The First Lady of Hollywood

by Samantha Barbas

  It was not long after her divorce, in 1942, that Hayworth met Orson Welles. Charmed by Welles, she read books and went to art galleries in an attempt to impress the well-read and politically sophisticated actor-producer. The two married and had a daughter, Rebecca, in 1944. But this relationship failed, too, and shortly after the birth of their child they filed for divorce. Hayworth then embarked on unsuccessful romances with Jimmy Stewart and Tony Martin. After making the film Lady from Shanghai, in which Welles was both director and costar, and then Gilda, which cemented her image as a bombshell, she went to Europe in the summer of 1948. It was an independent, rebellious decision that for Hayworth was an act of .6

  Louella saw Hayworth during her European trip in the summer of 1948, at a party in Cannes. According to Louella, she looked "lethargic and drooped." Shortly after her encounter with Hayworth, Louella had lunch with society columnist Elsa Maxwell, who told Louella that she was giving a big party and had asked Aly Khan to come. Heir to the throne of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, he was at the time one of the richest men in the world. Believing that Aly Khan was "just the man to snap Rita out of whatever ails her," Maxwell also invited Hayworth to the party.? They fell in love, and when Hayworth returned to Hollywood in September 1948, Aly Khan followed. That month, she appeared on Louella's radio show but refused to talk about Aly Khan on the air. After declining to go back to work at the Columbia studio, claiming that they gave her only "unsuitable scripts," Hayworth went to Mexico and Aly Khan followed. In Mexico City she held a press conference denying that they were romantically involved, but everyone in Hollywood knew about the affair.

  Throughout the country, Hayworth fans eagerly followed the romance, which was avidly chronicled by the press. In November 1948, Hayworth's divorce from Welles became final, and Hayworth returned to Europe to see AIy Khan. Then, from Cannes, Aly Khan announced that he was getting a divorce and that he would marry Hayworth when it was finalized. At last, in April 1949, she and Aly Khan announced their wedding plans for May of that year.

  "One Spring morning in 1949, my phone rang and the international operator told me that I was being called from Cannes. A moment later Rita was on the phone with an invitation to the wedding," Louella recalled.' To avoid a press circus, Aly Khan and Hayworth had announced that the wedding would be off-limits to reporters, with the exception of Louella, the only journalist invited. Hayworth had called Louella during the first week of May, and by the end of the week Louella had made arrangements not only for the trip but also for four radio broadcasts she would conduct from Europe, including one with Hayworth.9 On May iz, Louella left for Europe via New York, accompanied by her secretary, Dottie May. Dorothy Manners wrote Louella's column in her absence, and Harriet took over her radio show.

  For years, Louella had been surrounded by Hollywood royalty, but this was one of her first real encounters with true society. In Cannes, Louella stopped at the shop of famed couturier Jacques Fath, who was making Hayworth's wedding dress, and bought an expensive polka-dot hat to wear at the ceremony. Then, accompanied by Bob Considine, a writer for the International News Service, she went to buy a wedding present, an embroidered handkerchief that was said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette. A few days before the wedding, Louella lunched with Hayworth and Aly Khan and went back to the Carleton Hotel, where she was staying, to write up the interview. She had assumed that the stories were exclusives, but the following day she received a wire from New York saying that her interviews had been pirated and "parts of them were appearing in other stories out of Cannes." Suspecting that there were spies in the hotel, Louella and Dottie May subsequently worked in a locked room, they telephoned rather than wired the stories to New York, and Louella kept all carbon papers used in typing the articles. None of the remaining stories were lifted.10

  The wedding had been scheduled to take place at L'Horizon, a seaside home owned by Aly Khan. At the estate, Louella had telephones at her disposal and was sure that no other reporters would be hanging around the secluded home. But the mayor of Cannes, a self-professed communist, insisted that the wedding take place at the city hall, which meant that Louella would have to find a phone there over which to dictate the story. Realizing that the only phone in the building was in the mayor's office, Louella approached the mayor and in her broken French explained the situation. "He was the first admitted Communist I had ever talked with, but I found that he was not averse to capitalistic ideas," she remembered. After she bribed him, the mayor consented to let her use the phone, and Louella was able to wire her stories from the wedding."

