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Happy Birthday Barbara Payton

Margie: Edna, today is the birthday of actress Barbara Payton (1927- 1967). I bet our readers never heard of her. Actually, I probably never would have either but she was in some of the movie magazines I used to read.

Remember that magazine called Confidential? Lawsy me, I didn't dare let Mama catch me reading that. She said movie magazines were "pure trash."

Edna: Hmm, count me in with our readers who've never heard of her. But I have to say, it doesn't surprise me one bit that you'd be reading magazines Mama thought was trashy.

Goodness, but she wasn't very old when she died. What happened?

Margie: Edna, it's a tragic story. She supposedly got her movie roles via the old casting couch routine then she began drinking which led to her being called a "party girl." That was not what a female wanted to be called back then.

In the end she died a prostitute on a park bench. I wonder if the library has her autobiography?

Edna: Oh my, that is a sad story! But I bet it's not an unusual one, especially for Hollywood in those days. I'd be curious to read her autobiography, her story sounds like the kind of thing they would make a movie-of-the-week out of.

Would I know any of her movies?

Margie: Probably not. You never liked that kind. I do know one thing for sure, Edna. She was a smart lady to have an affair with that delicious Guy Madison. What a hunk!!!

Margie, Edna, and Superman

Edna: Margie, do you remember the old Superman show that used to be on the television? I'm sure you do, that George Reeves was a handsome son of a gun. I've been reading a book about his life and how he died--I swan, I haven't read anything so torrid since I read your diary!

Margie: I most certainly do remember George, Edna. A man that handsome was sure to have torrid romances. The same was true of me in my day.

What happened to George?

Edna: Well, I'm sure you remember that awful scandal when the poor man died back in 1959. People said then that he killed himself, because he was depressed that he couldn't get acting work after playing Superman for so long. Nobody took the poor man seriously as an actor after that television show.

But, the authors of this book seem to think that he might have been murdered. My lands, he was mixed up in all kinds of things, not the least of which was an affair with a married lady! Some people think maybe the mob killed him, but no one will ever really know for sure because most of the people who were involved in the scandal are dead now. Plus, he was cremated, so it's not like they can do some fancy-schmancy forensics work on his remains, like on that CSI show.

Margie: My stars! Maybe that married lady's husband killed him. The mob could have done it too. I dated one of those Mafia types once and you don't mess with them, Edna.

Do you think it was murder or suicide? I wish we could call Sherlock Holmes. I bet he'd know.

Edna: I don't rightly know which one it was, although this book makes a strong case for murder. He'd recently broken up with his married girlfriend, whose husband had possible ties to the Mafia. I guess she didn't take the break-up well and was stalking him. The authors think it's possible she took a hit out on him.

But, they also talk about how despondent he was about not getting the kind of work he wanted, like in movies. I guess he really didn't like being Superman, which is kind of sad, since that's what he was best known (and loved) for.

I don't think we'll ever know which one it was for sure, but it just goes to show that you never can tell what's just below the surface--maybe especially in Hollywood.