John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! - Summary

John Gilbert! Who is this guy anyway?
The great romantic lover of the silent screen.
The poor boy, who had no home growing up and who lived to see uncomparable triumphs as an adult.
The tragic figure, who couldn't manage to hold onto his career when the talkies came because his voice was "feminine", leading him to be totally forgotten within a few short years, ending up as an alcoholic, dying way too young.

Yes. That's what they say. But it's not really true. It is - like many things in life - much more complex and multi-layered.


The amazing documentaries by Kevin Brownlow on the silent movie era "Silent Hollywood" is a must see for everyone interested. Parts of it can be found on YouTube, please check them out.
The episode "Star Treatment" tells of two huge silent movie stars - Clara Bow and Jack Gilbert.
I will link the segment about Jack here in three parts.

Clara Bow and John Gilbert were the two big stars who unexplainably did not make the transition to the talking era. At least that's what they say.

Jack wasn't the easiest person to get along with. That's what the people said, that knew him, that loved him. He had a very serious alcohol problem - all his adult life.
Actually it is unexplainable why he managed to be this great star for so long, living the life he did. So much alcohol, so many women, so much smoking, later more drugs ... yet still, until the very end you could not tell by looking at what the camera captured ...

The success enjoyed by silent movie stars world wide is without comparision and today cannot be fully understood. Because silent movies "worked" everywhere!! Really everywhere!!! You didn't need a movie theatre. What you needed was a projector, the film reels and a place where you could project the images on. That's it.
Back then it was common that there was not only live music (usually by an orchestra or musical group, at least a piano or organ), but there was also a "speaker" who would read out the titles. Movies were the medium of the newly immigrated, of the people who couldn't speak English properly and of the poor who could not afford to go to the theatre.
Movies worked for everyone everywhere!
When silent movie stars went abroad, they were always met with great recognision.
Mary Pickford is said to be the person who was the most known person in the world of all times simultaneously. Maybe people did not know her name, but they would know her face and would remember seeing her in numerous silent pictures.
The silent movie stars were the stars of their time.

Newspapers couldn't break the language barrier.
Theatre couldn't break the language barrier.
But silent movies could make the leap easily.

You can really say that the whole world loved Jack when he had his great successes. He earned so much money like no other. Record numbers!
On his wedding trip to Europe with Ina Claire, he was flooded with fans.
Yet still Jack was extremely self destructive.

That just goes to show, that happiness is an inside job. Many people experience great tragedies, but they manage to live a good life. Jack unfortunately did not manage. Even when he had the world at his feet and all the resources to turn his life into one happy living. That is the tragedy of Jack's life.

Like his second wife Leatrice Joy said in the "Silent Hollywood" documentary: "Many have been compared to mercury, but Jack Gilbert WAS mercury. Touch him and he was gone."

What remains are many myths. A tragic hero who had the studio boss against him. (But would that studio boss really destroy his great investment?) A great actor who had a small and feminine voice. (Not true, you can check that out yourself.) A man whose life was overshadowed by his tragic childhood ...


We've learnt a lot about Jack.
His birth in July 1897. His early life travelling with his parents. The early death of his mother when he was only 16 years old.
His mother did not want him? Even back then women had options to end pregnancies.
If Ida had wanted to end her pregnancy, being a woman travelling from town to town - who did not have to put up with town gossip - Ida would have found a way.
Even after Jack's birth Ida could have gotten rid of Jack if she wished to do so. Her family could not and would not take in Jack. She could have just dumped Jack somewhere or she could have given him into an orphanage. Those were horrible places back then. But if Ida would have really wanted to get rid of Jack, she had that option.

But Ida, so it seems, was not as horrific as everyone keeps saying.
Her occupation as an actress is not ideal to raise a child. She will have understood the situation, that's why she tried to make her family take in Jack.
When Jack was with her - who would take care of the small child? Locking him up in a closet doesn't sound so extreme anymore. I would never lock a child in a closet. But in Ida's situation it was the more responsible alterntive. Just think what could have happened to the small child while Ida was rehearsing or performing ... a small child alone in an enviroment purely for grown ups ...


Jack suffered a great deal about something else - his mother would keep introducing him to "new Daddies". Hmmm, just how many new Daddies were there? We will never know.
But his birth father Johnnie Pringle had left Jack's life shortly after his birth. His step-father who Jack considered his real father and who seemed to be Jack's adoptive parent, was Ida's partner and husband for most of Jack's life.

But the question about Jack's fathers is interesting in itself, because actually we know nothing!
There is no birth certificate. (Even when in his presumed place of birth Logan, Utah was handing out birth documents way before they had to by law. Logan was a Mormon town, the Apperleys were Mormons. And Mormons even back then were very interesting in genealogy and therefore took care of documentation.)
We can however assume that Johnnie Pringle is Jack's birth father.

Jack's birth name was Cecil John Pringle.
When Johnnie Pringle left the family, Jack's name changed from Cecil to John.
And remember - people called him Jack all his life.
Looking from a genealogical viewpoint, the "change" of the first name is not so uncommon, if the child was named after a parent. When the child had one name and another taken from a parent, usually that "parent name" became the proper first name, when parent and child did not live in the same household anymore.
The change from Cecil to John is not so unusual.

But the change of the surname is a different matter! To change that in official documents you actually have to make an official effort.
There are no documents for Johnnie Pringle and Ida Adair's wedding. Did they get married?

Walter Gilbert and Ida did get married, we saw the marriage licence.
But remember - Ida had stated she had been married before. Her married name was supposed to have been "Greenleaf".
This of course could be a typo. This can happen with official documents too.
But it is noteworthy that Jack was called Gilbert starting with the marriage.
I do not know much about adoption registrations in the US during that time.
But I'm certain the birth father must have agreed to the adoption, no?
Maybe there was no paper trail of a birth father because there was no marriage between Johnnie and Ida?

Johnnie Pringle is an interesting case! 
I think you could do many many more hours of research, but that would be too much for this blog and for me.
Was Johnnie Pringle married to someone not Ida when he was with Ida??
That would make Jack an illegitimate child.
Adopting an illegitimate child would probably not require the birth father's approval, no?

And if Ida gave her married name as "Greenleaf" - that would have taken away the link to Johnnie Pringle (who might have been married or not).
As long as there are no divorce papers for that first marriage of Ida's, we won't know.
Adoption papers would be intriguing too ...

Back to Jack's telling of all the different men in Ida's life. (Remember that Jack exergerated a lot.)
We don't know if Ida cheated on Walter.
But if there are doubts of how those two felt about each other, take a look at Ida's grave stone.
It reads "Ida Adair Wife of Walter B Gilbert".

Walter, who very probably had the stone erected, felt strongly enough about Ida that he would put his own name on it too.
Ida's death certificate is also telling as "W.B. Gilbert" is listed as "informant" to Ida's death. The couple were living together until Ida's death.
It doesn't sound like Ida had turned away from Walter. Or Walter from Ida.


Ida was not mother of the year. But she wasn't the horrible mother she is made out to be. That is terribly unjust.

Because where were Jack's fathers?!? Neither his birth father or his adopted father took him in! Why is all the blame on Ida's shoulders?


Johnnie Pringle introduced himself to his son when Jack was already a known silent movie actor. Johnnie got himself hired as an extra in a big budget production staring his son. There on the set he introduced himself to Jack.
Why would he approach Jack at his point in time?

Success has many fathers. (German saying.) That's why.


Walter Gilbert isn't much better. When Ida died, he handed Jack three things - a train ticket, Ida's make up kit (which Walter had not been able to sell) and ten dollars.
Jack was 16 and he got dumped like a hot potato by his father. Right after Ida's funeral he was sent cross country to San Francisco. Walter could have taken him in or could have sent him to his family. But Walter chose to send Jack away directly after the funeral.
He did help Jack with a recommendation to get a job in the movies. But when Jack in his most desperate hour contacted him and begged for money because he had nothing to support his first wife and himself, he got brushed off by Walter who lectured him, Jack should have saved money.
Jack commented this with "I never wasted postage on him again.", father and son broke off contact.


Jack had no contact with the families of his fathers.
But he did have extensive ties to his mother's family.
The Apperleys were Mormon pioneers in Utah. They're life was hard and simple. It would have been close to impossible to care for an extra child.

Ida's mother was a heavily traumatised person herself who had never experienced a good family life. Ida had to take on a lot of responsibilities from early on. Later in life she took care of her younger sister Clara.
Shame that people trash talk Ida so much!

Jack could have found a home in Logan, Utah. (He did spend some time there.) He loved to read, he said that on many occasions. On tour he couldn't take books with him. But his grandfather Apperley in Logan was a teacher at college and he even wrote poetry - in Logan Jack would have certainly have had access to books!
Theoretically he could have found a religious home there too, giving him some peace and stability. In the Mormon town of Logan, there would have been options for him to get to know this side of life. If the Mormon faith was not to his liking, he was christened by the Church of England, Walter's father was a Methodist priest ...

