WILLIAM POWELL—A GENTLEMAN AND A SURVIVOR
Don't Ever Let Anyone Tell You That You're A Washed Up Has Been!
Hiya Friends!
I went to an estate sale last weekend and exercised tremendous restraint if I do say so myself. There were loads of enticing tchotchkes, vintage clothes, old magazines, bags of decorative buttons, purses, and more. Everything was priced to move, and yet, I only left with the three items pictured below. If you’re applauding my efforts, I thank you.
Now granted, I didn’t need any of this stuff. I have loads of vintage platters, but come on! How cute is this one with its wee scalloped edges and mint green hue? It will make the most darling cookie platter, don’t you think? I may end up giving away the fish and whale wall hangers as gifts, or I’ll sell them in my Etsy store, or maybe I’ll hang them in our powder room. The thing is, I’ve got options.
Jared thinks that I have hoarding tendencies. He doesn’t have the heart of a collector, but the woman hosting this estate sale sure did. She revealed that she’d been renting this two-bedroom house for years and the owner had decided to sell, hence the purge of her possessions. This struck me as a wise decision on the owner’s part because the concrete steps that led up to the crumbling Craftsman had broken free and started a continental drift towards the sidewalk. Such is the way of things when you’re living on or near fault lines. To avoid face plants, she’d taped up handwritten signs near the entrance that said, “Be careful on the loose stairs!” Why yes, I risked life and limb for a vintage platter and two wall-hanging fish. #WorthIt.
As you might’ve guessed, I’m a naturally curious/nosy person, so I asked where the tenant would hang her vintage hats in the future. She said, “The Hollywood Tower building in William Powell’s old apartment!” PEOPLE!! I plotzed. This is the wonder and beauty of living in Los Angeles. Chances are, you’re sleeping, walking, and/or sleepwalking where famous stars have done the same.
This woman and I quickly bonded over our shared love of bric-a-brac and William Powell. I mentioned that I’d once written a piece about Myrna Loy for the magazine Closer Weekly, and Loy—the actress who famously portrayed Nora Charles in The Thin Man movies opposite Powell—gushed about her on-screen hubby. “He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend, and, above all, a true gentleman,” she said.
Well, obviously, I had no choice but to run home and do a deep dive on William Powell. More on that in a minute. For my readers who do not reside in the City of Angels, let me give you a bit of backstory. The Hollywood Tower* is a gorgeous, historic apartment building located at 6200 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, just a block away from the 101 freeway on-ramp. Built in 1929, its original name was the “LaBelle Tour,” which is le français for The Beautiful Tower and quite a fitting moniker as you can see from these photos↓.
Designed in French-Normandy style by architects Cramer & Wise, the building served as an extended stay residence to Humphrey Bogart of “Casablanca” during construction of his house in the Hollywoodland subdivision. William Powell of “The Thin Man” franchise occupied apartment 401. Colin Clive, most famous for his role as Dr. Frankenstein, was photographed on the famous rooftop terraces in the 1930s and resided at La Belle Tour when filming in Hollywood. The building has also welcomed icons Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, and Errol Flynn over the years.
In the 1950s, someone changed the name to the rather uninspired (IMHO) The Hollywood Tower and somehow the building was one of just a few to escape destruction as the city razed a path for the 101 freeway. As much as I love this town, it’s never been very sentimental about preserving its history. Through the years, Hollywood Tower was sold and resold, suffering from neglect in the process. Finally, in 1988, the National Register of Historic Places—a country-wide list that serves to protect architectural and historic gems—added The Hollywood Tower to its roster.
A major renovation took place at The Hollywood Tower in 2010, restoring the lobby to its art deco glory, and the rooftop to its original splendor. The apartments, on the other hand, seem to have been stripped of all character and charm. It’s a shame that the owners couldn’t figure out how to upgrade the apartments and maintain the vintage details. I guess the most important thing is, the building remains a part of this city’s lore. There’s a video on the website that will take you on a virtual tour if you’re keen to see the transformation.
*Fun Fact: The Hollywood Tower inspired the Disneyland attraction, The Tower of Terror, which explains why the name of the building in the attraction is the “The Hollywood Tower Hotel.”
