Though Mavis Lee is a gay, clever, gorgeous-looking girl, she is
one of hundreds in Hollywood who has parked the old companionate toothbrush in a
folding apartment and is waiting for the big break. She can act. She would be a
knockout at pantomime on the screen, if only she could have a screen test.
Hollywood’s full of people waiting for screen tests.
In the apartment across from hers lives Daavid Pivar, a serious young chap with the
soul of a poet and a musician. He loves Mavis, but will not speak to her of love
because he knows she’s destined to become a star, and would only impede her progress.
He doesn’t like studio life. He has no desire to become a great screen figure. He’s a
composer. He has done some beautiful things, the true worth of which Mavis realizes,
but his nature is not in the least aggressive, and he doesn’t even try to put himself
over.
One day on the set, Mavis succeeds in attracting the attention of Victor Blanton, a
producer whose word in Hollywood was law. He is married, has several mistresses, is
keeping no end of young girls who want to get on and are willing to play the game,
but he forgets them all when he meets Mavis. He rushes her for weeks, gives her a
lead, dines and wines her every night but still she remains true to David. Of course
David is depressed by her good fortune because he realizes that she is being farther
removed from him.
The day that Victor Blanton gives Mavis her contract, calling for $2500 a week, she
throws her arms about his neck and kisses him. As luck would have it, David sees this
embrace. When she comes back drunk two nights later from a party at Blanton’s, David
sees her, packs his effects, and moves out. While she was drunk, she had told Blanton
of her love for David, and Blanton, being quite human, fires David from the studio
the next day. He disappears and Mavis has no idea where to find him.
So she buries herself in work, and as a safety-valve, starts going to Hollywood
parties. At first they’re a recreation, but later become a habit. She goes completely
Hollywood. She can’t live without liquor. It begins to tell on her and her work.
Eventually she
collapses and is taken to a hospital.
When she is convalescing, Balnton comes to see her. He is genuinely interested, not
only in the girl, but in the artist. Together they plan a super, sound production,
which will feature Mavis, and bring her back to the screen as the lovable comedienne
which first won the hearts of her fans. Mavis shows Victor some of David’s music,
which she has kept. The producer thinks it very unusual, and plans to incorporate it
in Mavis’ new story. As soon as she can be up and about, she starts work on the
picture.
He has gone on to his home to entertain some friends. Mavis drives far into the
night, until she imagines that Blanton’s guests have gone. Then she goes to his
house. She enters his bedroom off the patio, in the dark stumbles over something on
the floor. It is Blanton’s body. She screams and faints.
Police find her in rather a compromising position when they are summoned by the
servants the following morning. No one will believe but
that
Mavis murdered Blanton. Her fame becomes notoriety overnight, and she is
completely crushed. Everywhere she goes for work, producers give her the cold
shoulder -- though its rather baffling how she could look for work when she’s the
chief suspect in a sensational murder case. - - - - Exhibitors withdraw all pictures
starring Mavis Lee, and she’s just a professional outcast, who has to sell her house,
cars and clothes to eat.
Blanton’s death remains a mystery, but he made on beau geste before he died. He wrote
a note swearing that the music used in “Hollywood Melody” was written by David
Pivar. As a consequence, David, becomes a musical director at one of the larger sound
studios.
The novel opens in a typical Hollywood bungalow court--a second rate cheap affair.
All of the tenants were in the Movies, or in some way or another connected to
them.
In one of the bungalows three girls eked out a living, by working as extras--when
they could get work.
There was Adeline, a slangy, thin girl, who turned a hard boiled front to a hard
boiled world, to conceal the real mother heart within her.
There was Anita, a constitutional liar---the sort that
2 lies about
small and large things, who was pretty as a kitten and who sexed her way through
life.
Then there was MAVIS LEE.
