louella Rose Oettinger, (August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) known professionally as Louella Parsons, was an American gossip columnist and a screenwriter. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide.
She was the first writer of a dedicated column on
Early life
Parsons was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Helen (nee; Stine) and Joshua Oettinger. Her father was of German Jewish descent, as was her maternal grandfather, while her maternal grandmother, Jeanette Wilcox, was of Irish origin. During her childhood, her parents attended an Episcopal church.[3] She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother married John H. Edwards. They lived in Dixon, Illinois.
Parsons decided to become a writer or a reporter during high school. At her 1901 high school graduation, she gave a foretelling speech, titled "Great Men", after which her principal announced that she would become a great writer.[4]
After high school, Parsons enrolled in a teacher's course at a local Dixon college. She received a financial contribution from a distant German relative. While still in college, Parsons obtained her first newspaper job as a part-time writer for the Dixon Star. In 1902, she became the first female journalist in Dixon, where she gossiped about Dixon social circles, making a step towards her Hollywood career.[5]
She and her first husband, John Parsons, moved to Burlington, Iowa. Her only child, Harriet (1906–1983), who grew up to become a film producer, was born there. While in Burlington, Parsons saw her first motion picture, The Great Train Robbery (1903).
When her marriage broke up, Parsons moved to
Career
Hearst Corporation
In 1914, Parsons began writing the first movie
There was persistent speculation that Parsons was elevated to her position as the Hearst chain's lead gossip columnist because of a scandal about which she did not write. In 1924, director
New York Newspaper Women's Club
Parsons was a founding member of the New York Newspaper Women's Club, and was elected president of the organization for one term in 1925.[15][16]
Syndication
In 1925, Parsons contracted
Radio program
Beginning in 1928, she hosted a weekly
"First Lady of Hollywood"
Parsons saw herself as the social and moral arbiter of Hollywood and many feared her disfavor more than that of movie critics.
Parsons had informants in studio corridors, hairdressers' salons, and lawyers' and doctors' offices.
She considered the biggest scoop of her career to be the divorce of
When she received a tip that Clark Gable was divorcing his second wife Ria, Parsons essentially held Mrs. Gable hostage at her home until she was sure that her story was speeding across the wire ahead of any other service.[10]
Her unofficial title 'Queen of Hollywood' was challenged in 1938 by newcomer Hedda Hopper, to whom she was initially friendly and helpful.[19] However, they came to be fierce rivals.[20]
Parsons also appeared in many cameo spots in movies, including Without Reservations (1946), and Starlift (1951).
Writing style
In contrast to her arch-rival Hedda Hopper, who was notorious for her column's crass tone, Parsons' writing style was often described as "sweetness and light" or "gooey".[10] She received criticism for her casual chatty tone and casual regard for dates and places.[7]: 1 She countered that "the best gossip" is informal[7]: 2 and that the speed at which she needed to complete her daily column did not allow for much rewriting or polishing. She stated that she would rather get the word out than potentially disappoint her readers.[7]: 3
She became known in Hollywood for assuming an air of goofy vagueness in order to snap up material without people suspecting she was listening or otherwise letting their guard down.[10]
Decline
After the death of Hearst in 1951 and with the rise of stars becoming producers, Parsons's influence diminished.[6] She began to show signs of physical deterioration and when the Los Angeles Examiner folded in 1962 her column was switched to the Hearst afternoon paper, the Los Angeles Herald-Express. This meant she lost an edge to Hopper's appearances in the morning Los Angeles Times.[10]
She continued her column until December 1965 when it was taken over by her assistant, Dorothy Manners, who had already been writing the column for more than a year.[1][10]
Feud with Hedda Hopper
When Hopper had initially come to Hollywood, she and Parsons had a mutually beneficial arrangement. Hopper was then a moderately successful actress, and according to Parson's successor, Dorothy Manners, "if anything happened on a set—if a star and leading man were having an affair—Hedda would give Louella a call." In return, Hedda was guaranteed a few lines of copy under Louella's increasingly influential byline.[21]
After MGM canceled her contract, Hopper struggled to maintain her career as an actress. She was offered a position as a Hollywood columnist by the Esquire Feature Syndicate due to a recommendation by Andy Hervey of MGM's publicity department.
One of the first papers to pick up "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" was the
Citizen Kane
When rumors began to surface that Orson Welles debut film Citizen Kane was inspired by Hearst's life, Parsons lunched with the director and believed his evasions and denials.[10] Hopper arrived uninvited to an early screening of the film and wrote a scathing critique, calling it a "vicious and irresponsible attack on a great man".[22]: 205 As a result, Hearst sent Parsons a letter complaining that he had learned about Citizen Kane from Hopper and not her.