Jack's bond with his mother's family was beyond his grave. In his testament Jack mentions Clifford Apperley. Clifford was one of the few who took little Jack under his wing.

But Jack's life was a continued rollercoaster ride. At least he had a few very good months.

Marlene Dietrich. Think what you want about her, but everyone who came in close contact with her said the same: when Marlene was in love, she was warm-hearted, very caring and she mothered (!) the people she loved.
Marlene cooked for Jack, made him stop alcohol, tried to make him quit cigarettes. She made sure that Jack really got to know his daughter Leatrice. She even got Jack his last movie contract.
He couldn't play the part when the time came, because his health had been so damaged by his abuse. But his last months were good for Jack.

Let's be happy for him.
And let's remember him as a wonderful actor, who entertained us. And who made us smile! :)

Watch "The Big Parade" (1925). The first anti war movie. An absolute hit movie, that is still watchable today. Romance, dramatic war scenes. And fun elements away from the war. A must see!

Carry a torch for Jack! With Greta Garbo in "Love" (1927).

Carry a torch for Jack and Greta in "Flesh and the Devil" (1926).

Watch "Downstairs" (1933). Jack wrote the script and he plays a thug ... and even sings a German song! Wunderbar, Herr Priegel! ;)

Watch "Heart o' the Hills" (1919). Mary Pickford is the star. But you will not forget Jack Gilbert in a recurring role.

"He Who Gets Slapped" (1924) with Lon Chaney as a tragic circus clown and Jack as an acrobat (who does some stunts himself).

Dance with Jack and "The Merry Widow" (1925).

And fall a little bit in love with Jack, the romantic hero of the last days of the silent pictures.
"Bardelys the Magnificent" (1926).

And watch the movies he inspired. "Singin' in the Rain" or "The Artist". But remember the real Jack too, who was anything but the clichées.

Let's not forget Jack :)

Part 1 - You don't know Jack!
Part 2 - His youth and early Hollywood years
Part 3 - Hollywood Superstar
Part 4 - Later years and Death
Part 5 - Ida Adair and her Family
Part 6 - more about Ida's family
Part 7 - Jack's fathers

John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! - Zusammenfassung

Eine Zusammenfassung hatte ich bereits einmal geschrieben, ich war aber nicht damit zufrieden. Hier also die überarbeitete Version. ;)

John Gilbert! Wer ist dieser Kerl überhaupt?
Der große romantische Liebhaber der Stummfilmzeit.
Der verarmte Junge, der während seiner Kindheit nirgendwo zu hause war und es als Erwachsener zu großen Triumphen weltweit brachte.
Die tragische Person, die es nicht schaffte im Tonfilm Fuß zu fassen, da seine Stimme fiepsig war, deshalb innerhalb kürzester Zeit total vergessen wurde und als Alkoholiker viel zu jung starb.

Ja. Das liest man immer wieder. Aber das ist so nicht richtig. Es ist - wie alles im Leben - sehr viel komplexer und vielschichtiger.

Die grandiose Dokumentarfilm Reihe von Kevin Brownlow über die Stummfilm-Zeit "Silent Hollywood" sei allen hier ans Herz gelegt. Schnipsel davon gibt es auf YouTube zu finden, bitte fleißig zusammen suchen.
In der Folge "Star Treatment" wurden die zwei Stars Clara Bow und John Gilbert vorgestellt.
Das Segment über John Gilbert gibt es auf YouTube als drei Teile zu sehen, ich habe sie hier verlinkt.

Clara Bow und John Gilbert waren die beiden großen Stars, die es unerklärlicherweise nicht schafften ihren enormen weltweiten Erfolg im Stummfilm fortzusetzen. So heißt es zumindest immer.

Jack Gilbert war keine einfache Persönlichkeit. Das sagen die Menschen, die ihn damals gut kannten. Und er hatte ein schweres Alkoholproblem. Auch in der Zeit seiner großen Erfolge. Eigentlich ist es eher unerklärlich, dass er es so lange schaffte trotz dem vielen Alkohol, der vielen vielen und turbulenten Frauengeschichten und seiner Raucherei und später weiteren Drogen sich vor der Kamera nichts anmerken zu lassen.

Den unvergleichen Erfolg, den Stummfilmstars weltweit erlebten, können wir uns heute gar nicht mehr vorstellen. Denn Stummfilme funktionierten überall! Wirklich überall!! Man benötigte noch nicht mal einen Kinosaal. Was man brauchte war ein Projektor, die Filmrollen und eine Fläche auf die der Projektor den Film werfen konnte.
Es war damals durchaus üblich, dass nicht nur live Musik zum Film gespielt wurde, sondern auch ein "Erzähler" dabei war, der die Zwischentitel vorlas. Stummfilme waren vor allem das Medium der frisch Eingewanderten und wenig Gebildeten, die der englischen Sprache noch gar nicht richtig mächtig waren. Ins Theater konnten die Einwanderer nicht gehen, sie verstanden kaum etwas. Da blieben vor allem die Stummfilme. Diese Situation lässt sich natürlich auf alle Länder übertragen! Alle Stummfilmstars, die auf Reisen gingen, erlebten es, dass sie auf der ganzen Welt erkannt wurden. (Sogar lange nach der Stummfilmzeit.) Es ist keine Übertreibung, wenn heute noch geschrieben wird, dass Mary Pickford die bekannteste Persönlichkeit aller Zeiten ist. Ihre Filme wurden weltweit gezeigt. Viele kannten wahrscheinlich noch nicht mal ihren Namen, aber ihre Filme wurden überall gesehen. In Hollywood in den Kinos und auch in China an Hauswände projeziert.
Die großen Stars der Stummfilmzeit waren tatsächlich die Stars dieser Zeit.
Zeitungen konnten die Sprachgrenzen nicht überschreiten.
Theater konnten die Sprachgrenzen nicht zu überschreiten.
Stummfilme schafften den Sprung aber ganz leicht.

Man kann also wirklich behaupten, dass die ganze Welt Jack während seiner großen Erfolge liebte. Er verdiente so viel Geld wie sonst kein anderer Schauspieler. Rekordsummen!
Auf seiner Hochzeitsreise nach Europa mit Ina Claire wurde er ständig von Fans umlagert.
Und trotzdem war Jack immer noch extrem selbstzerstörerisch.

Das Glück kommt halt doch von innen. Viele Menschen haben grausame Lebensverhältnisse durchlebt und schaffen es ein gutes Leben zu führen. Jack schaffte es leider nicht. Und dabei hatte er alles um ihn glücklich zu machen. Das ist wohl eher die Tragik seines Lebens.

Wie es Leatrice Joy, seine zweite Ehefrau, in der Dokumentation "Silent Hollywood" sagt: "Viele Menschen wurden mit Quecksilber verglichen. Aber Jack Gilbert WAR Quecksilber. Berühre ihn und er verschwand."

Was blieb ist eine große Mythenbildung. Der tragische Held, der den Studioboss gegen sich hatte. (Kann sein, aber warum sollte dieser seine größte Investition zerstören?) Der großartige Schauspieler, der eine piepsige, weibliche Stimme hatte. (Stimmt nicht, kann man sich selbst von überzeugen.) Und seine schreckliche Kindheit, die ihn verfolgte ...

Wir haben viel über Jack erfahren.
Seine Geburt im Juli 1897. Sein Leben mit der Theatertruppe seiner Eltern in den folgenden Jahren.
Der Tod seiner Mutter als er gerade einmal 16 Jahre alt war.
Seine Mutter wollte ihn nicht haben? Selbst damals gab es für Frauen Möglichkeiten Schwangerschaften zu beenden. Hätte Ida das wirklich gewollt, wäre ihr das - gerade als Frau die von Stadt zu Stadt zog und sich nicht dem städtischen Tratsch aussetzen musste - irgendwie möglich gewesen. Selbst als Jack schon auf der Welt war, hätte sie ihn loswerden können. Die Familie wollte und konnte ihn nicht nehmen. Sie hätte ihn aussetzen können, in ein Heim geben. Diese Heime waren grauenhaft, aber es wäre eine Alternative für Ida gewesen, von der sie sicher wußte.