Mavis was a wild hearted, loveable, immensely
talented
girl. A Mabel Normand type. A champagne personality. Passing through
life laughing, clowning dancing, throwing herself away. Excitement and movement
were the breath of life to Mavis. A child of nature. A quicksilver
personality.
Across the court in a tiny bungalow was David Pivar, a musician on a Movie lot.
David was the antithesis in type to Mavis. He was a dreamer, and as moody as she
was gay. Yet these two loved each other. David held back telling Mavis of his
love, much as she tried to entrap him into speaking, for he wanted to do something
that would make him worthy of the girl. So he poured out his heart in his musical
compositions---lyrics for the most part.
These two youngsters found their pleasures in walks about Hollywood, or in David’s
antique Ford. They would be part of the great throng behind the ropes on the night
of a premiere. Mavis even hung
outside the
Montmartre Cafe, to watch the stars go in and out.
She had a natural gift for comedy. An irrepressible talent for clowning, and her
antics were often so funny that people laughed at her against their will---laughed
and loved her.
Then one day Victor Blanton, a Producer, saw Mavis on a set when a certain super
picture was being shot. Mavis had gotten into trouble by knocking over a prop, and
now
3 she was trying to wheedle her way into the good graces of the
irate assistant director who was bawling her out. The somewhat edified Blanton
strolled over, and Mavis gave him a beautifully candid wink. He interceded for
Mavis. They had a little talk, Blanton appraising and against his will intrigued
by the girl. The result was a test on the following day for Mavis.
The days that followed were thrilling ones for Mavis. With the favor of Blanton,
and her own inimitable gift, she rose rapidly. During this time she had several
quarrels with David. She tried to coax him to propose to her, and finally
deliberately asked him. “Let’s you and I get married.” His reply was rough. He didn’t intend to be
Mr.
Mavis Lee.
Mavis had little enough time for him, but she never failed to rush in to tell him
the gorgeous news of the day, for events were leaping along for her in the Movie
world. And with her climb, David crept more and more into his shell. Meanwhile,
Mavis secured an important part--the lead in fact in a picture, and with $200. A
week, she thought she was a millionaire. She flew out to the stores, bought
everything
in
sight, flung her money right and left and opened accounts in several
stores.
David told himself he was glad to see her succeed, but he began to realize that
she was soaring beyond him.
With the showing in the projection room, of the picture, it was immediately
perceived that Mavis was a great find. Blanton, who in spire of his numerous
affairs with women,
4 a wife somewhere or other, a mistress &c. and
girls he was
keeping
either from
kindness of
heart or a transient passion, was in love with Mavis---the first real
love of his
life
. But Mavis thought only of David---David, pig headed and stubborn---now
always so remote and withdrawn from her. However, the days were too full to bother
much over the sulky David, and Mavis was lightheaded and a natural joy-child.
Everything her little heart could desire, Blanton saw to it that she had. They
went rounds. Parties, dances, drinking-----so forth and so on. Mavis was a Wampas
baby star. She made her personal appearances she acquired a fan following
&c.
Then came the glorious day, when Blanton held above
her head
just beyond her reach her first contract--a very big contract. He told
her he had a “price” for it. This was just a joking matter. O.K. She would
pay the price. The price was a kiss. She
was in
his arms.
There was a bang down of a piano top. David passed, unseen by them.
Mavis flew home, literally on air, rushed into David’s bungalow, waving her
contract. He stared at her. She cried:
“Look! Look! David----my contract.”
He glared at her with hatred.
“I know the price you paid for that” he said.
“Whattt!”
5
“Oh yes. Don’t try and pull any of that baby stuff to me. I saw you in Blanton’s
arms---saw him kiss you.”
“Well what of it? You know as well as I do a kiss means nothing in this game.
Everybody does it. You know very well----”
“I know very well we speak a different language.”
The quarrel grew in bitterness. Mavis flung out, saying she hated him. Then a
moment later she thrust in her head to say:
“Don’t believe a word I say. I’m an awful liar.”
