Louella Parsons dinner party, Montmartre Cafe, 6757 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles. 1929.
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/co...0coll2/id/3448
At first I couldn't find Louella...but I believe she's at the head of the table. (where she should be if she's hosting) -I've circled her in the enlargement below.
detail
I don't recognize any of the guests (well maybe one). At the time Ms. Parsons was a syndicated columnist for Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner.
A year before this photograph was taken she began hosting a weekly radio program features movie star interviews (sponsored by SunKist).
So a number of the guests at the party might be newspaper or radio executives and their wives.
I couldn't help but notice this attractive couple on the right side of the room. (note how lovingly the young man has his arm around her...grasping her hand)
detail
This young lady is quite a stunner. If she wasn't in the movies she should have been.
If his watch is correct, the photograph was taken at 9:10
Now here's the one person I think I recognize.
detail
I believe she is silent film star, French actress Renee Adoree.
If this is in fact her, she is battling tuberculosis. (I believe that would explain the blotches on her arm)
She died at the age of 35, three and a half years after the Montmartre photograph was taken.
Renee Adoree
http://silenthollywood.com/reneeadoree.html
RENEE ADOREE, FILM CELEBRITY, DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS
Hollywood, Cal. Oct 5 (Special)--Renee Adoree, once prominent moving
picture actress, died today at Sunland, a health resort near here.
Death was caused by a chronic respiratory ailment which forced her
retirement several years ago. The triumph of the French actress in "The
Big Parade" with John Gilbert is remembered as film history. Three
years ago she was cast with Ramon Novarro in "Call of the Flesh" and
against the advice of her physicians insisted on finishing the role.
She collapsed after completing the picture and was taken to a sanitarium
in Prescott, Ariz. She was released six months ago and returned to make
her home at Tujunga, near Hollywood, where she suffered a relapse.
Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, when her body will be
placed in a vault in the Hollywood mausoleum.
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