  The reception, held at Aly Khan's home, posed further obstacles, since he had ordered that no one was to be allowed to use any of the telephones in the chateau. According to Louella, a guest solved the problem by scheming to tell Aly that she promised to get him and Hayworth to talk with Elsa Maxwell in London. When they were finished, Louella would ask to speak to Maxwell from another extension and, when she was through with Maxwell, would put through her own call. The plan worked, and Louella got the exclusive story, which appeared in over six hundred newspapers worldwide. "The Arabian Nights wedding of Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan glittered to its storybook climax tonight when the bridegroom knelt and publicly kissed the foot of his tired but beautiful bride from the sidewalks of New York," she wrote. Apparently, in an early version of the story, a line read "a smiling, handsome prince in stripped trousers," rather than striped trousers. The mistake was corrected in later editions.12

  After the reception, Louella went to Paris, where she received an order from Hearst to write a series of biographical articles on Hayworth, to be titled "Cinderella Princess." Hearst wanted the series done immediately, so Louella hired two secretaries and worked all night to complete the first two articles. Over the next two days, Louella and the secretaries finished five more. The articles were so thorough that many in Hollywood thought she had written them before she left for Europe. But "Lolly wrote it solely from memory and a coupla interviews on the spot. Get it through your noodle-the gal's a mighty damned good reporter," commented the Hollywood Reporter.13

  Louella had just finished the seventh article when a cable arrived from Hearst canceling the rest of the series. Apparently Aly Khan had punched and caned three Hearst photographers who had tried to take pictures of him and Hayworth as they left for their honeymoon. "Aly Khan, having got what he wanted by being amiable, now shows himself in his true colors. His true colors are the usual colors of a spoiled Oriental prince, and might be demonstrated someday to the American girl he married," Hearst wrote in an editorial titled "A Spoiled Prince." 14

  Louella's Hayworth story, which made headlines worldwide, put Louella's name in the international spotlight. Hopper had reported incorrectly before the wedding that "Louella Parsons will not get within a mile of the wedding" and that Helen Morgan, a former editor at Life magazine, would be the only newspaperwoman there. (Morgan, who had resigned from Life to serve as Hayworth's press agent, attended the wedding but did not report it.) Fans loved Louella's flowery depiction of the event as a classic "storybook" wedding, but her stories were lampooned by the press critic A. J. Liebling in a New Yorker article, "Right up Louella's Ali," in June 1949. In his typically fierce prose, Liebling mocked Louella's trite and childish descriptions-"Ali bounded down the steps of his luxurious chateau, wearing cowboy-style denims and a red plaid sports shirt. He looked like a young man in love," Louella had written in one dispatch from Cannes-and her naive commentary on what she had described as an "Existentialist ball" that she attended in Cannes with Bob Considine. "We went to the Existentialist ball the night before the luncheon. It is fashionable to visit these crazy dances-that's the only word I can use to describe their wild outbreaks. They live today, without regard for religion. I thought at first I might be in the midst of a Communist uprising, but these youngsters are not interested in politics-only in having a good time. As I looked at their faces and their expressions, I thought to myself, religion is indeed ne
eded today to put these unhappy babes in the wood back on the right track." Liebling had concluded, "It is in Miss Parsons' account of the ball that she shows her true depth, I think. She is no mere retailer of gossip but a social thinker." 15

  In theory, the Hayworth-Aly Khan affair had all the makings of a scandal. An American movie star pursuing international romance with a famed playboy prince-at a time when both Hayworth and Aly Khan were legally married, no less-had raised the ire of more than a few moviegoers who called their conduct immoral. Before the wedding, several religious groups and the General Federation of Women's Clubs had announced plans to boycott Hayworth's films. "Her traipsing around is an insult to American womanhood," argued one member of the 16 Moreover, as it was later revealed when Hayworth's daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, was born in December 1949, Hayworth had been pregnant at the time of the wedding. However, Hayworth was not vilified by the press, her fans remained loyal, and, despite the initial protests, none of her films were banned from the screen. Because many audiences associated her with her screen persona as a sex goddess, the romance seemed in character, and Louella's publicity of the "storybook wedding" may have tempered accusations of impropriety. Hayworth, in other words, got off the hook, but things would not be so easy for Ingrid Bergman.

