Whitley Heights 101

2240 and 2242 Cahuenga Boulevard

The above aerial photograph was taken at the corner of Cahuenga Boulevard (formerly Avenue) and Odin Street circa 1923. To the left are the beginnings of Whitley Heights Park being built (Iris Circle). To the right were two residences which were both on lot 4 of tract 3456, and were completed in 1921 by Alcorn Construction. They bought the entire lot and also built two residences on the rear of the lot on Odin Street. They advertised 2240 and 2242 Cahuenga for sale in the August 21, 1921 edition of the Los Angeles Times.

What is really remarkable is that both of the residences remain today almost identical from when they were built over 100 years ago. The house on the right, 2242 Cahuenga Blvd., which is located on the corner of Cahuenga and Odin, consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2,178 square feet. The house on the right, 2240 Cahuenga Blvd., sits to the right of the later, has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and 1,497 square feeet.

2242 Cahuenga Blvd. is currently the location of Robert Cauer Violins which was established in 1980. The home was originally built as a 6 room single family residence with a private garage. In 1936, a one room store was added to the front of the house. In 1974, the garage was converted into a storage unit and a new garage was built in the rear of the property. The property has had multiple owners and renters throughout the years.

The first notable tenant was actress Dulce Mooman who lived there with her mother, between 1937 and 1939. Born Blanche Dulce Mooman in Port Arthur, Texas in 1912, in 1925 the talented 13 year old girl, spent the winter season in Tampa, Florida and sang at the Sunset Club due to her “lovely soprano voice”. By June, she had appeared on a local radio program, decided to continue her singing career in Florida and after two years, became a member of the St. Andrews Choir. Now known as “the Texas Nightingale”, she began singing at the Floridan Hotel, Mirasol Hotel, Tampa Theater and then ventured to the Arcade Theater in Jacksonville by March of 1927.

In April of 1927, Mooman was hired as part of Patsy Lyons act at the Rialto in Tampa. A year later, the prima donna had traveled to Europe, Nassau, and New York to perform before she was hired to perform at the Deauville Hotel in Miami in early 1928. In July of 1932, 23 year old Mooman married 25 year old Granville Briant, a US Naval Academy graduate and part of the Air Fleet Detachment in Coronado, California. After they married in Yuma, Arizona, she moved to San Diego where he was stationed.

For the next year, Mrs. Dulce Mooman Briant attempted to revive her once promising singing career at a local church, performed in a benefit show and local play, but was miserable with a stagnant singing career and a husband who was often gone. In December of 1933, she decided to leave her husband and changed her stage name to “Dulce Day”. She was hired to perform a solo at The Bowery in Los Angeles. It turns out that Dulce Day was a dead ringer for actress Jeanette MacDonald. In 1934, MGM hired her as a stand-in for the actress in the film, “The Cat and the Fiddle” which also starred Ramon Navarro and Frank Morgan. Below, Dulce Day (left) and Jeanette MacDonald and Ramon Navarro in “The Cat and the Fiddle” which was released in 1934.

Following her stand-in part, Dulce picked up a part as a nurse for Columbia Pictures in the film “Jealousy” starring Nancy Carroll in 1934, a bridesmaid in “Vagabond Lady” starring Robert Young in 1935 for Hal Roach Studios, and a customer in “Our Relations” with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in 1936. Dulce worked with another aspiring actress, Gertrude Astor who was also an uncredited customer in the film. Below, Day as part of the wedding party in “Vagabond Lady”.

After a three year hiatus, Dulce appeared in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” in 1939. About this time, Dulce and her mother moved out of 2242 Cahuenga Blvd. and purchased a house located at 1712 N. Crescent Heights Boulevard in the Hollywood Hills. This house would later be purchased by actor Dennis Hopper.

During the 1940s, Dulce appeared in 21 more films, working with George Brent, Hedy Lamar, Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Danny Kaye, Ronald Reagan, and Joan Bennett. Other 1940s films included: “One Touch of Venus” starring Robert Walker and Ava Gardner and “Adventure in Baltimore” with Robert Young and Shirley Temple. In 1950, she appeared as the nurse in “Cheaper by the Dozen” starring Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy.