Aber Ida, so scheint es, war nicht so schrecklich wie es immer gesagt wurde.
Ihr Beruf, die Schauspielerei, bietet sich nicht dafür an ein Kind bei sich großzuziehen. Das wird sie verstanden haben, daher versuchte sie Jack bei Verwandten unterzubringen.
Dazu kommt die Frage, was man mit dem Kind macht, wenn man probt oder auftritt. Im Schrank einsperren klingt plötzlich gar nicht mehr so herzlos. (Obwohl ich das niemals mit Kindern machen würde. Aber besser als wenn etwas Schlimmeres passiert, wenn das Kind herumtollt ohne Aufsicht in einer Welt, die nicht für Kinder geschaffen ist.)
Jack litt darunter, dass ihm ständig neue "Daddies" vorgestellt wurden. Hmm, wie viele neue Daddies er überhaupt je hatte, wissen wir nicht und werden es nie erfahren. Aber sein Vater John Pringle war bereits wenige Jahre nach seiner Geburt nicht mehr in seinem Leben. Sein Stiefvater, der ihn wohl auch adoptierte, war bis in Jacks Erwachsenenleben Idas fester Partner.
Die Frage nach dem Vater ist sowieso spannend, denn eigentlich wissen wir nichts!
Es gibt anscheinend keine Geburtsurkunde. (Obwohl in seinem wahrscheinlichen Geburtsort Logan, Utah damals bereits fleißig Geburtsurkunden angefertigt wurden! Die Mormonen - die Apperleys waren Mormonen! - waren schon damals intensiv mit Genealogie beschäftigt, dementsprechend achtete man eigentlich auch auf die Dokumente.)
Wir können dennoch davon ausgehen, dass John Pringle Jacks Vater war.
Jacks Geburtsname war Cecil John Pringle.
Als John Pringle aus der Familie ... naja, "weg" war, hieß Jack plötzlich John.
Das ist genealogisch betrachtet gar nicht ungewöhnlich. Söhne oder Töchter die zwei Vornamen tragen. Einer der Vornamen eines Elternteiles. "Verlässt" der Elternteil die Familie, wird der Rufname schon mal der Rufname des Elternteils.
Der Wechsel von Cecil zu John ist also ein kleiner naheliegender Schritt.
Aber der Wechsel der Nachnamen ist eine andere Sache.
Dokumente zu einer Hochzeit zwischen John Pringle und Ida Idair konnte ich nicht finden. Haben die beiden überhaupt geheiratet?
Die Hochzeitsurkunde von Walter Gilbert und Ida haben wir gesehen.
Kurioserweise gibt Ida an, dass sie bereits einmal verheiratet war. Aber ihr Ehename soll "Greenleaf" gewesen sein??
Das kann natürlich auch ein Schreibfehler sein, diese gibt es auch auf offiziellen Dokumenten. Aber es ist schon eigenartig, dass Jack ab der Hochzeit John Gilbert hieß.
Über die Adoptionsbedingungen zu dieser Zeit in den USA weiß ich leider so gut wie nichts.
Aber ich denke schon, dass der Geburtsvater zumindest der Adoption seines leiblichen Kindes zustimmen musste, oder?
John Pringle ... das ist eh ein interessanter Fall. Ich denke, an ihm kann man noch sehr viel Zeit mit spannender Recherche verbringen, aber das würde hier wirklich den Rahmen sprengen.
War John Pringle in der Zeit, als er mit Ida zusammen war, eventuell schon verheiratet??
Das würde Jack zu einem unehelichen Kind machen.
Dieses uneheliche Kind wäre eventuell "einfacher" bei einer Hochzeit zu adoptieren, oder?
Gehen wir davon aus, dass Ida den Namen "Greenleaf" selbst angegeben hat, so hätte sie damit den "Spur" zu John Pringle (der vielleicht verheiratet gewesen war - allerdings nicht mit Ida!) verwischen können.
So lange keine Scheidungsdokumente zu dieser ersten (?) Ehe von Ida auftauchen, werden wir es nicht erfahren. Adoptionspapiere wären auch spannend, aber diese sind von US Staat zu Staat so schwierig einzusehen, dass es wohl ein schweres Unterfangen wäre hier mehr über Jacks Leben zu erfahren ...

Zurück zu Jacks Schilderungen, dass es ständig wechselnde Männer in Idas Leben gab. (Wir müssen uns hier vor Augen führen, dass Jack vieles in seinem Leben gerne ausschmückte.)
Ob Ida fremdging, können wir nicht sagen.
Falls es da Zweifel gibt, wie die Eheleute zueinander standen, schaue man sich Idas Grabstein an. Darauf steht "Ida Adair Wife of Walter B Gilbert".
Walter, der sich wahrscheinlich um den Stein kümmerte wird sich ihr so stark verbunden gefühlt haben, dass er seinen Namen auf den Grabstein schrieb. Auf Idas Totenschein steht "W. B. Gilbert" als "Informant", der den Tod meldete. Die zwei haben also bis zu Idas Tod zusammengelebt.
Für mich klingt das nicht danach, dass Ida sich von ihm abgewandt hatte. Oder Walter von ihr.

Ida war vielleicht nicht die beste Mutter. Aber sie war sicherlich nicht die schreckliche Person als die sie immer dargestellt wird. Das ist fürchterlich ungerecht.

Denn wo waren Jacks Väter?? Weder sein Geburtsvater noch sein Stiefvater nahmen sich dem Jungen an! Warum wird also die ganze Last auf Idas Schultern gelegt?

Johnnie Pringle kam zu seinem Sohn, als dieser bereits ein bekannter Hollywoodstar war. Johnnie ließ sich als Komparse bei einer großen Produktion anstellen, bei der Jack die Hauptrolle spielte.
Johnnie stellte sich Jack auf dem Filmset als seinen Vater vor.
Warum interessierte sich Johnnie erst dann für Jack?

Erfolg hat viele Väter! So einfach ist es.

Walter Gilbert schneidet nicht viel besser ab. Als Ida starb, drückte er Jack drei Sachen in die Hände - ein Zugticket, den Schminkkasten seiner Mutter (den Walter nicht hatte verkaufen können!) und zehn Dollar.
Jack war 16 Jahre alt und wurde eiskalt von seinem Vater abserviert. Und quer durch Amerika nach San Francisco geschickt. Walter hätte ihn auch zu sich nehmen können, so wie es Ida tat. Walter hätte ihn in ein Internat stecken können, bis Jack erwachsen war. Er hätte ihn auch zu seinen Verwandten schicken können ... aber er schickte Jack direkt nach der Beerdigung fort.
Zwar half er durch seine Verbindungen Jack einen Job beim Film zu besorgen. Aber als Jack sich verzweifelt an ihn wand, als er kein Geld mehr hatte und seine Frau Olivia Burwell nicht mehr ernähren konnte, da bürstete Walter ihn wieder ab. Nein, er würde nicht helfen, er hätte sich halt was zurücklegen sollen. Jack sagte dazu später nur noch "Danach habe ich keine Briefmarken mehr wegen ihm verschwendet." Der Kontakt zwischen den beiden brach ab.

Zu seinen Vätern und deren Familien hatte Jack keinen Kontakt.
Aber sehr wohl zur Familie seiner Mutter.
Die Familie, so haben wir es gesehen, waren Mormonenpioniere in Utah. Wir können davon ausgehen, das deren Leben hart und einfach war. Deshalb dürfte es unmöglich gewesen sein den kleinen Jack aufzunehmen. Idas Mutter war selbst ein ziemlich traumatisierter Mensch, der kein gutes Familienleben kannte. Ida wird bereits in ihrer Jugend Verantwortung übernommen haben. Sie nahm ja auch später ihre kleine Schwester Clara mit auf Tournee als die Mutter aus Idas Familie fortging. Schade, dass Ida immer so schlimm wegkommt!

Jack hätte auch ein zuhause in Logan, Utah finden können. Er liebte kaum etwas so sehr wie Lesen. Das kann man in fast allen seinen Interview ihn selbst sagen hören. Auf Tournee konnte er natürlich keine Bücher mit sich führen. Aber bei seinem Großvater Apperley in Logan, der Lehrer am College war und der selbst Gedichte verfasste, gab es sicherlich Zugang zu vielen Büchern!
Auch hätte er theoretisch dort die Möglichkeit gehabt ein geistig-religiöses Zuhause zu finden, was ihm etwas Ruhe und Stabilität hätte geben können. In der Mormonenstadt Logan wäre das möglich gewesen.

Die Verbundenheit mit der Familie seiner Mutter ging über Jacks Tod hinaus. In seinem Testament bedachte er Clifford Apperley, da dieser einer der wenigen in seiner Kindheit war, der es gut mit ihm meinte. Clifford war nur wenige Jahre älter als Jack und nahm ihn unter seine schützenden Flügel.

Trotzdem ging sein Leben turbulent weiter. Er fand einfach nicht zur Ruhe.
Es ist schade für Jack, aber wir können uns auch mit ihm freuen, dass zumindest die letzten Monate seines Lebens gut für ihn verliefen.

