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.
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.
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
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen