Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star by Stephen Michael Shearer

Author:Stephen Michael Shearer [Shearer, Stephen Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2013-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

20

Hollywood Redux

On the evening of April 23, through her lawyer Loyd Wright, Gloria officially announced her pending divorce. The following day in her dressing room backstage at the Paramount Theater, Gloria explained, “Michael belongs in one world and I belong in another. I have my work and I like to do what I am doing. He has just returned from a lovely yachting race in Norway, and I hear that he intends to take a trip around the world. How nice that Mr. Farmer has so much leisure. I am glad he is enjoying himself. For my part, I have obligations and it’s up to me to take care of them. That is why I am here working.”1

After confirming she was claiming incompatibility, Gloria denied any involvement with Herbert Marshall. She stated she would return to California around June 1 to film the Goldwyn picture Barbary Coast, then start her first film for Metro. That same day, April 24, Michael Farmer called his lawyer in London from Paris to ask if Gloria’s statements were true and was told they did not know. “When you are away from Hollywood you never know whether you’re being divorced or not,” he joked to the press.2

As Michael continued to throw a series of large parties in Paris, it was announced Gloria might extend her stage appearances, as Three Weeks at MGM was delayed. Wright sensed Farmer was prepared to battle. After finally being notified of Gloria’s actions by her attorney in London and advised of her blatant public relationship with Marshall, Michael made a statement the first week of May. He righteously told the press, “If Gloria really wants a divorce, I will give it to her if it makes her happy. But I feel at the moment if there is any truth in it, it may be just a whim and I would rather not give her a divorce.” Asked why not, he pointed to the fact they had a two-year-old daughter, and for Gloria’s sake he thought a divorce “would not be wise.”3

Gloria wasn’t taking chances. She had received an ominous letter dated May 8 from nanny Edith Simonson regarding Michael and his adopted “mother” Mrs. Edmund Hubbard and their desire to keep baby Michelle:

I have made observations … Her [Mrs. Hubbard] mental condition is very bad. Will do all in my power to protect your baby and help you if it is necessary … She is crazy on the subject of Michelle. Every day she says my son has given me the baby nobody can take her away. She is mine I will go to the law about it … So much more, just the ravings of a woman whose mind is not all together normal. If she was normal she would realize you are her Mother and the one to have [Michelle].4

Michael, however, held the trump card in Paris. Gloria was much too busy to deal with the baby as she attempted to restart her floundering career and continue her involvement with Marshall.

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