Marlene Dietrich. Man kann über sie denken was man will. Was alle über Marlene berichten ist, dass sie unheimlich warmherzig und bemutternd mit den Menschen war, die sie liebte. Und Marlene liebte Jack bis zu seinem Tod.
Sie hat für ihn gekocht, ihn vom Alkohol weggebracht, ihn bemuttert! Sie hat sich darum gekümmert, dass er seine Tochter Leatrice kennenlernte und den Kontakt pflegte. Ja, sie besorgte ihm sogar seinen letzten Filmvertrag.
Diese Rolle konnte er nicht spielen, da er seine Gesundheit so stark ruiniert hatte. Aber dennoch, es waren gute Monaten für Jack.

Gönnen wir es ihm.
Und erinnern wir uns an den wundervollen Schauspieler, der uns immer noch erhalten ist. Und an dem wir uns für immer erfreuen können! :)

Schauen wir uns "The Big Parade" (1925) an. Der erste Anti-Kriegsfilm. Ein absoluter Kassenschlager, der auch noch heute funktioniert. Romanze und dramatische Kriegsszenen. Und auch lustige Momente abseits der Schlachten. Sehenswert!

Schmachten mit Jack! Mit Greta Garbo in "Love" (1927).

Schmachten mit Jack und Greta Garbo in "Flesh and the Devil" (1926)

Schau Dir "Downstairs" (1933) an. Das Drehbuch schrieb Jack und er spielt keinen angepassten gestriegelten Kerl, sondern einen ziemlich hinterlistigen Chaffeur ... der sogar ein deutsches Lied singt! Wunderbar, Herr Priegel! ;)

Schau Dir "Heart o' the Hills" (1919) an. Der eigentliche Star ist Mary Pickford. Aber den jungen Jack Gilbert in einer durchgehenden Nebenrolle wirst Du nicht mehr vergessen können!

"He Who Gets Slapped" (1924) mit Lon Chaney als tragischer Zirkusclown und Jack als Akrobat (der auch einige Kunststücke selbst vorführt).

Tanze mit Jack und der fröhlichen Witwe in "The Merry Widow" (1925).

Und verliebe Dich ein bißchen in Jack, den romantischen Helden der ausgehenden Stummfilmzeit.
"Bardelys the Magnificent" (1926).

Schau Dir auch ruhig die Filme an, die er inspiriert hat. "Singin in the Rain" oder "The Artist". Aber denke daran, dass es auch die wirkliche Person Jack gab, die nicht den Klischees entsprach.

Lass uns Jack Gilbert nicht vergessen. :)

Teil 1 - You don't know Jack!
Teil 2 - Seine Jugend und frühen Hollywoodjahre
Teil 3 - Die Erfolgsjahre
Teil 4 - Die späten Jahre und sein Tod
Teil 5 - Ida Adair und ihre Familie
Teil 6 - Ida Adairs Eltern
Teil 7 - Jacks Väter

John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! Part 7 - Jack's fathers

Let's take a look at Jack's fathers.

John George Pringle
Data on familysearch family tree click
John Pringle was Jack's father by birth. But he will actually meet him for the first time in 1924 during the filming of "The Merry Widow". John Pringle had his own stock company touring the country - the Johnnie Pringle Stock Company.
According to Leatrice Gilbert's biography "Dark Star" Johnnie came to Logan ... and Ida became an actress, left town and became pregnant.

I could not find a birth certificate for John Pringle.
But his certificate of death states he was born July 13th 1865 in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

First evidence I could find was the US Census 1870.
His name is John George Priegel. He is six years old and lives with his parents and six siblings (there will be more siblings in future years) and his grandfather in Missouri.

US Census 1880.
John is 16 years old. He lives with his parents, siblings and his maternal grandfather in Plattsburg, Clinton, Missouri. Since several of his siblings were born there, we can assume that the family lived there for a couple of years.

Unfortunately I could not find any paper trail that shows how John George Priegel became John/Johnnie Pringle. Maybe his existence as a touring artist is the reason.

When he actually met Ida, married her (did they actually marry?) and how long they were together, I could not find out. A marriage certificate would be hard to trace, where would they have married?

The only written proof linking Johnnie, Ida and Jack is the US Census 1900. A source we're already familiar with.

Johnnie is with Ida and Cecil in Pueblo City, Colorado.
He was born in Missouri, his parents were born in Germany, he is 35 years old.

I couldn't identify any more census records for sure for Johnne Pringle. There just are too many "John Pringle"s.
However there is one "suspect" I have. He shows up in the US Census 1910 and 1920. He is listed as John W. Pringle, was born 1864 in Missouri, had a daughter who was over 20 years old, a wife and several small children. But I could be mistaken!


1924 "The Merry Widow". We already heard about what happened ... Jack's turbulent life, his first successes, he is on the brink of huge success and now he is filming a movie that will catapult him into Hollywood super stardom.
During the filming an extra stepped up to Jack and told him he was John Pringle ... and was his father. (This is supposedly the moment Jack learns for the first time the name he had as a small child.)
Jack will never meet Johnnie again.

We have the pictures taken on this day, father and son playing next to each other. (Of course we don't know if Johnnie had already revealed himself as Jack's father.)
This is the beginning of the big ball room scene. Jack's character had been drinking all day and night before the ball because he was heart broken. That's the reason Jack looks rather dishelved in the pictures.

All the way to the left, Johnnie Pringle as a servant. Jack is standing in the middle of the frame.

The same scene, but now we see the front. Jack is still in the middle. Johnnie is the servant to the right.

And now we see their faces. Jack in the middle, Johnnie Pringle to the right.

Jack's character suffering from his hangover. To the right, still Johnnie being a servant.

Upstaging much, Johnnie? Are extras as servants actually allowed to laugh?

And one last look at the scene. Johnnie Pringle on the left side of the frame. Jack is all the way in the back of the room now, meeting his "brother" who is sitting on the throne.

On familysearch you can see his certificate of death. I linked it to his family tree entry.
On August 12th 1929 Johnnie died at the California Hospital in Los Angeles.
He was 64 years old and left behind a widow named Florence Pringle.
His occupation was actor, his parents according to the document were J G Pringle and Charlotte Stewart.
His cause of death is illegible. But he was operated on June 3rd 1929 and two chronic diseases attributed to his death.
He had been in hospital for two months, he had lived in California for over four years.
He was laid to rest on August 14th 1929. Take a look here.

This is the sketch of the life of Jack's birth father.
What do we know about Johnnie's family life?
His parents were John George Priegel and Charlotte Stuhr.

John George Priegel was born March 17th 1828 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. (His birth name was probably Johann/Johannes Georg Priegel.)
1856 he married his wife in the USA.
1859 the couple officially immigrated to the US.
Around the same time John G. became a methodist priest.
But he wasn't just a priest, he was an artist and painter also.
On familysearch family tree John G.'s parents are listed - John M. Priegel and Rosa Rosenbauer. (No sources given.)


Charlotte Matilda Stuhr was Johnnie's mother.
Charlotte was born in Frankenhausen, Thüringen, Germany.
Her parents were Charles (Karl) Stuhr. Charles is the grandfather living with young Johnnie Pringle.
In familysearch family tree is an entry for Charles' wife - Sophia Garthoff. But I could find no evidence of her.
Charles was born in 1805 in Sachsen, Germany. His occupation is listed in the two census as vetinary or doctor of medicine. By the time the US Census 1880 was taken, Charles was still alive.

Charlotte and John G. had many children. Here is a list of Johnnie Pringle's siblings:

Charles A Priegel
born in 1858 in Pennsylvania
Henry O Priegel
born 1859 in Pennsylvania, occupation "painter"
Matilda Priegel
born in 1860 in Pennsylvania
Anna Maria Priegel
born in 1862 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1885 married to John Boone and died in 1952
Jacks father Johnnie Pringle/Priegel
born 1865 in Missouri, actor and stage producer, died in 1929 in Los Angeles
William H Priegel
born 1866 in Plattsburg, Missouri, occupation "paint maker", he was a soldier who got injured in battle, resulting in losing his index finger of his left hand, died in 1928.
Edward Priegel
born 1870 in Missouri, last trace of him in the US Census 1880 as "Eddie Priegel"
Louis Ernest Priegel
born in 1873 in Missouri, occupation "baker and candy maker", married Rhoda B., moved to Minnesota where he had a successful bakery, as a pensionist he lived of the bakery's profits.
Mary Priegel
born 1874 in Missouri, I could only trace her as a child
Plato Pathagarus Priegel
born in 1876 in Plattsburg, Missouri, occupation baker, during the war he worked in an ammunition factory, after that worked as a baker again, made headlines as "master baker", he married Amanda Schmitt, died in 1957.
Emmanuel A Priegel
born in 1878 in Missouri, occupation blacksmith, married Charlotte Hammer, died in 1960 in Los Angeles.

A big family. Some with artistic ventures.
While Jack was touring the county with Ida and Ida send him to Logan, Utah when she could not take care of him, Jack never found refuge with the big family of his father.