  A Swedish film actress brought to America to make films with David Selznick in 1939, Bergman exuded purity, even saintliness. She refused to be glamorized, and as a result, Selznick promoted her as "fresh and pure," exuding "natural sweetness."17 After appearing in Casablanca (1941), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Gaslight (1944), and The Bells of St. Mary'' (1944), in which she played a nun, Bergman did not renew her contract with Selznick and instead formed her own production company. She then appeared in the Maxwell Anderson play Joan of Lorraine and, later, in the 1948 film version. Fan magazines described Bergman as being in real life as humble and morally conservative as her heroines. Though she had played promiscuous women in Notorious (1946) and Arch ofTriumph (1948), these roles were, as film scholar James Damico has suggested, interpreted by fans as further manifestations of her "purity"-namely, her "pure" devotion to her art.'$

  Like the rest of the Hollywood press, Louella sang hosannas to Bergman, whom she described as natural and unaffected. In 1946, Louella had celebrated Bergman in a Sunday feature article in which she described the actress as an "amazing woman" who had matured tremendously from the "shy, frightened Swedish girl I interviewed when she arrived in this country five years ago."19 "I've always been a fan and admirer of Ingrid Bergman. I admit it-since the day she first came to see me at Marsons Farm and picked her first orange. She's ... such a fine person. I like the way she and [her husband] Dr. Peter Lindstrom have worked out their way of living. Each has his own work, yet each defers to the other's opinions and ideas, and each shares interest in the other's career. That's the way it should be. If we had more women like Ingrid Bergman we'd have fewer divorces in Hollywood, or in any other town," she wrote in February 1948.20 Louella truly admired Bergman, whom she deemed "a credit to the industry." Her clean-cut image, Louella felt, was good publicity for Hollywood.

  The esteem was not mutual. "I don't think there was a German equivalent to the power of Hedda Hopper or Louella Parsons," Bergman wrote in her autobiography. "They were absolutely an American fabrication. And nothing comparable in Sweden or Italy. I was very surprised at the power those women had.... Hopper was funnier because she was openly nasty and asked direct and nasty questions which made you just laugh," she recalled. "But Louella tried it the other way round; she would be very, very sweet and try to trick you. For instance, she said to me once, `We have so much in common, you and I.' And I said, `Oh really, what?' `We're both married to a doctor,' she said. `How do you keep your doctor?' "21

  But Bergman's marriage to Lindstrom was unhappy, and not long after her arrival in Hollywood, she had a series of affairs. Thanks to the Selznick publicity office's skillful management, Bergman's indiscretions stayed out of the papers. By 1946, however, the marriage to Lindstrom was beginning to unravel, and there were rumors of divorce. In January 1947, to protect Bergman, Louella assured her readers that the marriage was stronger than ever; Bergman, her husband, and their daughter, Pia, had spent Christmas together, and "that should end some of the rumors that there's trouble between Ingrid and her husband," she wrote.22 But Bergman had been having a serious affair with photographer Robert Capa, and in late 1947, Capa admitted to Lindstrom that he had been involved with Bergman. Lindstrom announced that he wanted a divorce, but when Bergman "put on a show and started to cry," he dropped the idea.23

  In April 1948, after seeing Roberto Rossellini's neorealist film Paisan, Bergman wrote the director a letter of praise. "Dear Mr. Rossellini, I saw your films Open City and Paisan and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only ti amo, I am ready to come and make a film with you," she had writ- ten.24 After Rossellini wrote back enthusiastically, Bergman and Rossellini met in Paris in the summer of 1948 and discussed making a film together. Then, early in 1949, Rossellini went to Hollywood to negotiate a deal with Bergman and Samuel Goldwyn, who had expressed interest in the project. When Goldwyn backed out, Bergman and Rossellini went to Howard Hughes, who had recently purchased the RKO studio and who agreed to back the film. The production was to be called Stromboli and would be filmed on the Italian island for which it was named.

