"It's not about the movies"
1939
1952
1965
2001
Louella
Parsons, Hedda Hopper, Jessica Atwater, the
names resonate with the elegance of Hollywood at its most
glamorous.
Of course, Ms. Parsons and Hopper are no longer with us but we still count
ourselves fortunate to be able to share in the knowledge and insight of one of
filmdom’s most venerable icons, The Movie Lady, Jessica Atwater.
Born
on New Year’s Day in the early Twentieth Century, her career spans decades and
her influence is legendary. Her
first column appeared in November 1933 in the Hearst flagship paper,
Ms. Atwater first came to the attention of the press after an ill-fated party on the yacht of publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst. Movie producer Thomas Ince was shot and killed during the early morning hours and Ms Atwater, the daughter of one of the party goers was brought in for questioning. It was shortly after that event that Ms Atwater’s first column appeared. Although stories of a cover-up fabricated by Hearst and Atwater circulated quite extensively during the decade of the 1930s, actual facts about their possible illicit liaison remained clouded in rumor and innuendo. The gossip was fueled by the fact that based on her columns; it appeared that Ms Atwater exhibited almost a complete lack of knowledge about the writing, production and direction of feature films. Indeed, her incompetence in movie criticism was so complete that it called into question whether or not she had ever even seen a movie.
Nevertheless, Ms Atwater
soon found herself the toast of Hollywood and was frequently seen on the arms of
the film capital’s most eligible bachelors.
It was the Demarest affair that erupted into a full-blown scandal, one
that couldn’t be suppressed
even by the studio image-making machine.
The relationship was doomed from the start and its fiery ending, played
out in the local tabloids, effectively ended Demarest’s career as a leading
man. He was given progressively
smaller roles until his face all but disappeared from the public’s memory.
Tragically, he spent his last years in front of a camera in a character
role on the television sitcom, “My Three Sons”.
After
Hearst’s death in 1951, a provision in his will provided Ms Atwater with a job
guarantee that would last, “as long as her heart shall beat”.
The
mid 1950s saw a brief resurgence of notoriety when she took a young and
vulnerable James Dean under her wing. Again,
the fates would conspire to steal her happiness.
After Dean’s untimely death, his closest friend revealed that Dean had
intended to “pop the question” had tragedy not intervened.
A devastated Atwater sought comfort in the arms of Dean’s “Giant”
co-star, Rock Hudson.
The
ensuing decades saw a tempering of her dramatic personality and she seemed to
devote herself more seriously to her craft.
Along the way she gathered a small coterie of aspiring critics, among
them Pauline Kael and a young Roger Ebert.
During the heyday of her movie critic “circle”, she could be seen
holding court at the famous Beverly Hills Hotel high atop Sunset Boulevard.
“The Beverly Round Table”, as her group came to be called, met
regularly at the world famous “Polo Lounge” for dinner and drinks.
They amused themselves by trading quips and bon mots, many at the expense
of their fellow celebrity diners.
Throughout
the course of her long and distinguished career, she weighed in with her
critiques of every major film that was released in the United States. In a
recent interview, she was asked to name her favorite motion picture.
Without hesitation she said, “Hell’s Angels on Wheels”.
To many, this was seen as a tantalizing reference to her rumored affair
with Jack Nicholson in the mid 1960s.
Now,
in her golden years, her social activities have had to be curtailed a bit, but she
continues to faithfully produce her weekly column, still carried by The
Examiner. Her mind wanders a bit now, and she tends to be a little
cranky at times, but these faults are overlooked by her legion of adoring fans.
They are also able to forgive her other “sin”, her ongoing inability
to ever quite get the hang of what movie making is all about.
So, sit back and enjoy her always-growing body of work. Ladies and Gentleman, I give to you The Movie Lady.
~The Sorry Fate of William Demarest~