WILLIAM POWELL—A GENTLEMAN AND A SURVIVOR
I loved William Powell in The Thin Man movies, but I didn’t know a ton about his life until I spent the past couple of days reading articles and watching biographies on YouTube. I also put a book about him on hold at the library and Jared and I rewatched My Man Godfrey. Jared wants to know if he can pull off a William Powell stache. I told him it would likely require practice and possibly a professional barber. We’ll see if he goes for it.
I have to admit, in this introductory sleuthing phase, I learned a few things about Powell that made me sad. Don’t panic. Powell wasn’t a jerk or a cad, but he endured more than his fair share of tragedy, illness, and heartbreak. And believe it or not, before he filmed The Thin Man, studio execs had decided he was a washed-up has been! Just goes to show that the gatekeepers are often wrong and you have to keep on living the dream.
ON THE ROAD TO STARDOM
I try to keep things lighthearted here at In With the Old, so let’s kick things off on an up note, shall we? William Horatio Powell was born in 1892 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and later his family relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. He caught the acting bug after landing a supporting role in his high school production of The Rivals. Fun fact: He was also a cheerleader!
Post high school, Powell attempted to please his parents by signing up to study law at the University of Kansas City. Thankfully, he quickly came to his senses, and one week later he headed to the Big Apple to be a star. Well, okay, not quite. First he convinced his aunt to loan him $700 to pay his tuition at NY’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA).
When his money ran out in 1912, Powell left AADA and started performing in vaudeville acts and stock theater productions. It was during the traveling production of Within The Law that he met his first wife/fellow cast mate, Eileen Wilson. The couple had a son named William David before divorcing in 1930.
Eventually Powell made it to Old Broadway and had a successful run as the lead in the Broadway play, Spanish Love. That’s when Hollywood took notice. In 1922, Powell appeared as one of Moriarty’s henchmen in the silent-film version of Sherlock Holmes starring John Barrymore.
FROM BAD GUY TO DETECTIVE
If you ask me, William Powell had it going on. Clearly, the beautiful starlets he’d dated like Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow agreed. Studio execs, unsurprisingly, didn’t understand his allure. They believed he lacked the classic good looks of a leading man and typecast him as a villain in a slew of silent films throughout the 1920s. He seemed to accept that his looks were never an asset when he said, "Unfortunately, or perhaps it is fortunate that I have always been forced to stand on my acting ability. "
THAT VOICE, THOUGH
Over time, Powell proved himself a standout on screen. That led to more diverse roles, but things really changed for him with the advent of talkies. While not everyone made the jump from silent pictures to sound pictures due to awkward voices or heavy accents, Powell, who’d been stage trained, had that debonair way of speaking we’ve all come to know and love.
Some of you movie buffs probably know that Nick Charles wasn’t the first time Powell made detective. His first true leading role was as Detective Philo Vance in the Canary Murder Case in 1929. That film was originally shot as a silent film and after production wrapped, Paramount decided to dub in sound. Audiences hearing Powell’s voice wondered, “Who’s this smoke show?” Okay, I made that part up. . . sort of. The movie, which showcased his talent, proved to be a turning point in Powell’s career, and he went on to portray Vance in two sequels.
LADIES’ MAN
In 1929, Myron Selznick, a savvy and ambitious talent agent, signed Powell as his client and negotiated a lucrative contract with Warner Bros. that gave Powell the star treatment he’d deserved. The terms stated that Powell would receive top billing in all of his movies. Suddenly Powell was packaged and cast as a suave ladies’ man who woos women and steals their jewels *wink wink. In fact, it was in the movie titled Ladies’ Man that he met his second wife, Carole Lombard. “I think I asked Carole to marry me on average of every half hour,” Powell once quipped. Though the marriage only lasted two years—Powell wasn’t keen on being Mr. Carole Lombard and Lombard wanted to stay out all night dancing, not fold laundry—the two remained close friends. When Lombard returned from Vegas with her divorce papers, she called Powell up and said, “Baby’s back,” to which he replied, “Darling, I’ve missed you so. Not a good laugh in weeks. Come right on over, I’ll start icing the champagne.” Powell had a very good run at Warners Bros until his contract demands became an issue.
