Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips

393 Pages·2012·5.49 MB·English

by  Michael G. Ankerich

(continued from front flap) M A E M U R R AY
FILM/BIOGRAPHY A
failed marriages, and bitter legal battles
N
THE GIRL WITH
left her financially destitute and mentally K
THE BEE-STUNG LIPS
unstable. Her fourth husband, penniless E
R
faux-nobleman “Prince” David Mdivani, MICHAEL G. ANKERICH
I
drained her finances and manipulated her C
H R
into abandoning her contract with film enowned for her classic beauty and
tycoon Louis B. Mayer, a move that led to the charismatic presence, Mae Murray
“Her long life is a lesson about those
final dissolution of her career. Heartbroken, (1885–1965) entered show business
heady days of early Hollywood and the transience of fame.”
Murray spent the rest of her life chasing a as a Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl, and shortly
—LIBRA RY JO URNAL
comeback, lost in her own imaginary world thereafter began headlining productions
of self-enchantment and delusion. before transitioning to the silver screen.
Featuring exclusive interviews with “A most compelling, detailed chronicle of the meteoric rise and fall of stage/ Beginning with her film debut in To Have and
Murray’s only son, Daniel, and with actor to Hold (1916), Murray was an instant hit with
silent movie star Mae Murray, as to both her roller-coaster professional career
George Hamilton, whom the actress be- M audiences and soon became one of the most
and chaotic personal life. This book will certainly be the
friended at the end of her life, Mae Murray famous names in Hollywood. Recognized by
definitive biography of the legendary Mae Murray.”
examines the iconic actress’s career and her sultry pout, Murray became known as
sheds light on her troubled personal life. —JAMES ROBERT PARISH A “the girl with the bee-stung lips,” gaining
Moving beyond the quintessential image of author of Fiasco: A History of Hollywood’s Iconic Flops T celebrity status for her jaw-dropping cos-
H T H E G I R L W I T H
the 1920s femme fatale with tousled blonde E tumes, her scandalous relationships, and her

hair, heavy-lidded eyes, crimson GE T H E B E E - S T U N G L I P S exuberant obsession with fame. In Mae
“Astounding. I
lips, and shimmering gowns, Ankerich delves R Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips,
Mae Murray works on many levels. For those who know of her, it’s a revelation. L
beneath Murray’s public persona and W Michael G. Ankerich traces Murray’s career
restores the fallen actress to the limelight. At last, a reliable narrative of her life.” IM from the footlights of Broadway to the klieg
T
—MEL NEUHAUS H lights of Hollywood, recounting her impres-

film writer for Examiner.com TH sive body of work on the stage and screen
E M A E and charting her rapid ascent to fame and
U
B
tragic decline into obscurity.
E
E
Mae Murray was everything a movie
-
S
TR queen in the days of silent films was expect-
U
ed to be: extravagant, vain, egotistical, and
N
G temperamental. The beautiful Hollywood
SCREEN CLASSICS | Series Editor: Patrick McGilligan R

L M U R R A Y icon proclaimed to the press, “Once you
I
P
become a star, you are always a star!” Her
S
A
eccentricities were shocking to her contempo-
MICHAEL G. ANKERICH is the author raries and made her one of the most contro-
of The Sound of Silence: Conversations with Y versial actresses of her generation. From her
16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged early Paramount glory, she proceeded to
M I C H A E L G . A N K E R I C H
the Gap between Silents and Talkies and reach the pinnacle of silent cinema superstar-
ISBN: 978-0-8131-3690-5
coauthor of The Real Joyce Compton: Behind dom, appearing in more than forty films.
90000
the Dumb Blonde Movie Image. FOREWORD BY However, Murray’s moment in the spotlight
K E V I N B R O W N L O W was fleeting, as the introduction of talkies,
9 780813 136905
JACKET DESIGN BY KATHLEEN LYNCH/BLACK KAT DESIGN
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ERIC T. REBETTI
(continued on back flap)
MAE MURRAY

