Hollywood (Jan - Oct 1934)

WITH THE NEWS SLEUTH . . . Timely news, inter The Passing of Peg r\EATH Of Mrs. Margaret Talmadge, *-J mother of Norma, Constance and Natalie, has left a void in the celluloid world's inner circle that cannot be filled. Peg, as she was known to her long list of intimates, was the mother confessor of Hollywood. Mrs. Talmadge passed on rich in worldly possessions she had garnered through her own efforts. While her will, signed in 1931, fixed the value of her estate at "more than $10,000," it is believed her fortune totalled above the $1,000,000 mark. A few years ago, she was rated as worth around $3,000j000, but, like so many others, she suffered tremendous losses through shrinkage in values of securities and real estate holdings. Peg left all of her property to Connie, her favorite child. The reason for that was that she and Connie built their fortunes together. They were partners in all ventures. And Now It Comes Out TO AN CRAWFORD and Franchot J Tone will lose no time in dashing to the altar after Joan's divorce from Doug Fairbanks Jr. becomes final early next spring. While neither Joan nor Franchot is talking about their romance, it is known they have completed plans for their future together. Intimates of Joan have told me it was Franchot's insistence upon firmly establishing himself in the cinema heavens before taking a wife that led Joan to file her suit against Doug in California rather than taking the more speedy route through the Nevada or Mexican courts. Had she followed the latter course, it is more than probable the popular couple would be wed by now. Connie Does Her Bit /"'' onstance Bennett's love for the ^ Marquis Henri de la Falaise may not be as heated as it was at the moment of their marriage two years ago, but she's not going to stand idly by while the movie-makers poke fun at him. Just before Hank's departure for Paris to have his passport renewed and to check up on his French realty holdings, Connie appeared in the office of Louis B. Mayer, Metro's head, with a plea that the fake marquis character in Bombshell be changed to that of a duke instead. "Hank is the only bona fide marquis in Hollywood," explained Connie, HOT from HOLLYWOOD . . . Marriages Ginger Rogers and Lew Ayres have settled all of the details except the date . . . Estelle Taylor and Director Roland Brown are liable to step off any day now . . . Eleanor Boardman, recently freed from King Vidor, will wed Director Harry D'Arrast next Spring . . . Louise Brooks is the bride of Deering Davis, Chicago sportsman . . . Fifi Dorsay will ankle it with Maurice Hill, Chicago manufacturer . . . Lenore Bushman, daughter of Francis X., is honeymooning in Europe with Dr. Webster Marxer . . . Joel McCrea and Frances Dee were married at Rye, N. Y. . . . Bruce Cabot and Adrienne Ames were married at Carlsbad, New Mexico . . . Polly Moran and Martin Malone, prominent Los Angeles attorney, surprised friends by assuming double harness at Las Vegas, Nevada . . . Johnny Weissmuller and Lupe Velez now admit they are wed. Uivorces The James Croftons (Mona Rico) will air their domestic troubles in Reno . . . Prince Serge M'divani denied he socked his operatic wife in the eye when he took the witness stand in Mary McCormic's suit for a decree . . . Doris Kenyon is kept busy denying there's been a rift in her marriage to Arthur Hopkins . . . it's business that keeps the bridegroom in New York, she insists . . . Agnes Franey of Follies fame is suing wealthy Logan Metcalf, one-time husband of Madge Bellamy . . . Zita Johann cut the ties that bound her to Playwright John Haussman in the Mexican tribunals . . . Jerry Miley and Elsa Peterson severed matrimonial relations via the same route . . . Marion Sayers won a divorce from Jimmy Murray by charging that he drank to excess . . . Agent Ben Hershfield testified Rita La Roy was peevish at times, and asked the judge to free him from his marriage contract. Births It's A Son in the home of the Melvyn Douglases (Helen Gahagan) . . . the Karen Morley-Charlie Vidor offspring has been named Michael Karoly . . .• Johnny Mack Brown's new heir has been christened John Lachlan Brown . . . the Robert Kenastons (Billie Dove) are preparing for the arrival of the stork in April. Deaths The Great Umpire called strike three on Mike Donlin, famous baseball player of an earlier period and long a screen actor, at the age of fifty-three . . . Joseph Fazenda, father of Louise and leader in Los Angeles' French colony, succumbed at seventy-one . . . Frank