On the warpath, Parsons then demanded a private screening of the film and threatened RKO chief George Schaefer on Hearst's behalf, first with a lawsuit and then with a vague but powerful threat of consequences for everyone in Hollywood. On January 10, Parsons and two lawyers working for Hearst were given a private screening of the film.[22]: 206 Horrified by what she saw, Louella rushed out of the studio screening room to cable Hearst, who telegraphed back the terse message "Stop Citizen Kane".[10] Soon after, Parsons called Schaefer and threatened RKO with a lawsuit if they released Kane.[23]: 111 She also warned other studio heads that she would expose the private lives of people throughout the industry and reveal long-suppressed scandalous information.[10][22]: 206
When Schaefer—who had also been threatened by Hearst with legal action—announced that Citizen Kane was scheduled to premiere in February 1941 at Radio City Music Hall, Parsons contacted the manager of Radio City Music Hall and advised him that exhibiting the film would result in a press blackout.[10] The premiere was canceled. Other exhibitors were fearful of being sued by Hearst and refused to show the film.[22]: 216 As a result, despite support from Hearst adversaries as Henry Luce, on release overall the film lost money.[22]: 215 [24] Parsons was by no means alone in her campaign against Citizen Kane but Welles never quite recovered his position in Hollywood afterward.[10]
Ingrid Bergman
In the early 1950s, the Los Angeles Examiner ran on its front page, above Parsons's byline: "Ingrid Bergman Baby Due in Three Months at Rome". Bergman had left her husband, neurologist Peter Lindström, to live in Italy with director Roberto Rossellini but the news that she might be pregnant was met with some skepticism. Bergman was well known for the angelic role of Sister Benedict in The Bells of St. Mary's.[10]
Hopper, who had been a public supporter of Bergman, had believed the actress' denial of the pregnancy, and printed a fervent repudiation of the rumor.[25] However, Bergman was indeed pregnant and Hopper, enraged at being scooped, launched a PR campaign decrying Bergman for being pregnant out of wedlock and carrying a married man's child.[26] Parsons had allegedly received the tip from Howard Hughes[10] who was incensed at Bergman for being unable to shoot a film for him as promised.
Reaction
Reportedly, whereas Hopper was more inclined to see their much-publicized antagonism as funny and good for business, Parsons took it personally and saw Hopper as a rival in every possible way. Hopper also referred to Doc Martin as "that goddamn clap doctor", which infuriated Parsons.[10]
It has been suggested that Hopper was set up as a columnist by Louis B. Mayer (with the blessing of other studio chiefs) to offset Louella's monopolistic power. Gossip columnist Liz Smith, stated that: "The studios created both of them. And they thought they could control both of them. But they became Frankenstein monsters escaped from the labs."[10] Hopper and Parsons had a combined readership of 75 million in a country of 160 million.[10][19]
Memoirs
Parsons' memoir The Gay Illiterate (1944), published by
In her personal histories, she expunged significant bits of her history in order to align her life with the Catholicism she began to practice in middle age. She alleged that her first husband died on a transport ship on the way home from World War I, leaving her a widow instead of a divorced single mother. Her second marriage to Jack McCaffrey and eventual divorce is omitted.[10]
Personal life
Parsons was married three times. First, to real estate developer and broker John Dement Parsons, whom she married in 1905. From this union, they had one daughter named Harriet who was born on August 23, 1906, in Burlington City, Des Moines County, Iowa. Parsons divorced John in 1914. A year later, she married second husband John McCaffrey Jr. in 1915. The couple later divorced.
She pursued singing as a hobby, and took voice lessons with Estelle Liebling, the voice teacher of Beverly Sills.[27]
Her third marriage was to Los Angeles surgeon
After Martin's death she dated songwriter Jimmy McHugh, a fellow Catholic who introduced her to many of the new teenage musical sensations of the time, including Elvis Presley. The couple were a fixture at parties, premieres, and such nightspots as Dino's Lodge on Sunset Strip.[10]
Harriet would later follow her mother's passion for writing, and would find employment as a writer for a popular California magazine. She also became one of the few female producers in the Hollywood studio system although she still struggled in this role despite the influence of her powerful mother.
Later years and death
After her retirement, Parsons lived in a nursing home where she died of
.Parsons has two stars on the
Cultural legacy
This section is in prose. is available. (February 2022) |
- Parsons was caricatured in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos(1937) as "Louella Possums".
- The character of gossip columnist Dora Bailey in Singin' in the Rain (1952) is based on Parsons.
- On March 8, 1956, Parsons' life was presented in an episode of the television anthology series Climax! Teresa Wright portrayed Parsons in the program.[30]
- motion picturecontract obligations.
