Los Angeles librarian Christina Rice has been a film buff for years, with a special affinity for films from the 1930s and ’40s. But that didn’t prepare her for Ann Dvorak, a forgotten star who was living on government assistance in a run-down Waikiki neighborhood when she died in 1979.
Dvorak became Rice’s obsession.
Since the mid-1990s, when Rice was "blindsided" by Dvorak’s performance in the crime drama "Three on a Match," the librarian has amassed an eclectic collection of Dvorak’s possessions and movie memorabilia: posters, 1,500 studio photographs, personal letters between Dvorak and her mother, canceled checks, movie contracts and a scrapbook of photos from her first honeymoon.
When Rice got married in 2007, she even convinced the owner of one of Dvorak’s old homes to allow her to hold the ceremony there.
That wasn’t enough, though. She topped all that by writing "Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel," the only biography ever written about the actress. The book, Rice’s first, was published last month by The University Press of Kentucky.
"I think she was a wonderful actress," Rice said in a call from her home in North Hollywood. "Her first credited acting job was in the original ‘Scarface’ in 1932. She had done uncredited chorus girl stuff prior to that. She had just turned 20 and had little experience, and she was just wonderful. She had some raw talent."
The daughter of silent-film star Anna Lehr and director Edwin McKim, Dvorak brought an unusual beauty to the screen, Rice said. She has 89 film credits.
"I think she’s beautiful but she has an unusual beauty," Rice said. "She doesn’t have a button nose. She has a really strong, pronounced nose. And I think her voice is very unique. She has a clear, very distinct voice."
The actress torpedoed her career by getting married and walking out on her contract with Warner Bros. for an eight-month honeymoon, Rice said. Her return in 1933 started a long, angry period for Dvorak, who complained about the quality of her roles. And while she would act through the early 1950s, she was always cast in B-grade productions.
"She was enough of a name to be a draw, but studios didn’t want to take a chance on her," Rice said. "She had a reputation as a troublemaker."
DVORAK retired to Hawaii in 1959 with her third husband, Nicholas Wade. It wasn’t a very happy time for the actress, whose marriage to Wade was rocky at best, according to Rice. When Wade died in 1975, Dvorak was living in Los Angeles, where she had been caring for her dying mother and relying on food stamps, Rice said.
Dvorak returned to her small apartment in Waikiki, but her late husband had spent all her money, Rice said. The actress got by on Social Security payments, her pension from the Screen Actors Guild and a government rent subsidy.
"She wasn’t on the verge of being homeless," Rice said, "but she definitely had to count her pennies."
Diagnosed with stomach cancer in the summer of 1979, she died a few months later on Dec. 10. Dvorak had no children and no relatives, and her estate was settled in probate court to pay for medical and funeral expenses, Rice said.
Dvorak’s ashes were scattered off Waikiki.
For the 39-year-old Rice, who is married and the mother of a 3-year-old, her obsession with Dvorak has one outstanding mystery: What happened to a treasured portrait of the actress?
It was large, maybe 3 by 4 feet, and Rice has seen it in several photographs of the actress.
"Ann wasn’t somebody who liked to live in the past," Rice said. "The scrapbook and the painting were among the few things she held onto from her film career. They were personal and meant something to her."
Every now and then, Rice puts an ad on Craigslist to see if anyone has it, or scours eBay listings for paintings. She’s visited antique stores in Hawaii, too.
She said it’s more than a collector’s item.
"I consider myself the custodian of her legacy," Rice said. "That’s why I would like to have it and take care of it."
AND that’s a wrap …
———
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
