Welcome to Hollywood Graveyard, where we set out to remember and celebrate the
lives of those who lived to entertain us, by visiting their final resting places.
Today we conclude our tour of Calvary Cemetery, where we'll find the Costello
family, Ramon Navarro, Ted Healy, and many more.
Join us, won't you?
For this last stretch of our tour of Calvary we'll be visiting sites across
the grounds of the cemetery, which spans over 130 acres in East LA.
Alongside the numerous tombstones are several small family mausoleums,
and a beautiful chapel: the All Souls Chapel, built in 1902. It was modeled
after a rural parish church in Buckinghamshire, England, and for many
years was one of the most visited houses of worship in LA.
Along the main road are the Stations of the Cross.
As visitors tour the cemetery they can follow the
path Christ took to Mount Calvary on the day of his crucifixion.
Take your time as you stroll the grounds of Calvary.
Just about every monument here is a work of art,
a beautiful tribute to a life lived.
If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out part 1.
We'll begin our tour just in along the main road on the right, in Section H.
Right at the base of a tree is Hunt Stromberg. During Hollywood's golden age
he produced some of MGM's most memorable films,
including The Women, The Great Ziegfeld,
and the Thin Man series.
He also produced the popular Jeanette MacDonald /Nelson Eddy musicals,
and several Jean Harlow films.
In the 30s he was one of the top producers in all of Hollywood.
Continuing north along this main road then right at the intersection we find
Cedric Gibbons right next to the road. He was one of early Hollywood's most
influential and important production designers and art directors.
He worked mainly for MGM designing films such as The Wizard of Oz, Little Women,
and An American in Paris.
He was nominated for an Academy Award and astounding 39 times
winning 11 - fitting as Gibbons was actually the man who designed the Oscar Statuette.
Across the street to the north is the grave of J. Carol Naish. He was a
character actor perhaps best remembered for his role in 1943's Sahara, alongside
Humphrey Bogart. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination. He can also be
seen as Dr. Daka on the Batman serial, and can be heard on radio in the popular
CBS series Life with Luigi. His final role was as Dr. Frankenstein in
Dracula vs. Frankenstein.
Turning right past the small family mausoleums, a short distance south,
is Section C on the left.
In a ways from the road is the Friganza family mausoleum,
where Trixie Friganza is entombed. She began her career as an
operetta soubrette, then began touring with theatre companies in the late 1800s,
in an era when stage performing was considered just a step above prostitution.
She worked mostly in musical comedy which helped her
transition easily into vaudeville in the early 1900's. She became one of the most
popular comedic stage performers of the era, her act often revolving around her
plus-size figure, which she referred to as a "perfect 46." While she did have a
handful of roles in film, the stage was her true home for most of her life.
She was very active in social movements, particularly women's rights, the suffrage
movement, and the promotion of a positive body self-image for women.
Several rows north of the Friganza mausoleum is the grave of Ramon Navarro.
After the death of Rudolph Valentino, Mexican actor Ramon Navarro inherited the role as the
prominent Latin Lover and exotic male sex symbol in Hollywood.
He played the title role in Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
Here he is racing Francis X Bushman in the infamous chariot race.
Other films include The Cat and the Fiddle, and Mata Hari.
Novarro lived at odds with his Catholic faith and his homosexuality.
In 1968 at the age of 69
he was beaten to death in his home by two young brothers who had offered their
sexual services, but in reality intended to rob him. They tortured Novarro for a
large sum of money they erroneously believed he had stashed.
All they got was $20 leaving Navarro for dead.
Back to the road let's head to the southernmost
point of this lawn. Near the road is the grave of Beatrice Dominguez.
She was Rudolph Valentino's dance partner in one of Hollywood's most legendary dance scenes,
in 1921's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They introduced us to the
tango, the first time the sultry dance was seen in American cinema.
Sadly she died from complications of appendicitis at just 24.
Continuing around and back north we arrive at section D on the left.
Heading in a ways, just past a small tree, we find the Costello family, who,
along side the Barrymore's, were one of the great family of entertainers in
early Hollywood. Matriarch Mae Costello was an actress who appeared on stage in
the late 19th century and a handful of films in the early 20th century.
Her films include The Joys of the Jealous Wife, which she also wrote.
She was just 47 when she died.
Mae was married to Maurice Costello, also an actor.
He began his career on stage on Broadway before moving into film in the
early 1900s, first with Edison in 1905, then Vitagraph in 1907. Soon he would
become one of the most successful actors of the silent era, and one of Hollywood's
first matinee idols. Some of his popular films include A Tale of Two Cities, and
The Crimson Stain Mystery. His career diminished, however, like so many others
at the dawn of the talkies. Maurice helped launch the career of Moe Howard,
discovering the young actor at the Vitagraph studio.
The Costellos had two daughters who also became actresses.
Elder daughter Dolores Costello was
known as the Goddess of the Silver Screen. And like her father was one of
silent films first matinee idols. She began acting in small roles alongside
her father, but her first major hit was the 1926 film the Sea Beast, alongside
John Barrymore. The film was a smash hit making Dolores a star. And the
chemistry between Dolores and Barrymore was palpable - so intense was one kissing
scene that Dolores actually fainted in Barrymore's arms.
Dolores married the much older John Barrymore, who was actually several
months older than her mother. They divorced in 1935 due to Barrymore's
excessive drinking. At the advent of sound pictures the fact that she spoke
with a lisp became an issue, and she worked for two years with a speech
therapist to rid herself of the lisp, to continue her career into the talkies in
films like The Magnificent Ambersons. Dolores was the mother of actor
John Drew Barrymore, and the grandmother of actress Drew Barrymore.
Also buried here, in an unmarked grave, is Helene Costello.
