Tragic Stars: Alma Rubens

There is no shortage of tragic star stories from Hollywood, but few stars ever get to write of their own dramatic demise. 

Alma Rubens is remembered not for her successful (but short) time as a movie star, but for the drug addiction that cut her career and her life short.

In a serialized autobiography, published in several newspapers and magazines in 1930 - 1931 and called “Bright World Again,” silent star Alma Rubens told her harrowing tale to the public. Beautiful, talented and married to sexy heart-throb Ricardo Cortez, Alma seemed to have it all. How could this stunning and successful girl go from glamorous star to pathetic addict in just a few short years?

Alma Rubens: Her face was her fortune

Alma's story starts with a poor but loving childhood in San Francisco. From the beginning, her mother was the one constant and stabilizing force in her life. But Alma was a wayward girl. She had a strong sense of adventure and was easily tempted to stray off the path she knew was safest.  In order to help her family, Alma needed to work, but clerical or retail jobs were not for her. Her pretty face and form got her noticed and, by 1916, she was in the movies. An early marriage to the much older star, Franklyn Farnum, lasted only a month or so, with Alma claiming he dislocated her jaw. Poor little Alma, she seemed so gentle, but was always getting into scrapes.

Alma worked her way down from San Francisco to Hollywood, managed a contract with W.R. Hearst’s Cosmopolitan Pictures and married her second husband, Dr. Daniel Carson Goodman, doctor and prominent film producer.  In Hollywood, Alma began to live a lavish life style, with beautiful clothes, furs and jewels.  However, Alma was restless. And sneaky.  Like other stars (notably Wallace Reid), Alma’s drug troubles started when she was treated for an injury. Her addiction was swift and Alma spares no one, not even herself, in her harrowing tale of her swift and painful decline.

The sweet and sophisticated look of Alma Rubens

At the beginning of her addiction, Alma managed to maintain her career, divorce the doctor and marry Ricardo Cortez (in 1926). Meanwhile, she was very adept at finding doctors to provide her with more and more morphine, her initial drug of choice. As she became increasingly dependent on the drugs, she became unreliable, unprofessional and unable to work. Her contract with Hearst was dissolved. She worked for a while at Fox and Columbia, but mainly kept very busy selling her personal possessions to feed her habit (notably some silken undergarments to a drug-dealing maid). Mother and husband tried to help her.  She was admitted several times to private sanitariums, but Alma proved to be an unwilling patient. Several times she escaped, even wounding a doctor with a knife. Finally, her family had enough and committed her to Patton Institute, surely the model for any psychiatric horror story every filmed.  Truly, the Snake Pit would have been an improvement. At Patton she suffered, and suffered greatly. Her awful story has to be read to be believed. Her dignity and sanity were compromised. But, after 7 months, she was released and she swore she was done with dope.

Alma and hubby, Ricardo Cortez

But, Alma never could stay away from it very long. Truly, this woman’s appetite for drugs was astounding.  In an effort to jump start her career, Alma and her husband went to New York and appeared together in a Vaudeville act in 1930. It seemed that the public liked Alma and she always got good reviews for her work. So much more the shame that she just could not kick her habit. In New York she and Cortez split (although they did not divorce) and Alma sunk into the depths of depravity, going to drug parties,  giving into random sexual encounters and running from the cops. She sold everything she owned, including furs and the last of the expensive lingerie, and ended up rooming with other ladies who shared her struggle.

Alma loved being a movie star

Time and time again Alma tried to kick the habit, but her addiction was too strong. In 193- she penned her story as a cautionary tale (and a bid to make some much needed money) and set off across the country to go home to California and her mother. She and a friend were travelling by car and she knew in her heart that if she didn’t leave New York and return home to her mother she would die. Her story ends with the hope that she will be able to achieve her dream.

Alma's lovely profile

Sadly, by the time Alma’s story was printed, she was dead. Arrested in San Diego on the suspicion of smuggling dope from Mexico she was jailed. Her mother came to her rescue, but by then, Alma had developed a cold that worsened into pneumonia. Her system, so weakened by abuse, could not combat the infection and on January 21, 1931, she was dead. It was confirmed that, at the time o her arrest, she was drug free.

Sadly, Alma’s screen achievements are largely forgotten. Her one foray into sound films, 1929’s “Showboat” (as Julie), is in tatters, with the sound missing.  Her fame rests on her tragic tale.

With John Gilbert in 1928's "Masks of the Devil"

Alma’s story in her own words and a brief biography can be found in Gary D. Rhodes' and Alexander Web's “Silent Snowbird.”

In 2015, Patton opened a museum, a record of the horrors of the treatment of addicted and mentally ill patients in the early 20th century.  By 1930, over 2,000 patients who died at Patton were buried on an on-site cemetery. The cemetery was full in 1930. The unclaimed bodies of those who died after that date were donated to science.

Tragic Griffith Stars: Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron

Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron in "True Heart Susie"

In 1919, both Bobby Harron and Clarine Seymour were the pets of director D.W. Griffith. Other than super-pet Lillian Gish, no one in the Griffith stock company seemed to have held a more secure place than Bobby. While not in the Lillian category, nor in the same favored position as personal pet Carol Dempster, Clarine Seymour was an up-and-comer who stole the show. Griffith knew a good thing when he saw it. Yet, by 1920, Griffith was attending their funerals.

Clarine Seymour

Not your typical Griffith heroine, Clarine Seymour was feisty where Miss Lillian was fragile, full of personality where Miss Dempster seemed to have none. Youthful and spunky, she was a modern sort of gal who would have made a fabulous flapper.

Clarine started her career in films as a teenager, moving from Thanhouser to Pathe to Hal Roach. While working for Roach she claimed that she was fired for refusing to do her own stunts. Like the feisty pre-flapper she was, Clarine filed a suit against Roach and was awarded the tidy sum of $1,325 in damages.

Here is Clarine with Stan Laurel in "Just Rambling Along," a film made while she was working for Hal Roach.

In 1918 she crossed paths with Griffith and he paired her with his leading man, Robert Harron, in 1919’s “The Girl Who Stayed Home.” Playing good-time girl Cutie Beautiful, Clarine made everyone sit up and take notice. Clarine seemed the embodiment of fun.

The adorable Clarine Seymour

It wasn’t easy for a gal to find her place in the Griffith stock company, what with Lil and Carol getting the good parts. However, Griffith cast her in a showy supporting role 1919’s “True Heat Susie,” and in “Scarlet Days” and as the lead in 1920’s “The Idol Dancer.” Although the last film was not a favorite of the critics, Clarine again received great notices. She was clearly on her way to stardom.

Getting ready for stardom

In 1920, Clarine was getting ready to play a leading role in Griffith’s classic “Way Down East” when she fell ill and was admitted to the hospital in April. 4 days later she was dead at age 21 of what was termed “intestinal strangulation.” Other than this mysterious description, there seems to be no reliable information regarding her illness and death. However, her former employer, Hal Roach, seemed to think drugs and/or alcohol may have played a part. In an interview with author Betty Harper Fussell for her book “Mabel” (1982), Roach blamed Clarine’s death on Mabel Normand. He said that “Mabel ‘was the wildest girl in Hollywood’ and ‘the dirtiest talking girl you ever heard.’ Roach was not amused, however, because he felt that Mabel and her (friends) had helped destroy younger girls like starlet Clarine Seymour.”

“‘Clarine ran around with these gals for about a year,’ Roach explained, ‘and then kicked the bucket in 1920.’ Some said she died of drugs. Roach blamed Mabel.”

Whatever her cause of death, Clarine Seymour was a bright star whose light never got the chance to fully shine.

ROBERT HARRON

Young and innocent Bobby Harron

 Bobby Harron owed everything to D.W. Griffith. At age 14 he began working as an errand boy for the Biograph Studios. He was noticed by Griffith, who began using Bobby in front of the cameras. As a teen-ager he embodied the youthful innocence Griffith loved. Graduating from shorts to feature films, Bobby was cast in some of Griffith’s greatest films: “Judith of Bethulia” (1914), “Birth of a Nation” (1915), and “Intolerance” (1916). It was his performance of The Boy in the modern story of “Intolerance” that elevated him to real and respected stardom. Today, almost 100 years after the film’s release, his performance, along with those of of Mae Marsh and Miriam Cooper, remains compelling and heartbreaking.

