Friday Fluff From Clifton Webb's Christmas Card List

Clifton Webb's pet of choice was the poodle. In fact, when he stepped off the train in Los Angeles in 1934, he was not only accompanied by Mabelle, but by his pet poodle as well. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that Webb found this card to use one Christmas season.

I'm not sure who 'Sonny boy' was, but I'm glad this find came up on Ebay.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and much happiness Sonny boy.  Clifton

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Clifton Webb & Noël Coward - Part II "Age Defeated Him"

On October 17, 1960, Mabelle Parmalee Hollenbeck Raum Webb, died at the age of ninety one. Except for his time on the road, Clifton had lived his entire life under the ever present and watchful eye of his mother.

Mabelle's father was a railwayman. Her childhood consisted of frequent moves between Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. And, when she married, she married Jacob Hollenbeck, another railwayman. Mabelle was also a frustrated performer. The Indianapolis Evening Star reported on two separate occasions in 1882, that mabele gave readings at the St. Nichol's Hotel in Indianapolis. Her chosen selections were "Mrs. Candle's Lecture," and "Order For A Picture." The article said, "All the recitations were well delivered but those of Miss Mabel Parmelee deserve special attention."

When Mabelle and Jacob married, they lived in Beech Grove, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis.When Webb Hollenbeck was born on November 19, 1889, Mabelle kept a sharp eye out for any theatrical ability. She must have seen something, because one day Mabelle boarded a train for New York, with young Webb, probably at the age of four or five, in tow. Jacob eventually located his family, and he and Mabelle divorced before her second marriage in 1897.

In truth, Webb was Mabelle's ticket out of Beech Grove, Indiana. And, was the victim of what we would call today, parental abduction. As soon as they arrived in New York, Mabelle enrolled her son in acting, dancing and singing lessons. If Mabelle couldn't be on stage, she would make sure her son would be.

Webb's attachment to Mabelle was rooted in this childhood experience. And it was a bond that even death couldn't separate.

Webb became inconsolable at the death of his mother.

On Monday, November 28, 1960, Coward wrote in his diary:

"Poor Clifton, on the other hand, is still, after two months, wailing and sobbing over Maybelle's (sic) death. As she was well over ninety, gaga, and had driven him mad for years, this seems excessive and over indulgent. He arrives here on Monday and I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas. Poor, poor Clifton. I am, of course, deeply sorry for him but he must snap out of it."

On Christmas morning, Coward took to his diaries once again:

"Clifton was fairly all right during the long drive, but since then he has devoted a lot of time to weeping and telling very, very long stories about the various deaths of his various beloved friends. He retails these gruesome memories with a wealth of maudlin detail. Neysa [McMein], Dorothy di Frasso, Adrian, Valentino, Jeanne Eagles. How he first heard the dreadful news of their demises, how he reacted, how they were laid out, how the memorial services were conducted, etc. These slow, slow ramblings inevitably end up with
Maybelle (sic), her last rites and the ear-rings which he remembered at the last minute to fix into her dead lobes, and then he breaks down and sobs and we all gaze at each other in wild surmise.

He admitted to me under a pledge of deep secrecy the other morning that he was seventy one. I expressed token amazement because the poor dear looks and behaves like ninety. There is much that is sweet about him but he is, and always has been, almost intolerably silly, and all this self indulgent wallowing in grief and the dear dead past is dreadfully exasperating. Coley and Charles are behaving wonderfully and so am I really, but it is tough going. He is leaving on 3 January to stay with Edward for ten days in a rented bungalow at Half Moon. That should be a morose little holiday if ever there was one."

In a Christmas letter to Joyce Carey wrote:

"He (Webb) is making an effort to snap out of it but the basic truth of the matter is that he's enjoying the wallowing. He doesn't know this, of course, but it is a leetle bit trying. After all she was 91 - on paper - and she has been on the gaga side for ages."

On January 7, Coward wrote in his diary:

"The party's over now. Coley drove Clifton, drenched in tears, to deposit his at Edward's bungalow at Half Moon. I somehow feel that it might not be an entirely cloudless visit. Edward is not exactly tolerant or kind when he gets a few drinks inside him. Poor Clifton! I gave him a loving but firm pep talk the night before he left and I think it helped a bit."

Webb's health was in decline, and he completed his final movie in 1961, "Satan Never Sleeps" which also starred William Holden. Multiple surgeries and the associated recovery, ensured that the parties that once filled the house on Rexford Drive were over. On October 13, 1966, Webb died. His secretary, Helen Matthews, felt that Webb couldn't face another anniversary of Mabelle's death which would be four days later.

