Julie Balloo’s play The Paper Doll House focuses on the unsolved murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. It played at the Old Red Lion Theatre as part of FreshFest26 and has now been extended to 14 Feb due to popular demand.
Starlet Mary Miles Minter and her mother, Charlotte Shelby, were always under suspicion of the murder. One night in 1956, in one of those olde world Hollywood mansions, Shelby is watching I’ve Got a Secret – a popular game show – when the doorbell rings.
Director Tug J Wilson has a feel for the period even if clearly influenced by Sunset Boulevard and Norma Desmond. Jan Goodman and Carol Been play the mother and daughter living out their difficult relationship under the shadow of the past.
Chloé Theresa Wilson is Betty Baker, ‘Avon lady’ and foil for journalist Eddie (Tom Inman). He tells us in the play’s intro that Taylor’s death was initially attributed to stomach trouble despite the gun wounds. Such was Hollywood.
Been’s Mary is done up like a less innocent Mary Pickford, down to her white gown, cascade of lobg hair, and an attutude. Her career had crashed to an end in 1923, a year after Taylor’s murder, but she still has a nose for the danger of prying hacks.
In 1922, Mary Miles Minter was just 19; William Desmond Taylor was 49. She was infatuated with him, writing letters that led to the gossip that brought her career of over 50 films to an end.
Balloo’s play muses on the ‘what ifs’ of a scandal that rocked the movie world – one of those that prompted regulation under the Production Code. It is a wirk of fiction but feels very much like it could have happened.
It’s suprusingly funny and sharp. Eddie and Betty have their roots in stereotype, but they fit what is essentially a satire of ‘cancel culture’. It is hard to assess Minter’s talent now as only around 12 films survive. She was ceetainly pretty, but hardly stretched in the acting stakes.
At the 50 minute mark, the camera zooms in adding an almost fly-on-the-wall feel to proceedings. The line attributed to Minter in the script, “They crucified Jesus, now they’ve crucified my mate”, was documented said after the death of Taylor.
I’ve never seen a murder suspect feature on I’ve Got A Secret but I suppose at a stretch it might be possible! Minter, Shelby and Betty are shown as survivors; Eddie an abusive thug out for lurid headlines.
The Paper Doll House is a fitting tribute to the memory of the young star who ended life as a “frail old lady” with no sense of her famous past. It reaches no conclusions but if you are interested in old Tinseltown, you’ll enjoy this one.
****
The Paper Doll House continues at the Old Red Lion Theatre until 14 Feb.
My thanks to Julie Balloo for sending through this filmed version for review.