Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
I found this larger version on eBay. There are even bigger digital versions for sale online, but at least you can read some of the text here. The cartoons really bring this Hollywood map alive!
eBay
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Back in October (2016), Godzilla posted this fascinating 1928 "cartoon map" of Hollywood, and soon after Hoss posted a larger image, allowing one to read the text.
An item caught my eye. Next to a tiny drawing of a house at the foot of "Cahuenga Pass" is written "J. Warren Kerrigan made his first picture in 1910." J. Warren Kerrigan, an utterly forgotten name today, was a major star in the early days of Hollywood, often in Westerns. In 1912, Photoplay Magazine called him the most popular star of all, and later another magazine termed him "most popular star in the world." He appeared in some 300 films between 1910 and 1924. He was also quite openly gay, sharing his spacious "Swiss Bungalow" at 2307 Cahuenga with his mother and his longtime male companion, James Vincent, also an actor.
2307 N. Cahuenga
mitinger-mccarron.blogspot
J. Warren Kerrigan
images tagged j.warrenkerrigan/immortalephemera.com
James Vincent
wikipedia
Kerrigan's huge popularity took a nosedive in 1917 when he gave a most unfortunate reply to an interviewer's question about joining the military to help fight World War 1. Kerrigan's answer:
"I am not going to war. I will go, of course, if my country needs me, but I think that first they should take the great mass of men who aren't good for anything else, or are only good for the lower grades of work. Actors, musicians, great writers, artists of every kind - isn't it a pity when people are sacrificed who are capable of such things - of adding beauty to the world."
This did not endear him to the public. Interestingly, he continued to appear in dozens of films and actually enjoyed a career surge in 1923/24 when he starred in both the first great epic Western, "The Covered Wagon," and then "Captain Blood," after which he retired.
In 1936 through '38, a former female impersonator name Mansel V. Boyle, known as "Vardaman (his middle name) The Gay Deceiver," is listed on census records as living with Kerrigan at the Cahuenga Ave. house. An online biography of Kerrigan surmises that because Boyle was down on his luck and moved frequently, he may have just been a friendly companion who needed a place to live.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...nselVBoyle.jpg
Mansel Vardaman Boyle
gay history wiki/wikidot.com
Later, Kerrigan moved to a foothill estate in Sunland (now known as Sunland-Tujunga), then to Balboa Beach, where he died in 1947 at age 68.
The picturesque home on North Cahuenga was later demolished and today a generic 1980's/90's stucco apartment complex occupies the site.
2307 N. Cahuenga today
www.zillow.com/home details/2307-1
More information about Kerrigan can also be found in "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood," by William J. Mann, author of the superb "Tinseltown."