Tom Ince


Does anyone have any idea on how to research the life and death of Tom Ince? I'm writing a paper and need as many primary sources as possible....

thanks!

n.

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The IMDb data base would be the best place to start with the research of his credentials prior to his unpleasant voyage with Hurst.

His death is a frustrating example of what wealth can do to thwart an investigation. There are many papers available on the net regarding the Ince death. But they all lead in one direction: Utter frustration about what really happened.

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Wikipedia is a great way to get information on Ince. www.wikipedia.org

Type Thomas Ince and click search and off you go!

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[deleted]

As long as you take what information you find at Wikipedia with a grain of salt. It's all user-supplied and unverified and you don't have to look at too many entries to find a lot of wrong information, unsubstantiated rumors, opinions rather than facts, and urban myths galore. I think anyone listing Wikipedia as a source in any sort of academic writing would be laughed out of the class. Sort of like using Weekly World News or National Enquirer as source material.

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Primary sources, the guy said.

Neither IMDB nor Wikipedia are primary sources, or anything close to it.

The most obvious way to track down primary sources would be to find a decent book, either on him or in which he's discussed at some length, and read the bibliography. These are most often found in libraries. If there's no book on him in particular (or even if there is), look for books on the early years of Hollywood film history. If you go to the stacks and look through them, you'll probably find several with at least chapters on him. Though these are secondary sources, the good ones should point you to primary stuff.

Beyond that, I don't know how you'd find much in the way of primary sources of any value. Contemporary newspaper accounts of his death are probably fairly easy to find, but more useful for writing about how his death was portrayed than what really happened. Which might be a decent subject, anyway.

There wasn't a coroner's inquest, apparently, so you can't try to get your hands on any of those records.

There may be letters, journals, business records and the like extant somewhere.

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I'm in touch with someone who has talked to the family and they claim he died at home, in bed, surrounded by family, a couple days after this voyage. Of natural causes.

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That Ince's living family (who were not alive in 1924) support the "natural causes, died at home" scenario, is not inconsistent with the film's thesis. Ince was on board Hearst's yacht with his mistress, Margaret Livingston, which is pretty much undisputed. The details of the coverup may have been extensive and included Ince's family so as to protect his reputation.

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[deleted]

Considering "Hollywood Babylon" still supports the rumor the Jayne Mansfield was decapitated in her car accident, I don't know that I'd consider anything in there "credible".

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I believe at one time I saw a documentary on HBO (back in the 80s) that looked into Hollywood mysteries (narrated by Lauren Bacall) and someone who was interviewed said that Chaplin had a paragraph or two in one of his biographies about the whole incident. I believe he claimed not to have been on board the yacht, if I remember.

I wish I could remember the title. It was sort of based off a book by Laurie Jacobson, I think. Bummer I can remember the author, but not the documentaries name!

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I think it was called Hollywood Heartbreak.

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What about the Hollywood Babylon books? I haven't got them handy, but I'm sure this is purse grist for its mill. I just watched the movie tonight on HBO. What a hoot! But I must disagree with my brother and his wife regarding Izzy's great take on Charlie. I thought he was marginal... RDJ... anyone?

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I realize you left this post years ago and will probably never see my response but I need to post this anyway.
Mansfield was decapitated. By definition.
Decapitation is the removal of the cap (ie: the very top) of the skull. Which is what happened to her.

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I realize you left this post years ago and will probably never see my response but I need to post this anyway.

Try opening a dictionary once in awhile before spreading your ignorance.

"Decapitation" is from Latin: "de" (removal or absence) + "capit" (head). "Decapitation" means removal or absence of the head. The whole head, "by definition". The only people who refer to the top of the head as the cap is you. To the rest of the world, the only cap on the top of a head is a removable garment with a brim.

Mansfield died from extensive head trauma. The top of her head was not removed, neither was she decapitated. "By definition".

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[deleted]

I know this is two years too late for the research paper, but for anyone who's interested in silent film, there's a fabulous online newsletter called TAYLOROLOGY. It was started originally about the mystery surrounding the death of director William Desmond Taylor, but has a number of articles about other silent film topics. This is an "autobiography" of Thomas Ince that appeared in the Los Angeles Record in the 1920s, and you might find other information at the site as well. In any case, it's a fascinating site you can easily spend hours reading.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~bruce/Taylor92.txt

All the issues available online can be found at:
http://www.taylorology.com/

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I have just read a biography of HEARST and it states there that Tom Ince had a congenital heart problem and that this was what killed him. Apparently no inquest was ever held - and I find this surprising, to say the least. Perhaps we shall never know the truth..

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At least that is what the Hearst family would like you to believe. However, it happened under different circumstances. I'm sure there are others who would back me up on that fact.

"It's so hard having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache." - Dr. Frank-N-Furter

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Try Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer by Brian Taves.

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