On Sunday, October 16, 1966, Coward wrote in his diary:

"Clifton died two (sic) days ago. Another old friend gone. For his sake I'm glad. He's been miserably ill for a long time now. He was dreadfully preoccupied with his own bad health, poor dear. If Maybelle (sic) had died ten years earlier he might have survived better, but she left it too late and he wrapped himself in grief and dread every morning when he woke. He used to be such good company in the past. Age defeated him. I wonder if it will defeat me? I feel it won't, but you never know. Invalidism is a subtle pleasure."

For all his complaints about Webb's wallowing in the memories of "very, very long stories about the various deaths of his various beloved friends," his own diary became a chronicle of the passing of all his friends who went before him. I suppose we all do this in one form or another.

Clifton Webb & Noel Coward

Clifton Webb and Noël Coward were introduced very early in the 1920's. By 1922, Coward reported back to his mother: "The leading men in the Revue will be Clifton Webb and Morris Harvey (if possible). I've done some heavenly new music. The whole thing will put me right up on top and break several records." The show was "London Calling" and, when it opened on February 23, 1923, neither Webb nor Harvey appeared on opening night. The two male roles went to Tubby Eldin and Noël Coward.  

No doubt the cast change resulted from Webb's acceptance of the role of Jimmy Eustace in the musical comedy "Jack and Jill," which opened at the Globe Theater a month later on March 22, 1923. In "Jack and Jill" Webb introduced "Dancing in the Dark" and, a comedy number that had been written for Jack Buchanan in 1918, "And Her Mother Came Too!" written by Ivor Novello.

In his book My Life With Noël Coward, Graham Payn said of Webb: "His clipped. waspish personality amused Noël, though in later years it became increasingly irritating to him. Clifton's manner was an attempt at an American "Noël Coward," which may explain Noël's ambivalent feelings. He was his mirror image, and there were days when he wasn't in the mood to face it!"

If Clifton wanted to be the American Noël Coward, Noël Coward wanted to be the next Ivor Novello. Novello was only six years older than Coward, yet his first hit song, "Keep The Home Fires Burning," became a standard during World War I. Coward was introduced to Novello by his lifetime companion Bobbie Andrews. Novello and Andrews met in 1916, and remained together for thirty five years, only to be separated when Novello died in 1951.

After meeting Novello. Coward wrote: He wrote, "I just felt suddenly conscious of the long way I had to go before I could break into the magic atmosphere in which he moved and breathed with such nonchalance."

During the Blitz in 1941, Coward claimed to have begun the song while seated on a bench in a damaged railway station and that he finished it a few days later. It became a British standard during World War II. 

Webb and Coward were in regular contact from their first meeting. There was a profitability factor in this relationship as well. As the "American Noël Coward," Coward recognized that American audiences were eager to buy tickets to a show Webb was appearing in since he had been a fixture on Broadway for decades, and, had toured the country with most of his hits. In the early to mid 1930's, Coward was still building his brand. 

Once Coward opened in a show, he became bored with it easily. Rarely did he extend his appearance beyond his contractual obligation, even if it was a play that he had written for himself. To try and combat this, in 1936, he wrote and starred in a trilogy of ten one act plays called "Tonight At 8:30." Appearing with him was the actress, and his old friend, Joyce Carey.

Webb, having just closed "And Stars Remain" after a month of performances, and without prospects for new employment, decided to throw a Christmas Eve dinner for his theatrical friends. The guest list was unlike anything you have ever seen: Noël Coward, Katharine Cornell and her husband Guthrie McClintic, Joyce Carey, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Peggy Ashcroft, Robert Harris, Ruth Selwyn, Gloria Swanson and John Gielgud.

These were lean years for Webb. After "And Stars Remain" in 1936, he had to wait for the postponed Cole Porter musical "You Never Know" which opened in 1938 and only played for 78 performances. In 1939, Guthrie McClintic's ex-wife Estelle Winwood, cast Webb as John Worthing in her version of "The Importance of Being Earnest." But this production only ran for 61 performances. Webb, who had worked continuously on Broadway for 25 years before his ill fated MGM contract, only worked seven months in New York, between November, 1936 and November 1941.

In 1939, he managed to find a touring company of "The Man Who Came To Dinner" where he played Sheridan Whiteside. Finally, in December of 1941, Coward came through for Webb. "Blithe Spirit" was a comedy that needed a light touch. Coward, who hadn't even played the lead in London, decided not to do the show in New York, and called his old friend, Webb.

