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Sometimes when I'm trawling through old newspapers looking for interesting things to put up on the blog, I'll stumble upon things that I hadn't searched for, but are interesting enough in their own right to warrant further study. Such was the case today when I came across an article with a couple of familiar names attached...
Lon Chainey Junior's Wolf Man had the name of Larry Talbot when he wasn't all fanged and furry, and of course in later films in the Universal series, he would go up against Frankenstein's Monster in a battle of the beasts! So Talbot and Frankenstein sit right beside each other as names in my old memory bank.....
Which is why, when I read a particular newspaper, one of the stories stuck out and drew my attention right in!
(From the Muncie Evening Press, dated Wednesday, December 26th, 1934)
Ex- Film Actress Held In Death of St.Louis Man
Stella Talbot Claims She Killed In Self-Defense.
ST.LOUIS, Dec. 26. - Mrs. Stella Riddell Talbot, 35, who said she was a former motion picture actress, was held for questioning today in connection with the slaying of Albert Frankenstein, 50, restaurant operator.
Acting Police Captain E.P. Dowd quoted her as saying she and Frankenstein, with whom she had lived for seven years, had quarreled and she shot him "after he hit me on the head with a billy."
Police found Frankenstein's body yesterday when they went to the cafe in response to an anonymous telephone call. He had been shot in the chest.
They found Mrs.Talbot sitting on a chair near the body. At first she told police Frankenstein had shot himself, but later related he was shot accidentally in a struggle for a pistol.
Mrs. Talbot, the divorced wife of the late Frank Talbot, former owner of the Hippodrome Theater, said she was working as a waitress in the cafe. As Stella Talbot, she said, she appeared in the motion picture the "Price of Innocence" and Stella Day played the lead in "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come"
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(From the Binghamton Press, dated Wednesday Evening, December 26, 1934)
Ex - Movie Star Held in Killing of Cafe Owner
Stella Talbot Confesses, but Says She Fired In Self Defense
St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 26 - (United Press) - A former screen star - Stella Talbot - was held by police today on her confession that she shot to death Albert Frankenstein, 50, with whom, she said, she had lived for seven years.
The shooting occurred after Frankenstein struck her on the head with a billy, she said, and culminated a protracted quarrel which dated back over the entire time of their acquaintance.
Miss Talbot said she had played the lead in "The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come," as Stella Day, and that as Stella Talbot she appeared in the "Price of Innocence."
The argument leading to the shooting started when Miss Talbot arose early to attend Christmas mass, suggested that Frankenstein also get up "and have a merry Christmas" to which he objected and asked for liquor.
She gave him a drink, she said, and then went about her work. Several hours later, she told police, Frankenstein, after an argument with a bootlegger, suddenly branished a revolver in one hand, a billy in the other, exclaiming : " 'Hardware makes all men equal.' "
"He called me many names and hit me on the head with the billy," she told police. "Then I got up, grabbed the pistol and shot him. Next I called police"
Frankenstein was a cafe proprietor.
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(While the above article states she said she shot him, it would later be denied that she had her fingers on the gun at the time it went off...)
(From The St. Louis Star and Times, dated Tuesday, 16th April 1935)
EX-ACTRESS ON TRIAL TELLS OF KILLING IN CAFE
Stella Talbot Describes Drunken Christmas Quarrel Here That Ended in Her Struggle With Paramour for Gun
DENIES HER HAND WAS ON THE PISTOL WHEN IT WENT OFF
First Defense Witness Says Albert Frankenstein Informed Her He Had Made Up Mind to Slay Her.
Stella Riddell Talbot, once noted as a beauty and a star of the silent films, related from the witness stand in Circuit Judge William's Coourt today a sordid story of a drunken Christmas quarrel in a tavern here which ended in the death of her paramour, Albert Frankenstein.
Mrs. Talbot, who is on trial for the killing of Frankenstein, declared that she did not shoot him, as the state charges, but that he was killed while they were struggling over possession of a pistol with which he had threatened to slay her.
"I did not have my hand on the pistol when it went off," she said dramatically.
The former film actress was the first witness for the defense, after the state rested at 11.15am with the testimony of poliemen who were called to Frankenstein's tavern at 4063 Page Boulevard last Christmas Day after the shooting.