Like her sister, Helene began acting as a
child in films with her father. She found stardom in the 20s,
signing with Warner Bros. She starred in the first all-talking feature film,
Lights of New York, in 1928.
"Oh, another bootleg murder.
You see, that's why I want you to quit that business.
Sooner or later the cops are going to find out
that your barber shop is only a speak-easy.
There's so many other things you could do, Eddie."
"Oh I know it, darling, and I am gonna quit,
and when I do you quit that nightclub too."
"Oh, you're right. I don't wanna work there any longer than I have to."
Her career waned in the 30s due partly to mounting personal
problems, and she made her last film appearance in 1942's The Black Swan.
in 1957 she was admitted to a hospital for drug addiction,
and died two days later of pneumonia. She was only 50.
It was said that Lou Costello, who he visited in part 1,
changed his name from Cristillo to Costello as a nod to Helene.
Back to the road we continue north just past the chapel to section F on the left.
Near the middle of this lawn is the grave of Ted Healy.
He is the man we have to thank for giving the world the Stooges.
He was a vaudevillian and one of the most
influential comedic performers of early Hollywood, innovating the slapstick style
of comedy that came to be associated with the Stooges. In the early 20s he
teamed up with his childhood friend Moe Howard, Moe's brother Shemp, and Larry Fine
to create Ted Healy and his Stooges. Their first film together was 1930's
Soup to Nuts. A few years later Shemp was replaced by
younger brother Curly, and in 1934 the act was dissolved when Moe, Larry, and
Curly signed with Columbia as the Three Stooges.
After the Stooges Healy would go on to a successful film career with roles in
movies like San Francisco and Mad Love.
The events surrounding his death in 1937
at the age of 41 remained somewhat uncertain to this day. On December 21st
Healy was out celebrating the birth of his son at the Trocadero on the Sunset Strip.
He got into a drunken altercation with a number of men that evening that
left him quite battered. One report identified the men as "college fellows,"
while another claimed the men were Wallace Beery, Albert Broccoli, and Pat DiCicco.
Healy was treated and driven home but never regained full
consciousness, dying the next day. The official cause of death was given as
toxic nephritis due to chronic alcoholism. with no mention made of the assault.
Let's head all the way to the northernmost region of the cemetery, section K.
Near the middle of this lawn, in line with a tree to the West, is the unmarked
grave of Lincoln Perry, whose stage name was Stepin Fetchit. His grave is hard to
find but look for the marker for his father, Joseph Perry... Lincoln is below.
Stepin Fetchit was, and remains to this day, a controversial figure in cinema.
He's considered to be Hollywood's first black movie star, the first to receive
screen credit, and the first black actor to earn a million dollars. Perry devised
the moniker Stepin Fetchit on vaudeville, and got his Hollywood break
in the 1927 film In Old Kentucky, alongside Helene Costello.
The character of Stepin Fetchit was an unfortunate product of racist stereotypes of the era:
a bumbling, shiftless fool, billed as the laziest man in the world.
"What y'all bring that big box in here for?
We ain't got enough candy to fit in a box that big."
"This is not for candy.
This happens to be a coffin."
"A coffin? Ain't nobody dead in here, is there?"
"Are you sure?"
"Sure I'm sure. I know I feel alright."
His character became immensely popular in comedies in the 30s, but as the
position of blacks in Hollywood and society began to rise, and at the dawn of
the civil rights movement, Perry began to experience negative backlash from the
black community for his character as being a negative and harmful stereotype.
He was at odds with civil rights leaders who singled him out for the roles he portrayed.
To this day there are those who criticize Perry for his roles and
depiction, while others celebrate him as a pioneer of black cinema who opened the
door for black comedians to follow. Despite the controversy of his character,
Perry was an intelligent and talented man who found success on a playing field
heavily skewed against blacks, and even fought - albeit unsuccessfully - for equal
treatment and pay for black performers. In 1974 he was inducted into the Black
Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
Continuing around, then right, we find section L on the right.
Several spaces north of the road is the grave of Francelia Billington.
She was a silent film star acting mainly in westerns and melodramas.
Her best-known role is in Erich von Stroheim silent masterpiece, Blind Husbands.
Her talents extended behind camera as well, serving as camera operator on a
number of silent films. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 39.
Following this road west it turns south. On the left is section N. A ways in from the
road, right at the base of a tree, is Jelly Roll Morton. He was a popular
ragtime and jazz musician in the early 20th century. His career began at age 14
as a piano player in a New Orleans brothel. Soon he became a touring
musician where he would establish himself as a pioneer of early jazz...
an innovator of jazz arranging and composition. His hits include Jelly Roll
Blues, considered the first published jazz composition, published in 1915.
Further south along this road we reach a series of garden mausoleums on the right.
In the second one, block five, we find the crypt of John Macchia, or Ma-keya, as the
Italians would say. He is best known as one of Eric von Zipper's rat-pack
gang members in the Beach Party movies in the 60s. He also had roles in several
Jerry Lewis films like The Disorderly Orderly. His career was cut short when he
died of a stroke at just thirty-five.
Finally we head to the next mausoleum
south, block 14. Way up at the top is the crypt of Hal Roach Jr.
He was the son of legendary comedy producer Hal Roach,
who gave us Laurel and Hardy and the "Our Gang" films.
Junior became a filmmaker like his father, co-directing Victor Mature
and Carol Landis in 1 Million BC.
He also produced TV shows like My Little Margie, and Blondie.
And that concludes our tour! What are some of your favorite memories
of the stars we visited today?
Share them in the comments below, and be sure to
like, share, and subscribe for more famous grave tours.
Thanks for watching, we'll see you on the next one.
You guys want to see what Santa Claus brought me for Christmas?
A new hat. What do you think?
Thank You Santa.