So who was Jack's stepfather? Would he take responsibily for Jack?
Walter B. Gilbert
The man Jack thought was his father for the longest time was actually his stepfather, actor and comedian Walter B. Gilbert.
Born November 26th 1877 in Philadelphia. His birth name was Walter Bennett Gilbert.
Before Walter married Ida in March 1907 in Ohio, Walter had already been married. I could find no evidence of any child of Walter.

Walter's parents were Franklin A. Gilbert, born 1852 in Pennsylvania.
Julia A. Bennett, born 1852 in Pennsylvania.
Walter and Julia had - so it seems - two children: Walter and another son called Francis M. Gilbert, born 1880.

After Ida's death in 1913, Walter handed Jack Ida's makeup kit, ten dollars and a train ticket to San Francisco. He practically kicked 16 year old Jack out of his life.
They were in contact by letter for some years after that, Walter used his contacts to get Jack a job with Thomas Ince in Hollywood. But when Jack really needed him because he ran out of money and had Olivia Burwell to support, Walter just wrote him a letter, saying Jack should have saved money and Walter wouldn't help him. "I never wasted stamps on him again." said Jack.

Walter remarried in 1919 and died in 1951 in San Francisco.

So - what do you think? How do you feel about Jack's fathers?
Both completely disappeared from his life as soon as they could.
That's sad.
Even if they didn't have the means to support him, at least they could have tried to give some emotional support for him, but that obviously didn't happen.

Another thing that comes to attention is the religious component in both the lives of Jack's parents - Jack's grandparents were very religious folk.
Ida's family were mormon. Jack's paternal grandfather was a methodist priest.
We do not know how Jack identified or if he considered himself a religious person at all.
But we know Johnnie Pringle demanded that baby Jack was baptisted in the Church of England as soon as Ida had returned to the stock company that were staying in Canada at the time.

In the next post, I'll summarize the finds and give you links to all the blogposts I wrote.

John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! Part 6 - more about Ida's family

We go one generation back to Ida Adair's parents. This is the family Jack gets send to when Ida cannot take care of him.

Ida's parents are Lydia Ann Mangrum Crocket and William Henry Apperley.
Behind all the names Ida's mother caries, lies some history. But that is for later on. First let's meet Ida's father:

Ida's father - William Henry Apperly
William Henry Apperley was named after his father who was named after his father. (One William following another ...)
William's father - Ida's grandfather - was a mormon pioneer. So it comes as no surprise that they are fairly well documented on familysearch. (Mainly by church documents I assume.) Click
William's parents were born in Ireland. Leatrice Joy's biography "Dark Star" tells of how William's father was a British officer in India and while he was away his wife became mormon. Upon his return to Ireland, William became a mormon too. The family immediately immigrated to the US.

There are many resources for the mormon pioneers on the internet. And certainly even more in libraries and archives. The pioneers started to form groups who would take the long and dangerous travel together. Usually that group formed even before they stepped onto a ship.
William, his wife and their son William were part of the so called "Richard Ballantyne Trail/Company".

Richard Ballantyne was a missionary in India at the time William was in India. Shortly after his missionary service in India was over, Richard Ballantyne went to Liverpool to gather the people who would be part of his company. William went back to Ireland, picked up his family and went with Ballantyne.
A detailed report of the Ballantyne Trail can be found here

The Apperleys (along with the Ballantyne Company) boarded ship in Liverpool on January 15th 1855. The ship was called the "Charles Buck". Two days later the ship set sails. During their trip children died (one of which had been born aboard), several members of the company were shunned (including a woman who spoke to non-mormons). You have to picture the situation - families either left their home countries because they were religiously oppressed or couldn't make a living anymore. Only very few people immigrated for sheer adventure. And you would have to travel in a group because there were so many obstacles, it just wasn't a good idea to go alone.
The Apperleys were mormon pioneers who fled religious prosecution.
The travel diary linked above gives you a small look into their hardship.
The Charles Buck arrived in New Orleans on March 14th 1855.
From there the group travelled by the steamboat Michigan all the way up the Mississippi to St. Louis. There they embarked a river boat called Golden State, shipping on the Missouri River all the way to Atchinson, Kansas. They arrived there April 5th 1855.
By now the company had travelled for almost three months. But the hardest and most dangerous part of their trip lay still ahead. First they started getting ready for the trek across the plains. Filling stock, building waggons. Every man who was capable was equipped with a gun. The families were put on waggons.
On July 1st 1855 the Trek started in Atchinson. Ballantyne had 414 people on 46 waggons with him!
Surprisingly only 5 people died during the trek - 3 were shot by accident. Eight people had been rolled over by waggons, that would have caused horrendous injury.
The trek arrived at the Salt Lake Valley on September 25th 1855.
That was three quarter of a year after they had set foot on the Charles Buck in Liverpool.

The Apperleys were a family among many: William was the oldest (living?) son of William Apperley and his wife Susan Meaton. When their trip started William was nine years old. His sister Unity was seven, his sister Sarah four years old.
In the US Census 1870 we find the family in Logan, Utah. Both parents live with their grown up children William and Sarah in one household.

I couldn't find out when Ida's parents William and Lydia met or married. But the couple's first child Millie was born in January 1875.
1877 William's mother - Ida's grandmother - Sarah died. Widowed William remarries.

Around this time William - the younger - started working at the Brigham Young College in Logan. This college was a combined high school and university. William becomes a teacher and professor.

Here you can take a look at him. This article features a photo of William.
And you can even read William's own words! For a bonus we get some biographical information.
While he was teaching at Brigham Young College wasn't paid handsomely, it did secure him some income. The farm he lived on and maintained as told by family members was to provide for him and his family. (A custom that was common for everyone who did not live in a big town.)
What we learn from this article is that he worked at Brigham Young College until his retirement and lived in Logan the rest of his life. The only exception being his time as a missionary in England in 1882.
What did William teach at Brigham Young College?

"The college circular for 1893 reports that he taught “Spanish, Book-keeping, Grammar, (Winter Course), Book of Mormon Studies, Key to Theology, Orthography and Punctuation, English Classics, Ethics.” He published a slim volume of poetry in 1910, A Souvenier, and gave one of the lectures in the Logan Temple Lectures series (1885-1886, published 1886) entitled Language and English Literature. This extract is taken from that lecture."

Go to the website to read a part of William's writing about English literature.

Be careful to not mistake Brigham Young College for Brigham Young Academy which still to this day exists in Provo, Utah. The College in Logan was closed in 1926. Its books were given to the State University of Utah, located in Logan. Some of the property went to the University too, one building was turned into a high school. The rest was torn down.

But William was already dead then. He died on April 14th 1923.
You can take a look at his grave on findagrave.com. Click
He was laid to rest on the cemetary in Logan which today is part of the University grounds.

So we've learnt a lot - William grew up in a family of mormon pioneers. They settled in Logan, a town which mainly consisted of mormons. He was a teacher/professor, taught English literature (among other subjects). (His interest with English literature would have been shared with Ida and Jack!) To provide for themselves they had their own small farm.
The Apperleys don't fit the cliché of the uncultured farmers living at world's end!
Jack would have missed the perks of city life and he would have had to work on the farm. But on the plus side he would have had access to books which meant the world to him! (When he was travelling with Ida, he could not keep books as the transport was too difficult.)

But let's take a look at the sources to get a proper timeline:
US Census 1870 here
Started June 1st 1870.

US Census 1880
familysearch here
The Census started August 1st 1880.
Head
William Apperley
35 years old, born in Ireland
Wife
Lydia A. Apperley
23 years old, born in Utah
Daughter Lydia A. Apperley - that's Millie
4 years old, born in Utah
daughter Serrah J. Apperley - that's Ida!
3 years old, born in Utah
Son William Apperley
less than one year old, born in Utah
listed as "other" in the household is
Mary Christianson, 17 years old, born in Denmark.
William is married, US citizen, "school teacher". He was born in Ireland in 1845.
The names of his parents aren't given. (But could have been filled in.) Both his parents were born in England.

January 15th 1908
Widowed William marries Lottie, his second wife click here

US Census 1910
here
William lives with his wife Lottie alone in Logan.
William H. Apperley is 65 years old, born in Ireland in 1845. He immigrated in 1855.
Place of birth of his parents - England.
His wife is Charlotte L. Apperley.

US Census 1920
here
January 1920
William and Lottie still live in Logan.

On April 14th 1923 William dies.
Death Certificate William Henry Apperley.
occupation "retired teacher".
See it here from the collection "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956". Click
Entry in the Utah Death Registry "Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908-1949" here.
There is an entry for him at billiongraves.com here.


