Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood

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by Karina Longworth


  “Lo ti amo”: Garrison, “The Bergman Story.”

  “probably subconsciously”: Bergman and Burgess, Ingrid Bergman, My Story, 257.

  “I’ve just bought a film studio for you”: Ibid., 246.

  budget of $600,000: Garrison, “The Bergman Story.”

  “bewildered and confused”: St. Johns, Love, Laughter and Tears, 276.

  “box-office value ruined”: Johnson, Miracles and Sacrilege: Robert Rossellini, the Church, and Film Censorship in Hollywood, 265.

  “[g]ive Ingrid a break”: Steele, Ingrid Bergman: An Intimate Portrait, 259–61.

  “There aren’t many girls”: Moore, The Beauty and the Billionaire, 18.

  “There is only one thing I lie about”: Terry Moore deposition, June 11, 1979.

  “It was terrifying.”: Collis, “The Hughes Legacy.”

  “my life in Glendale”: Ibid.

  “He raised me”: Ibid.

  “Helen has you”: Terry Moore deposition, April 23, 1977.

  “We would go bowling”: Ibid.

  some of Howard and Terry’s dates: Mathison, “Howard Hughes: Cradle-Robbing Baron.”

  “his image would hurt mine”: Terry Moore deposition, June 11, 1979.

  “big stars”: Ibid.

  “He lied a lot”: Ibid.

  “to go to bed with him”: Ibid.

  “to feel legally married”: Ibid.

  “We are going to do it your way”: Ibid.

  didn’t want anyone to know they were married: Ibid.

  gave her a string of pearls and a diamond brooch: Terry Moore deposition, April 23, 1977.

  “we marry for all time and eternity”: Terry Moore deposition, June 11, 1979.

  “There’s a lot of Italian in it”: “Ingrid’s Film Stromboli Proves Flop at Preview.”

  the priest believed was a too-cute reference: Father Félix Morlión to Howard Hughes, January 26, 1950.

  “prohibit the showing of the film Stromboli”: Letter to Eric Johnston, February 5, 1950.

  “add no fuel to the fire”: Gordon S. White, memo to “Mr. Johnston,” February 27, 1950.

  “They are vulgar.” Schary, “I Remember Hughes.”

  Catholic Legion of Decency declared Stromboli “acceptable”: “Hollywood Calls ‘Stromboli’ a Gold Mine Despite Bans.”

  “evening business was at capacity”: “Stromboli Erupts Over US: Smash Biz Reported In Many Spots.”

  grossed more than $1.2 million,: “Stromboli First Weekend Reported at $1,248,000.”

  “doing better than The Outlaw”: “Stromboli Opens Strong in Controversial Storm.”

  “pornographic”: “Rossellini Renounces RKO’d Stromboli.”

  “disgusting publicity campaign”: “Movie Morals: Whose Business?”

  “immoral acts”: Ibid.

  “commissar of Hollywood’s morals”: Ibid.

  Italian beauty named Gina Lollobrigida: Garrison, “Refusal to Marry Hughes Revealed by Italian Beauty.”

  “I went alone”: Reginato, “Gina Lollobrigida Breaks the Silence on Her Outrageous Tabloid Scandals.”

  “All I saw was Howard Hughes”: Garrison, “Refusal to Marry Hughes Revealed by Italian Beauty.”

  “a fast, brilliant career”: Schuyler, “The Girl Who Said No to Howard Hughes.”

  Hughes brought De Sica from Rome to Hollywood: “De Sica Due on Coast for Huddles with Hughes.”

  “like a prostitute”: Cardullo, Vittorio De Sica: Actor, Director, Auteur, 199.

  CHAPTER 20: “MOTHER” AND A MALE IDOL

  “movie-starrish like mad”: Hall, “‘I Have Made Myself an Ugly Girl!’ Says Ida Lupino.”

  “become a real actress”: Hedda Hopper interviewing Ida Lupino, May 25, 1965.

  “such a wretchedly unhappy little painted doll”: Hall, “‘I Have Made Myself an Ugly Girl!’”

  “a coy thing lounging in a boat”: Hill, “Hollywood’s Beautiful Bulldozer.”

  put out a number of press releases: 20th Century Fox, press releases, 1948.

  “that louse”: Donati, Ida Lupino: A Biography, 141.

  “would leave the United States”: Ida Lupino FBI file.

  “extreme caution”: Ibid.

  The FBI recommended: Ibid.

  “pictures about ordinary people”: Thomas, “In Hollywood . . .”

  a drama about unwed mothers: Ibid.

  “without being too messagey”: Weiner, “Interview with Ida Lupino.”

  what she’d later call a “crusader”: Varney, “Ida Lupino, Director.”

  “Darlings, Mother has a problem”: Lupino, “Me, Mother Directress.”