M A E
M U R R AY
THE GIRL WITH
THE BEE-STUNG LIPS
Michael G. Ankerich
Foreword by Kevin Brownlow
Copyright © 2013 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offi ces: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
Frontispiece: Mae Murray in 1925. Courtesy of Eric T. Rebetti.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ankerich, Michael G., 1962–
Mae Murray : the girl with the bee-stung lips /
Michael G. Ankerich ; foreword by Kevin Brownlow.
p. cm.— (Screen classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8131-3690-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-8131-3691-2 (pdf) — ISBN 978-0-8131-4038-4 (epub)
1. Murray, Mae, 1885–1965. 2. Motion picture actors and
actresses—United States—Biography. I. Title.
PN2287.M83A55 2012
791.43’028’092—dc23
[B]
2012034642
This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
For Eve Golden—
A Haughty Dowager with a Heart of Gold

Contents
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
1. Untangling Mae Murray’s Tangled Beginnings, 1885–1899 7
2. Dancing into the New Century, 1900–1907 15
3. Ziegfeld and the Millionaire, 1908–1911 19
4. Life Is a Cabaret, 1912–1914 29
5. From Footlights to Kliegs, 1915 39
6. The Disillusions of a Dream Girl, 1916 47
7. Ready for My Close-ups, Mr. Lasky!, 1917 63
8. The Delicious Little Mae, 1918–1919 69
9. On with the Dance, 1920 89
10. Strutting Like a Peacock through Tiffany’s, 1921–1922 101
11. Mae the Enchantress, 1923–1924 121
12. The Merry Widow and the Dirty Hun,
May 1924–March 1925 141
13. From Merry Widow to Gay Divorcée, 1925 157
14. Princess Mdivani, 1926 173
15. The Lion’s Roar, the Baby’s Cry, 1927 189
16. A World of Cheap Imitation, 1928 201
17. The Sound of Bee-Stung Lips, 1929–1931 215
18. Oh, Brother!, 1932 235
19. From a Prince to a Toad, 1933 243
20. Losing Koran, 1934–1940 251
21. Outliving Fame, 1941–1957 271
22. Self-Enchantment, 1958–1960 285
23. A Star in Twilight, 1961–1965 291
Epilogue 303
Acknowledgments 307
Professional Theater 311
Filmography 323
Notes 337
Bibliography 361
Index 365
Foreword
R
esearch can be disturbing. You expect to read an uplifting story of ambi-
tion and artistry, and you instead fi nd yourself enmeshed in a psychiatric
casebook. We demand too much of artists, even when we know their per-
sonalities are in sharp variance to their art. One great nineteenth-century
painter was so abusive to his models that he used to throw them down the
stairs, yet we all gasp with admiration at the delicacy and humanity of
Edgar Degas’s work.
Mae Murray wasn’t violent, but she makes you think Sunset Boulevard
was a documentary. When she saw the picture, she is supposed to have
said, “None of us fl oozies was that nuts”—and I wish she had, because at
least it shows a sense of humor. However, the rigorous work of Michael G.
Ankerich indicates that Murray never made this remark, leaving us with
someone who may have had charm, but who seems to have been bereft of
humor, who may have been self-enchanted but was never self-effacing.
When I heard about this book, I wondered who had had the nerve to
tackle it. Murray has come to represent a high-water mark of camp in silent
fi lms, exceeded only by Theda Bara. The temptation for a biographer to slip
into full Hollywood Babylon mode, conducting his research by what Ken-
neth Anger himself attributed to “mental telepathy, mostly” must be fi erce.
But we are in good hands. Michael Ankerich has a guarantee attached
to his name. He managed to record a series of interviews with silent fi lm
players just before it was too late.1 Actresses spoke to Ankerich who had
spoken to no one else, and for that, he deserves a special place in fi lm
history. True to form, this book includes several unique interviews. Per-
haps the most remarkable is with Murray’s son, Koran (Daniel Michael