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    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943: Vol VIII, Lupe Velez
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943: Vol VIII, Lupe Velez
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943: Vol VIII, Lupe Velez
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943: Vol VIII, Lupe Velez

    By James R Ashley

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    About this ebook

    Lupe Velez was the poster child for “Hollywood Girls Go Wild” during the golden age of Hollywood moviemaking. She was quite likely bi-polar and her mood swings alternated between withdrawn and depressed sometimes in private, to a spitfire wildcat in public. She was renowned for her hair-trigger temper, uncontrollable violence, and erratic actions. She would regularly beat and scratch her lovers for no apparent reason and would think nothing of engaging a strange man in fisticuffs, if he insulted the very husband she had just argued with and abused. She was known for throwing the wildest parties in Hollywood and loved to be the center of attention.

    Lupe was drop-dead gorgeous when she began her career, and her presence on the screen was riveting. In her first “talkie” her dialog was limited to a repetition of, “me understand.” Quite likely because of Lupe’s heavy accent she had no future as either a romantic or dramatic actress with the advent of sound. She did, however, have a future in comedy, as her eggerated Mexican accent and highly animated mannerisms struck people of the day as comical. After being sacked by MGM for her last 2 stinko movies there, Lupe went to England to make 3 forgettable movies for British Cinema. She then returned to Hollywood and signed a contract for a third of what she had made at MGM and then made 7 Mexican Spitfire movies over a 3-year period. That, in effect, was the last of Lupe’s movie career.

    Lupe’s personal life roughly paralleled her movie career. Although Lupe’s love life was a seemingly never-ending succession of men, her great love proved was to be Gary Cooper. Lupe, however, destroyed whoever she loved and the mild-tempered Cooper was unable to handle the ferocious Lupe, who started verbal fights at the drop of a hat, which usually quickly escalated into physical altercations. At the end of their relationship, Cooper had likely suffered a mental breakdown and tried to slip quietly out of town to recover his health in Europe.

    Lupe now went into a downward spiral which led to her tragic end. Her career in film was for all practical purposes over. Her Mexican Spitfire “stick” was still popular with a segment of the viewing public but her unique comedy was reaching the end and the major studios had little interest in pursuing it. This had been Lupe’s signature role and either she was unable or unwilling to transition to anything else, so what that horse died, she was unable to switch to another one.

    Lupe’s personal life had also run itself into the ground. Lupe’s final lover, Harold Ramond, turned out to be a disaster for her. When she became pregnant by him, he agreed to marry her only to give their child his last name, not for any love he had for Lupe. A distraught Lupe rejected his terms and in desperation saw no other way out but to end what would now be ongoing humiliation by exiting the world. The day she died Lupe poured out her heart to her 2 best girlfriends, telling them that the constant struggle she had waged throughout her entire life to be free was now was too much for her to bear any longer.

    Lupe was now determined to leave the world as the star she saw herself to be. She did her hair and nails and filled her bedroom with flowers and lighted candles in preparation for the end. Putting on a pair of her favorite pajamas, she lay down on her bed and overdosed on sleeping pills. When discovered by police, they first thought that a doll was lying on Lupe’s enormous bed.

    There has never been or is there likely to ever be an actress as wild and crazy as Lupe Velez. She lived life her way and died in a way she thought that a star of her stature should.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames R Ashley
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9781301540846
    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943: Vol VIII, Lupe Velez

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    • 2/5
      Nothing of interest here. The same things are covered exhaustingly and half the book is just summaries of Lupe's movies.

    Book preview

    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943 - James R Ashley

    The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies, 1931-1943

    Vol VIII: Lupe Velez

    James R Ashley

    Copyright 2015 James R Ashley

    Smashwords Edition

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Early Years

    Persona

    The Fights

    Love Life

    Theater

    Film Career

    Films

    The Gaucho (1927)

    Stand and Deliver (1928)

    Lady of the Pavements (1929)

    Wolf Song (1929)

    Where East is East (1929)

    Tiger Rose (1929)

    Hell Harbor (1930)

    The Storm (1930)

    East is West (1930)

    Resurrection (1931)

    The Squaw Man (1931)

    The Cuban Love Song (1931)

    The Broken Wing (1932)

    Kongo (1932)

    The Half-Naked Truth (1932)

    Hot Pepper (1933)