Dulce continued to get steady minor roles during the 1950s until 1954 when she died at the age of 42 of an undisclosed illness; she died at the Motion Picture County Home in Woodland Hills.

The house next door-2240 Cahuenga Blvd., also housed several different tenants throughout the years. Below, the house can be seen when Cahuenga Boulevard was being widened in 1939.

20 year old Adriana Caselotti had just finished her most notable role-she was Snow White’s voice in Disney’s animated film, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” which was released in 1937 when she moved into the house with her father, mother and sister. They lived in this house from 1936 to 1938, most likely crossing paths with Dulce Day.

Caselotti was born into music and was destined for the role. Her parents were both born in Italy and immigrated to the United States, settling in Connecticut. They temporarily moved back to Italy when Adriana was seven years old. While Adriana was educated in a convent, her mother sang for the opera in Rome. They then moved to Hollywood where Adriana attended Hollywood High School where she sang in the senior class Girls’ Glee Club and had a leading role in the school’s annual musical, “The Belle of New York”. After she graduated high school in 1934, Adriana was able to pick up a small move part as a dancing doll for MGM in “Naughty Marietta” in 1935. Adriana continued to study music with her father who was a notable music teacher in Hollywood during that time.

Shortly after she turned 18, her father received a call from a Disney casting director inquiring whether he had any students to audition for the part of Snow White. Overhearing her father talk about the part, Adriana picked up another phone and introduced herself to Roy Scott. “Listen to me—wouldn’t my voice do?” Adriana asked. Before her father could cut her off, she began singing and talking to the casting director with such a sweet and innocent voice, Scott invited her to the Disney Studio for an audition. Adriana was one of 150 girls that auditioned and she got the part, beating out actress Deanna Durbin.

However, her immediate stardom with this part would also be the downfall to a bigger acting career. The film took three years to finish and Disney was broke and did not think he would ever finish the film. He also put a clause in Adriana’s contract that she was not permitted to work anywhere else. Disney wanted the voice of Snow White be exclusive so she was not even allowed to appear on radio, or on stage and be interviewed. She was paid a total of $970 for her time including appearances dressed as Snow White. After the film was released (she had not even been given a ticket to the premiere), she had trouble finding getting other acting roles.

She was hired to work on “The Wizard of Oz”, released in 1939. She was the voice of Juliet in the Tin-Man’s song, “If I Only Had a Heart”. She also got a part as an opera singer in Norma Shearer’s “We Were Dancing” in 1942. Her final role was of a singer in “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring James Steward and Donna Reed in 1946. Adriana played a singer at Martini’s.

Dulce had actually gotten married to a local theater ticket broker in 1945. The man she was really in love with, a podiatrist named Joseph Costigan, did not want to get married until he established his medical career. So she married someone else. Thus, her first marriage ended in divorce after three years. Then Adriana married his best friend, Norval Weir Mitchell, a character actor, who retired after they were married in 1952 in Florida. The two were married for twenty years until Mitchell’s death in 1972. Following his death, Adriana contacted Costigan, her real prince charming, and the two decided to have dinner. After 35 years, Adriana and Joe decided to tie the knot.

In 1976 they built a “Disney House” in Hancock Park which had a wishing well on the lawn located at 201 S Larchmont Blvd. Ironically, the original house on the lot was built in 1920 for RK “Snow”. (Last name Snow; she was Snow White). Adriana remained in this house until her death in 1997. The death certificate lists her as being “divorced” at the age of 62; her wishes were to be buried at sea.

The two homes, located 2240 and 2242 Cahuenga Boulevard, sit next to each other after being built over a century ago. There remains the memory of two aspiring actresses, whose careers may have been bigger if they had gotten one more lucky break. Both talented singers, who for some reason, were cast in limited acting roles. Perhaps the two had met one day in front of the houses discussing their careers. One was trapped in uncredited character roles; the other could not even disclose she was the voice of “Snow White”. Just imagine what a duet would have sounded like with Snow White and the Texas Nightingale.