implying, that the studio owned, or, more precisely, rented, if not the police department then individual officers in it, who, with at least the tacit approval of superiors who would share in the payoff, could bring the intimidating powers of their organization to bear.) There was no birth certificate. One day Irma didn’t have a child, the next day she did. We found that out. We couldn’t send her packing. So J.F. just put her under contract. In return for which she had to answer certain questions about where Blue came from. And agree to certain stipulations.
How did Irma really die?
An auto accident.
Really?
She drove off a cliff. In the hills up behind San Diego.
Was it really an accident?
We didn’t
kill
her, Jack, if that’s what you’re
getting
at. (Thiswas Arthur in his ironic mode, when certain words and certain phrases in every sentence appeared to be italicized.) The studio might try to cover up a murder, but we never
ordered
one. We did have
certain
standards.
Then it wasn’t an accident?
It was made to appear that way.
The studio not being without resources.
If you have resources, you use them. That’s why they’re called resources.
Thank you, Arthur. For explaining that to me. Anyway. The hills behind San Diego …
The mother of a child star is not supposed to commit suicide. It looks bad. Especially when the child star has a picture ready for release.
Why did she do it?
I suppose her contract was not going to be renewed. Her usefulness was more or less at an end. Or maybe she had just had it. It happens. Anyway, finding a surrogate guardian was never any problem.
Because Cosmopolitan Pictures was her real mother and father?
Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Jack. But yes, the studio was her family. I bet Blue would agree with that even today.
Who was Toolate?
Irma’s ex-husband, as near as we could figure. Long gone by the time Melba Mae appeared on the scene.
Gone where?
I’m sure I don’t know.
In prison?
A possibility.
Did he ever show up?
(Carefully): Over the years a number of people showed up claiming to have some kinship with Blue. The legal department handled all the claims.
You’re a cool customer, Arthur.
Yes.
Blue usually claimed that she had lost the tapes. Or then again that she was keeping them in a safe place. Mad money, she would say. My little annuity.
A nice way to say extortion money.
That she still thought there were people around that she might be able to blackmail is evidence, I suppose, of how far off life’s radar screen she had wandered.
V
H er every public move was recorded on camera (and many of her private ones, too, as a star of her magnitude was always expected to be on public display, a condition written into the boilerplate of her contract). Here a photo of Baby Blue Tyler at age six being taught by a studio stunt coordinator how to climb trees at Cosmopolitan’s ranch in the San Fernando Valley. There a photo of Blue at age ten receiving from Clark Gable that special Oscar at the 1939 Academy Awards. Another of Blue giving Eleanor Roosevelt a contribution to the March of Dimes on behalf of the Motion Picture Producers Association. Blue with Bronx Bomber Joe DiMaggio and Brown Bomber Joe Louis. Blue with the French Fillies, the chorus line that appeared in all of Cosmopolitan’s musicals, each Filly personally selected by J. F. French himself (the better the head the Filly candidate gave Mr. French in her job interview, Chuckie O’Hara would tell me later, the better her chances for selection). Blue with Congressman Martin Dies, chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee, and Blue with Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. With Harold Arlen and Irving Berlin, “both penning Tyler songfests,” according to the caption. Blue being comforted by Norma Shearer outside the Wilshire BoulevardTemple, where she was “the youngest mourner at the funeral of Beloved Industry Legend Irving Thalberg.” Blue in January 1942, weeping at the
How did Irma really die?
An auto accident.
Really?
She drove off a cliff. In the hills up behind San Diego.
Was it really an accident?
We didn’t
kill
her, Jack, if that’s what you’re
getting
at. (Thiswas Arthur in his ironic mode, when certain words and certain phrases in every sentence appeared to be italicized.) The studio might try to cover up a murder, but we never
ordered
one. We did have
certain
standards.
Then it wasn’t an accident?
It was made to appear that way.
The studio not being without resources.
If you have resources, you use them. That’s why they’re called resources.
Thank you, Arthur. For explaining that to me. Anyway. The hills behind San Diego …
The mother of a child star is not supposed to commit suicide. It looks bad. Especially when the child star has a picture ready for release.
Why did she do it?
I suppose her contract was not going to be renewed. Her usefulness was more or less at an end. Or maybe she had just had it. It happens. Anyway, finding a surrogate guardian was never any problem.
Because Cosmopolitan Pictures was her real mother and father?
Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Jack. But yes, the studio was her family. I bet Blue would agree with that even today.
Who was Toolate?
Irma’s ex-husband, as near as we could figure. Long gone by the time Melba Mae appeared on the scene.
Gone where?
I’m sure I don’t know.
In prison?
A possibility.
Did he ever show up?
(Carefully): Over the years a number of people showed up claiming to have some kinship with Blue. The legal department handled all the claims.
You’re a cool customer, Arthur.
Yes.
Blue usually claimed that she had lost the tapes. Or then again that she was keeping them in a safe place. Mad money, she would say. My little annuity.
A nice way to say extortion money.
That she still thought there were people around that she might be able to blackmail is evidence, I suppose, of how far off life’s radar screen she had wandered.
V
H er every public move was recorded on camera (and many of her private ones, too, as a star of her magnitude was always expected to be on public display, a condition written into the boilerplate of her contract). Here a photo of Baby Blue Tyler at age six being taught by a studio stunt coordinator how to climb trees at Cosmopolitan’s ranch in the San Fernando Valley. There a photo of Blue at age ten receiving from Clark Gable that special Oscar at the 1939 Academy Awards. Another of Blue giving Eleanor Roosevelt a contribution to the March of Dimes on behalf of the Motion Picture Producers Association. Blue with Bronx Bomber Joe DiMaggio and Brown Bomber Joe Louis. Blue with the French Fillies, the chorus line that appeared in all of Cosmopolitan’s musicals, each Filly personally selected by J. F. French himself (the better the head the Filly candidate gave Mr. French in her job interview, Chuckie O’Hara would tell me later, the better her chances for selection). Blue with Congressman Martin Dies, chairman of the Un-American Activities Committee, and Blue with Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. With Harold Arlen and Irving Berlin, “both penning Tyler songfests,” according to the caption. Blue being comforted by Norma Shearer outside the Wilshire BoulevardTemple, where she was “the youngest mourner at the funeral of Beloved Industry Legend Irving Thalberg.” Blue in January 1942, weeping at the
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