Whitley Heights 101

2020 Whitley Terrace Steps

2020 Whitley Terrace Steps was one of the earlier homes built on the hill in 1921. The residence originally used the address of 6668 Whitley Terrace until it was changed to 2020 Whitley Terrace Steps sometime after 1958 but before 1974. The house has a total of 1,100 square feet with two bedrooms and one bathrooms and was built by architect Arthur S. Barnes with the owner listed as Roy Milner (H.J. Whitley’s secretary) who sold it after it was built. The house does not have street access and sits between Milner Road and Whitley Terrace. The only access to this home is on the Whitley Terrace Steps. The house does have its own pond and a spectacular view of the Hollywood Hills.

In 1926, an actor named Roy Giusi resided at 2020 Whitley Terrace Steps. Guisti, was born in San Francisco in 1894, but resided in Berlin as a child as his father was a dentist for the Crown Prince of Saxony. At the age of 16, he left home, traveling all over Europe and getting odd jobs to pay his way. When his parents moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he also moved to South America and worked for a cattle ranch, heading expeditions into the jungle and also worked for an oil company. Giusti headed back to the United States to enlist in the military during World War 1.

After he served in the war, Giusti went back to San Francisco and lived with his parents and decided to try his hand at acting. He moved to New York and got a part in a musical comedy and then performed in vaudeville shows. While performing on a Los Angeles stage in 1925, he was discovered by the wife of director Erich von Stroheim, who thought he would be just right for the part of the villainous, arrogant Prince Mirko in The Merry Widow (1925). Von Stroheim had wanted to play the part himself, but was he and MGM producer, Irving Thalberg, were at odds and was not allowed. Also, Von Stroheim felt the audience would have difficulty pronouncing Giusti’s last name and he was billed as Roy D’Arcy. Production of The Merry Widow was a roller coaster ride. Thalberg actually fired Von Stroheim twice while he worked on The Merry Widow, but the film turned out to be a hit for D’Arcy. The film starred John Gilbert and Mae Murray. During filming, Von Stroheim noticed an extra whose costume needed to be adjusted. As he went to step off the high camera platform to attend to the costume, he fell and broke his leg. He directed the rest of the film from a reclining chair while his leg healed. Below, from left to right are John Gilbert, Mae Murray, and Roy D’Arcy in The Merry Widow.

D’Arcy played the role as the villain and would continue to get similar roles throughout his film career. His next big role came in 1926 in the film La Boheme starring Lillian Gish and John Gilbert, another MGM film that was directed by King Vidor. Gilbert, who was infatuated with Gish, would purposely mess up the love scenes so he would get to kiss Gish numerous times. Below are D’Arcy and Gish in La Boheme.

D’Arcy would go on to play roles in The Masked Bride (1925) with Mae Murray and Francis X. Bushman, Beverly of Graustark (1926) with Marion Davies, Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) with John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman, The Temptress (1926) with Greta Garbo, The Road to Romance (1927) with Ramon Navarro, The Actress (1928) with Norma Shearer, and Hollywood Boulevard (1936) starring Marsha Hunt. D’Arcy was fortunate enough to be able to transition to sound pictures, but was rumored to always to at odds with his co-workers so his movie career ended by 1939. D’Arcy also opened up a nightclub in New York City circa 1930. In 1940’s he worked in the hotel management industry in the Los Angeles area before finally moving up to Redlands where he last worked in real estate. D’Arcy died in 1969 in Redlands at the age of 75.

When “The Merry Widow” premiered in New York City in 1925, socialite and widow, Laura Rhinock Duffy fell in love with the actor on the screen and set her sites to meet him. Her father was Joseph Rhinock, a former Kentucky congressman, and now part of the Shubert Theater in New York, who had connections. On his next trip to Hollywood, Laura Rhinock Duffy accompanied her father so she could meet her dream husband. At the age of 20, Duffy had eloped to 22 year old John Duffy, owner of a family owned newspaper business in New Jersey. Rhinock informed her father of the elopement via a telegram as he objected to the marriage because he thought she was too young to get married. A year after they eloped, John Duffy placed an advertisement in the newspaper indicating that he would not be responsible for any debt other than what he accrued. Apparently, Laura Duggy knew how to spend money! Duffy’s father indicated that after they eloped, John resigned from the family business and stopped communicating to the family. Rhinock’s sister indicated that Laura had no communication with her side of the family. However, Laura Rhinock Duffy was living with her parents by 1925 and indicated she was a widow before meeting D’Arcy. D’Arcy and Rhinock met and decided to tie the knot. They got married at the Biltmore Hotel on New Year’s Eve in 1926.