Ida's Mother - Lydia Ann Mangrum
In "Dark Star" we hear about her: Lydia had been an orphan as s small child. She grew up as a servant in Washington, Utah. After ten years of marriage and eight children, Lydia had enough. She was tired of the poor teacher's earnings and she fled to San Francisco. William brought her back but Lydia later ran away again, never to return. They got divorced. The children were scattered all over Utah. Only Ida Adair stayed with her father William, because she was his favourite.

Let's see what we can find out about that.
First let's check out her name.
Lydia Ann Mangrum Crocket Apperley.
Lydia Ann are her "first names".
Apperley is her married name.
Leaves us with Mangrum and Crocket.
Mangrum will be her born family name. According to "Dark Star" she was an orphan, so Crocket will be her adopted name.

Already in her name a lot of history.

Check out Lynn Anns data at familysearch family tree. Click
Lydia was born March 13th 1856 in Washington, Utah.
Her father was James Mitchell Mangum. Her mother Eliza Jane Clark.
Eliza Jane died February 21st 1859 in Washington, Utah.
Her father died many years later. So Lydia was not an orphan, she was semi-orphan.
She did however leave her birth family and lived with the Crockets who adopted her.
From "Dark Star" we know that she wasn't treated equal to the other children in the family. She was the family's servant.

In the US Census 1860 Lydia shows up in the Crocket family.

Before 1875 Lydia marries William Apperley. Soon after she will start having seven children with him.

After the birth of her youngest child Clifford, we kind of loose track of her.
We know she ran away from Logan, but when we do not know.
But Lydia probably left the family before June 1900 because in the US Census 1900 which was taken in June that year, Ida is travelling with her youngest sister.
Maybe there wasn't anyone at home in Logan who could take care of the kids? Maybe Lydia had taken her youngest Clifford with her? We do not know.

Next time we can pinpoint Lydia is in the California Death Index.
She died January 20th 1919 in San Francisco.
For her last couple of years she seems to have been looked after by her son Clifford. That's what Clifford WWI drafting card suggests.

I found no more documents for Lydia. But I did find information about Lydia's father online - James Mitchell Mangum.

The mormons were not only a religious group who suffered intolerance, there is unfortunately also a massacre in their history. The so called Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Here I will link to a short video which discusses the Mountain Meadows Massacre. This is a mormon presenting what he knows about the massacre, but it is very balanced and he gives links and tips for further reading and not just mormon-friendly sources.

I've read quite a lot about the massacre by now and there are a lot of very disgusting details about the whole affair. The question whether church leaders knew or even promoted the course of action is heavily disputed. We can only hope that the victims of this crime found some peace.

James Mitchell Mangum was one of the men who participated in the massacre. He was a perpetrator not a victim.

The massacre took place on September 11th 1857.
The only survivors were 17 children under the age of seven. (It was considered the children would be too young to be able to remember.) What would have been the right thing to do, was to give the children to surviving family members.
But that of course would have been telling that their parents were dead. So the kids were given to local families and the relatives did not learn about the fate of the victims and the surviving children. In 1859, two years later, the children were returned.

What really gets to me are the parallels in Lydia Ann's life.
I am not saying that her parents too were murdered in the massacre. But she was moved from the family she knew to a new family that same year.
And because her father was part of the massacre and years later arrested because of it, she must have been aware of this. Maybe not as a child but some time in her life, she would have heard about it.
So there is a clear shadow above Lydia Ann's life.

Lydia was born in March 1856 in Washington, Utah.
February 1859 her mother Eliza died.
June 1860 Lydia lives with the Crocket family.

Take this with Leatrice Gilbert's statements, saying Lydia had had enough of taking care of children and doing the household. Well, Lydia had done nothing else in her life. Worse still, she was treated poorly.Then she asked herself, just who were my parents?
Eliza was dead.
James Mitchell ... well, he sounds like a real sunshine.
The Crockets never were a family to her.
Then came talk about the massacre. (Only years and years later people would start talking about it! It still is fairly unknown to general public. I have no idea of how aware mormons are of the massacre.) Lydia just had enough of it all and ran.

There is no proof for this as I found little paper trail of Lydia.
But indirectly there are signs ... look at the documents Lydia's kids left behind concerning their heritage.
Consistently they said their father's family came from Ireland/England.
But their mother's heritage was always flipping from state to state. Either they didn't know or weren't sure. Or they knew that Lydia had been told one thing and later found out that this wasn't correct at all.

Another very interesting clue is Jack's mother's name - Ida Adair!
Why did she call herself Adair??

Well, Lydia Ann's grandmother (Eliza Jane's mother) was a born Adair! Click

So - frustration about unfair living conditions throughout her life, then she hears about her personal family history ... she was just fed up. She went to San Francisco.
(And why San Francisco? Interesting question but I have no clue.)
Lydia's children leave Logan also. Her husband gets divorced, writes poetry and articles about English literature on his farm in Utah, teaching class and remarries.
None of his children will live with him.
But they do live near Lydia in San Francisco!

Lydia didn't really know a good family life from her growing up years. Her family life is a mystery, but she did leave the family.
That influenced Ida Adair (Adair!). Ida tried the best, but she had limited skills to begin with.

Next time we'll take a look at Jack's fathers.

John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! Part 5 - Ida Adair and her family

Let's take a look at the people who left an impression on Jack's childhood. Be it by being there or being absent.

To be honest with you, this part I find most exciting writing about as most biographies about Jack only scratch the topic on the surface.

Here is a picture of Ida Adair, source:
http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/gilbert/

source: http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/gilbert

There is another picture that keeps popping up - Ida lying on her stomach, Jack as a small child standing behind her head. It is extreme how similar their faces look.

Ida Adair - Jack's mother
Ida always gets slashed. She is the cruel mother, treating her poor son hellish and neglecting him as long as she lived. She was an actress that never made it big. And she took her frustrations out on Jack.
Jack was an unplanned child and she didn't want to have him.
Sounds cruel, but let's make some practical considerations:
If Ida had managed to give him a stable home, somewhere where Jack could build friendships with children his age and attend school, his life would have been a lot easier. But Ida was an actress, she had to travel. No wonder then, that she did not want to have a child. Ida took care of Jack as best as she could. That might not always been good, and sometimes it would make Jack sad. But that's just what it was. Jack's growing up story isn't singular. He had a working mum.

Ida was born on April 28th 1877 in Logan, Utah.
(This is taken from her death certificate which you can look at below.)
She was born into a family that we'll take a good look at later. But here are the short facts:
Her father was William Henry Apperley. He started his job as professor/teacher at the Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah in autumn 1877.
Ida would stay with her father until her adult years.

Birth of her Son
July 10th 1897
Her son John Gilbert is born. Ida is 20 years old.

US Census 1900

We already know this source material.
On June 11th/12th 1900 Ida is with her husband John G. Pringle and her 2 year old son in Pueblo City, Colorado with a touring stock company.
What does the document state about Ida:
Ida Pringle, wife of John G. Pringle, she is 23 years old and was born in 1877.
Ida has one child, of which one is still alive.
She was born in Colorado.
Ida's father was born in Alabama, her mother in Connecticut.
She is an actress, she can read, write and speak English.

We do not know when John Pringle and Ida broke up. Same goes for information about their divorce.

Marriage to Walter B. Gilbert on May 4th 1907
This document comes from the collection "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994".
You can find the data here.

County Hamilton, Ohio.
Walter B. Gilbert, 29 years,
lives at at the Sterling Hotel
born in Pennsylvania, occupation actor.
(First) name of his father F. A.
 Birth name of his mother Julia G. Bennett
Walter was already married.
Ida Apperley, 29 years old,
lives at the Sterling Hotel, Hamilton, Ohio.
She was born in California, she is an actress.
(First) name of her father Wm (short for William)
Birth name of her mother (no entry).
She was already married, her married name was Greenleaf (sic!).
Rev. Hartman is scheduled to marry them.
Signed Walter B. Gilbert, May 2nd 1907.
Added later:
Marriage took place on May 4th 1907.
Signed L. O. Hartman, "M. E. Minister".

Ida's Death
You can find her death certificate here.
From the collection "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956".

State of Utah - Death Certificate
Ida Adair Gilbert
Place of Death: Semloh Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah
Time of Death: September 29th 1913, 4 AM
Cause of Death: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (she had suffered from it for 1 year)
Ida was born April 28th 1877 in Logan, Utah.
At the time of her death she was 36 years, 5 months, 1 day old.
Her occupation is "housewife".
Father: W. H. Apperley, born in unknown
Mother: unknown

"the above is true to the best of my knowledge": W. B. Gilbert, staying at the Semloh Hotel.
How long had the deceased lived in the place of death: 5 days.
Former or usual residence: San Francisco.
Laid to rest on October 2nd 1913 on the Mt. Olivet cemetary.

Ida's Entry in the Death Registry
Find the data here. Scan can be found on familysearch

This is basically the same information as on her death certificate. Only this is the death registry on bureaucratical level up.

