In my post on pg. 1913 re: the 1940 census, enumeration district 60-114, I mentioned finding "Citizen Kane" actress Dorothy Comingore and her screenwriter husband Richard Collins at the Villa Valentino apartment court, 2000 N. Highland Ave:
She was born Margaret Comingore, and professionally used the names Kay Winters and Linda Winters early in her career. In the census she's Linda Collins, a name she never used in her work. Here's the other half of the census pg, lines 4 & 5 from the top are Richard and Linda:
The Villa Valentino is still very much with us, it's been designated a landmark:
Commingore in her prime:
And as the alcoholic Susan Alexander in "Kane":
Her story is classic L.A. noir. It was briefly addressed back on page 1779 in a discussion of the Try Later/Raincheck Room bar at 8279 Santa Monica Blvd., a location that figures prominently in the Comingore story. I thought I would flesh out some details.
In the '40 census Dorothy and Richard were both 25, and on their way. She had been discovered by Charlie Chaplin when he caught her in a production at a playhouse in Carmel. She played several small parts until Chaplin introduced her to Orson Welles, who gave her the plum role in "Kane" (she was filming the picture at the time of the '40 census). Her notices were good in that film but her career went sideways (Wiki):
"After seeing Dorothy on the big screen, every studio in town wanted to borrow her. But RKO refused. She then fell so ill a doctor ordered bed rest. But when she didn’t show up for work, the studio suspended her. Dorothy had hoped to star in Sister Carrie, Jane Eyre, or some other classy production, but upon returning to work found nothing to do. "I must have said the wrong thing at the right time," she told friends, "and I’d like to know what it is."
Hearst’s yellow ink had stained her reputation. According to documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dorothy had landed on a government watch list for the crime of "distributing Communist literature to negroes." It’s true that Dorothy had canvassed Watts, stumping door-to-door for actor Albert Dekker, a state Assembly candidate. (He won.) And yes, she had worked with musician Lead Belly and singer Paul Robeson to try and desegregate whites-only USO clubs. (They succeeded.) And she had indeed urged voters, soldiers, and Baptist teetotalers to support "union solidarity" whenever possible. At a time when Hollywood workers were organizing themselves, she became a marked woman. A few years later, the US House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) became a permanent fixture, and Dorothy’s FBI file had grown thick. HUAC’s stated mission was to investigate "subversive activities in the entertainment industry," but Richard [Collins, her husband], Dorothy, and thousands of others believed it was out to strangle free speech and organized labor.
The star also had acquired a powerful enemy - the 78-year-old Hearst. The media mogul so hated Dorothy's portrayal of his mistress, 44-year-old Marion Davies, that he used his chain of newspapers and radio stations to smear the young woman. Hearst's columnists Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell publicly accused Dorothy of belonging to the "Party" (the Communist Party), and borrowed Orwellian "newspeak" to malign her. As it was, Dorothy never was a dues-paying "commie".[5]".
Dorothy and Richard divorced in '45. He was a card-carrying party member, who "named names" in the McCarthy years to preserve his viability in the industry. He went on to a lengthy career, working in the 50's for Don Siegel, including writing the treatment for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". He died in 2013, age 98.
As for Dorothy, like her screen character in "Kane" she drifted into drink.
After her irreverent testimony to HUAC in 1952 she was at the aforementioned Try Later bar, 8279 Santa Monica Blvd. She left with a couple of gentlemen who drove her to a nearby park. They were undercover Sheriff's deputies. They said she offered up favors for $10, she claimed a frame-up for her unfriendly HUAC testimony. The story is here in detail:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/...mingore-story/
I looked for a photo of the Try Later bar, nothing turned up. The closest I got were some 1959 images after it had become the Raincheck Room, from the first successful Russ Meyer nudie pic, "The Immoral Mr. Teas":
A buxom woman comes out of the place:
In this one you can see the 8279:
Dorothy Comingore died 12-30-71, age 58.
And one story, inevitably, leads to another. As mentioned above, she worked for Albert Dekker in his '44 state Assembly race. I think NLA has covered this, as he also went out in a very noir fashion:
On May 5, 1968, Dekker was found dead in his Hollywood home by his fiancée, Jeraldine Saunders. He was naked, kneeling in the bathtub, with a noose tightly wrapped around his neck and looped around the shower curtain rod. He was blindfolded, his wrists were handcuffed, there was a ball gag in his mouth, and two hypodermic needles were inserted in one arm. His body was covered in explicit words and drawings in red lipstick.[7] Money and camera equipment were missing, but there was no sign of forced entry. Though speculation ran rampant, the coroner found no evidence of foul play, and ruled his death accidental due to autoerotic asphyxiation.
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