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Hollywood Beckons
The advent of sound in Hollywood films brought about many changes to the industry and actors were among those most affected. To be a successful actor in films, you needed more than an attractive face -- you had to have a distinctive voice.
The Cheat (1932)The Hollywood studios were clamoring for exciting personalities to grace their productions. Foreign and exotic actresses were very popular at the time. Greta Garbo was the most popular actress at MGM and Paramount Studios had just imported Marlene Dietrich to rival her. Dietrich has indeed proved to be a goldmine for Paramount and her first three films made the studios big money. Paramount reasoned that acquiring another actress of her stature could only increase their profits. Enter Tallulah.
Although Tallulah was not a foreign actress, she had lived in London for the past eight years and she was virtually unknown to American audiences. She possessed a beauty similar to Garbo and Dietrich and better yet, a strong husky voice. The Paramount publicity department went into high gear to promote their new discovery.
Tallulah herself was not very interested in making films. The opportunity to make $50,000 per film, however, was too good to pass up. She later said, "The only reason I went to Hollywood was to fuck that divine Gary Cooper."
Tallulah did not leave for Hollywood immediately. At the time, Paramount maintained studios in New York, and Tallulah's first three films would be made there. Tallulah settled into the Elysee Hotel and proceeded to drive the staff crazy with her numerous requests. The following week, she reported to work for her first film, Tarnished Lady.
In Tarnished Lady (1931)George Cukor was the director and he and Tallulah became fast friends. Tallulah behaved herself on the set and filming went smoothly, but she found film-making to be very boring and didn't have the patience for it. She didn't like Hollywood either. When she met producer Irving Thalberg, she asked him, "How do you get laid in this dreadful place?"
A lush and star-studded premiere was held for Tarnished Lady at the Rivoli in New York City. Critics were not impressed with the film and audiences left the theater wondering what all the hullabaloo over Tallualah was about.
Two more films (My Sin, The Cheat) were made in New York with the same lackluster results before Paramount decided to move Tallulah out to Hollywood. Riding with her on the train was Joan Crawford and her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Tallulah told her, "Dahling, you're divine. I've had an affair with your husband. You'll be next."
In Hollywood, Tallulah rented William Haines' former house, hired three black servants, and prepared for her fourth Paramount film, Thunder Below. It fared worse than any of her previous films.
With Gary Cooper in Devil and the Deep (1932)Tallulah may have been miserable in her professional life, but she didn't let that affect her private life. She indeed met Gary Cooper and even made a film with him, Devil and the Deep, following Thunder Below. Gary Cooper wasn't the only person Tallulah was interested in - she desperately wanted to meet the elusive Greta Garbo.
Her chance came when writer Salka Viertel, a mutual friend of Garbo and Tallulah, invited Tallulah to her home. Salka informed Tallulah that Greta would be there. Tallulah and several friends were so excited that they couldn't stop talking about Garbo. They made a vow that no one would mention Garbo's name and if they did, they would have to pay $1 to every person in the group. On the way to Viertel's house in Tallulah's car, everyone was quiet and tense. Tallulah finally said, "You are all so damned unnerved that you would think we were on our way to meet Greta Garbo!" She paid everyone $1.
Tallulah met Garbo that evening and the first thing she did was walk up to her and pull her eyelash. Garbo said "Ouch!" and Tallulah told her that she just wanted to see if they were real. By most accounts, the two hit it off, although they were aparently just friends. They often played tennis together on Sundays. Tallulah also met the notorious writer Mercedes de Acosta who had been romantically involved with both Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. Tallulah didn't care for her and told friends that she looked like a mouse in a topcoat.
One of Tallulah's most notorious events was an interview that she gave to Motion Picture magazine in 1932. She was obviously letting off steam from her frustrated attempt at a movie career and she ranted wildly about the state of her life and her views on love, marriage and children. The part that got the studio heads standing on their heads was this quote:
"I'm serious about love. I'm damned serious about it now...I haven't had an affair for six months. Six months! Too long...If there's anything the matter with me now, it's not Hollywood or Hollywood's state of mind...the matter with me is, I WANT A MAN!... six months is a long, long while. I WANT A MAN!"
Hollywood was becoming increasingly conservative partly as a result from past scandals with their stars and because Will Hays had formed the infamous Production Code. The Code dictated not only what the studios could show in their films, but how their actors must conduct themselves off the screen. As predicted, the interview created quite a commotion. Will Hays was furious, Time magazine ran a story about it, and, back home, Tallulah's father and family were fit to be tied. Tallulah immeditaely telegramed her father vowing to never speak with a magazine reporter again.
In FaithlessShe trudged through her next film, Faithless, and decided it was time to call it quits. Paramount actually wanted to renew her contract (they were considering her for a role in Red Dust, which eventually went to Jean Harlow), but Tallulah wasn't interested. She wanted to return to New York or even London, where she could get back on the stage.
Tallulah's film career had failed, but it wasn't entirely her fault. She took some of the blame saying that she wasn't able to judge a good film script, but she also blamed the studios for having too many people involved in production. George Cukor later said that Tallulah was just not right for the camera and she didn't photograph well. Most blamed Paramount because they simply didn't know how to use Tallulah.
Tallulah would return to Hollywood ten years later and make good but, for now, it was on to greater things...