But she went off that night for another party with Blanton. David sat up all
night. He saw her come in toward dawn. Mavis was drunk.
Mavis had confided in Blanton her feelings for david. The latter masked his
feelings, and promised to help David get some good berth at the Filmo. Company.
But he managed the following day to have the boy let out. When Mavis tapped on
David’s door, on a repentant quest, she found it empty. David and his old piano
were gone. Adeline gave her a bundle David had left. It was his music---
songs
composed by David. Movie Moths and Butterflies; The World is Mine,
Hollywood Melody and so forth. Consumed with longing for him, Mavis went to the
studio and was told he had quit.
For a time she was inconsolable, but her work
6 took so much of her time
and thought. She embarked moreover upon a dissipated, reckless career.
She bought expensive cars, and
Here she lived on the crest of the wave. She was becoming more careless and
wilder. Her friends were the hosts of parasites that seem to flutter always around
a movie celebrity. Her black maid called her a Honey Child because people came
around her like flies to the honey pot; but when the honey would be gone, then the
flies too would go.
Meanwhile her fame grew. She was considered the best comedienne in the country. A
real star, in every sense of the word.
No matter how much money she made, she spent more. With a salary of $2500. a week,
she bought a $75,000.
house
and a Rolls Royce car. She was always in debt, always giving her money
to others. Her hordes of dependents preyed upon her &c.
Meanwhile the drink habit was fastening upon her. She began to break. Her hands
would tremble. She would break into hysterical laughter. One night she saw
things.
7
Meanwhile also a whispering campaign of slander was circulating through the Movie
City, and stealing out of New York and over the country. Her name became a byword.
In spite of her fame, people thought of her as one addicted to wild parties and
dissipations, and the stories grew like a rolling snowball.
Note: I realize that all this is not for picture use. Nevertheless it is in
the
novel.
An important and integral part of my story.
Mavis
goes to see a famous alienist. He tells her that she is somewhat
psychopathic. She did not know the meaning of the word. Found it in the
dictionary. And was furious. She threw another party. The alienist had
advised her
to run away from her environment. Mavis retorted that you cannot run
away from yourself. She went to her little bungalow at
Malibu
Beach---but the stillness and quiet of the place got upon her nerves. At
night she imagined things were following her, and one day she struck a dog, who
wailed at her door. A collapse followed, and she was taken to the hospital.
(I have some immense chapters on this phase, but it is not Movie material, though
great for my novel)
While sick, Blanton comes to see her. She tells him that if she only knew where
David was--if she could but see him, she would be a changed girl. David was always
back of her mind. Blanton, who is at bottom a good sort promises to do what he can
to locate David, and Mavis tells him of David’s music.
8
She has the music with her. Blanton, who is himself somewhat of a
connoisseur
on music, looks it over. He tells Mavis he believes they can use it in a
picture they are about to produce. Sound pictures have now come in. Music is more
and more in demand.
Mavis feels new life and ambition. After leaving the hospital, she retires to
Malibu
, and there she and Blanton whip David’s music into shape. She
throws
herself heart and soul into the work. No more booze--no more parties
.
She lives for but one thing-----to see David’s music put across.
The picture goes into production. Mavis is great and big enough to be satisfied to
subordinate her own talent for the good of the picture. She wants everything to
depend on David’s music.
The Premiere of Hollywood Melody.
This time Mavis is not behind the ropes---we see the celebrities pouring in,
beautifully dressed &c. and Mavis the star of them all. As she goes in on the
arm of Blanton thinking the throng are all admiring her, we catch bits of their
excited talk. Though they admit her beauty and talent, everyone is whispering how
fast she is &c &c.
(I’ve the dialogue in the novel)
Mavis is the center of attraction. She is
radiantly
happy---blissfully so, when suddenly she sees across the aisle David.
She stands up---wants to go to him, and he
9 smiles gravely across at
her.
