William Taylor Murdered Slain in Jealousy Revenge February 3 1922 Hollywood B20 For Sale

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William Taylor Murdered Slain in Jealousy Revenge February 3 1922 Hollywood B20:
$109.00

Los Angeles Examiner Original Newspaper

February 3 1922

On the morning of February 2, 1922, Taylor\'s manservant, Henry Peavey, entered his apartment in the tony neighbourhood of Westlake to find the 49-year-old director lying dead on his living room floor. Immaculately dressed as always, Taylor appeared in repose; the elegant positioning of the body suggested a scene from one of his own movies. Peavey assumed his boss was asleep, a perfectly healthy man, lying in an undisturbed house. Later that day, when police moved the body, they discovered that Taylor had been shot in the back. Hollywood would never be the same again.

When they rolled over the body at 404 B Alvarado Court Apartments, revealing the fatal bullet hole, Hollywood was already on a precipice. The aforementioned Virginia Rappe had died after attending a party thrown by Roscoe \'Fatty\' Arbuckle, plumber-turned-millionaire comedian. The spurious claim that Rappe\'s death resulted from a sexual assault by Arbuckle led to a pruriently publicised murder trial. Prior to this outrage, puritanical forces pressured the film business, claiming lust and idolatry were at the heart of this new medium; it promoted bad ideas to the lower classes, those who could spare a nickel to go to the flickers. Now it was clear that this ragtag bunch were behaving even worse than their onscreen characters. The Arbuckle case confirmed the rumours of rampant drug abuse and promiscuity in Tinseltown. Hollywood bosses, who, as immigrant jews, never felt secure in their position, knew that their burgeoning business was hanging by a thread. Two years into prohibition, it was abundantly clear that if moralists could ban alcohol, Moving Pictures had no chance. They would not survive another disgrace.

As reporters and police delved into the case, it became apparent that this was the big kahuna of Hollywood scandals. Firstly, Taylor wasn\'t his real name; the elegant English gent, as he presented himself, was an Irishman by the name of William Deane Tanner. Had he changed his name because he abandoned his wife Ethel and their child Daisy several years earlier? Why did he have a series of sketchy menservants, the current up on indecency charges and the previous one blackmailing him? What was celebrated actress and reputed coke addict Mabel Normand doing in his apartment the night of his murder, and why was there ladies underwear and love letters from a young starlet found in his belongings?

Some of these disclosures were willful distortions by a salivating yellow press, twisting any detail into a salacious headline. Some facts that emerged were true. Taylor, or Deane-Tanner, had grown up in Ireland, the eldest son of a British Army officer. For reasons that later become apparent, he did not follow his father into the military but became a \'remittance man\'; he was, in effect, paid to stay away — sent to a dude ranch in Kansas, run by an Ulsterman named Ned Tunley. Here Deane-Tanner got a taste of American life and decided never to live in Ireland again. He moved to New York, set up an antique business, got involved in acting, met and married a showgirl and had a child. And then, one day, inexplicably disappeared, never to return to New York. He wandered the United States, doing odd jobs but keeping his hand in at acting, finally settling to work for the Goldmines in the Yukon. He got word that they were looking for actors in Los Angeles; he changed his name and moved south to find fame in the city of second chances.

So who shot him and why?

That is the mystery that remains to this day. His killer was never found. Some say it was the mother of Miss Minter, whose love letter appeared in his apartment; some say it was drug dealers who were upset at his anti-narcotic stance and protectiveness of his best friend Mabel Normand; others say it was an extortion threat gone wrong. We might never know but what we do know is his murder was the last straw for the Studio bosses; they brought in Republican Politician Will Hays to clean up the industry before public opinion closed it down. The self-censorship policy that dictated movie content for 30 years, also known as the Hays code, directly resulted from Taylor\'s murder.

Wonderful birthday gift with topical news from home and abroad including numerous photographs, stories, fashion and adverts.

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William Taylor Murdered Slain in Jealousy Revenge February 3 1922 Hollywood B20

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