    Palooka (1934)

    Laughing Boy (1934)

    Strictly Dynamite (1934)

    Hollywood Party (1934)

    The Morals of Marcus (1935)

    The Girl From Mexico (1939)

    Mexican Spitfire (1940)

    Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)

    Playmates (1941)

    The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941)

    Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)

    Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942)

    Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942)

    Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943)

    Nana (1944)

    Death

    Funeral

    Estate

    Bibliography

    Introduction

    Lupe Velez was the poster child for Hollywood's Girls Go Wild, during the golden age of Hollywood moviemaking. She was quite likely bi-polar and her mood swings alternated between withdrawn and depressed sometimes in private, to that of a spitfire wildcat in public. She was renowned for her hair-trigger temper, uncontrollable violence, and erratic actions. She would regularly beat and scratch her lovers for no apparent reason and would think nothing of engaging a strange man in fisticuffs, if he insulted the very husband she had just argued with and abused. She was known for throwing the wildest parties in Hollywood and loved to be the center of attention. Solo dancing to the popular Latin rhythms of the day, Lupe would inevitably lift her dress above her head to display her genital area, which was always void of undergarments, much to the astonishment of her guests. She cultivated her Mexican spitfire persona by an exaggerated broken English spoken with such a heavy accent that script writers for a time actually wrote her dialog that way, until she objected to it.

    Lupe was drop-dead gorgeous when she began her career, and her presence on the screen was riveting. In her first talkie her dialog was limited to a repetition of, me understand. Quite likely because of Lupe’s heavy accent, she had no future as either a romantic or dramatic actress with the advent of sound. She did, however, have a future in comedy, as her exaggerated Mexican accent and highly animated mannerisms struck people of the day as comical. After being sacked by MGM for her last 2 stinko movies there, Lupe went to England to make 3 forgettable movies for British Cinema. She then returned to Hollywood and signed a contract for a 3rd of what she had made at MGM and then made 8 Mexican Spitfire movies over a 3-year period. They were so bad that it was obvious that there was no further future for her in movies and she was dropped by MGM like a hot potato. Her final move was Nana (1944), which she did not want to do. That, in effect, was the last of Lupe’s movie career.

    Lupe’s personal life roughly paralleled her movie career. Although Lupe’s love life was a seemingly never-ending succession of men, her great love was to be Gary Cooper. Lupe, however, destroyed whoever she loved and the mild-tempered Cooper was unable to handle the ferocious Lupe, who started verbal fights at the drop of a hat and then usually quickly escalated into physical altercations. At the end of their relationship, Cooper had likely suffered a mental breakdown and tried to slip quietly out of town to recover his health in Europe. The always erratic Lupe, however, turned up at the railroad station to give Cooper a bullet send-off from the pistol she always carried. Moving on to Johnny Weissmuller, Lupe’s relationship with Tarzan was no better than with Cooper, and 5 years after they met both Weissmuller and Lupe called it quits. They had the distinction of being one of the 3 famous battling movie star couples in Hollywood, along with Humphrey Bogart & Mayo Methot, and Errol Flynn & Lilli Dimitri. Virtually anytime any of these 3 couples showed up at a nightclub or restaurant, the women would start a fight with her husband, which result in ear-piercing screaming, the shouting of obscenities, and physical violence on their part.

    Lupe now went into a downward spiral which led to her tragic end. Her career in film was for all practical purposes over. Her Mexican Spitfire stick was still popular with a segment of the viewing public but her unique comedy was reaching the end, and the major studios had little interest in employing her. This had been Lupe’s signature role and either she was unable or unwilling to transition to anything else, so when the horse she was riding died, she was unable to switch to another one.

    In order to generate any publicity at all, Lupe was now forced to hire the services of Clayton Moore (the future Long Ranger) to escort her around in the pretense of a romantic involvement. Lupe’s final lover, Harold Ramond, turned out to be a disaster for her. When she became pregnant by him, he agreed to marry her, but only to give their child his last name, but not for any love he had for Lupe. A distraught Lupe rejected his terms and in desperation saw no other way out but to end what she perceived to be ongoing humiliation. The day she died Lupe poured out her heart to her 2 best girlfriends, telling them that the constant struggle she had waged throughout her life to be free was now was too much for her to bear any longer.

    Lupe was now determined to

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