Whitley Heights 101

6820 Iris Circle

6820 Iris Circle is a triplex which was built in 1924 by architects Fowley & March who were also responsible for building a 36 unit apartment complex on Western Avenue in the early 1920s. This residence was built by a divorcee and local vocalist named Ophelia Smith. The above photo is the building on Whitley Terrace and has been also listed as 6817 Whitley Terrace. The photo below is the residence on Iris Circle.

The main residence consists of three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. There is also a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a separate entrance and a permitted studio with an additional bedroom which is accessed in the main house. The building was owned throughout the 1940s by Ophelia Smith which she continued to rent out the units. Below are various interview views of the multi-level home complete with archways throughout the main house. The main entrance consisters of the main living area: living room, dining room, kitchen and sitting room. There is a stairway leading up to the studio bedroom. The is another stairway leading down to the bedrooms.

There are separate entrances on Iris Circle that lead up to the studio bedroom and to the one bedroom apartment that is on the ground floor. There is also a stairway leading up to the studio bedroom from inside the main entrance.

Between 1931-1934 singer George R. Scheller rented out 6817 Iris Circle. George Roland Scheller was a baritone vocalist who performed primarily in California in the 1920s and 1930s. A graduate of the University of California, Scheller joined the San Francisco Orpheum after he graduated from college. When Scheller moved to Hollywood from San Francisco he moved to Iris Circle. He also appeared in two movies: Happy Days (1929), as a chorus man and Delicious (1931) as Uncle Sam. Scheller also performed at the Hollywood Bowl.

In 1932, another Baritone singer, Douglas Beattie, rented the one bedroom apartment located at 6817 Whitley Terrace. Beattie (1907-1951), sang in several operas in the area and in Italy. In 1935, he performed at the Hollywood Bowl in the opera, “Aida” which was conducted by Aldo Franchetti, another Whitley Heights resident. In the early 1930s, Beattie was part of the San Francisco Opera and then joined Metropolitan Opera Company in 1938. He also had cameos on three films: Balalaika (1939), Smilin’ Through (1941), and played Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville (1944). During World War 2, Beattie stopped performing and opened a citrus farm in Portersville as part of the war effort. He died in 1951 at the age of 44.

Perhaps the most notable inhabitant of the Iris Circle residence was director and character actor Carl Leviness from 1954-1960. Carlton Mortimer Leviness was born in 1885 in New York. Leviness started acting on the stage in the early 1900s and started directing by 1910. Leviness was in his 40s when he started appearing in movies in minor roles. Directors John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock regularly put him in their films. Leviness appeared in over 400 films including; The Nutty Professor (1963), The Twilight Zone (1963), North By Northwest (1959), Some Like It Hot (1959), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), A Star is Born (1954), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

Leviness married twice: Martha Jane Julien (1913-1951) and Jesse Thomas (1893-1964). By 1922, Leviness married Jesse Thomas and were residing in Mount Vernon, New York. In 1942, they were living in Whitley Heights, located at 2209 Fairfield Avenue, a duplex, which was relocated to 1433-1435 Talmadge Avenue in 1952 to avoid being torn down from the conduction of the 101 Freeway. It is not known what happened to Thomas but the then 58 year old Leviness married 30 year old Martha Julien in 1944 and she moved into the duplex until her death in 1951 at the age of 38. Leviness retired shortly before his death in 1964.

Between 1993 and 1996 award-winning director and producer Pascal Franchot lived in the residence. Franchot studied abroad at the American University of Paris and Parsons School of Design before graduating from Ithaca College with a degree in Film and a minor in Photography. Upon graduating, Pascal started directing commercials and music videos for MTV and VH1. Pascal then went on to direct his first feature film, MILO. Over the past 10 years Pascal has delivered over one hundred hours of TV programming for the following networks; The Discovery Channel, ABC, Bravo, CMT, CNN, Discovery, Fox TV, Google, GSN, History Channel, MTV, National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Spike TV, TLC and the Travel Channel.