But music is now flooding the theatre---David’s music. The dreamy eyes of the
musician
looks across at Mavis. He begins to realize what she is doing for
him
and his heart is full to overflowing.
Then the theatre is darkened, and the picture is begun. Millions of butterflies
seem fluttering over the screen. These come flying toward the
cameras
and as they come they turn into the faces of girls---Movie Butterflies--
till there is finally the one girl Mavis------ This is just a bit of imagery,
preceding the title sheets.
And now the title sheet is being shown, and Mavis receives the shock of her life,
for the credit for the music and lyrics is given not to David but to Blanton.
She is nearly distracted. Blanton tries to reassure her. Tells her it is some
error at the studio, but Mavis insists she must go to David---David----and in the
intermission she tries to reach him----but all she can see is the boy’s shoulders
drooped and
hunched like
an old man’s, David’s dropped head, as though he had received a death
thrust.
Then with the outpouring of the throngs, and people crushing
to
congratulate her
.
Mavis makes the motions with her arms of a swimmer, as she tries to make
way through the crowd.
“David! David!” she cries, and plucks his sleeve.
He gives her a deep, dark look, and says the one
10 word:
Thief!
He pushes his way out.
Blindly Mavis turns back. Someone has her arm--is guiding her. She realizes it is
Blanton. She turns on him in a fury, and regardless of who hears her, of the
sensation she is making she cries:
“Don’t touch me! I hate you! I hate you! I wish you were dead!”
She breaks away, and pushes through the throng, and on to the door.
“Get
me a
taxi” she says to man at door.
To Taxi man she says:
“Drive me anywhere---keep on driving.”
All that night she drives, till about four in the morning, when the clouds begin
to clear a bit from her mind. She
decides
to go to Blanton--to have it out with him-- to
demand
the rest of David’s music.
At Blanton’s Villa, in a place somewhat like Garden of Alla, she receives no
answer to her knocking. Going to the patio, she finds the window to his bedroom
open--a curtain blowing
out
. She climbs in. Feeling for the light, her foot touches something soft
on floor. A horror sweeps over her. She tries to get back to window, trips on the
rug, and falls over a body. She screams like one gone mad. Then faints over the
body.
11
Her screams have aroused people in the court. There is a rush from every
direction---and the chauffeur who had waited for her outside, hammers on door.
Finally the door is broken down. A search of the villa, and in the man’s bed room,
Mavis is discovered in a swoon, over the body of Blanton.
The following day, from one end of the country to the other, the sensational story
of Mavis Lee appears in the newspapers. She is pilloried. Regardless of whether
she had murdered Blanton or not, before she has been tried,
or the
circumstances sifted, she is cruelly adjudged by public opinon.
Overnight her fame has become notoriety. No one recalls her beautiful hobbledehoy
ways on the screen; her loveable personality the hours of laughter and
entertainment she has given them. She is a bad woman. A woman found in a man’s
room &c. Blanton was a married man and so forth.
A prisoner
in her own house, held as a witness, for the Coroner’s Inquest, her
place surrounded by reporters and curious she crouches in her bed.
An enterprising young reporter gets into the place over the roof, and via a little
balcony. There Mavis cries:
“What do you want?”
He says he is a friend who has come to help her.
No one ever needed help more than she. He explains that he represents millions of
people who wish to hear her
12 story. In her rage at discovering he is
just a reporter she leaps out of bed, flinging anything and everything within
reach at him. He flees.
Comes out
front door. Intimates he has had exclusive interview. Next day a
fantastic story of a
so called
personal and exclusive interview with the
alleged
murderess.
There is a Coroner’s Inquest, into which I will not go here. The testimony of the
chauffeur and a woman tenant give Mavis an alibi. Incontestable.
The ordeal has been a frightful one. Mobs besiege the place. Outside they cannot
get through hardly. She is nearly frantic with fear. Her lawyer gets her away
somehow, advises her to go to Malibu. At Malibu,
her
car speeds by, for she sees reporters waiting there for her. It is now
night. Farther up the beach she bids her chauffeur let her out. He is to return to
the city. She will telephone later.