  “Hollywood was succumbed”: Hollywood Citizen-News, March 8, 1950.

  “he liked her”: Sally Forrest, interview, May 22, 1985.

  “on whom Hollywood won’t take a chance”: Heffernan, “Ida Lupino Clicks.”

  full-color spread in Life magazine: Berg, “Star Under Wraps.”

  “‘Dough-merg’”: Johnson, “Erskine Johnson (Column).”

  “OK, good-bye, Faith”: Parla and Mitchell, “Faith Domergue,” 66.

  “a garrulous, slow and obvious period piece”: “At the Globe,” December 26, 1950.

  “the most extravagant star-making venture”: “Cinema: The New Pictures,” January 22, 1951.

  “without the power of him”: Domergue manuscript.

  “who should walk in but Mitchum”: Server, Baby I Don’t Care, 169.

  Mitchum’s sister Julie believed: Ibid., 180.

  “He could still be cured”: Ibid., 170.

  “He had spies everywhere”: Ibid., 185.

  “two greatest chests”: Ibid., 209.

  “the best picture I’ve ever made”: Parsons, “In Hollywood with Louella O. Parsons,” April 8, 1951.

  “beautiful girl with no talent”: Russell, My Path, 118.

  “acted like natural people”: Russell, “TCM Private Screenings Uncut: Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.”

  “half a dozen clowns”: Baxter, Von Sternberg, 244.

  “The fit of the dress around her breasts is not good”: Server, Baby I Don’t Care, 219.

  “the greatest sexual powers in the entire world”: Rossi, “Ermine Sex Bomb.”

  “don’t give a shit”: Server, Baby I Don’t Care, 206.

  CHAPTER 21: THE MORALS CLAUSE

  “Jane Russell’s favorite way to relax”: Los Angeles Times, February 19, 1952.

  a photo of a smiling Russell in sunglasses: Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1952.

  “Jane Russell is doctoring a black eye”: “Jane Russell’s Black Eye Stirs Vegas Stories.”

  “we all know Waterfield hit you”: Russell, My Path, 124.

  “went off the wagon” Ibid.

  insisted that The Las Vegas Story be completely rewritten: “Hughes Defies Film Writers.”

  The guild determined Jarrico should share screenplay credit: McCall Jr., “The Hughes-Jarrico Imbroglio.”

  Hughes issued a proclamation: “Hughes Defies Film Writers.”

  “only woman in the Directors Guild”: Donati, Ida Lupino, 178.

  Outrage received some rave reviews: Goodman, “Film Review: Outrage”; Williams, “Outrage Another Triumph.”

  “the story hits home”: Duggan, “Outrage Wins Plaudits.”

  “its sordid theme of criminal attack”: “Outrage,” Hollywood Reporter, August 23, 1950.

  “Over-directed”: “Outrage,” August 23, 1950.

  $1,500: ALI to RKO correspondence.

  Duff was accused: “Duff, Howard” report from American Library of Information.

  Lupino went to New York to see Garfield: Donati, Ida Lupino, 182–85.

  “innocent victims of the Communist problem”: Carl Byoir and Associates, “Howard Hughes Statement on Studio Shutdown.”

  “most potent product”: Stevens, “Reeling Round . . . Hollywood.”

  Representative Donald Jackson of HUAC praised Hughes: “Rep. Jackson Urges Hollywood to Regain Public
Confidence.”

  “forces of subversion must be wiped out”: Critchlow, When Hollywood Was Right, loc. 3064.

  “If the Screen Writers Guild calls a strike”: “Hughes’ Defiance.”

  “dickering with the war department”: Fidler, KMPC Radio.

  “capable of murder”: FBI internal memo, January 7, 1952.

  “RKO was so peculiar”: Sally Forrest, interview.

  “heckle Mitch”: Hopper, “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood,” April 19, 1952.

  “Two Men in Russell’s Life”: Torre, “Two Men in Russell’s Life.”

  “box office slump”: “Short Subjects,” August 11, 1952.

  $1,250,000: Schallert, “RKO Studio Sold.”

  “use of marijuana”: “Jarrico Counters with Suit Against RKO for $350,000.”

  “I did think his morality was pertinent”: Ceplair, The Marxist and the Movies, Kindle loc. 5421.

  Hughes’s lawyer loudly objected: “Court Cuts Jarrico’s Claims Against RKO as Hughes Testifies.”

  “public disgrace”: Ceplair, The Marxist and the Movies, 128.

  Stolkin and crew had, among other things: Jewell, Slow Fade to Black, 144.

  “a mass of unfavorable publicity”: Jewell, Slow Fade to Black, 164.

  assumed the position of chairman: Ibid., 149.

  “too much alcohol in the air”: Donati, Ida Lupino, 206.

