Jewel Carmen: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|ActressAmerican silent film actress (1897–1984)}}

| name = Jewel Carmen

| image = Jewel Carmen by Albert Witzel.jpg

| caption = Carmen, ca.in 1916

| birthnameimage_size = Florence Lavina Quick =

| death_datebirth_date = {{deathBirth date and age|1984|3|4|1897|707|13|mf=y}}

| death_placebirth_place = [[El Cajon, California|El Cajon]], = [[CaliforniaPortland, Oregon]], U.S.<ref name=perrill/>

| yearsactiveyears_active = 1912&ndash;1926

| spouse = {{marriageMarriage|[[Roland West]]|1918|1938|end=divorcediv}}

'''Jewel Carmen''' (born '''Florence Lavina Quick'''; July 13, 1897 &ndash; March 4, 1984) was an American [[silent film]] actress who appeared in over thirty30 films, mostlyprimarily in the late 1910s. In addition to being known for her film career, she received notoriety for beingwas involved in several scandals throughout her career.

Raised in [[Portland, Oregon]], Carmen began acting in Hollywood at age 15, eventually performing with [[Keystone Studios]]. She first garnered public attention for her involvement in a [[statutory rape]] case involving herself andagainst a 35-year-old automobile dealer in Los Angeles, but the charges against him were ultimately dropped asafter she could not concretely prove her age.

Carmen resumed her career, appearing in several films throughout the 1910s, including a small role in [[D. W. Griffith]]'s ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' (1916), followed by leads in ''[[American Aristocracy]]'' (1916) oppositewith [[Douglas Fairbanks]], and in [[Frank Lloyd]]'s ''[[A Tale of Two Cities (1917 film)|A Tale of Two Cities]]'' (1917). She also starred as [[Cosette]] in Lloyd's adaptation of ''[[Les Misérables (1917 film)|Les Misérables]]'' (also 1917). In 1918, she married film director [[Roland West]]. Carmen made her final film appearance in West's horror film ''[[The Bat (1926 film)|The Bat]]'' (1926).

In December 1935, Carmen garnereddrew significant media coverage followingover the death of actress [[Thelma Todd]], who died of [[carbon monoxide poisoning]] in the garage of Carmen and West's [[Pacifichome Palisades,in Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades]] home. Carmen became embroiled in the investigation after she claimed to have seen Todd on [[Hollywood Boulevard]] hours after the time police determined Todd had died. A grand jury ultimately ruled Todd's death accidental,. with theThe consensus was that she had inadvertently caused her own death by running her car inside the garage to warm herself after West locked her out of the home;. Todd and West had been engaged in a romantic affair at the time.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=174}} Following Todd's death, Carmen and West divorced,. and sheShe lived the remainder of her life outside the public eye, beforethen dyingdied in ana nursing home in [[El Cajon, California|El Cajon]] nursing home in 1984, agedat age 86.

