Lots of photos... I didn't know the estate had a staff quarters...and parking for eight...
From la.curbed.com:
On September 5, 1932, MGM director/writer/producer Paul Bern was found dead from a gunshot wound in his home in Beverly Crest, supposedly covered in Mitsouko, favorite perfume of his wife of two months/early famewhore Jean Harlow.
A note was found at the scene reading "Dearest Dear,/Unfortunately this is the only way to make good the frightful wrong I have done you and to wipe out my abject humiliation, I Love you./Paul/You understand that last night was only a comedy."
The butler found Bern's body and, as they did in those days, called MGM instead of the police. Bern's boss, MGM producer Irving Thalberg, spent a few hours with the crime scene that day and ever since rumors have persisted that it wasn't a suicide at all.
(The most common theory, laid out in a book by MGMer Samuel Marx, is that Bern was killed by an unstable ex who jumped off a boat and drowned a few days later. MGM perhaps thought a suicide would look better for Harlow.)
Harlow and Bern's house was at 9820 Easton Drive, and that address has just hit the market, BUT it looks like it's only part of the estate--the listing says "Formerly the Carriage House and staff quarters."
The property comes with two bedrooms, one and three-quarter bathrooms, a sun porch, parking for eight, a "detached unfinished studio space," and grounds "lovingly developed with citrus trees, avocado trees, pomegranate, tomatoes." The listing suggests a developer might like to redevelop the land, which wouldn't be such a crime, probably. Asking price is $995,000.
"Click" below for more Photos
31 comments:
Thanks Kimchi. I didn't know that house had a Carriage House and Staff Quarters. I've never seen them in photos of Jay's house. Were they located in the back? Was this property subdivided? I'm wondering how they could sell part of the property and not all of it.
Any pictures inside Jay's house???
Thanks so much for the info.
The staff quarters look better than my house. LOL.
The Butler was living the life!!
What does a Butler do anyway? I've always wondered. Greet people at the door? Remove hats and coats and usher people into dining rooms.
I don't think they do any cleaning, I think the "cleaning people" do that.
Maybe he just gets the "gent" ready for the day.
Does a Butler only work for a man? Maybe he has lady clients.
I wonder what happened to ole Amos. LOL.
Anyway, thanks Kimchi for posting this. Interesting stuff!!
I've always thought that Jay's house was so interesting!
If I was a Californian, I'd be over there in a heartbeat, snapping photos! :)
Hi Katie -
I really have no idea! I didn't know there was a "staff quarters" until I saw this listing...
I'm really guessing when I said "was this where Amos lived?" It seems plausible as the main house is small (1 or 2 BR I think)...you know better than I...
It just shocked me when the listing said "room for 8 cars" for parking...
I've never driven by this house- I know it's a narrow street and hard to turn around, LOL...
Maybe someone that is familiar with the property will come by and comment...
That's what I'm hoping!
Thanks Kimchi!
Maybe Venus will reply. She knows a lot about this.
Yeah, I agree, the 8-car parking seems large. I just wish someone from California could go take pics. Maybe get some good new ones!!! :)
Yeah, me too...
All the time I lived there, I never went to Benedict Canyon...not to Cielo, Easton, or Glendale area-Waverly, Griffith Park...
Funny, lots are intrigued with Easton and there isn't much out there photo wise...I only know the doctor that bought Jay's house from Jay's parents still own it...good for them...
Kimchi, thanks for all you do. You are amazing! :)
Hey Katie...
I did a little more research...it seems Amos slept in the main house when he stayed there... he did a lot of maintenance on the house and the Fairfax shop...(painting)..but also catered/served at Sebring's parties..
The address's are very confusing..the police report says Sebring's house was 9810...but newspapers from the 30's says the Harlow house was 9820...
I looked up the assessor's parcel on these properties, one is in front of the other...
Maybe these parcels were divided many years ago...probably before Jay bought it...maybe that's why two different addresses...