  “one fatal mistake”: Lupino, “Me, Mother Directress.”

  CHAPTER 22: RIVALRY AT FOX

  “I’m very, very busy”: Moore, Beauty and the Billionaire, 92.

  “brainwashed”: Ibid., 97.

  married on February 9, 1951: Ibid., 102–5.

  “We made love”: Ibid., 112.

  “pummeled Hughes into unconsciousness”: Mathison, “Cradle-Robbing Baron.”

  “suffered several broken ribs”: Carson, “Memorandum for the Director.” Howard Hughes FBI file.

  “room service”: Terry Moore, interviewed by Raymond Fowler, May 17, 1978.

  “as soon as the weather clears”: Mathison, “Cradle-Robbing Baron.”

  “sleeps in a short nightgown”: Skolsky, “Hollywood Is My Beat: Tintypes,” March 11, 1948.

  “not particularly chic”: Graham, “Chasing Howard Hughes.”

  “a svelte, grown-up beauty”: Scott, “Change to Svelte Becomes Jean Peters.”

  “kissable lips”: “Her Lips ‘Most Kissable’ in Filmland, Says Artist,” Los Angeles Examiner, March 6, 1952.

  “She’s a tomboy”: Skolsky, “Hollywood Is My Beat: Tintype,” February 28, 1952.

  “iron curtain”: Hopper, “Hollywood’s Mystery Girl.”

  “gams you get from streetwalking”: Fuller, A Third Face, 300–1.

  “small Jeep”: Ibid., 303.

  “sexwagon”: “Anyone Here for Love?”

  “sex has been overworked”: Thomas, “Jean Peters Gets Sexy Role.”

  “breathing heavily”: “Anyone Here for Love?”

  Peters’s “chauffeur” was Howard Hughes: Fuller, A Third Face, 301–2.

  “All hell broke loose”: Graham, “Chasing Howard Hughes.”

  she and Hughes were planning to marry: Fidler, “Views of Hollywood.”

  “alligator’s love call”: Kazan, Elia Kazan: A Life, 479.

  “pretty far along”: Terry Moore deposition, June 27, 1979.

  her child had died: Ibid.

  “He didn’t want a child”: “Actress Says She Had Howard Hughes’ Baby.”

  “Any studio understands that”: “Transcript of Telephone Conversations of Terry Moore and Howard R. Hughes Jr., Obtained in Deposition Proceedings on June 11, 1979.”

  “He could lie better than anyone”: “Howard Hughes Kept Scores of Secrets,” April 26, 1976.

  Terry thought she could somehow use recordings: Terry Moore, interviewed by Raymond Fowler, May 17, 1978.

  “She is enthusiastic”: Skolsky, “Tintypes: Terry Moore.”

  A tabloid story: Inside Magazine, “Scandie Magazine” File, Box 93, University of Nevada Las Vegas Howard Hughes Files.

  “I’m your wife!”: Moore, Beauty and the Billionaire, 254.

  “get away from Columbia”: Glaser, “Terry Moore’s Life, Loves on and off the Screen.”

  “Howard had control”: Ibid.

  “we’d both look in opposite directions”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 23: “A MOVIE STUDIO FILLED WITH BEAUTIFUL GIRLS WHO DRAW PAY BUT SELDOM WORK”

  “She went on a bender”: “Hughes Starlet Tries to Kill Self.”

  “Hughes Starlet, Impatient to Be Star, Tries Death”: “Hughes Starlet, Impatient to Be Star, Tries Death.”

  “waste of corporate funds”: “Hughes Sued on His RKO Operations.”

  “fantastic sum”: Torre, “Two Men in Russell’s Life.”

  “furthering his personal interests”: “Two Stockholders Ask RKO Receiver.”

  “first time I played Jane Russell”: “Jane Russell May Break Association with Hughes.”

  was worth more than any contract: Howard Hughes deposition, Castleman lawsuit, October 14, 1953.

  “could not and was not willing”: Ibid.

  “Project Baker”: “Project Baker” report.

  “excessive user of intoxicants”: “Special Service Character Credit Report” on David Oliver Selznick, August 22, 1951.

  “simply a matter of her cleavage”: Mary Anita Loos, interview.

  “Unless the Code is brought reasonably up to date”: “More Liberal Movie Code Asked.”

  “Decent Entertainment Is the Best Entertainment”: “8 Top Movie Producers OK Morality Code.”

  “bikinis were only worn”: Russell, My Path, 145.

  “go the full limit on cleavage”: J. W. Grainger, memo to Howard Hughes, June 16, 1953.

  “satisfactory under the provisions of the Production Code”: Joseph Breen to Bill Feeder, August 18, 1953.

  “many troublesome elements”: “List of Unacceptable Items, French Line,” November 18, 1953.

