Roland West the Morning After the Death of Thelma Todd in 1935

On the morning of Monday, December 16, 1935, film director Roland West faced the sudden discovery of the death of his business partner and on-and-off lover, actress Thelma Todd. Her body was found slumped inside her chocolate-brown Lincoln convertible in a garage on the hill above her Pacific Palisades café. Distraught and immediately thrust into the spotlight, West became a central figure in the intense police and grand jury investigations that followed.

Todd’s maid Mae Whitehead, found her employer inside her 1934 Lincoln Phaeton convertible. The car was parked inside the garage at Jewel Carmen’s residence, located roughly a block uphill from the Sidewalk Cafe. Todd was still wearing an evening gown, mink wrap, and jewelry. Whitehead later told police that Todd was slumped forward in the seat, her head tilted to one side. She also reported blood around Todd’s nose.

Investigators quickly established that West and Todd had quarreled the night before when she returned late from a party. West had locked the building’s doors, expecting her earlier. Because the garage belonged to West’s residence and the two shared a volatile, complex personal and business relationship, suspicion immediately fell on him, though he maintained his innocence during exhaustive inquiries.

Investigators carrying movie actress Thelma Todd’s body the morning after her death in 1935.

The official coroner’s ruling eventually pointed to carbon monoxide poisoning as an accident or suicide, but the strange circumstances fueled decades of Hollywood lore and rumors of foul play. Decades later, a claim emerged that West allegedly made a deathbed confession of murder, keeping the mystery alive.

1966 Pontiac GTO ‘Monkeemobile’ No. 3: Iconic TV Custom Classic

The 1966 Pontiac GTO ‘Monkeemobile’ No. 3 is a famous customized muscle car created for the popular 1960s television series The Monkees.

Based on a standard 1966 Pontiac GTO convertible, it was heavily modified with an exaggerated front end, split two-piece windshield, extended rear quarter panels, a third-row seat, and theatrical details like a rear-mounted parachute.

While the original two Monkeemobiles were built by customizer Dean Jeffries, No. 3 was a later promotional version associated with George Barris’s collection and used for public appearances.

With its bold, playful design and strong connection to 1960s pop culture, the Monkeemobile remains one of the most recognizable custom cars of the era. These photos capture the wild, fun-loving style of the 1966 Pontiac GTO ‘Monkeemobile’ No. 3, a true icon of 1960s television and American custom car culture.

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40 Gorgeous Portraits of Beautiful Arlene Dahl in the 1940s

Arlene Carol Dahl (August 11, 1925 – November 29, 2021) was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. Known for her striking red hair, vivid blue eyes, and signature beauty mark, she captured the public's attention as a symbol of classic elegance and wholesome yet sophisticated allure.

Dahl modeled (including as a Rheingold Beer Girl in 1946 and associated with Clairol promotions) and debuted on Broadway in the short-lived musical Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston (1945). This led to another play (Questionable Ladies) and attention from Hollywood talent scouts, including Jack Warner.

After working in local theater and modeling for department stores in Minnesota, she moved to Los Angeles and initially signed a brief contract with Warner Bros. Her screen debut was an uncredited bit in Life with Father (1947). She was quickly elevated to a leading role as the romantic interest in the Technicolor musical My Wild Irish Rose (1947) opposite Dennis Morgan, a hit that highlighted her looks and helped secure an MGM contract.

Supporting/lead roles included the glamorous “other woman” in The Bride Goes Wild (1948, with Van Johnson and June Allyson), the female lead in the Red Skelton comedy A Southern Yankee (1948), Scene of the Crime (1949, again with Johnson), and the more dramatic role of a French conspirator in Anthony Mann’s Reign of Terror (also known as The Black Book, 1949).

In the late 1940s she was establishing herself as a classic Hollywood beauty suited to Technicolor, often in decorative or romantic roles in musicals, comedies, and some dramas/adventures. She also casually dated a young John F. Kennedy around this period. Her peak fame and most remembered work came in the 1950s, but the 1940s marked her breakthrough from Midwestern model/aspiring performer to contracted studio actress.

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Actor Anita Page Showcasing Her Award-Winning “Most Beautiful Forehead in Hollywood” in 1932

On November 30, 1932, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) starlet Anita Page won the Californian contest for the “Most Beautiful Forehead in Hollywood” (alternatively translated from historic press wires as the “Most Beautiful Front”).

This was one of the quirky publicity-oriented beauty contests common in Hollywood during the early 1930s. Page was already famous as a popular MGM actress of the late silent era and early talkies (notably Our Dancing Daughters opposite Joan Crawford and the Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody, 1929). She was widely promoted as the “Girl with the Most Beautiful Face in Hollywood” and received up to 20,000 fan letters a month, reportedly second only to Greta Garbo at her peak, along with colorful admirers that included Benito Mussolini.