A divorcee who gives her age as 35 years, Mrs. Talbot was more composed on the stand than yesterday when she sobbed intermittently as she sat at the counsel table listening to the state's evidence in support of the manslaughter charge against her.
She still stared vacantly in the few lulls between questions, but she answered the lawyers quickly when they spoke to her. She told her story in a pleasant voice, with a faint English accent, a relic of her movie days. She, however, is a native American, having been born at Santa Fe, N.M., according to her testimony.
Her dark auburn hair was put up underneath a black hat with an imitation pearl pin in front. She clutched her worn brown coat tightly about her.
The defense rested shortly after 3p.m. with about a dozen witnesses following Mrs. Talbot to the stand to support her story of cruelties suffered at the hands of Frankenstein.
If Mrs. Talbot is found guilty of manslaughter, as charged, the jury may fix her punishment at a maximum of ten years in the penetentiary, or it may choose any one of three minimum sentences, six months in the workhouse, a $500 fine, or a $100 fine and three months in the workhouse.
Says He Promised To Wed Her
The shooting climaxed the seven year association of Mrs. Talbot and Frankenstein, she told the jury. In that time, she said, she had lived with Frankenstein at four addresses. Often he had discussed marriage, and shortly before the fatal quarrel he had promised that they would be married as soon as "business got a little better" at the tavern. She went by the name of Stella Frankenstein.
Frankenstein had been drinking heavily Christmas Day, and he had gone to the home of his brother Glenn, in the afternoon. Both Mrs. Talbot and Frankenstein were invited to the brother's home for dinner that evening, she testified.
"When Albert returned from his brother's," she said, "he became angry when he couldn't find his liquor and accused me of hiding it. And then he hit me on the head with a billy.
"Then he got his pistol and said 'Hardware makes all men equal. I have made up my mind to kill you and now is as good a time to do it as any.'
"I answered, 'Oh, my God! Don't do that on Christmas.' I walked around and pleaded with him and then finally we began struggling for the gun. I was trying to protect my life. Then the pistol went off.
"After Albert fell I saw blood on him, and then I went outside and saw two young boys and sent them for the police."
Admits Drinking Heavily
Under cross-examination by Assistant Circuit Attorney John L. Sullivan, Mrs. Talbot admitted that she had been drinking heavily the day of the fatal quarrel.
"Did you have as much as Albert?" she was asked.
"Yes, I had drinks right along with him."
When Mrs. Talbot, who is the divorced wife of the late Frank Talbot, St. Louis showman, took the witness stand, Defense Attorney Shepard Evans had her sign her name on a slip of paper.
The signature was exhibited to the jury along with the signature on her statement to the police Christmas Day, in which she said she seized the gun from Frankenstein and shot him to save her life. The statement has been admitted as evidence. The object of the defense move was to demonstrate, by the difference in the signatures, that she was in an exceptionally nervous condition at the time she made the statement. Since signing it, she has changed her story of the shooting.
Describing her life with Frankenstein, the witness, who still shows traces of the comeliness that once made her famous, told of frequent quarrels.
"He was a man of temper and rash disposition," she said. "We had numerous quarrels about business, particularly when he was drinking. He would knock people's heads together when he was drunk, and he often struck me and knocked my teeth out."
Here the witness turned to the jury and pulled back her lips to reveal cavities in her left jaws where she said her teeth had been knocked out.
"He also blacked my eyes and split my lip," she continued.
"On Christmas morning," Mrs. Talbot said as she reviewed the events which culminated in the fatal shooting, "I went to church and returned about 5.30a.m. He (Frankenstein) was awake, but not out of bed. He accused me of hiding his liquor. I looked for the liquor, found it and gave it to him."
" 'I suppose you are good because you went to church,' he said. I said 'Let's not drink today, because we are going out to dinner.' "
The quarrel extended throughout the morning and was resumed when Frankenstein returned from his brother's home, she declared.
While he again accused her of hiding his liquor, she had sought to prevail upon him to quit drinking so he would be in a condition to go to dinner,
"He told me ' If you're going to dinner, you're going by yourself.' " the witness said.
Sullivan, in his cross-examination, reminded Mrs. Talbot that she had been drinking and challenged her memory of the events of the day. She admitted that she had changed her story from the one told to the police.