Harron's greatest performance in "Intolerance"

After “Intolerance,” Harron was Griffith’s leading man of choice in such Griffith productions such as “True Heart Susie” (with Clarine Seymour), “Hearts of the World” (Griffith’s propaganda film for WWI) and “The Romance of Happy Valley.” Although he often partnered Lillian Gish, he enjoyed an off-screen romance with the lovely Dorothy Gish. Things were going well for Bobby Harron, the former errand boy.

Bobby and Lillian  were so charming in "True Heart Susie"

However, youth fades, even when you are only 27, and Griffith found a new preferred leading man in Richard Barthelmess. In 1920, mentor Griffith was done with Bobby and loaned him to Metro Pictures. By all accounts, Harron was deeply hurt.

On September 1, 1920 Harron arrived in New York to support Lillian Gish at the premier of “Way Down East” and to also preview his first Metro picture. While alone in his hotel room he shot himself.   According to all accounts, the gun discharged accidently. Initially he requested a doctor come to the hotel room, but after he had lost too much blood he was taken to Bellevue Hospital. While he was being treated for his wound he was arrested for the possession of a gun without a permit. While rumors began to swirl that Bobby had intentionally shot himself, he and his many friends denied this. He seemed to be on the road to recovery, but on September 5^th, four days after the accident, he died at age 27. The name of the New York hotel he had checked into was the Hotel Seymour. The name of his first Metro film (and last film) was “Coincidence”.

so much talent lost

In 1920, Hollywood lost not only Clarine Seymour and Robert Harron, but also actress Olive Thomas and daredevil movie stunt pilot and actor Ormer Locklear. A memorial service was held for all four of these fallen stars on September 26, 1920. The eulogy was delivered by director William Desmond Taylor who would be murdered in 1922.

Tragic Star: Ramon Novarro

2015 is the year of the tragic star on A Person in the Dark. May's tragic star is Ramon Novarro.

In 1925, Latin lover Ramon Navarro seemed to have it all. Coming off a starring role in the epic Ben Hur, he was poised to take a place at the top of Hollywood's Mount Olympus of stars. 

But storm clouds gathering inside of him and around him would prevent Novarro from finding true happiness and lasting success. Sadly, the thing now most remembered about Novarro's life is his death.

By the time Ramon Novarro had hit Hollywood, he had already known adversity. Entering the world as Jose Ramon Sanmaniego, Ramon was born to a large and well-to-do family in 1899. His father was a prominent dentist in Durango, Mexico, but the family lost their standing and were forced to flee their home at the time of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Young Ramon had 12 siblings and felt responsible for his family for all of his life.

By 1917  Ramon was working as a singing waiter in Hollywood and looking for work in the movies. After some frustrating bit parts that lead nowhere, Ramon was fortunate to catch the eye of director Rex Ingram. As Ramon Novarro, Ingram cast him in an important role, along with Ingram's wife Alice Terry, in Metro's 1923 version of Scaramouche. His leading man good looks and his sensitive and romantic style put him on the road to stardom. Ingram was one of Novarro's greatest supporters in this early phase of his career.

Novarro makes an impression in Scaramouche with Alice Terry (1923)

His stardom was solidified in 1925 with the release of the epic Ben Hur. After a tortuous effort to bring this tale to the screen (begun in 1923, it went through major changes in directors, actors and script) and expending so much time and money on the production, Metro had a hit with Ben Hur and one of the primary reasons was Novarro. Touting him first as a rival to Valentino, Novarro became the Hollywood Latin Lover after Valentino's death in 1926. 

The birth of a star: Novarro in Ben Hur

Novarro stares down Francis X. Bushman in Ben Hur

From 1926 to the dawn to talking pictures, Novarro made a sting of successful films at Metro (later MGM), including the delightful The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), co-staring with Norma Shearer and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. 

Ramon and Norma Shearer at their most charming in The Student Prince

He was the dream lover supreme and the romantic ideal of millions of women. He was also a devout Catholic and gay.

Looking sexy for MGM

Ramon Novarro never would play the studio game. His homosexuality was known to everyone but his fans. Bucking the studio's demands, he refused to be bullied into a sham marriage for the sake of publicity. He was also devoted to his religion, so much so that he had once considered becoming a monk. The conflicts and the secrets and the lies caused the sensitive Ramon great pain, a pain he numbed with alcohol.

