Beginning with his first film, 1935’s I ragazzi della via Paal, Mario Monicelli wrote and directed over one hundred films and earned praise as one of the most beloved masters of the Commedia all’Italiana (Italian-style comedy) in a career that spanned eight decades.

He worked quite often with stars Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni, as well as internationally-known Italian actors such as Sophia Loren and Giancarlo Giannini. He was recognized several times with Academy Award nominations in the Best Foreign Film category. He even dabbled in small acting roles, including a small part as a flower salesman in 2003’s Under the Tuscan Sun. In 1991, his illustrious career was honored by the Venice Film Festival and he received the Golden Lion award. In 2006, the ever-prolific Monicelli directed The Roses of the Desert  at the age of 91.

In the final week of November 2010, Mario Monicelli was admitted to San Giovanni hospital in Rome for treatment of prostate cancer. Several days after admission, Mario leaped to his death from his fifth-floor hospital room window. He was 95.

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In the early 1920s, young Lee Nash developed a comedy vaudeville act and was soon joined by his childhood friend Morris Horowitz. Lee, now known by the stage name “Ted Healy”, told jokes onstage and was heckled by Morris, who was planted in the audience. Morris would then come up to the stage and engage Ted in funny banter, until the act culminated in the payoff of Ted losing his trousers — a punchline given approval by the audience’s hysterics. Morris’ brother Samuel joined the act as another heckler, followed by friend, violinist Louis Feinberg. The act, Ted Healy and His Southern Gentlemen, was very popular on the vaudeville circuit for years.

The troupe made a film, Soup to Nuts, in 1930 and the Horowitz brothers, along with Feinberg, split from Ted over a movie contract dispute. Morris shortened his name to Moe. Brother Samuel used his nickname “Shemp” as a stage name. They also changed their surname to Howard. Louis Feinberg adopted the professional name “Larry Fine” and left the violin behind in favor of pratfalls, eye pokes and hair-pulling. The three believed they were “the draw” of the act and they embarked on a career as a trio — The Three Stooges.

After officially, but amiably, parting ways with the Stooges in 1934, Ted entered a new phase of his career, choosing adventure and mystery films over comedies. He appeared in over thirty movies for 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and MGM. He was so popular that his was the first caricature to be placed on the wall at famed Manhattan restaurant Sardi’s.

On December 19, 1937, Ted visited Moe and Helen Howard to tell them that his wife Betty was expecting a baby and was going to deliver shortly. Ted had always loved children. He doted over Moe’s kids and gave generously to underprivledged youngsters at holiday time. He was ecstatic at the thought of becoming a father himself.

On December 21, 1937, Ted was drinking in a bar on Sunset Strip in Hollywood when he got into an argument with a young college student half his age and twice his size. Two of the student’s friends joined in when the name-calling escalated to shoving and spilled out into the parking lot. The three young men beat the crap out of Ted. A friend picked Ted off the sidewalk and took him to his apartment where he later died as a result of his injuries.

However, there is another account of Ted’s death that differs greatly from that story. Allegedly, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer sent hefty actor Wallace Beery and Albert Broccoli (later producer of the James Bond film series) to beat up Ted. The “college boys” story was fabricated and given to the press as Beery laid low in Europe for several months. This scenario is unsubstantiated and dismissed as  a total lie by members of Mr. Mayer’s family. Despite the mystery surrounding the conflicting stories, the fact was that Ted Healy died at age 41.

Never one to save money, Ted died penniless and his funeral was paid for by fellow vaudevillians the Foy Family. One week after Ted’s funeral, his son was baptized.

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After appearing in bit parts in films throughout the late 1930s, Carole Landis made a huge splash as “Loana” in the 1940 prehistoric fantasy One Million BC.  That film was a springboard for her career. Carole was cast in 22 films over the next eight years, mostly due to her secret affair with powerful producer Darryl F. Zanuck. She starred opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest stars until she broke off her relationship with Zanuck and was relegated to mostly B-movies.

During World War II, Carole, along with comedienne Martha Raye, dancer Mitzi Mayfair and actress Kay Francis, toured England and North Africa entertaining troops as part of the USO. Later, the tour was extended to include the South Pacific. Carole traveled more than 100,000 miles during the war and spent more time visiting troops than any other actress. She became a popular pin-up alongside her sometime co-star Betty Grable.

Carole married for the first time at 15, and though the marriage was annulled, she married the same man again seven months later. Her husband, wannabe actor Irving Wheeler, sued Busby Berkeley for $250,000 for alienation of affections, accusing the famed choreographer as the “other man” in their marriage. Carole testified that she and Berkeley has strictly a business relationship and the case was thrown out. Carole threw out Wheeler, too. Her next marriage lasted two months. Her third marriage ended in divorce after two years. In 1945, she appeared in a musical on Broadway with future author Jacqueline Susann, with whom she allegedly had an affair.

During her fourth marriage in five years, Carole began a relationship with married actor Rex Harrison. She was hopeful that Harrison would leave his wife (actress Lilli Palmer) and was crushed when he refused.

On July 4, 1948, Carole and Rex Harrison had dinner at her home in Pacific Palisades. After he left, Carole wrote this note to her mother: 

“Dearest Mommie: I’m sorry, really sorry, to put you through this. But there is no way to avoid it. I love you, darling, you have been the most wonderful Mom ever and that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly. Everything goes to you. Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything. Good bye, my angel. Pray for me. Your Baby”

Then, she swallowed the contents of a bottle of Seconal — five times a lethal dose.

The next morning, Harrison’s phone call was answered by the maid who informed him that Carole had not awakened yet. Two subsequent calls yielded the same answer. He drove to her home in the afternoon and went up to her bedroom. The maid met him as he descended the stairs. He asked the maid if she has been up to Carole’s room. She replied that she had not. “Well,” he reported, “I think she’s dead.”

Carole was 29 years old.

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