"It all seems like a nightmare," she said. "After I looked over that statement it did not seem possible that I could have said all of those things."
Mrs. Talbot finished her testimony at 12.10p.m., and the first witness after the noon recess was her father Fred Riddell of Valley park, Mo. A former United States Army bandmaster, Riddell walked to the stand with military erectness. Short and stocky, with white hair, he was attired in a black suit and wore a black tie.
Last December, he said, he went to the Frankenstein tavern in response to a letter from Mrs. Talbot.
"I said to Frankenstein, 'I have something to talk over with you. I can talk to you as one gentleman to another, I believe.' " the witness told the jury.
"Frankenstein said, 'Do you want to start something?' I replied, ' I didn't come here to start anything.' and I kissed my daughter, who was beside me.
"And then Frankenstein said 'If anybody else but you did that I'd shoot him.' and I answered 'You wouldn't shoot a father for kissing his daughter, would you?' He didn't answer. All he said was 'get out' and I left."
While he was not asked to explain what he had intended to discuss with Frankenstein, the defense left the impression that he had intended to protest the tavern keeper's alleged cruelty to Mrs. Talbot.
The former film star showed more interest in her father's testimony than in any previous witness. She had her eyes fixed upon him as he told of the interview and related to the jury that he had seen a bruised swelling on his daughter's jaw where Frankenstein was alleged to have struck her.
Other witnesses, neighbors and acquaintances followed in quick order, testifying to Frankenstein's violent disposition, that they had seen Mrs. Talbot frequently with black eyes and the marks of beatings, and to the fact that the couple quarrelled frequently.
The witnesses were : Harry Paul, 4031 Page boulevard ; Mrs. Gertrude Smith, 4255 McPherson avenue, where Frankenstein and Mrs. Talbot had lived for a while ; Louis Kiel, 4141 A Page; Edward R. Davis, real estate man of 4060 Page ; Harry Soloman, operator of a filling station at 4068 Page, and Thomas Sampson, an occasional employee at the Frankenstein tavern.
Another defense witness, Jack Goldstein, auto mechanic of 4055 Page, testified that last fall he saw Frankenstein knock Mrs. Talbot down and that he heard Frankenstein rebuke her because she did not drink enough beer when invited to join customers at the bar.
John Whiteside of 3972 Page said that, shortly before Christmas, Mrs. Talbot sought refuge at the Whiteside home, crying and exhibiting a cut lip which she said was caused by a blow struck by Frankenstein. Mrs. Talbot has lived with Mr. and Mrs. Whiteside since the shooting.
The State's Case
The state closed it's evidence with the testimony of John McGrain, a special officer of the police department, who answered the call to the tavern with other officers. McGrain said that he saw a mark on Mrs. Talbot's head, just back of and slightly above the right ear.
The state showed in it's evidence that when the police came Mrs. Talbot at first deluded them by saying that her paramour had been shot by an Italian named "Pete" in an argument over delivery of some alcohol.
McGrain told of going to two addresses with Mrs. Talbot in search of "Pete," but said that they were unable to find any trace of the man who Mrs. Talbot later admitted was an invention of her imagination.
Glenn Frankenstein, thin, gray-haired, 67-year-old brother of the dead man, took the stand as the first witness for the state yesterday. Questioned by the prosecutor, he told of visiting his brother's tavern and seeing Mrs. Talbot in a drunken state.
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So, it looks like there was a relatively happy ending for everyone but Frankenstein.....
Why am I putting this story on a blog that's supposed to be about Halloween you ask? Well, because in my head I like to believe that maybe the writer for The Wolf Man read about this terrible event in the paper, and whether conciously or subconciously, plucked the name out of his mind while trying to come up with the name for another character that was joining Frankenstein in the Universal stable! It was featured prominently in industry sections of the newpapers after all, and was beside a photo of Bela Lugosi when I found it....
It is though, most likely, that it's an odd coincidence, and that the names of Talbot and Frankenstein have just happened to appear together in more than one instance....but that's an odd enough coincidence for me! I'm just glad that Mrs. Talbot's life finally seemed to turn around for the better and that hopefully it was a happier one after that!
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