News from E.J. Fleming

On 21st March, I posted a card from Ethel where she gives her address as 6806 Hollywood Boulevard. I did a Google search on this address and it led me to The Movieland Directory site http://www.movielanddirectory.com/ - to quote "This site is based on E.J. Fleming's Movieland Directory, which contains the largest and best researched guide to Movieland locations on Earth. Our primary focus is on the people and places, including homes, film locations, and other points, associated with the entertainment business. " I contacted the website and gave them a link to this blog, and very soon received the following very detailed reply from E.J. himself.

"Thanks for your note to the site re; Blanche White. I love that kind of stuff and loved the pics and her notes. Judging from the cars in the photos, most of them seem to be early-mid 1940's. She also mentioned that Bobby Bolter died a few years earlier and he died in 1937.As to the address, coincidently I've been doing a TON of research during the past year and Tony (my brother and web king) is getting ready to upload an updated database. I’ve gathered another 27,000 or so addresses that will put it at about 57,000 (with no end in sight… it’s a sickness…) Coincidently I’ve spent a good bit of time during the past month reviewing old L.A. voter registration records from 1922 through 1940 and have a ton of addresses from Clark Drive. Nothing on Blanche/Ethel, sadly, but I had uncovered an address for her from 1930 to go with the one for Leo.

First of all, there is a Clark Drive and a Clark Street. They aren’t terribly far apart but are distinctly different and since she mentioned “Clark Drive” specifically it’s pretty strong to assume she would not have gotten it wrong. Clark Street is in West Hollywood near the border to Beverly Hills (just east of Doheny on a map) and runs north off of Sunset. It’s a pretty schmaltzy area actually. Big money and stars’ houses. The pictures are taken in the "flats" so I'm sure it's not Clark Street.

Clark Drive on the other hand is south about a mile from Clark Street and runs north/south. It is a block west of Robertson Boulevard and runs from Beverly Boulevard on the north down past Wilshire Boulevard. It is technically in Beverly Hills but isn’t ritzy by any means. During the 1940’s the neighborhood – which was blocks of really nice stucco or California mission style bungalows – was a working neighborhood. Lots of movie people lived there but it’s not mansions or anything like that. Most bigger name stars lived and still live north of Santa Monica. Workers still live south. So I’m pretty sure that she lived on Clark Drive between Wilshire and Beverly. Many people like her and Bobby Bolder lived in that area.

Unfortunately I’ve not come across any listing for Ethel in the dozens of Clark Drive forms I’ve been through (but I’ll keep looking). I’ve got them all indexed so I know where blocks are and rechecked tonight but found only a few Ethels and none with occupations that matched.

Coincidently, I did dig up someone who I believe to be Ethel in the 1930 census when I searched for Ethel White. At the time of the 1930 census, there was an Ethel C. White living at 1819 North Kingsley (the Hedvig Apartments, a nice 8-10 unit apartment building over in the Los Feliz area at the eastern end of Hollywood. It’s between Franklin Avenue and Sunset Boulevard on a north-south street. In 1930 the area was very nice, very clean and full of movie people of all types. Beverly Hills was still the place to be for the super stars, as were the Hollywood Hills (streets north of Sunset in Hollywood). But the neighborhoods like Los Feliz were very popular because they weren’t crowded. Often the streets were only half full of buildings.

At the time of the April, 1930 census, there was a listing was for Ethel C. White, b. 1893 in England, immigrating to the U.S. in 1910, age (looks like) 37 but it was scratched out. She was 18 at the time of her first marriage, which puts it sometime during 1911-1912. Dates can be tricky because the census was in April so you can only confirm a 2-year range unless you know the specific date of an event as it applies to April. Ethel had two sons, Leo H. (age 18, b. 1912 in New York) and John F. (age 15, b. 1915 in Illinois).

There are several circumstantial things – aside from the obvious name matches – that tie in as well. In 1912, when Leo H., Jr. was born in New York, Leo, Sr. was making movies for [it looks like there is some text missing in E.J.'s original. Leo was working for Power Picture Plays in 1912, but I do not know where they were based - Phil] In 1914-1915 when John F. was born in Illinois, Leo, Sr. was making movies in Chicago, Illinois, for Essanay. Also his age at first marriage – 29 – mentioned on his census form (he was apparently already separated from her as early as April, 1930) and his age – 47- means he was in 1911-1912, matching that of Ethel.

Coincidently, director Claude Fleming lived at the Hedvig at the same time.

During the same census I found Leo H., Sr. (listing on the site already) at 5724 Sunset (a larger apartment building; don’t know the name). He gave his age as 47 (b. 1893) and birthplace as Germany, immigrated in 1899. He was still listed as married (as was Ethel) and “actor – stage” as occupation.

No idea who her “Bob” is, which must be terrible frustrating for you. If you can find out, let me know and I’ll do some research. In one of her postcards she mentioned “Bob” was working in a film so he was in the business. There was a Robert “Bobo” Cannon (b 1909, Ohio d 1964 in L.A.) who was a director and animation guy in the 1940’s-1950’s but that’s the only close thing I could find from the information she left.

Her 6806 Hollywood Blvd. address was the Bonnie Briar Hotel Apartments, a very large building at Hollywood and Highland in the heart of Hollywood. It is next to the new Academy Award complex and the Hollywood/Highland development. Very cool area. In the 1930’s-1940’s tons of interesting people lived there; here’s the list I have now:

[Sorry I have not been able to include the list of names. It was in a table and the formatting went haywire when I tried to copy and paste it here. If you would like to see the full list, please contact me (see my profile for e-mail address) and I'll forward the original message on to you.]

Not there any more I’m pretty sure…

Again if you come up with any additional information about Ethel or “Bobo” please let me know and I’ll see what I can find.

E.J. kindly provided me with copies of the 1930 census data for Ethel and Leo. They are in pdf format so I cannot post them here, but e-mail me if you would like copies.

If Ethel went to the USA in 1910, she would only have been 17 or 18 at the time. The census data also shows she first married at 18. So this still leaves a question mark over whether she met and married Leo before or after she emigrated.

Leo's age is consistent with the IMDb website database which says he was born in 1882. But if he immigrated to the US in 1899 he would only have been 16 or 17, which seems a little young, especially as some sources state he was already an established music hall performer in the UK before he went to the US. Possibly 1899 was the year he left Germany, not necessarily when he arrived in US. The census data also contradicts the birth year of 1873 shown on his gravestone.