English Studies Forum

Sign of the Times

Maggie Jaffe

Very few people have heard of Peg Entwistle.  There's no entry for her in Ephraim Katz's Film Encyclopedia, yet she left her mark on Hollywood the hard way.  Born in Wales in 1908.  When her mother died, she moved to New York with her father who was run over by a truck on Park Avenue, leaving her destitute.  Married Robert Keith but divorced him when she learned that he had another wife & child.  All the same, Peg paid his alimony to keep him out of jail.  Tried her luck in L.A. where she roomed with Uncle Harold, who was "good to her."  Starred in Thirteen Women with Irene Dunne and Jill Esmond (Lawrence Olivier's wife).  But the mystery thriller was so depressing for 1932, RKO fired Entwistle and Thirteen Women was canned.  No luck, no money, no men.  Despondent, Peg put on Gardenia, her favorite fragrance, climbed the fifty-foot sign behind Uncle Harold's bungalow and jumped from the 13th letter in HOLLYWOODLAND (years later, LAND rotted away and was never restored).  Oddly enough, after her death, she received a generous offer from the Beverly Hills Playhouse to be the lead star in their play about a young woman's suicide.  According to Griffith Park Ranger John Arbogast, Entwistle still haunts the scene of her demise, especially on foggy nights when there's a strong scent of gardenia, the "happiness" flower, in the air.