  “a bosom peep-show effect”: “Memorandum, January 13, 2:30 PM.”

  $25,000 fine: Joseph Breen, interoffice memo to Sidney Schreiber, December, 31, 1953; Breen to James R. Grainger at RKO, December 31, 1953.

  sent another letter: Joseph Breen to Eric Johnston, January 6, 1954.

  “many unacceptable breast shots”: J. A. Vizzard, “Notes on Re-Review of French Line,” January 14, 1954.

  “completely unacceptable”: Harry Zehner, “French Line notes,” January 14, 1954.

  “in consonance with the general principles of The Production Code”: J. R. Grainger to Joseph Breen, January 20, 1954.

  “crawl up out of the sewer”: Jane Russell, interviewed by Hedda Hopper.

  “just a can of tomatoes”: Russell, “They Sold Me.”

  “stinking Outlaw publicity”: Bacon, “Jane Russell Tells Big Publicity Build-Up.”

  “didn’t know how to say no”: Ibid.

  “the costumes smaller”: “Movie Review: Two Gals from Texas.”

  “I fought, I hollered”: Bacon, “Jane Russell.”

  “I’ll punch him”: Ibid.

  “holier-than-thou pose”: “Who Does Jane Russell Think She’s Kidding?”

  “no place in Hollywood”: “Actor Punched Her in the Nose, Dancer Tells Court.”

  “omits entirely the objectionable patter”: “Memo for the Files Re: The French Line (RKO Radio),” March 8, 1955.

  seal of approval: MPA Certificate No. 16570, March 24, 1955.

  divide his business into two distinct entities: Barlett and Steele, Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness, loc. 4417.

  “beautiful girls who draw pay”: “Suit Cites Hughes’ Dimmed-Out Stars.”

  Hughes offered to buy out: “Hughes Coup.”

  “collecting a stable of beauties”: “‘I’ll Take It All,’ Hughes Tells the Stockholders.”

  “erase from his slate”: Arneel, “Legalistics, Taxes.”

  “box-office appeal”: �
�Jane Russell Not Wasted.”

  “the studio doesn’t have any policy”: Thomas, “RKO Film Studio Shutdown Looms.”

  “The RKO organization”: Wilkerson, “Trade Views,” September 28, 1954.

  “He disliked her intensely”: Linet, Susan Hayward, 126.

  New Year’s Eve 1953: Versions of this story appear in ibid., Beauty and the Billionaire, Howard Hughes: The Untold Story, and many other sources.

  Howard’s name popped up in the divorce proceedings: “Hughes News,” February 26, 1954.

  “Mr. Magic”: “Thrown in Swimming Pool, Hurled Over Hedge, Says Miss Hayward.”

  “dissolv[ing] in laughter”: Linet, Susan Hayward, 178.

  sold more tickets: “The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956.”

  been diagnosed with cancer: Jackovich and Sennet, “The Children of John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Dick Powell.”

  CHAPTER 24: UNDERWATER

  Jean left for Italy hoping: “The Jean Peters Story.”

  “It is very important to talk”: Helen Koford (Terry Moore) call logs.

  “Thunderbird Party”: Call Sheet, November 20, 1953.

  “compelling, unhappy quality”: Lyons, “America’s Richest Wife.”

  “How much Mr. Hughes had to do with this”: Graham, “Chasing Howard Hughes.”

  “didn’t spend much time together”: Lyons, “America’s Richest Wife.”

  “no secret to me”: Hopper, “Love Stirs Vitality in Quiet Jean.”

  “I want to be with you”: “The Jean Peters Story.”

  “alcoholic and suicidal”: Terry Moore deposition, April 23, 1977.

  “We’re supposed to start shooting”: “Jean Peters Missing on Eve of Film Role.”

  Kane felt like it was quite a tall order: Walter Kane, interviewed by Raymond Fowler.

  Hughes billed Terry $15,000: Moore, Beauty and the Billionaire, 288.

  “sphinx-like”: “Always Carried a Torch, Says Ava.”

  “sue their asses off”: Evans, Ava Gardner, 239.

  “Wet decks”: Ibid., 247.

  “or the dumbest”: Grobel, Conversations with Ava Gardner, loc. 1509.

  seeing Hughes in Miami: Linet, Susan Hayward, 182.

  “someone Howard Hughes didn’t want to know he was there”: Grobel, Conversations with Ava Gardner, loc. 1512.

  “Without Howard”: Ibid., locs. 1477–78.

  “bitter Cinderella story”: Laffel, “Joseph L. Mankiewicz,” 195.

  “an almost undecipherable note”: “Probe Death of Ex-Actress Rose Stradner.”

  “Howard was a friend of his”: Evans, Ava Gardner, 235–36.

 

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