Carmen was born '''Florence Lavina Quick''' on July 13, 1897{{sfn|Vazzana|2001|p=80}} in [[Portland, Oregon]],{{efn|Some contemporaneous sources erroneously report that Carmen was born in [[Danville, Kentucky]],<ref>{{cite news|work=The Tampa Times|location=Tampa, Florida|date=September 29, 1917|page=14|via=Newspapers.com|title=Daintier Than Dresden China|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26939015/the_tampa_times/}}</ref> and this has contemporarily been re-published on websites such as the [[Internet Movie Database]] and [[AllMovie]]. According to census records, Carmen's father was originally from Kentucky,<ref name=census/> while her mother was raised in [[Danville, Arkansas]],{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} which may potentially account for this confusion. The [[United States Census]] of 1910 lists the birthplace of Florence Lavina Quick as [[Oregon]],<ref name=census>{{cite census | url =https://archive.today/20190107020903/http://oi67.tinypic.com/kal8g0.jpg | title =Thirteenth Census of the United States | year =1910 | location =Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon | roll =1287 | page = 3B | line = | enumdist =321 | filmnum = 1,375,300 | nafilm =}}</ref> whileand in a 1921 newspaper profile, on herCarmen states that she was born in Portland.<ref name=perrill>{{cite news|work=[[The Wichita Eagle|Wichita Daily Eagle]]|location=Wichita, Kansas|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26939169/the_wichita_daily_eagle/|title=I'll Tell You|last=Perrill|first=Polly|date=January 9, 1921|page=31|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Biographer William Donati also corroborates her birthplace as Oregon, not Kentucky.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}}}} to Amos William and Minerva Quick.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Her father was a native of [[Kentucky]], whileand her mother was born in [[Arkansas]].<ref name=census/> Amos worked as a farmer and [[carpenter]] to support the family.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} She had two older sisters, Alice and Edna; one older brother, Fred; one younger sister, Alberta;<ref name=census/> and a younger brother, Henry.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} She also had two other sisters, Louella and Florence, both of whom died during her childhood.{{snf|Donati|2014|p=48}}

Quick spent her early years near [[Tillamook, Oregon|Tillamook]] living on a farm before the family returned to Portland in 1900, where she attended Mount Tabor School{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} and [[St. Mary's Academy (Portland, Oregon)|St. Mary's Academy]].<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Oregon Journal|The Oregon Daily Journal]]|location=Portland, Oregon|title=Oregon Folk Are Screen Stars; Portland Training Is Valuable|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26937519/the_oregon_daily_journal/|via=Newspapers.com|date=June 6, 1920}}</ref> In 1911, Amos left his wife and children to seek work in [[Los Angeles]].{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}}

In February 1912, Quick relocatedmoved with her mother to Los Angeles, following her father; she aspired to be an actress.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Within two weeks, she found work as a [[extra (acting)|film extra]] for the [[Cecil B. DeMille|DeMille Company]].{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Shortly after, her siblings, who had temporarily remained in Portland, also moved to Los Angeles.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Quick made her film debut in the 1912 film ''The Will of Destiny'', credited as Florence La Vinci, and subsequently appeared in several films for [[Keystone Studios]], including ''The Ragtime Band'', using the name Evelyn Quick;, because the studio mandated performers be age 16 years old or older, she lied about her age, claiming to be 17.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Throughout early 1913, Carmen appeared in minor roles in numerous films for [[Mack Sennett]] under this name.{{sfn|Walker|2013|pages=274–276}}

In April 1913, Quick was involved in one of the first major [[scandal]]sscandals in Hollywood:{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} A [[grand jury]] had indicted 35-year-old William La Casse, a wealthy automobile dealer, on charges of [[statutory rape]].{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} La Casse had initially been investigated over a potential connection to a white slavery ring, but his relationship with a then-15-year-old Quick was subsequently uncovered.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} However, La Casse denied that the two had been intimate.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=48}} Quick testified against him in court, also implicating William Hollingsworth, a friend of La Casse, in having intimate relations with her.<ref name=shreveport/> Quick's elder sister, Alice, also testified that she had witnessed Quick and La Casse together on several occasions.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=49}} One article covering the case claimed that, during a [[Preliminary hearing|preliminary examination]], it was stated that Quick had purportedly been an orphan, and was adopted by her parents, Amos and Minerva.<ref name=shreveport>{{cite news|work=[[The Shreveport Times]]|location=Shreveport, Louisiana|title=Orphan's Confession Causes Big Investigation|page=2|date=May 18, 1913|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26946793/the_times/}}</ref> Because Quick did not possess a [[birth certificate]] proving herself a [[minor (law)|minor]], the grand jury attempted to use other means—including sworn testimony from Minerva, as well asand the recorded names and birthdates in the Quicks' family Bible—as evidence.<ref name=bible>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26947063/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Soft Pedal on Her Testimony|date=May 6, 1913|page=19|location=Los Angeles, California|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> However, with the jury lacking sufficient evidence proving Quick's age, and after the failure of two witnesses to appear in court (one of them being Quick),{{sfn|Walker|2013|p=34}} the charges against La Casse were ultimately dropped.{{sfn|Donati|2014|pages=48–49}}