Webb, of course, jumped at the opportunity. "Blithe Spirit" ran for 1,997 performances in London. In New York, it ran from 1941 to 1943 for 689 performances. Then Webb took it on the road. In 1946, Coward came through again with "Present Laughter" and the role of Garry Essendine. In this case Coward played the original role in London, but bowed out for the New York production. Subsequent revivals starring George C. Scott and Frank Langella each ran for 175 performances.

The original production ran for 158 performances. It would be Webb's last appearance on a Broadway stage. It was 1946, after all, and Otto Preminger needed a Waldo Lydecker for his film "Laura." A new window in Webb's life was opening wide, and he would sail through as quickly as he could.

Through it all, Coward and Webb maintained a regular correspondence. In 1957, Coward sent a letter to "Darling pretty Mr W," on Blue Harbour stationery: 

Witty, chatty, gossipy. Everything you would expect in a Noël Coward letter. Only Coward could get away with calling Webb a "silly, dithering old Twot."

As Webb and Coward grew older, so did Mabelle. Finally, Mabelle died at the age of 91. Webb was consumed with grief at the loss of his mother, who he had lived with for his entire life, and he carried his inconsolable grief everywhere he went for the rest of his life. One of Coward's famous quotes rose from Webb's grief.

According to Graham Payn, when Coward called Webb from Jamaica after Mabelle's death, Webb spent so much time on the phone saying nothing and letting out racking sobs, that the only way Coward could calm him down by threatening to reverse the charges. When he hung up the phone, Payn says the Coward turned to him and said, "You realize this makes Clifton the worlds oldest, living orphan."

In his book, Behind The Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Saved Hollywood, William Mann says the line was actually said at the home of Billy Haines and Jimmy Shields. After a dinner party, about a year after Mabelle's death, someone made a suggestion that everyone go downtown to see a XX Show. Deep in grief, Webb wanted nothing to do with merriment and kept saying, "It's too soon, It's too soon." An exasperated Coward is said to have turned to to Webb and said, "You know, Clifton, it's not a terrible thing to be orphaned at seventy four."

I would hazard a suggestion that both stories are true. I'm sure that Coward would, once he found a good line, use it in any situation.

As he dealt with his grief, Webb grew more and more cantankerous. Some of it, which was chronicled in Coward's diaries and letters, will be included in the next post.

The Death of Julian Winter

For many years, Clifton and Mabelle lived at The Osborne Apartments, 205 West 57th Street in New York City. Construction of The Osborne was completed in 1885, and was designed by James Edward Ware. It sits at the northwest corner of 57th Street and 7th Avenue, diagonally across from Carnegie Hall. Across the years, you find among it's famous residents Leonard Bernstein, Van Cliburn, Shirley Booth, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Sylvia Miles and Harold Clurman.

In December, 1931, Clifton Webb was appearing in the hit Dietz and Schwartz revue "Three's A Crowd" which also starred Fred Allen, Tamara Geva, and Libby Holman. Making their Broadway debut were the performers Allan Jones and Fred MacMurray. Both Jones and MacMurray would begin their Hollywood careers in 1935, after one more Broadway production, "Roberta," which closed in 1934.

Among the other residents of The Osborne in 1931, was a onetime actor named Julian Winter. Born Julian Winterfeld, he worked as a hotel manager in Brooklyn in 1920, and along the way, landed a role in a Rudolf Friml operetta called "The Vagabond King" which ran from September, 1925 to December, 1926. In 1930, Winter received another role in Jed Harris' production of "The Inspector General," which starred Lillian Gish. The good news was that Winter had an acting job. The bad news is that Jed Harris was the director.

Undeniably talented, Harris produced, produced and directed, or directed "Uncle Vanya," "A Doll's House," "Our Town," and "The Crucible." He cast Laurence Olivier in his first Broadway role and he had a real talent for self promotion. For all his talents, Harris had a mean streak that he could whip out at a moments notice. Beatrice Straight said, "He was a bully." His biographer, Martin Gottfried said "Arrogance, egoism, cruelty, and Machiavellianism kept his talent from being spent, and that was his greatest tragedy." George S. Kaufman had expressed a wish that, on his death, he be cremated and his ashes were to be thrown in Jed Harris' face. 

Harris was known to be responsible for two suicides, and complicit in a third. Enter Julian Winter.

"The Inspector General" was opening on December 23, 1930 at the Hudson Theater on West 44th Street. Shortly after noon, Clifton Webb's chauffeur brought the car around to the front of The Osborne. If there hadn't been changes to the building, the chauffeur and the car would have been shielded from the elements by an elegant porte-cochère that extended from the front door to the street.