- Malice in Wonderland (1985) opposite Jane Alexander as Hedda Hopper.
- Brenda Blethyn portrayed Parsons in RKO 281 aka Citizen Welles, a 2000 motion picture about the making of Citizen Kane and the relation between Orson Welles, William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies.
- Jennifer Tilly portrayed Parsons in Peter Bogdanovich's feature film The Cat's Meow (2001) which was inspired by the mysterious death of young film mogul Thomas H. Ince aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924, with Charles Chaplin and Marion Davies also on board. The film depicts a long-rumored version of the story in which Hearst mistakenly shoots Ince because he momentarily confused him with Chaplin, who was having an affair with Davies at the time, and Parsons was rewarded with a lifetime column in Hearst's newspapers for keeping quiet about it.[31]
- Natalie Pinot portrayed Parsons in the monologue Louella Persons (2013) written by Secun de la Rosa and directed by Benjamin de la Rosa.[32]
- Joanna Sanchez portrayed Parsons in Frank & Ava (2018).[33]
Audio recording
References
- ^ a b c d e "Louella Parsons - American newspaper writer".
- ^ ISBN 978-0-440-15325-2.
- ^ Barbas 2005, p. 9.
- ^ Barbas 2005, p. 15-17.
- ^ Barbas 2005, p. 19.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Louella Parsons Dead At 91; Longtime Top Columnist For Hearst". Variety. December 13, 1972. p. 6.
- ^ a b c d e Parsons, Louella (1944). The Gay Illiterate.
- ^ Collins, Amy Fine (April 1997). "The Powerful Rivalry of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons". Vanity Fair. Conde Nast. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
- ISBN 9780672521126.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Collins, Amy Fine (April 1997). "The Powerful Rivalry of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons". Vanity Fair. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- .
- ^ Fleming, E.J., The Fixers, McFarland & Co., 2005pg. 46-48
- ^ "The Mysterious Death of Newport Movie Mogul Thomas Ince". New England Historical Society. November 19, 2013. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ "Thomas Ince Death". Snopes.com. February 27, 1999.
- ^ "Newspaper Woman's Club". The New York Times. Vol. LXXI, no. 23437. March 26, 1922. p. 20. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ Barbas 2005, p. 70.
- ^ "RadioEchoes.com". RadioEchoes.com. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ "Dorothy Manners, Columnist, 95". The New York Times. August 29, 1998. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ a b "Hedda Hopper: the woman who scared Hollywood". The Telegraph. 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- ISBN 9780399115424.
[Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper] were an unlikely couple, but they had one thing in common—they loathed each other.
- ^ Collins, Amy Fine (April 1997). "The Powerful Rivalry of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons". Vanity Fair.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-618-15446-3.
- ISBN 978-0-520-20567-3.
- ^ Jewell, Richard (1994). "RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1. p. 45.
- ^ Karen Krizanovich (November 5, 2015). "Hedda Hopper: the woman who scared Hollywood". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
- ^ "Who Was Hedda Hopper?". Town & Country. March 3, 2017.
- ^ Dean Fowler, Alandra (1994). Estelle Liebling: An exploration of her pedagogical principles as an extension and elaboration of the Marchesi method, including a survey of her music and editing for coloratura soprano and other voices (PhD). University of Arizona.
- ^ Dr. Martin is dead. Fox Film official. The New York Times. June 25, 1951
- ISBN 9780520940246– via Google Books.
- ^ French, Lawrence, "Peter Bogdanovich on completing Orson Welles long awaited The Other Side of the Wind for Showtime" (March 9, 2008 interview). Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource, March 14, 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2013
- ^ Louella Persons http://lacasadelaportera.com/progamacion-marzo/louella-persons/ Archived March 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Paine, Herbert (March 3, 2018). "BWW Review: FRANK & AVA ~ An Affair To Remember". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
Further reading
- Wagner, Rob Leicester (2000). Red Ink White Lies: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles Newspapers 1920-1962. Dragonflyer Press. ISBN 0-944933-80-7.
- Parsons, Louella (1944). The Gay Illiterate. Doubleday, Doran and Company.
- Eells, George (1973). Hedda and Louella: A Dual Biography of Hedda Hopper & Louella Parsons. Warner Paperback Library. ISBN 0-491009-73-9.
External links
Media related to Louella Parsons at Wikimedia Commons
- Works by or about Louella Parsons at Internet Archive
- Louella Parsons at IMDb
- Louella Parsons and Harriet Parsons at the Women Film Pioneers Project
- Interviews conducted by Louella Parsons with silent film Actors, Actresses, and Directors, reprinted in Taylorology
- Louella Parsons at Find a Grave
- Virtual History.com: Louella Parsons