“WASHED UP” AT 41!
Warner Bros. tried to renegotiate Powell’s contract in 1933 and when Powell rejected the proposed pay cut, the studio dropped him, referring to him as “washed up” in a confidential memo.
At this point, the studios were ready to send Powell off to the retirement home at age 41. Luckily, his agent had his back and managed to get him cast him in a little B movie called The Thin Man despite pushback from Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM. In fact, Mayer had so little faith in the film, he only approved a tiny budget and gave the director, W.S. Van Dyke just twelve days to shoot it. So here we have yet another case of an arrogant gatekeeper failing to recognize a hit that was staring him in the face. As we all now know, audiences flipped for Nick & Nora. Powell earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination and secured a $500,000 ten-film contract afterwards. The movie inspired six sequels! Can you imagine the looks on the faces of those Warner Bros. execs who called Powell “washed up?”
JEAN HARLOW LOVED AND TRUSTED HIM
By 1934, Powell started dating Jean Harlow, nineteen years his junior. They’d met when Harlow visited the set of Manhattan Melodrama, Powell’s first movie with Myrna Loy pre-The Thin Man. Harlow was crazy in love with Powell and wanted to marry him. Powell, still smarting from from his breakup with Lombard, worried about getting entangled with another blond bombshell whose star was on the rise. Instead of proposing, he gave Harlow a 152-carat sapphire ring that she called her “unengagement ring.” A couple of years later, Powell teamed up with ex-wife/good pal Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey and received his second Best Actor Oscar nom.
WARNING, SAD NEWS AHEAD!
Here’s where the tragic events start to pile up for Powell. When Powell refused to take his relationship with Jean Harlow to the next level, she fell into a depression. Folks who’d worked with her on the set of her last film, Saratoga, noticed a physical change as if her light had dimmed. Then she grew ill, suffering from exhaustion, nausea and fluid retention. Doctors misdiagnosed her with the flu and her symptoms worsened until they realized she was in kidney failure. Powell rushed to the hospital to be by her side and, allegedly, the last words she spoke were his name. She died in 1937 at just 26-years-old.
Convinced a broken heart had killed Harlow and certain it was his fault, Powell was devastated. He sobbed at her funeral and his mom and another friend had to hold him up. Harlow was buried in a $25,000 private room in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park that Powell paid for, which held spots for Harlow’s mother and one for Powell, though he wasn’t buried there.
Soon after, Powell was diagnosed with rectal cancer. Doctors tried an experimental treatment whereby they inserted radium pellets into his body and left them there for six months. Miraculously, his cancer went into remission and he lived to be 91-years-old. I wish I could just end the story here and say that he lived happily after, but tragically, his dear friend Carole Lombard died in a plane crash in 1942, and his son, William David Powell—a successful screenwriter and associate producer—committed suicide in 1968 after suffering from depression and other health issues. 💔
Powell did remarry in 1940 to actress Diana Lewis and by all accounts, the two were very happy together right up until Powell’s death in 1984. He received his third Best Actor nomination for in 1947 for Life with Father. The last film he appeared in was Mister Roberts in 1955. In retirement, he enjoyed a game of golf and spending time with Diana.
WATCH THE THIN MAN
The clip above is a trailer for the film where Powell as Philo Vance and Powell as Nick Charles have a little chat about Nick’s latest case.
The story follows retired Detective Nick Charles, his socialite wife, Nora, and their adorable dog, Asta as they investigate the disappearance of a former client. They swill a lot of cocktails in the movie because it was made right after prohibition ended and everyone was ready to celebrate. Fun fact: While Powell was rehearsing the scene where he shows a bartender how to fix his drink, he did a little improv, and Van Dyke secretly had the camera going, then yelled “Print it!” That’s the scene that ended up in the film.
Okay. I really hadn’t planned to dedicate an entire newsletter to Willam Powell, but the universe wants what the universe wants. I think the important takeaway here is, never let anyone tell you’re washed up! Substack is telling me this post is too long for email, so I need to wrap this up. If you enjoyed reading about Powell as much I enjoyed writing about him, hit the ❤️ button or leave a comment. I always love hearing from you.
He was also great as Ziegfeld
Good story well written, thanks