They were not even married a year when Laura filed for divorce claiming physical cruelty and nonsupport. She claimed her mother loaned D’Arcy $40,000 which he never paid back. D’Arcy counter sued Laura for defamation of his character, indicating she called him a “ham actor” and was a harsh critic to his acting abilities. She counter-sued calling him “temperamental, arrogant and abusive”. Their very public divorced went back and forth and then suddenly the tabloids indicated that D’Arcy was in love with Lita Grey Chaplin, to recently divorced wife of Charlie Chaplin in 1928. D’Arcy informed the press that Chaplin “understands him” and they were going to get married after his divorce was final.

Ms. Chaplin was hired to act in a vaudeville show for several months and would be traveling all over the United States. When she left D’Arcy in Hollywood, it was decided that the would get married as soon as the vaudeville show ended. However, Chaplin was able to return to Hollywood earlier than expected and found out that D’Arcy remarried his former wife in 1929! By 1930, Mrs. D’Arcy was asking for another divorce claiming “supreme superiority, excessive egotism, and overbearing manner.” Round two for another very public divorce. This time it was over between the two and Chaplin had moved on, engaged to someone else. According to the press, D’Arcy and Chaplin were amicable to one another and D’Arcy even congratulated her on the engagement to comedian Phil Baker while his wife stood by (standing to the right below).

D’Arcy never married again (who would after all the drama he endured), but he had been linked to several actresses including; Inez Norton, Arleen Whelan and Clare Day. After Rhinock divorced D’Arcy, her life seemed to deteriorate rapidly. She had to file for bankruptcy. She was living with her mother in a boarding house in Los Angeles and was arrested in 1934 for forging checks. During her forgery trial, she was blaming up to four doctors for giving her morphine injections and got hooked on drugs. Rhinock remarried again but the marriage did not last. In 1939, Rhinock was found beaten by an axe on the side of the road. She was hospitalized and died within the week at the age of 44.

Between 1927 to 1942, stage actor turned auctioneer Fred St. Clare and his wife, Anne, resided at 6668 Whitley Terrace. St. Clare primarily acting on stage in London and New York, but got a bit part in the film The Pioneers in 1916. St. Clare was a well known auctioneer in Los Angeles. Who would think that being a auctioneer would be filled with drama? But is was…

In 1942, St. Clare broke his hip socket from falling off of a ladder. He was getting older and decided that he needed a home that that he had easier access to; the Whitley Terrace Steps were getting to be too much. So he moved down to the house below located at 6770 Milner Road (a duplex) and became a landlord with more drama! Stay turned for the next blog.

In 1944 artist Leigh Smith and his wife, Florence, lived in the home. Leigh Smith was born in Iowa in 1888 and his first job was as an assistant director for a short film called “His One Night Stand” in 1918. Two years later, Smith would be the assistant director for “I’ll Get Him Yet”, starring Dorothy Gish, George Fawcett and Richard Barthelmess and “Nobody Home” starring Dorothy Gish. In 1927, Smith would be the assistant director for Cecil B DeMille’s “The Yankee Clipper” and in 1929, “High Voltage” starring Carole Lombard. In total, Smith was the assistant director for 12 films between 1917 to 1933. In addition, Smith worked as a set director for 35 films between 1943 to 1947, including The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) starring Lon Chaney, In Society (1944) starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Dean Man’s Eyes (1944) starring Lon Chaney, The Naughty Nineties (1945) starring Abbott and Costello, and Pillow of Death (1945) starring Lon Chaney. Smith died in 1975 in Los Angeles at the age of 87.