Thanks Kimchi. That makes more sense. The only photos I've seen of Jay's house shows what I guess is the back of the house with the pool. I'm assuming that's the back and not the front. Anyway, this other part that's for sale must be the divided lot.
When Patty was there this past spring, it was interesting to her that the entrance to 9820 is either really well hidden, or else it is up the hill and to the right, behind a locked gate. The property is way back from the street and only really visible through a thick canopy of trees. Patty tried to take photos but they turned out horribly. Thanks Kimchi for the private tour. :)
Not much time to respond right now, but the entrance to the house has been changed at least a few times.
The staff area was where cooking was done when the original house was built as Paul Bern didn't have a kitchen as he didn't like to smell food cooking.
Amos did stay in the main house, that's true.
More later.....
Is there anything specific anyone would like to know? I might be able to find out some stuff from someone--no promises tho.
Hi Venus! Do you know when the property was divided into 2 different addresses? Before or after Jay bought it?
Did Jay have any other staff other than a butler?
I might think of more questions later. Thanks!
Hi Patty. I've read many places that the house really isn't visible from the street due to all the vegetation surrounding it. Which leads to all the more mystery!
Hey Patty -
This morning I did a google map on 9820 and then did a "virtual" walk up the street to 9810...
Like you said, there is a gate and impossible to see any houses..
From the satellite view it looks like both of those properties are down that road of the 9810 address and you can't even see the roof of 9820..
Thanks Venus, I'd like to know the same as Katie...when and if they were divided...
It appears they are from the Assessor's maps...I can post those if it will help...
Also, do you know what became of Amos Russell? Is he still around? He was 48 in 1969...
Thanks for the pictures, Kimchi, and for the info, Venus.
Well, I asked and my source really wasn't too sure about when the property was divided.
But I did find out that Amos had his own place and stayed at Jay's house only if he wanted to. And, Amos is still alive!
Forgot to mention this. Jay had no live-in help.
Thanks Venus!! :)
From Amos Russell's September 1969 polygraph:
LAPD: Tell me where you live here.
RUSSELL: I live at 725 North Fairfax.
LAPD: Where'd you live prior to that?
RUSSELL: I lived – I went to the Virgin Islands. I lived in St. Croix for four months.
LAPD: What's your phone number at Fairfax, you have one?
RUSSELL: Yes, sir. The phone number out there's 653-9960.
LAPD: You're working out there?
RUSSELL: Yes, sir.
LAPD: Where are you working?
RUSSELL: I work at Mr Sebring's there.
LAPD: You still work there?
RUSSELL: Yes, sir.
LAPD: At the house or at the...?
RUSSELL: No sir, I work at the shop. The valet or the floor man. I do painting or whatever needs to be done there.
LAPD: What's the address then?
RUSSELL: 725 North Fairfax, sir.
LAPD: Oh I see. You're living there?
RUSSELL: Yes, sir.
Russell gives Jay's shop as his home address and says he works at the shop. He was at Easton Dr at the time of the murders. He was painting the exterior of the house. He also says he made dinner for Jay, Sharon, Abbie and Voytek on the Thursday evening before they were killed. On Saturday morning-early afternoon, Russell say's Easton had two visitor's:
RUSSELL: And then after then a young lady come to the house. She used the phone. She made a long distance call; she called the long distance operator. I fixed her a cup of coffee and went back to the kitchen. When I came out, she was upstairs [inaudible] in Mr. Jay Sebring's bathroom.
LAPD: Had you seen her there before?
RUSSELL: Yes, sir. She had been there three times before, far as – close as I can remember – for the period of time I was there. She'd come to swim in the pool, you know, they'd come in, come on in the house. I was painting on the outside so I wasn't on the inside too much at the time she was on the inside. Far as I can recall she was on the inside in the daytime during the period of time I was working. And then a girl named Charlene from the office, she came up. As this young lady was coming out of the house going up the stairway to the right, the right stairway leads up to the garage. And she came up to the house and told me not to let nobody else into the house unless an officer of the law comes to the house. And then after she left – well, I closed the door...