You can take a look at Ida's grave on findagrave.com here.

(It's a small world! Jack's third wife Ina Claire was also laid to rest there.)

Ida Adair's Family
What was Ida's family like when she grew up? Who were her parents and brothers and sisters?
I spend a long time researching this part and put everything I could find on the open access familysearch family tree. But all this research work brought out some interesting finds.

Ida's father William Henry Apperley and Lydia Ann Mangum Crocket had, according to biographies, eight children. I could only find documents for seven children. I also found basic entries for Ida's parents and seven children on familysearch family tree. I strongly suspect those basic entries were created from Mormon registries. So I will just assume that there really just were seven children.

First child and first sibling for Ida was
Lydia Amelia Millie Apperley.
You can find the data set at familysearch click
She was born January 17th 1875 in Logan, Utah.
I found no birth certificates for any of the Apperley children.
They only became mandatory in Utah in 1894. But even after that I could not find Apperley birth certificates.
At the age of 18 Millie married Clifford B. Johnson in Logan on March 22nd 1893.
1894 they had their first child Laura, born in Idaho.
On May 13th 1898 Millie had her son Robert Lee.
In the US Census 1900 we find Millie with her family in Idaho. For the US Census 1910 in Utah.
The US Census 1920 documented the family in Idaho again.
Next we meet Millie again on the 1940 US Census. But she is not in Utah or Idaho, but in San Francisco. She is divorced, 65 years old and lives alone. We also learn she had 8 years of school education and she is unable to work.
Her answer for the question where she lived on April 1st 1935, she answered "same place".
Millie died on November 15th 1969 in Contra Costa, California.

The second child was Ida Adair.
Find her at familysearch family tree click
Ida's older sister left the family when she married. That's March 1893. Meaning Ida will have taken over a lot of responsibility for her younger siblings at age 16. Later, when Ida's mother left the family (first for a short time to San Francisco, then "forever"), Ida surely had to take care of the Apperley household as well.

Third child is a son, William Apperley.
Find him on the family tree here clickWilliam was born on March 12th 1880 in Logan, Utah.
He pops up on the US Census 1880 (taken on August 1st 1880).
Next census entry I could find of William is on the US Census 1900.
He is in Idaho Falls, Idaho. June 5th/6th, he is a "boarder", single and 20 years old. His occupation is "laborer".
After much searching I could find William again on the California Death Index.
He died on March 15th 1913 in San Francisco.
There is a findagrave.com entry for him. The information there is that he succumbed to tuberculosis, he was a "marble cutter" and he was cremated at Cypress Lawn Colma.
He was only 33 years old.

The next child is Frank Apperley.
Born July 3rd 1884 in Logan. That is also his place of burial. I could find nothing more about him.
Look at his entry on the familysearch family tree here click

The next Apperley kid is a person we already met. It's "cousin" Clara!
Clara Blossom Apperley was born March 11th 1888 in Logan, Utah.
Familysearch family tree click
I could find no other person with this name, so this is definately "cousin" Clara from the 1900 US Census.
There she is documented with her sister, her husband and their small child. Clara is twelve years old, Ida 22.
Clara marries March 28th 1903 in Logan! She is only 15 years old!
But this marriage didn't seem to last as she died carrying her birth name on May 6th 1909 in San Francisco of tuberculosis.
She was laid to rest on May 8th 1909 in San Mateo, California.
Clara was only 21 years old.

Another Apperley child I found no further documents for is Vera Floreta Apperley.
Familysearch family tree click
Born February 23rd 1891.
That's it.

Youngest child of the Apperleys was Clifford Meldon Apperley.
He was the easiest to research sibling. ;)
Find him on familysearch family tree click
Clifford was born June 18th 1893 in Logan. That means only a short time after his oldest sister Millie married.
On June 5th 1917 Clifford was drafted for World War I. He lived in San Francisco and worked as a street car conductor. Very nice, Clifford!
He is 25 years old, single and lives with his mother. He claims exemption from draft because he has to take care of his mother.
He is of medium height und build. Brown hair and blue eyes. Is he bald? "no". :)

In 1920 we meet him again in the US Census.
He lives in San Francisco. His mother is not listed in his household anymore. (She has since died.) But he does not live alone, but with his wife Bertha. Looks like Clifford and Bertha live in a pension.
US Census 1930 lists Clifford and Bertha in Covina, Los Angeles, California.
On April 22nd 1940 Clifford lists on the 1940 US Census in Sacramento.
The pair do not have a child, Clifford is 47 years old. He has six years of school education, Bertha 8 years. Both are "farmers" on their own farm. They lived in "Almeida" on April 1st 1935.
Clifford was also drafted for World War II in the so called "old men's draft".
Clifford Melden (or Meldon), lives in Sacramento, he has telephone and his employer is the San Juan Union High School in Fair Oaks, California. He is a school bus driver.
He died on March 29th 1975. His last permanent residence was in Carmichael, Sacramento, California. He was 81 years old.


Now we get a good picture of the Apperley family. That is the family Jack was sent "home" to when Ida could not take care of him.

William and Lydia Apperley live in Logan, Utah. William works there. Some time Lydia left the family for a short time for San Francisco, but William made her come back. Then some time after that, Lydia left for good. William and Lydia divorced.

January 1875 - Millie is born in Logan, Utah
April 1877 - Ida is born in Logan
March 1880 - William is born in Logan
August 1880 - US Census 1880 - Millie, Ida and William live with their parents in Logan
July 1884 - Frank is born - no further data found
March 1888 - Clara Blossom is born
February 1891 - Vera is born - no further data found
March 1893 - Millie marries
June 1893 - Clifford is born in Logan
July 1897 - John Gilbert is born in Logan
June 1900 - US Census 1900 - Millie lives with her family in Idaho, Ida is in Colorado with John Pringle, her son and her 11 year old sister Clara, William lives as a "laborer" in Idaho
March 1903 - Clara marries in Logan, she is only 15 years old
March 1907 - Ida marries Walter Gilbert
May 1909 - Clara dies in San Francisco
April 1910 - US Census 1910 - Millie lives with her family in Utah
March 1913 - William dies in San Francisco
September 1913 - Ida dies in Salt Lake City - Jack is 16 years old, Walter Gilbert sends him to San Francisco
June 1917 - Clifford is drafted for WWI. He lives in San Francisco, is single and taking care of his mother.
January 1920 - US Census 1920 - Millie lives with her family in Idaho
April 1930 - US Census 1930 - Clifford lives with his wife Bertha in Los Angeles
April 1935 - US Census 1940 - Millie lives in San Francisco, Clifford and Bertha in Almeida
April 1940 - US Census 1940 - Millie is divorced and lives in San Francisco, Clifford and Bertha live in Sacramento.
April 1942 - Clifford gets drafted for WWII. He lives in Sacramento
November 1969 - Millie dies in Contra Costa, California
March 1975 - Clifford dies in California.

Now ... where could Ida send her son Jack? What family member could take him in?
Some time after Clifford's birth Lydia left Logan and her family, maybe taking Clifford with her. Lydia went to live in San Francisco, that's what Leatrice Joy writes in "Dark Star". The documents seem to suggest this too although there are many blank spots in Lydia's life.
After Lydia's oldest daughter left the family following her marriage, the second oldest daughter - Ida - would have to take on many responsibilities. Ida seems to have taken in her youngest sister Clara after her mother Lydia left. What other reason would there be for Clara being on the road with them? Clara could babysit, but Clara wasn't an adult yet and had to be looked after too.
The first sibling to die - that we have evidence of - was Clara at 21 years old.
Clara seems to have come to stay to live close to her mother in San Francisco.
William died in San Francisco only a few years later. Followed very shortly after by Ida who had her last permanent residence in San Francisco.
After Ida's death, Jack gets send to San Francisco. His uncle Clifford and his grandmother live there.
Millie separates from her husband and by 1935 she also lives in San Francisco.

A little shocking is the fact that so many siblings died relatively young of tuberculosis.
Clara - 21 years - 1909
William - 33 years - 1913
Ida - 36 years - 1913

3 out of 7 children! We do not know anything about 2 children (Vera and Frank).
Only 2 children "grow old" - Millie and Clifford. Both, Millie and Clifford, spend a large part of their lives in California. The place where their mother moved after leaving Logan and her marriage behind.

There really is no place for Jack!
The only residence that he could be send to are the Apperleys in Logan. (But when the family fell apart and William Henry's second wife entered the picture, things became difficult there.)
Live with Millie? She seems to have her own struggles.
Jack was send to Hitchcock Military Academy in California.
After Ida's death he was send to San Francisco.
Jack spoke of how his "cousin" Clifford (his uncle Clifford who was only a few years older than him) was kind to him when they spend time together - be that in Logan or California, we do not know more details.

