Jewel Carmen

Jewel Carmen (1923)

Jewel Carmen (actually Florence Lavina Quick ; born July 13, 1897 in Portland , Oregon , † March 4, 1984 in El Cajon , California ) was an American actress of the silent film era . In addition to her film career, she gained fame primarily through her private life and several scandals, particularly in connection with the death of actress Thelma Todd in December 1935.

Life

Early life

Florence Lavina Quick was one of eight children of the farmer and carpenter Amos William and Minerva Quick, but two of them died at an early age. She spent most of her childhood on a farm in Tillamook before the family moved to Quick's native Portland in 1900. There she attended Mount Tabor School and St. Mary's Academy, a Catholic girls' school.

In 1911 the father left the family to find work in Los Angeles . Quick, her mother and siblings who were still alive followed him in February 1912. Just two weeks after arriving, the fifteen-year-old found a job as an extra in Cecil B. DeMille's films .

Film career

Jewel Carmen during filming (1918)

In addition to appearances in DeMille productions, Quick also appeared in Keystone Studios from 1912 . After initially using the stage names Florence La Vinci and Evelyn Quick , she called herself Jewel Carmen after 1913 .

Carmen worked mainly in comedies, but was also seen in dramas. She played alongside famous actors such as Lillian Gish and Douglas Fairbanks (in a total of four films, including as a film partner in Manhattan Madness and American Aristocracy ). In David Wark Griffith's monumental production Intoleranz Carmen was seen in a role called Favorite of the Harem , but was not named in the credits. In the 1917 version of Les Misérables she appeared as Cosette .

After several commercially successful years, Jewel Carmen's career waned from 1920. She had her last major screen appearance in 1926 in the mystery comedy Das Rätsel der Fledermaus . In the same year she ended her acting career after more than 40 films.

Scandals

Jewel Carmen (1918, photography by Albert Witzel)

In April 1913, Jewel Carmen - still known by her old stage name Evelyn Quick - was involved in one of the first Hollywood scandals when she accused car dealer William La Casse of sexual harassment. She was 15 years old at the time and testified this together with one of her sisters as a witness in court. However, disagreements arose during the trial and La Casse was eventually acquitted. Among other things, there were intermittent doubts about the actual age of the actress at the alleged time of the crime. In addition, Carmen did not appear in court several times during the trial, although she was supposed to give further testimony. A reporter from the Los Angeles Record present in court described Jewel Carmen as "artful" (which in German can be translated as cunning, cunning or devious).

In 1917, Jewel Carmen signed a contract with Fox Film Corporation , but was dissatisfied there and concluded another contract with Keeney Corporation the following year, although it was still tied to Fox Film Corporation. Fox threatened the Keeney Corporation with legal consequences, whereupon it ruled out a collaboration with Carmen and the actress was put on a kind of "black list" of film studios. Jewel Carmen then decided to sue Fox Film Corporation. She based the lawsuit on the fact that the original contract was signed in New York City , but she lived in California. While the actress was already of legal age in California, she was officially a minor in New York State and the contract was therefore void. Only a later contract with Fox was signed by the mother and was therefore valid. Also because of Fox's open threats against Keeney, Jewel Carmen was finally able to win the process. Fox paid her $ 43,500 in compensation, which was roughly the value of her contract with Keeney Corporation.

Probably the most famous scandal in Jewel Carmen's career, however, was the death of actress Thelma Todd in December 1935, who was found in her car with carbon monoxide poisoning . The vehicle was parked in the garage of the Castillo del Mar estate owned by Carmen and her then-husband Roland West . Jewel Carmen's parents were in the building at the time of the incident. Carmen claimed in a statement that she last saw Thelma Todd at around 11 p.m. local time in a Phaeton on Hollywood Boulevard with an unknown man. Todd had been dead for several hours at this point. Later she changed her statement to police officers and reporters several times and now said that she had not seen Thelma Todd after all.

Private life

Jewel Carmen was married to the film producer Roland West (1885-1952) since 1918. The marriage remained childless. The couple separated in 1935 shortly after the death of Thelma Todd on the joint estate of the two filmmakers.

In the same year Carmen, who had ended her film career nine years earlier, withdrew completely from the public. She last lived in a nursing home in El Cajon, California, where she died of lymph gland cancer on March 4, 1984 at the age of 86 . The actress does not own a grave, her body was cremated and scattered in an unknown location.

Filmography (selection)

Jewel Carmen in The Conqueror (1917)

1912: The Will of Destiny
1913: Cupid in a Dental Parlor
1913: That Ragtime Band
1913: The Gangsters
1916: Daphne and the Pirate
1916: Sunshine Dad
1916: Flirting with Fate
1916: The Half-Breed
1916: intolerance
1916: Manhattan Madness
1916: American Aristocracy
1917: The Kingdom of Love
1917: A Tale of Two Cities
1917: American Methods
1917: The Conqueror
1917: When a Man Sees Red
1917: Les Misérables
1918: The Bride of Fear
1918: Lawless Love
1921: The Silver Lining
1926: The Riddle of the Bat (The Bat)

Web links

Commons : Jewel Carmen - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Hans J. Wollstein: Jewel Carmen. In: Silent Hollywood.com. Retrieved March 14, 2020 .
^ William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 52.
^ William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 51.
^ Gary A. Rosen: Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture . University of California Press , Berkeley 2020, ISBN 978-0-520-96975-9 , p. 171.
^ Gary A. Rosen: Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture . University of California Press , Berkeley 2020, ISBN 978-0-520-96975-9 , p. 172.
^ William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 176.
↑ Jewel Carmen. In: Find a Grave . May 2, 2004, accessed March 14, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Carmen, Jewel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Quick, Florence Lavina (real name); La Vinci, Florence; Quick, Evelyn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH	July 13, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH	Portland , Oregon
DATE OF DEATH	4th March 1984
Place of death	El Cajon , California

[1] Hans J. Wollstein: Jewel Carmen. In: Silent Hollywood.com. Retrieved March 14, 2020 .

[2] William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 52.

[3] William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 51.

[4] Gary A. Rosen: Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture . University of California Press , Berkeley 2020, ISBN 978-0-520-96975-9 , p. 171.

[5] Gary A. Rosen: Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer: Nathan Burkan and the Making of American Popular Culture . University of California Press , Berkeley 2020, ISBN 978-0-520-96975-9 , p. 172.

[6] William Donati: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd . McFarland, Jefferson 2014, ISBN 978-0-7864-8817-9 , p. 176.

[7] Jewel Carmen. In: Find a Grave . May 2, 2004, accessed March 14, 2020 .