LAPD: Where did she go after she was in the house?
RUSSELL: She came downstairs. I fixed her a cup of coffee and she was nervous and panicky like. Not too nervous; she was very panicked. And uh, she went downstairs and uh, she talked to me. The coffee pot was still hot so I gave her a cup of coffee. So she was in the house ten minutes.
Thanks Jeffrey. That's kind of confusing. Was this the Saturday that the bodies were discovered?
I wonder who the first young lady was. It sounds like Russell was more of a handy man than a butler.
Yeah Katie,
12 hours after the murders occurred, you have an unidentified woman coming to Easton and going through Jay's bedroom. A little later, Joel Rosteau's girlfriend and Jay's receptionist, Charlene McCafferty, shows up.
This is before Amos Russell knows for sure that his boss is dead. At about the same time the first woman shows up, Doris Tate calls Easton and asks if Sebring is home, she had heard there was a "terrible accident in the canyon". Jay's business manager called a little later and asked if Sebring was home. Sounds to me, that word was just getting out and people were calling to confirm if it was true.
Steve McQueen always claimed that he had Easton "cleaned" before the police showed up. Had he dispatched one of these women to clean Easton of illegal / embarrassing items? If so, how did these people find out about the murders even before Doris Tate knew for sure?
That's a good question Jeffrey. It sounds like Charlene must have known something was wrong if she was acting so nervous and telling Amos not to let anyone in the house. But how could she have known before Doris?
I received an e-mail in my blog e-mail box that says exactly this:
"If you’d like to truly find out how for up the rabbit hole this goes, check out The False Prophet Azazel by John of the Gentiles. Nearly everyone in Hollywood was connected to the OTO and the Church of Satan including Sharon Tate. A copy is attached or it may be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45898784/The-False-Prophet-Azazel
Its searcheable. Search by names."
There is a book posted on the Scribed website if anyone is interested.
Sunset said:
A copy is attached or it may be viewed here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/45898784/The-False-Prophet-Azazel
Its searcheable. Search by names."
That's some heavy stuff... 800+ pages...
Will keep me busy for a while...
katie8753 said...
That's a good question Jeffrey. It sounds like Charlene must have known something was wrong if she was acting so nervous and telling Amos not to let anyone in the house. But how could she have known before Doris?
October 16, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Maybe -just maybe- the person she was living with, Joel Rostau, the fellow who had been up there before the murders to deliver drugs is part of the answer to how she learned of the death of her boss Jay Sebring...
As Jeffrey Jeff points out, the Amos Russell interview is interesting and was referenced in the Shreck Book. And of course, if you want to listen to the Amos Russell interview yourself it is out there.
Here is the Amos Russell interview
http://vimeo.com/48116874
johnnyseattle said:
"Maybe -just maybe- the person she was living with, Joel Rostau, the fellow who had been up there before the murders to deliver drugs is part of the answer to how she learned of the death of her boss Jay Sebring..."
Good point, johnny.... I am also thinking that Rostau may have sent Charlene to Easton to see if she could recover the drugs that Rostau had delivered the night before.
Okay. I lived with Jay in the Harlow/Paul Bern house.
Let me describe it. You drove up Easton Drive and turned right onto a street called Rimelle Drive. The entrance to the house was on Rimelle not on Easton. The "guest house/servant quarters was not a part of the estate at that time. As you drove up Easton it was on the right several doors down from Rimelle. There was a stairway west of the pool that led down to that house. At the time I was living with Jay, Sandy Kevin aka Sandy McPeak lived in that house. He was an actor/bartender working at Sneaky Pete's on the Sunset Strip.