She
goes out
on the beach, lies on the sand. At five o’clock in the morning she wakes
with the seagulls and the clamoring wild geese. Seems as if earth and sky are
merged one. She feels part, of the great all
encompassing universe
. She takes off her shoes---walks across the sands--and thus she arrives
at her home, unseen by the reporters, and slipping in at back with a latchkey.
Her star now is in the complete descendant. The company she had worked for tell
her the demand of the exhibitors is such that her picture be withdrawn that they
dare not release
13 it. They point out the morals clause in her contract
&c. In a flame of resentment she scoffs at them---repudiates the contract.
Declares all the companies are after her &c.
(omitted to mention
an
important detail
here
. It was discovered after Blanton’s death, that his last act on earth was
a note he had written, stressing the mistake made by someone at the studio, and
giving full credit to David Pivar)
Mavis is astonished to find that the attitude of other companies is adverse to
her. No one can take a chance on her. She is taboo. This is not the fault of the
producers, but the demand and condemnation of the public itself, who have stamped
upon their former idol.
Gradually she disposes of everything she has to pay her debts. She is right up
against it. She does finally sign a contract to play in a picture, the producer
being new to Hollywood. Three days after it goes into production she discover-it
is one of those hideous pathological things, of the sort where cards
must go
up: “For men only” or
‛‛
For women only’’.
She refuses to go on. The suave producer puts a double in her place, but the
disgusting picture is released as if Mavis were the star. This is the last straw,
and Mavis disappears.
Time heals all our wounds it is said. The mystery of Blanton’s death is not
cleared. Mavis’s story occasionally peters out in the newspapers, but in a year or
so it is a dead
14 issue. Then one day there came to Hollywood a famous
psychologist and writer. He is doing a series of articles for a national magazine
on the subject of Famous Murders and Mysteries. This man lives very quietly, but
he is on the scientific systematic trial of the history of Mavis Lee.
In due time there appears in the magazine an article with the title:
WHERE IS MAVIS LEE?
What has become of that bright spirit &c.
Public conscience is a peculiar thing. This article somehow strikes home. Club
women and others over the country, fans &c. begin writing to the papers,
demanding the return of Mavis. This article had turned a magnifying searchlight
upon the little formerly radiant star, and revealed her not as the hardened
dissipated notorious person, but as a loveable, beautiful prodigal soul and
moreover it had cleared up her innocent connection with Blanton.
This man also has
approached
David Pivar now musical director for a big company. David tells him he
has searched everywhere for Mavis.
One day, in a projection room, David sits with a group of officials listening to
several voices that are to double for some star. Suddenly he sits up erectly. A
low,
15 throaty, husky
contralto
is stealing through the room. Only one person could sing like
that--Mavis! He demands to know whose voice that is. One of the men answers:
“A
little woman- ---just an extra.”Later the same man points “the little old woman” out to him as she is
passingthrough the gates. Something about the way she lifted her head recalled
Mavis to him. He becomes electrified, and rushes after her. Unmindful of trucks
and cars on all sides, he barely reaches the bus into which she has climbed and
which is now moving. He sits down beside her. He sees that grey hair is a wig.
Mavis had been earning her living as an old
woman
. He speaks her name. She trembles. Shakes her head---declares he
ismaking a mistake. He pleads--begs--They get off the bus. She tries to hurry
aheadof him. He lets her think she
has eluded
him; but presently he sees her---she is turning in to Paradise
Court---the court where first they had met. Just as she pauses at the stoop of her
house, David steps up. Again he calls her-------she shakes her head. Her face
turns against the door. She begins to sob. David puts his arms around her---lifts
the wig from her head--the dark glasses from her eyes---wipes the artificial
wrinkles--the makeup. Then he kisses her. She relaxes in his arms.