As if life hadn't thrown Ramon enough curve balls, the advent of talking films marked the end his brand of romantic hero. His voice was good (he had a fine singing voice), but his luster dimmed when MGM failed to find the right vehicles for him. By the mid-30s he had faded from view. His last important film was opposite Greta Garbo in Mata Hari (1931).

Novarro and Garbo in Mata Hari.
His Russian accent was by way of Duango, Mexico

Ramon had managed to provide financial security for himself and his family and  worked sporadically during the next decades in supporting film and television roles in between bouts of alcoholism and multiple DUIs.

On October 30, 1968, the lonely 69 year old former heart throb called an escort service for some male company. Instead of pleasure, he encountered a brutal death at the hand of 2 brothers, Paul and Tom Ferguson. The brothers mistakenly thought the actor had money hidden in his home, but after hours of torturing Novarro and finally killing him, they left his home with $20. Both were arrested and served prison terms.

The romantic idol

It was a sad and sensational end for a sensitive man whose search for happiness was always tempered by inner conflicts. An excellent book about Ramon Novarro is "Beyond Paradise" by Andre Soares.

Lucille Ricksen: Tragic Star

2015 is the year of the Tragic Star at A Person in the Dark. February's Tragic Star is Lucille Ricksen.

Lucille graces the cover of Picture Play: she was only 13

Sadly, dying young is an all too common story in Hollywood. However, the story of Lucille Ricksen would make even the the most cynical among us break a bead of sweat or two.

Charming Child: Lucille's beauty caught the eye of Hollywood

Lucille's story has all of the ingredients of a cliched story of the quest for fortune and fame. 

The daughter of Danish immigrants, little Lucille (born Ingeborg Myrtle Elisabeth Ericksen) began earning her keep at age 4 as a model. While most actresses shave a year or two off of their actual year of birth, Lucille's parents added a year, always making her older than her real age (she was born in 1910, but was reported to be born in 1909). Her charming looks caught the attention of Hollywood and, in 1920 Lucille and her ever-watchful mama, Ingeborg,were summoned by Samuel Goldwyn for Lucille to appear in a series of short films. At age 10, Lucille was on her way.

Lucille is featured in an advertisement for the Edgar Pomeroy serial

Little Lucille was surely the family's breadwinner (family included father Samuel and brother Marshall in addition to mama Ingeborg). From the moment she stepped before the camera, Lucille worked steadily and without respite.  But, besides having the face of an angel, the camera revealed something else: Lucille photographed much older than her actual age. Jackpot!

Young teen Lucille photographed by Edwin Bower Hesser

And so, from about 1922 (at age 12), many of Lucille's roles cast her as a woman. In 1924, along with Clara Bow and Dorothy Mackaill, she was named a WAMPAS Baby Star. Big things were predicted for Lucille.

Lucille (second from left next to Clara Bow) with her fellow baby stars

Sadly, fate had other plans for Lucille. From 1922 through 1924, Lucille appeared in 24 films. While working on 1924's The Galloping Fish with Sydney Chaplin*, Lucille fell ill and remained bedridden for weeks. Her exhausted and fragile condition only made her recovery more difficult and she was ultimately diagnosed with  tuberculosis. While tending to her daughter, mama Ingeborg suffered a heart attack and died in February 1925. Cared for by Hollywood friends, including actress Lois Wilson and Producer Paul Bern (who paid for her medical care), Lucille passed away only a few weeks later on March 13, 1925. She was only 14.

A rather disturbing photo of Lucille and her older brother, Marshall. 

The death of the beautiful Lucille Ricksen sent a chill through Hollywood. She was not a leading lady of 16 as the fan magazines pronounced, but a child of 14; a child who never had a real childhood. A lesson should have been learned, but there were more childhoods sacrificed to Hollywood to come. 

Please visit these sites for a more comprehensive version of Lucille Ricksen's story:

Michael G. Ankerich's Close-Ups and Long Shots: Lucille Ricksen: Sacrificed to Hollywood

Lucille's story is also covered in Michael G. Ankerich's Dangerous Curves Atop Hollywood Heels: The Lives, Careers and Misfortunes of 14 Hard-Luck Girls of the Silent Screen

and

Silence is Platinum

* There are some lingering rumors that Lucille died from a botched abortion with Sydney Chaplin's child, but these rumors seem to be unfounded (and nasty).