  During the negotiations, Rossellini, who was broke at the time, stayed at Bergman's home in Hollywood, and the two took several day trips to the coast, raising suspicion that they were becoming romantically involved. On February z6, 1949, Louella reported that "Rossellini has been living at the home of Ingrid Bergman and her husband, Dr. Peter Lindstrom. He makes no secret of his admiration for the Swedish actress whom he came all those miles to sign."25 Rossellini then returned to Rome, and Bergman followed in March, causing further rumors that they were having an affair. On April 131 an item appeared in the "Cholly Knickerbocker" column in the New York journal American, written by Igor Cassini, about a romance between Bergman and Rossellini. The next day, Louella backed Cassini's claim by commenting that "the rumor is true."26 Shortly afterward, Joseph Breen, director of the Production Code Administration, fearing public outcry over Bergman's adulterous behavior, wrote to Bergman demanding that she deny the rumors that she and Rossellini were romantically involved. Bergman refused Breen's request. Meanwhile, in May 1949, Lindstrom went to Rome for a conference with Bergman, in which she expressed her desire for a divorce. But both Bergman and Lindstrom agreed that a divorce announcement would jeopardize not only Stromboli but also Joan ofArc, which was running in theaters at the time. Bergman then issued a vague statement saying, "I have met my husband here and have clarified our situation. I am returning to Stromboli to continue work on the picture. On its conclusion I will leave Italy and meet my husband either in Sweden or the United States." 27

  Meanwhile, Louella tried to protect Bergman by announcing in her column that Bergman and Lindstrom did not plan to separate. On May S, 1949, Louella reported an exclusive story that there was to be no divorce, a claim that was confirmed when Lindstrom made an official statement to the press after an all-day conference with Bergman and Rossellini. Yet Louella acknowledged that Bergman and Rossellini were romantically involved and warned Bergman of the consequences. "Don't you believe all those stories that Ingrid Bergman's infatuation for Roberto Rossellini is just publicity," she wrote on May 7. "Dr. Lindstrom would certainly not lend his name to all this scandal. I really and sincerely believe that Ingrid had no idea she was getting so involved. She really fell madly in love with the Italian director, and like all romantic Italians, he was everything Dr. Lindstrom was not. If all this had not hit the newspapers, Ingrid would probably have got Rossellini out of her system. Movie actresses know that when they choose to become actresses they are in the limelight, and this really should be a lesso
n to other Hollywood actresses who play with fire."28 Louella also noted, "The feeling in Hollywood about Ingrid Bergman is one of sadness. The Swedish actress had won the respect and admiration of everyone in the film colony, and everyone regrets that she has been the center of such stormy and sensational publicity. "29

  Complicating the increasingly convoluted love triangle was Bergman's discovery in June 1949 that she was pregnant. When Hopper was in Europe that summer, she visited Bergman in Rome and asked whether the pregnancy rumors were true. "Oh my goodness, Hedda, do I look it?" Bergman asked innocently. Hopper then printed the denial in her column. In early August 1949, however, Bergman's pregnancy was announced in the Italian paper Cor- riere Bella Sera; the newspaper had apparently picked up the tip from one of Rossellini's friends.30 In desperation, Bergman announced to the press that she would quit making films and that she would divorce Lindstrom.31 But the fact that Hopper had denied the pregnancy story in her column, and that Louella refused to acknowledge the news, confirmed for most of the American public that the Italian story was untrue.