Ramon Novarro III: Anita Page, Murder, Life As a Gay Man
Anita Page, Ramon Novarro in The Flying Fleet
Ramon Novarro: Allan Ellenberger Interview II
Ramon Novarro and Anita Page. Do you believe he actually asked her hand in marriage as she claimed later in life?
I do, and the main reason is that I knew Anita Page and interviewed her extensively for over a year before her health really began to decline. At that point, she would have short-term memory loss due to a stroke, which made interviewing her more difficult. That, and the image that she presented to the world in some ways made her appear unreliable. All I know is that I was able to prove most of the stories she told me with secondary sources and I see no reason to doubt that story.
I don’t find it hard to believe that Novarro could have proposed marriage to her. Perhaps he was getting pressure from [MGM head] Louis B. Mayer to settle down and found Anita a very likable, albeit somewhat naïve person. If it’s not true, it may be her naiveté that caused her to misunderstand what Novarro said. In any event, whatever happened, I don’t believe she lied about it. There would be no reason for it. She truly believed that Novarro proposed to her whether that was his intention or not.
Ramon Novarro and publicist and Photoplay columnist Herbert Howe. In your book you state that it’s unclear if they ever were lovers. That was 10 years ago. Considering what you’ve learned since, do you still think so, or …?
Actually it was more than 10 years ago when I was doing the research about Howe, and there was very little, if anything, available then. From the stories I found, it was unclear whether they were lovers; however, the signs were there, but I wasn’t willing to state it as a fact unless I knew for sure. Now with the Internet, I’ve been able to find more biographical information about Howe and through your excellent book on Novarro, I do believe they were an item. Perhaps Howe was the love of Novarro’s life, since he never again seemed to be involved in a stable relationship.
The trial of the Ferguson brothers. Did you have any concerns about how you would present it? I mean, Ramon Novarro as a gay man who was having young men — including one that was a minor (Tom Ferguson was 17) — at his home, presumably for sex? Not to mention the fact that both brothers went on asserting that they never intended to rob Novarro, as the prosecution claimed.
I had no concerns on how to present it – I only wanted to present it as it happened, or as the Ferguson brothers said that it happened. As we know, the brothers reported two different versions of the events that night. As likable as Novarro was, when he drank he was uncontrollable. Even though he did not have sex with Tom that night, what he did was not right. He had opened the doors many times in the past for something like this to happen, and this night his luck ran out. Everyone that night must share some responsibility.
I don’t believe the prosecution’s claim that they were there to rob Novarro. I understand the reason for using that theory, but the Ferguson brothers were there that night for one thing – to hustle Novarro for sex. Novarro had a reputation for hiring prostitutes and they knew it.
Valentino’s Dildo. Anything you’d care to say about that myth?
That its just that – a myth! It seems that no matter how many times you try to refute this story, there are always people that believe it or want to believe it. It came from the imagination of someone who is known for stretching the truth in his writings. I still would like to know how this story originated. I wrote to Kenneth Anger during my research hoping he would talk about it, but he only wanted to sell me a Ben-Hur poster for $2,000. At the time he was trying to raise money to move to Palm Springs.
When you began working on Ramon Novarro, did you have a pre-set idea of what kind of person Novarro had been? If so, did that change along the way? And if so, how?
No, not really. I had no idea what kind of person Novarro was. Sadly, I believed the Hollywood Babylon story when I first began my research, but even that did not make me judge him adversely. Despite his flaws and problems with religion, alcohol, and sex, he was basically a nice guy and ended up only hurting himself.
And finally, Novarro as a gay man from the 1910s to the 1960s. What was that like for him? What changed along the way?
I don’t think anything changed for him. For him, that meant his life had to be kept a secret except possibly for a few close friends, mostly women. Society around him began changing for gay men, but Novarro remained in the closet his entire life, even denying his sexual orientation to himself at times. Sadly, that was never going to change even if he had lived longer.
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Tags: Allan Ellenberger, Anita Page, Classic Movies, Gay Interest, Herbert Howe, Hollywood Babylon, Interviews, Paul Ferguson, Ramon Novarro, Silent Films, Tom Ferguson, Valentino's Dildo
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