Following the scandal, Quick resumed her career in films using the name Jewel Carmen, and wentshe on to appearappeared in ''[[Daphne and the Pirate]]'' (1916) oppositewith [[Lillian Gish]], and in [[D. W. Griffith]]'s ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' (1916).<ref name=afi/>

[[File:Jewel Carmen - ConfessionLes Miserables promotional still.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Carmen as the character [[Cosette]] in ''Confession[[Les Misérables (1917 film)|Les Misérables]]'' (19181917)]]

In 1917, Carmen contracted with [[Fox Film Corporation]], but finding the deal unsatisfactory, she openedstarted a new contract with the Keeney Corporation in 1918 while her first contract remained in effect.{{sfn|Rich|Wailes|1921|p=1211}}{{sfn|Kaufman|1998|p=228}} Fox sent Keeney notice of theirits priorprevious contract, warning that theyit would hold Keeney responsible for assisting her in breaking it,{{sfn|Rich|Wailes|1921|p=1211}} and promising to indemnify Keeney against legal retaliation.{{sfn|Kaufman|1998|p=229}} Carmen launched two lawsuits against Fox, one to attempt to free herself of the obligation of fulfilling her contract, and another to seek redress for their interference with her contract with Keeney.{{sfn|Kaufman|1998|p=229}}

Key to the issues was the question of where the contracts had been made: New York or California. Fox's offices were located in New York; Carmen was a resident of California. By California law, Carmen was an adult when the contract was signed; by New York law, which granted majority at 21, she was not. If not an adult, she could not be legally held to the document she had signed.{{sfn|Rich|Wailes|1921|p=1212}} ThoughAlthough Carmen initially won the first lawsuit, having the contracts set aside and receiving damages of $43,500 from Fox, the decision was overturned on appeal because she had "unclean" hands, having herself treated Fox unfairly.{{sfn|Kaufman|1998|p=229}}{{sfn|Rich|Wailes|1921|pages=1210–1213}}<ref>''Carmen v. Fox Film Corp.'' 269 F. 928 (2nd Cir., 1920); cert denied, 255 U.S. 569, 41 S.Ct. 323 (1921)</ref>{{sfn|Field|Kaplan|Clermont|2007|pages=1077–1079}} She won her second case because Fox's interference with her employment with Keeney had been outside the law, thoughbut Justice [[Benjamin N. Cardozo]] made clear that he did not approve of the legal loophole that allowed Carmen to break her contract with Fox.{{sfn|Kaufman|1998|p=229}}{{sfn|Rich|Wailes|1921|p=1210}}

In the midst of the ongoing lawsuits, Carmen married film director [[Roland West]]. West subsequently cast her as the lead of his 1921 film ''[[The Silver Lining (1921 film)|The Silver Lining]]'', in which she portrayed one of two orphaned sisters who is adopted by a thief.{{sfn|Langman|Finn|1994|p=248}} She followed thisit with the drama ''Nobody'', also released in 1921.<ref name=afi/>

Following her marriage, Carmen went into semi-retirement, and did not appear in films for five years. She made her final appearance in the horror film ''[[The Bat (1926 film)|The Bat]]'' (1926), directed by her husband, West.<ref name=afi/>