As the chauffeur waited, eight floors above, Julian Winter was in full blown panic mode over his opening night in "The Inspector General." His wife and father tried to calm him down. Finally, just before 12:15, Winter rushed to the window and jumped. His body hit the street, narrowly missing Webb's chauffeur.

The written police report says:

"Jumped from 8th floor to roadway in front of 205 W 57 - 12 story apt. house. Wife & his father in apt. at the time. Det. Gilman assigned."

The physical examination states:

"Body that of extremely obese white adult male of stated age. Medium height , dark brown hair & eyes. No P.M. rigidity. The top of the skull has been crushed in and the brains have extruded through a rent in the whole vertex. Partial evisceration through a large laceration in abdominal wall. Large laceration over right hip exposing fractured pelvis. Compound fractures both arms and both legs all bones. Multiple fractures of the ribs."

So, at forty two years old, Julian Winter paid an ultimate price for his art, almost taking Webb's chauffeur with him.

"The Inspector General" opened, as scheduled, on December 23, 1930. An understudy went on in Winter's place that night. The show closed seven performances later, before the new year.

Harry Brown

Every year, on Christmas Eve, Clifton and Mabelle received a holiday telegram from Harry Brown.

Now, there are several Harry Brown's with credits on IMDB.com. Harry C. Brown, was an actor who appeared in silent movies from 1914 to 1921. Harry Brown shows 4 acting credits between 1934 and 1939. Another Harry Brown appeared in movies and television between 1941 and 1956. Harry Joe Brown was a prolific producer, and Harlequin of The Masquers, who worked from 1924 to 1967.

The sender of the telegram, however, was not any of these Harry Browns. It wasn't even from Harry Brown. This AKA Harry Brown was actually a woman, who was so famous in her time, that when she traveled, she used the pseudonym of Harriet Brown. She abandoned her film career in 1941, and retired to her apartment at 450 East 52nd Street in New York City.

Along the way, it was natural that her path would cross with Clifton Webb's. They moved in the same circles, and had many friends in common. Clifton took the pseudonym of Harriet Brown and converted it to his own nickname for her, Harry Brown, which she embraced.

Harry Brown was, of course, the one and only Greta Garbo.

Clifton not only shared friends with Garbo, he was also a long time friend of one woman who became Garbo's enemy.

The famous dress designer, Valentina Nicholaevna Sanina Schlee, was known simply as Valentina. She married the financier George Schlee, and became a successful Madison Avenue designer. In addition, she became a costume designer for such Broadway productions as "The Philadelphia Story." She dressed Cornell, Fontanne, Swanson, Hepburn, and Whitneys and Vanderbilts, and many, many others.

George Schlee was a Russian millionaire, and he met Garbo in the early 1940's. He became a close friend and advisor to Garbo for the rest of his life. Garbo moved into her

apartment on 52nd Street in 1951, a building where Valentina and Schlee already lived.

Before Schlee's death in 1964, Valentina developed a strong jealousy of Garbo's long friendship with Schlee. After Schlee's death, and before Valentina's own death in 1989, a 25 year pas de deux took place in the lobby of 450 East 52nd Street. Neither Valentina nor Garbo cared to face each other, so they memorized each other's schedules so they would never accidentally run into each other in the lobby or elevator.

There's no record if angry stares were ever exchanged, but can you imagine the tension when the poor doorman saw either woman headed his way?

Cocktails With Clifton and Mabelle - October 19, 1937

One of the joys of writing about Clifton Webb, is that you can't talk about him without talking about the famous, and sometimes infamous, friends he surrounded himself with.

On October 19, 1937, Clifton, and his ever present mother Mabelle, hosted a cocktail party for Cole Porter, who had just returned from Europe. Porter was preparing for his latest Broadway musical "You Never Know."

In attendance were Charles B. "Cockie" Cochran and his wife, Evelyn. Cochran was closely associated with Noël Coward, and produced most of Coward's plays and musicals. Cochran's chief competitor was the European impresario André Charlot. Charlot had hired Webb as a dancer in the 1920's for one of his revues, and it was during this time that Webb and Coward first met and formed a lifelong friendship.

Diana Napier Tauber was the wife of Austrian tenor Richard Tauber. The Tauber's were married from 1936 to 1948. Richard made 13 movie appearances from 1929 to 1946. As Diana Napier, she appeared in 14 films from 1932 to 1936. In 1950 she appeared in 2 films, both British mysteries titled "Bait," and "I Was A Dancer."

