A Missed Opportunity
All of us have regrets about missed opportunities; times when we should have turned right when we turned left. [I'm not talking politically here.:]
Back in the 1970s, I was researching a non-fiction book about the William Desmond Taylor murder.
Taylor was a major film director during Hollywood's silent era. On February 1, 1922, an unknown person shot him dead in his bungalow apartment.
The murder, which is still officially unsolved, made headlines all over the world and destroyed the careers of two major silent stars, Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter.
I'm not going to go into all the details of the case here, but when the police arrived on the scene, they found representatives from Paramount Pictures, where Taylor worked, burning papers in the fireplace and compromising other possible evidence. Indeed, the story was in the papers for well over a decade and has been the subject of many magazine articles in the years since. It was even dealt with in a Broadway musical, Jerry Herman's MACK AND MABEL.
I'd always wanted to write a true crime book and this case fascinated me. I spent several months researching it, going through old newspaper files and interviewing survivors of that era who remembered the case. I even did a phone interview with Mary Miles Minter who, along with her mother, was the chief suspect in the murder.
[Actually, the information I gleaned from researching this case was a major part of my inspiration for ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From The Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker.]
One of the more helpful people I talked to was legendary newspaperwoman Adela Rogers St. Johns, who liked me and sort of took me under her wing. She gave me plenty of useful information.
Then, somebody turned me onto director King Vidor (NORTHWEST PASSAGE, DUEL IN THE SUN). Vidor was also interested in the Taylor case and, years earlier, he had been granted access to the police files. It was my understanding that he was the only outsider who had ever seen these records.
One afternoon, I met with Vidor in his home office and he offered to share his files with me for a 50% interest in my book. I told him I'd think about it.
I asked Adela Rogers St. Johns her advice, and she said, "What do you need him for? You know who did it. Write your own book."
And, like a shmuck, I followed her advice.
I know that she meant well and that her advice would have been very good for her but, in my case, having King Vidor's name attached to my book, would have made it a best-seller.
Shortly after that, I got involved in another writing project. I put my Taylor book aside, never to return to it.
Vidor died in 1982. In 1986, Sidney D. Kirkpatrick, the director's authorized biographer, having gained access to Vidor's files on the Taylor case, published (through Dutton) A CAST OF KILLERS, an excellent book that, for all practical purposes, solved the mystery once and for all.
The book, written from Vidor's point-of-view, became a best seller.
Ouch!
It's instances like that which has, over the years caused me to adopt a philosophy: Take every reasonable opportunity that comes your way, because you never know where it will lead.
Back in the 1970s, I was researching a non-fiction book about the William Desmond Taylor murder.
Taylor was a major film director during Hollywood's silent era. On February 1, 1922, an unknown person shot him dead in his bungalow apartment.
The murder, which is still officially unsolved, made headlines all over the world and destroyed the careers of two major silent stars, Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter.
I'm not going to go into all the details of the case here, but when the police arrived on the scene, they found representatives from Paramount Pictures, where Taylor worked, burning papers in the fireplace and compromising other possible evidence. Indeed, the story was in the papers for well over a decade and has been the subject of many magazine articles in the years since. It was even dealt with in a Broadway musical, Jerry Herman's MACK AND MABEL.
I'd always wanted to write a true crime book and this case fascinated me. I spent several months researching it, going through old newspaper files and interviewing survivors of that era who remembered the case. I even did a phone interview with Mary Miles Minter who, along with her mother, was the chief suspect in the murder.
[Actually, the information I gleaned from researching this case was a major part of my inspiration for ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From The Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker.]
One of the more helpful people I talked to was legendary newspaperwoman Adela Rogers St. Johns, who liked me and sort of took me under her wing. She gave me plenty of useful information.
Then, somebody turned me onto director King Vidor (NORTHWEST PASSAGE, DUEL IN THE SUN). Vidor was also interested in the Taylor case and, years earlier, he had been granted access to the police files. It was my understanding that he was the only outsider who had ever seen these records.
One afternoon, I met with Vidor in his home office and he offered to share his files with me for a 50% interest in my book. I told him I'd think about it.
I asked Adela Rogers St. Johns her advice, and she said, "What do you need him for? You know who did it. Write your own book."
And, like a shmuck, I followed her advice.
I know that she meant well and that her advice would have been very good for her but, in my case, having King Vidor's name attached to my book, would have made it a best-seller.
Shortly after that, I got involved in another writing project. I put my Taylor book aside, never to return to it.
Vidor died in 1982. In 1986, Sidney D. Kirkpatrick, the director's authorized biographer, having gained access to Vidor's files on the Taylor case, published (through Dutton) A CAST OF KILLERS, an excellent book that, for all practical purposes, solved the mystery once and for all.
The book, written from Vidor's point-of-view, became a best seller.
Ouch!
It's instances like that which has, over the years caused me to adopt a philosophy: Take every reasonable opportunity that comes your way, because you never know where it will lead.
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