By late 1932 her MGM contract was winding down (it was not renewed), and she continued briefly in other studios before largely retiring from the screen in the mid-1930s. The forehead contest fits the era’s light, image-focused publicity around stars’ physical features.

40 Glamorous Photos of a Young and Beautiful Jean Parker in the 1930s

Jean Parker (born Lois May Green, August 11, 1915 – November 30, 2005) was a prominent Hollywood ingenue in the 1930s, known for her pretty, vivacious looks, wide hazel eyes, and sweet, wide-eyed appeal in both supporting and leading roles.

She was discovered at age 16 after winning a poster contest (depicting Father Time or related to the Olympics). Her photo appeared in a Los Angeles newspaper and was spotted by Ida Koverman (assistant to MGM’s Louis B. Mayer), leading to a screen test and MGM contract. Her name was changed to Jean Parker. She had aspired to be an illustrator/artist before acting.

Her feature debut was the pre-Code drama Divorce in the Family (1932). She followed with an uncredited bit in Rasputin and the Empress (1932, the only film with all three Barrymores) and minor roles in films like Gabriel Over the White House and The Secret of Madame Blanche (both 1933).

On loan-outs she landed her best-remembered early parts: Lady for a Day (Frank Capra, Columbia) as Louise, the daughter of May Robson’s Apple Annie; Little Women (George Cukor, RKO) as the gentle, tragic Beth March opposite Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, and Frances Dee. These established her as a classic 1930s ingenue. She made multiple films in 1933 alone and gained a reputation for working quickly and well.

At MGM and elsewhere she took leads and supporting roles in a mix of dramas, comedies, and other genres. She made roughly 16 films for MGM between 1932–1935 (often B-picture leads) before freelancing more widely. By the late 1930s she continued in features (including some B-movies) while her image remained that of a soft, appealing ingenue. Publicists called her the “Cinderella Girl.” These photos from the period show her as a classic glamorous Hollywood beauty of the time.

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Danièle Gaubert: France’s Forgotten Icon of 1960s Cinema

Danièle Gaubert (1943–1987) was a French actress and model whose striking beauty and elegant presence made her a notable figure of 1960s European cinema.

Discovered at just 16 by director Claude Autant-Lara, Gaubert debuted in Les Régates de San Francisco (1960) and went on to appear in French, Italian, and international films, including Camille 2000 (1969) and Underground (1970).

With her refined features and sophisticated charm, Gaubert embodied the stylish allure of the decade. After marrying Olympic ski champion Jean-Claude Killy in 1972, she stepped away from the spotlight, leaving behind a brief but memorable career. These vintage photos beautifully capture the timeless elegance of Danièle Gaubert, a forgotten yet unforgettable icon of 1960s French cinema.

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A Gallery of 50 Vintage Photographs of a Young Norma Shearer in the 1920s

Edith Norma Shearer (August 11, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated women. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O’Neill, and William Shakespeare, and was the first five-time Academy Award acting nominee, was nominated six times in all, and won one for Best Actress for The Divorcee (1930).

In the 1920s, Shearer transformed from a struggling New York model into the “Queen of MGM,” becoming one of Hollywood’s most powerful, stylish, and influential icons of the silent film era. Through immense determination, strategic career choices, and her marriage to a top studio executive, she defied early rejections to define modern femininity on screen.

Shearer began the decade in poverty after her family lost their wealth in Canada. Moving to New York in 1920, she faced harsh rejections; theater producer Florenz Ziegfeld famously told her she was too short and cross-eyed. Undeterred, she took a series of modeling jobs, even posing as the tire model “Miss Lotta Miles” on giant billboards, and worked as an extra to fund eye exercises to correct her strabismus. Her first minor break came with a fourth-billing role in the B-movie The Stealers (1920).

Her persistence paid off when Hollywood talent scout Irving Thalberg spotted her early work and signed her to a contract with the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio in 1923. Her career skyrocketed almost immediately. She starred in MGM’s very first official film, He Who Gets Slapped (1924), alongside Lon Chaney. In Lady of the Night (1925), she displayed her incredible versatility by playing a dual role, both a sheltered, conservative wealthy girl and a street-smart, independent woman. She became a definitive face of the “Jazz Age” and a massive box-office draw, known for her sophisticated, elegant style.

In 1927, Shearer married Irving Thalberg, who had risen to become MGM’s legendary head of production. While Thalberg initially preferred that she retire to family life, Shearer fiercely demanded bigger, more complex roles. This marriage solidified her massive influence on the studio lot.

Unlike many silent stars whose careers died with the advent of synchronized sound, Shearer embraced “talkies” with total confidence. Backed by her brother Douglas Shearer, who happened to be MGM’s chief sound engineer, she made her successful talking debut in The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929). By the end of 1929, she filmed The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, setting the stage for her boundary-pushing, Oscar-winning work as a sexually liberated woman in the early 1930s.

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