Elsa Maxwell, of course, was there. Also, an actress, and old friend of the Webbs, named Dorothy Norman. In an undated letter to "Mr. & Mrs. Webb," Dorothy reported that she is off to London, with a request that they look her up when they "come over." She gives the The Prince of Wales Theatre as her address. In a 1932 letter from Webb to Mabelle, he reports back to his mother "Had dinner with Edward and his sister and he got a box for Cassanova which is awful and poor Dorothy is doing practically chorus."

Constance Collier and Elsa Maxwell were regulars at Webb's parties. Jean Howard was an actress, former Ziegfeld and Goldwyn girl, and close friend of Cole Porter's. Howard was married to the agent and producer Charles Feldman from 1934 to 1948, although they continued to live together until Feldman's death in 1968. She had studied photography, and published 2 books, "Travels With Cole Porter" and "Jean Howard's Hollywood: A Photo Memoir." When Cole Porter died, Howard inherited a fortune in jewels, which allowed her to live comfortably for the rest of her life until her death on March 20, 2000.

Dwight Deere Wiman was a producer, and, more importantly, an heir to the John Deere tractor fortune. He produced on Broadway from 1925 to 1951. Among his productions: "The Country Girl," "Street Scene," "Morning's At Seven," "On Borrowed Time," "Babes In Arms," "On Your Toes," and "The Little Show."

The opera singer and actress Cobina Wright was also there. Wright's second husband, Bill Wright, was a stocbroker and millionaire, and they divorced in 1935. Their only child was Cobina Carolyn Wright, who became known as Cobina Wright, Jr., and the mother started using the name Cobina Wright, Sr. Wright, Sr. wrote a syndicated gossip column and, on her retirement from acting, she pushed her daughter forward. Wright, Jr. appeared in 9 films from 1941 to 1943.

New York Society was represented by Frances Scott Truesdale, Janet Newbold Stewart and her husband, William Rhinelander Stewart. After the Stewarts divorced, Janet married James Smith Bush II, the brother of Prescott Bush, the father and grandfather of two Presidents. After her divorce from Bush, Janet was approached by Vincent Astor, who asked her to marry him. Janet turned him down, allegedly saying "I don't even like you." Astor pleaded his case saying that he was sick, not expected to live much longer, and, at his death, she would inherit his fortune. Again, allegedly, Janet asked, "What if you do live?" Instead, Astor proposed to Brooke Marshall.

In 1937, Webb's career was on hold. He had worked almost constantly from his 1913 debut in the operetta "The Purple Road" until 1934 when he closed in Irving Berlin's "As Thousands Cheer" when he made the move to Hollywood. Under contract to MGM, Webb sat for publicity photos with Clarence Sinclair Bull, and read publicity releases for his upcoming musical project "Elegance" which would co-star Joan Crawford. He rented a house from Constance Bennett, where he and Mabelle, met and entertained expats from Broadway, and where he became friends with those parts of Hollywood that he wasn't already friends with.

During that fallow, eighteen month period, he began to call Hollywood "The land of endowed vacations." Finally, when his contract with MGM expired in March of 1936, he returned to New York, his goal was to resurrect his Broadway career. On October 12, 1936, Webb and his co-star, Helen Gahagan, opened in the play "And Stars Remain" which was produced by the Theatre Guild. The authors were Julius and Philip Epstein, who, as screenwriters, would achieve fame with the script for "Casablanca." 

Webb played a boulevardier named Overton Morrell. During the play he lamented that "my dancing days are over." Critics picked up on that line and lamented that they hoped it wasn't true, and that they would get to see Webb back in his dancing form soon. Unfortunately, their opinion of "And Stars Remain" wasn't very high, and the show closed in November, 1936, about a month after opening.

Now, here it was, October of 1937. Webb hasn't worked for a year. And, here he was, entertaining Cole Porter, on the cusp of opening in Porter's newest Broadway outing, "You Never Know," based on the operetta "Bei Kerzenleicht" by Robert Katscher and Karl Farkas. When "You Never Know" opens, Webb will be joined in the cast by Lupe Velez and his old stage comrade Libby Holman. Webb will play the role of Gaston, and introduce the Porter song, "At Long Last Love."

Five days after this cocktail party, on October 24, 1937, Cole Porter was horseback riding at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, NY. Along with him on the ride was Countess Edith Di Zoppola and Duke Fulca di Verdura. Porter's horse was spooked, fell to the ground and crushed Porter's leg. In attempting to get up, the horse fell a second time and crushed the other leg.

"You Never Know" would be delayed another year and would open on September 21, 1938. "At Long Last Love" would become a Porter standard, and "You Never Know" would close on November 26, 1938 after 78 performances.