Carmen later became known for her connection to the scandal surrounding the December 16, 1935 death of actress [[Thelma Todd]].<ref name=wisc>{{cite news|work=[[Wisconsin State Journal]]|location=Madison, Wisconsin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26940058/wisconsin_state_journal/|title=Todd Probers to Quiz 'Woman in Case' Today|date=December 27, 1935|page=1|via=Newspapers.com|agency=United Press}}</ref> Todd was found deceased from [[carbon monoxide poisoning]] in her car, which was parked and running inside the garage of Castillo del Mar, a residence owned by Carmen and West in [[Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles|Pacific Palisades]].{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=174}} Castillo del Mar was located only one block away from the Thelma Todd Cafe,{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=174}} a restaurant for which Todd served as the face, and which was financially backed financially by West and owned by Carmen.<ref name=wisc/> At the time of Todd's death, Carmen's parents were residing at Castillo del Mar.{{sfn|Donati|2000|p=39}}

There were a number of factors which made the death suspicious, including that Todd allegedly was allegedly spotted or spoken to several times the day after she died; Carmen herself testified before the grand jury that she had seen Todd riding in a [[Phaeton (carriage)body|phaeton]] on [[Hollywood Boulevard]] around 11:00&nbsp;p.m. on December 15,<ref name=sf>{{cite news|work=[[The San Francisco Examiner]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26945847/the_san_francisco_examiner/|title=Thelma Todd's Phone Call Dec. 15 Related|page=2|date=December 24, 1935|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> hours after police estimated Todd had already died.<ref name=wisc/>{{sfn|Nash|2004|p=250}} Claims from staff that Todd had been beaten by an unnamed man at the cafe in the days before her death were also were investigated by law enforcement.<ref name=wisc/>

West was subject to allegations that he had deliberately shut the garage door while an intoxicated Todd was sleeping in her car.{{sfn|Wright|2002|p=3}} However, Todd's death was ultimately ruled accidental, inadvertently caused by her own actions.{{sfn|Donati|2014|p=174}} Biographer Hans J. Wollstein notes that the rumors surrounding Todd's death involving Carmen and West mostly had "no foundation whatsoever."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[AllMovie]]|title=Jean Carmen|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/jewel-carmen-p11065#JfCAF4qktaykHAvz.99|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190107063726/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/jewel-carmen-p11065%23JfCAF4qktaykHAvz.99|archive-date=January 7, 2019|last=Wollstein|first=Hans J.}}</ref> Following Todd's death, the marriage between Carmen and West ended, and she retired from the public eye.{{sfn|Wright|2002|p=3}}

Carmen died of [[lymphoma]] at Helix View Nursing Home in [[El Cajon, California]] on March 4, 1984, agedage 86.{{sfn|Vazzana|2001|p=80}}

| Creditedcredited as Florence La Vinci

| align=center| <ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Motion Picture Magazine]]|volume=4|title=Answers to Inquiries|page=158|publisher=Macfadden-Bartell|year=1912}}</ref>

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

<!--NOTE: Per Walker source (p. 275), Carmen erroneously has been erroneously credited in ''A Life in the Balance'' and in fact did not appear in it

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick<br/>Alternativealternative titles: ''Crashing Through''<br/>''Potted Plays No. 7''

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Evelyn Quick

| Creditedcredited as Jewell Carman

|align=center|<ref name=afi>{{cite web|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|location=Los Angeles, California|title=Jewel Carmen Filmography|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Person/82384-Jewel-Carmen?sid=52593f95-01c3-4eca-9cda-0ed7b19febbe&sr=5.005568&cp=1&pos=0&isMiscCredit=false|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190107040452/https://catalog.afi.com/Person/82384-Jewel-Carmen?sid=52593f95-01c3-4eca-9cda-0ed7b19febbe&sr=5.005568&cp=1&pos=0&isMiscCredit=false|archive-date=January 7, 2019}}</ref>

| Alternativealternative title: ''The Assassin''

| Alternativealternative title: ''The Carquinez Woods ''

| Alternativealternative title: ''Paying the Piper''

| Alternativealternative title: ''Above the Law''

[[Category:20th Century FoxStudios contract players]]

[[Category:Deaths from cancerlymphoma in California]]