So how about you? How do you feel about Ida now?
I see her in a completely different light now.
She seems to have tried her best. Unfortunately sometimes that brought hardship. But Ida accepted her responsibilities, she did not run away from them.

Next time we will take a look at Jack's grandparents in Logan where he was sometimes send to live ...

John Gilbert - You don't know Jack! Part 4

By 1924 Jack is living the Hollywood dream! The film fans love him. His movies are hits.
But Jack can't manage to bring his private life into order. He drinks too much, he smokes too much and he is living it up with women all the time. His moods are ever changing from extreme highs to extreme lows. Even with his friends saying how charming and loveable he was, it must have been hellish to live with him. He is thin-skinned and easily offended.
But he could be so happy, because the world is at his feet!

1927 Jack meets Greta Garbo. The romance is Hollywood legend.
Jack follows old patterns and wants to marry Garbo right away. But she never wants to marry.
The following years they have a passionate on-off-affair. There were two wedding dates set that to this day trigger a lot of story telling. (If you want to read more about this, please read some of their biographies.)

When Jack realises Garbo will never marry him, he quickly (again!) marries a co-star - Ina Claire.
Theoretically both are actors. But practically back in the day worlds divided their professional lives. Ina Claire is an acclaimed Broadway stage actress. Jack is a hugely successful silent movie actor.

Movies and movie people had a really bad rap that only slowly got better. Movies were popular with the illegibles, the non-English-speakers and the uneducated. Theatre (especially Broadway) was high-brow and "better". Any credible actor thought at least twice if he really should do a movie to make a living. By the end of the 1920s this slowly started to change, especially when suddenly the movies had sound. (And actor with professional voice training were sought after.)

1929 Jack made his first sound movie.

The "Hollywood Revue of 1929" was an anthology movie. All MGM stars (apart from Garbo) were presented to the audience with their first talking sequences. Some scenes were filmed in color.
Most scenes were musical numbers. Joan Crawford was in the movie too - and of course the hard worker she was, she not only danced and talked but sang as well and did a pretty good job.

Jack, not just MGM's highest paid actor but all of movie industry's highest paid actor, was paired with Norma Shearer, wife of star produced and Jack's friend Irving Thalberg.
They were scheduled to play a Romeo and Juliet scene. The director within the scene was Lionel Barrymore. Norma of course played Juliet and Jack made his talking debut a romantically babbling Romeo.

Norma Shearer will blossom in sound movies - she will go on to win an Oscar and be nominated several times. Lionel Barrymore will struggle with his alcohol addiction ... and Jack will simply not be able to continue his success.

This scene is Hollywood myth. Either film scholars skip it and will only address Jack's first feature movie talking debut. Or they will over analyse this scene. And they seem to hear voices ... do you think his voice sounds female and high here? I don't.
And why would Louis B Mayer who loved two things in life - his mother and money (and his mother came first!) - mess with his biggest investment?

But. The presentation of this scene is unbelievable ... although everyone seems to give it their best.
Until now audiences loved big romantic gestures, long intense stares. Lips would move and in their heads they would hear the words the audience longed to hear. This was silent movies at their best!
But when you suddenly actually hear what the lovers are saying, repeating again and again intimate language which you hadn't heard before! Maybe in theatres, but watching a movie with close up is much more intimate ... it must have been quite shocking for the audience.
Also MGM didn't do anyone a favour by filming this scene in colour. Norma looks like a clown ... a bit too heavy with the rouge!
Jack is wearing a bling-bling cape and a jewel brooch!
And the balcony ... is ground-level ... ?

After Jack and Norma played the scene "classically", a telegram is handed to Lionel Barrymore. The producers want to make some changes to the film. It's supposed to be more modern. The new title is "The Neckers". The play the scene again, this time with modern words. (Unfortunately not in modern clothing.)

Add to that the technical difficulties the crew still had. The camera was static - unlike the camera work in silent movies which by this time had become very refined. Also sounds are picked up that maybe should not have made it to the movie ... you can actually HEAR Jack and Norma kiss.

Jack doesn't seem authentic!!
"Julie, baby, I'm gaga about you!!" Oh really??
He only seems like a likeable guy when he plays himself ...

This is what happened in those early sound movies. Everything was stiff and you could almost feel the tension and stress the production was under. No wonder the movie "Singin' in the Rain" would later mock the early sound movies with this scene here!

Once the audience has decided that something is ridiculous, it is extremely difficult to repair the damage. That is what Jack's problem was. Nothing more, nothing less.

His new wife didn't help much. Oh, she did try to help by correcting insecure Jack all the time. The marriage was heading for disaster. During their wedding trip a reporter asked Ina Claire what it was like being married to a star? Ina answered, she didn't know "ask my husband!".

But JACK was the star! People crowded around them all across Europe where Ina was virtually unheard of. Ina felt snubbed and took it out on Jack. She lectured him when they visited museums, reminding him of his lack of school education. And Jack was suffering through the difficult transition to sound movies ... while Ina was tap dancing on his sensitive spots.

When the newly weds returned from their honeymoon it was clear their marriage was heading for a divorce.

The US census 1930 was taken on April 1st 1930.
You can find the data here.

John C. Gilbert is in Los Angeles in his house. He is head of his household.
32 years, born in Utah
his wife is Ina Claire Gilbert
33 years, born in District of Columbia.
There are vier servants living in their household.

They get divorced in 1931.

Surpring to no one, Jack gets married again pretty quickly. Another actress he met during filming. Virginia Bruce, co-star in "Downstairs" will be Jack's last wife.
You can find the data here.

August 10th 1932
John C. Gilbert, 35 years, lives in Beverly Hills
and
Virginia Helen Briggs, 21 years, from Minnesota, lives in Beverly Hills.

What follows are more bad times for Jack. This marriage too will be an absolute disaster within a short time. He still fights for his career. But his sound movies just aren't as popular as his silent movie hits which are only months away in the past. Jack's drinking now goes completely out of control, his work starts to suffer. Popular taste has changed - women love Clark Gable now ...
But not everything is hopeless and lost for Jack. Garbo makes MGM give a part in her movie "Queen Christina" (1933) to Jack.

August 2nd 1933 Jack's second daughter Susan Ann Gilbert is born.
See it here on familysearch.

1934 Jack and Virginia are getting divorced. The divorce is turning nasty. Jack gets lost in booze, drugs and women. Suddenly he looks ten years older than his age!


In 1935 Jack begins going out with Marlene Dietrich. And again he is lucky because Marlene is the typical German Hausfrau. She thinks sex is over-rated. When she loves someone, she mothers them with her love. She makes Jack quit alcohol. She tries to make him quit tobacco too. She cooks for him, pampers him. And she gets Jack a screen test for her next movie "Desire".

Click here to see his screen test in a clip from "Silent Hollywood" by Kevin Brownlow.
It skips directly where the screen test starts. Don't stop watching when Sam Marx starts talking or you'll miss Jack smiling into the camera one last time and in colour.

Jack didn't want Marlene to come along to the screen test, but she insisted. And again this proves to be lucky for him, because Marlene lights the set for Jack! Marlene had learnt lighting sets with genius von Sternberg. Jack looks younger! Marlene had even picked his costume "to distract from his old face". She pulls all her tricks for Jack.)


He got the part! But now his lifestyle takes its toll - in December 1935 Jack is suffering a serious heart attack. The producer replace him.

In the night from January 8th to January 9th 1936 Jack suffers a second serious heart attack. Marlene is with him. She gets medical help then flees the house to avoid scandal. (She is a married woman with a child.) Doctors fight for his life for over an hour. By early morning Jack is pronounced dead.

Jack was only 38 years old.

Jack's certificate of death is not online.
But you can find him twice in the Death Registries of Los Angeles (City and County).
"California, County Birth and Death Records 1849-1994" and "California, Death Index, 1905-1939".

He was cremated and laid to rest on Forest Lawn (findagrave.com) in Glendale, California.
When you read contemporary newspapers you will find lists of people who attended his funeral. Leatrice Joy came with their daughter. Same goes for Virginia Bruce and their daughter. Marlene was there, and many friends of Jack.

A last will was found, leaving everything to Virginia Bruce. Marlene steps up again, saying there was a new last will, leaving everything to his daughters, but this testament is never found.
Virginia Bruce "scores" big time. She auctions off Jack's posessions, even his used clothing. (Including sox and underwear.) Marlene tries to buy as much as possible at the auction ... Virginia behaves like a vulture. Even more tasteless is the auction of Jack's bed, in which he died ...

Here you can see an old advertisement for a hotel where you could rent a honeymoon suit featuring Jack Gilbert's bed. Some time ago I even so a picture of the bed which was still "in operation" at the time. What an unhappy ending.

Next time we take a look at Jack's parents.