If you pulled into our carport (we didn't have a garage), the flagstone steps lead down to the front of the house they also branched off to another set that led to the pool. You can see Brian Morris walking down those stairs in the "Sharon Tate chilling at home" YouTube video. The pool was not necessarily "behind" or to the back of the house. It was on the norhtern side of the house. What we would have called "the back of the house" abutted a hilside. It could also have been referred to as the side of the house. There was a small grassy area atop that hillside accessed to the left of the carport. The "back of the house will be mentioned later.
When you walked down the main stairway,
you were facing the front of the house. When you entered the front door you were in the living room. Open beams and high ceilings. If memory serves there was a bookcase to the right and to the left another bookcase that opened into a hidden bar room. The actual bar was to the right of the doorway west side of room. Think Prohibition.
The entire wall of the northern exposure was leaded glass windows. (lancets).
Straight ahead on the left was a stairway leading up to the second floor.
On the other side of the stairway was a step up to a small dining area to the east of the dining room was the kitchen. There was a rain machine between the house and the hillside. The kitchen had windows looking out to a sort of tropical "grotto" or fern garden. there was on the west side of the dining room a door leading out to the actual back of the house which would be behind the dining room and west wall of the living room. I am recalling a massive fireplace to the left east of the main stairway.
Second floor: To the left of the stairway was the door to our bedroom (the master.) there were open beams. To the left of the door was a small but deep closet, to the right was the door to the bathroom which was painted black. across the room was a door leading into a conservatory which Jay used as a gym.
The north side of the room had window seats in front of the bay windows, leaded, overlooking the pool. The rain machine was behind the wall at the head of the bed.
I can't recall the exact layout, but from the second-floor landing was a stairwell leading to the 3rd floor. To the right at the top was the second bathroom (where I believe Paul Bern was found, but not certain) to the left was a large room with dormer windows. there was also a window to the left/west of one of the dormers.
Above the conservatory was a long closet with clothes poles on each side. We kept our clothes in this closet because Jay kept a TV and audio-visual equipment photos etc. in the master closet.
South of the pool, under the house as it were, was a laundry room and 2 changing rooms. You see Sheila Wells or someone going in there in the "Sharon Chilling" video.
Amos was a handyman who lived at the shop on Fairfax. He was never our "butler".
After the murders and before the police came, our mutual friend, author James Poe, entered the premises and removed several boxes of photographs from the master bedroom closet.
He later told me he had destroyed them.
Someone asked: What does a butler do?
Answer: He buttles!
(To be continued)
Part 2:
We did not have "servants". Our cleaning lady was Winnie Chapman she was a day worker. She also worked for Sharon and for Harry Falk, Jr. whom I intorduced her to. Amos came up from time to time to do handyman chores.
I will be happy to answer any questions.
Re: the eyeglasses is it possible that they were left at Cielo Drive at some other time?
On June 7th 1969 Brian Morris hosted a "Gone With the Wind-themed" party at the Cielo house.
I have only 3 photos taken inside the house. One in the living room of me sitting on one of the blue velvet armchairs and two of me sititng in the bay window in the master. These were shot by Mr. Hatami who passed away last November in Paris. He told me when we spoke, while he was living in New Jersey, that all of his photos from that ime were stored in an art gallery in Beverly Hills and he was having trouble accessing them from the gallery owner. Poe destroyed all other photos.
I just reread the ad. This is the house where the Carmichael’s lived at the time of the murder or suicide of Bern. Our house was 9810, a few doors east of this house. The next house upbthe Street was Stu Whitman’s.
I visited the property a couple of summers ago and took photos. I was sad to see the neglect. Huge gates have been put up across Rimmel and there was statuary I didn’t remember by the steps to the pool. But it has been almost 50 years since I lived there. Sometimes memories fade. Another note is the carved faces on the end beans by the changing rooms. Someone said one of them was John Barrymore, but when his son John came to visit one day he said it was definitely not his father.
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