Lost in the Hollywood Hills!
On January 12th, 1921, Ola Cronk from Kansas, signed a year contract with Lois Weber Productions for $150.00 a week. A month later "To Please One Woman," her first staring roll under her new name of Claire Windsor, was playing at the Isis Theater in Topeka. "What's Worth While" and "Too Wise Wives" were soon to follow.
Now that Claire was under contract, Weber set about to craft a very public image of her new "find." At the time, Charlie Chaplin was the biggest name in Hollywood and was also the most eligible bachelor since his recent divorce. The newspapers and movie magazines were full of speculation about Charlie's latest romantic interests and May Collins was the current focus of the media's attention. What better way to introduce Claire Windsor to the world than to give May Collins a little competition for the affections of Chaplin.
Because the film community was a relatively small and tight group of disparate people, Weber had no difficulty in finding the perfect occasion to casually introduce Claire to Chaplin. Charlie was immediately smitten by Claire's poise and beauty and arranged to meet with her again. It did not take long before a small romance began to bud. To help matters along, Weber invited Charlie over to her house for a discrete dinner party with friends which included Claire. The rendezvous was set for the evening of July 12, 1921.
About 9 a.m. on that crystal clear Tuesday morning, Claire left her home and was later observed with Charlie riding in his limousine along Santa Monica Boulevard in the direction of the Chaplin Studio. At about 9:45 a.m., dressed in riding attire, Claire was chauffeured to the Hollywood Riding Academy at Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevards. She checked her hat and purse and was brought a horse. Being somewhat familiar with the area, she confidently started down the trail toward Griffith Park. However, about an hour later, Claire had somehow managed to get off the main trail and had to stop and ask for directions from the first person she saw, a gardener named George Albert. After a short conversation, Claire turned around and headed up the hillside on the pathway as described by the gardener.
About noon, some boys were wandering down the bridle path near Cahuenga Pass when they discovered a woman's saddle horse with the bridle dragging. The boys made a search of the immediate area before deciding it best to return the horse to the Riding Academy. When Claire failed to return to the Academy, they called her home to inform her mother of the situation. By 3 p.m. Rosella, Claire's mother, was really beginning to worry and decided it was time to call the police.
Because of the waning daylight, the police took immediate action. Sergeant Steven and Patrolmen Aulbert and Carmen led a search party that encompassed 150 policemen. Within an hour, the police had followed Claire's trail to where she had spoken to the gardener. But then bloodhounds had to be brought in to pick up the cold trail. A second squad of Indian Trackers were brought in to use their skills. As the last ray of sunlight disappeared over the horizon, there was still no sign of the Hollywood starlet. A select group of the police headed by Sergeant F. F. Stevens, decided to continue searching and were prepared to search through the night if they had to.
Meanwhile, guests were beginning to arrive at the Lois Weber home. Charlie arrived like clockwork at the appointed time, but when Claire failed to make her appearance within a fashionable length of time, Lois called the Cronk home to inquire of her whereabouts. Shocked by the news of Claire's disappearance, Weber had the task of informing her guests. Gripped by helplessness and worry, the conversation around the dinner table turned exclusively to speculation about what may have happened. Had Claire been hurt in an accident, attacked by an animal, robbed, kidnapped, or even, God forbid, killed?
As daylight broke, there was still no good news to report. With renewed vigor, the search was intensified. About 100 Boy Scouts who had been camping in the woods joined the search. News reached the film community and many came to help including the actor Byron Munson whose participation was highlighted in the Chicago newspapers. Jacque Jaccard, the director for Harry Carey at Universal Studio, used his skills to track the trail to the home of Clarence Badger, the director of Will Rogers, where Claire had spoken to their gardener. He was able to continue the trail to the green house know to Hollywood as "the haunted house." There the trail went cold. But Jaccard went into the canyon by foot and discovered a hillside where there were clearly marks made by a woman's riding boot. But alas, the trail went cold. again A. C. Mann, a pilot who was in town to compete in the international air tournament at the Beverly Hills Speedway, stepped forward and offered to used his biplane in the search. Feature writers Don Ryan and Linton Wells were able to hitch a ride in the plane just before it left Mercury Aviation Field.
The mysterious disappearance of a Hollywood starlet was headline news from coast to coast. Beside the beautiful press release photo, every detail about Claire was given to satisfy the curious: age 26 (although she was in fact 29), 5' 6", 132 lbs. blue eyes, light brown hair and was wearing a tan colored silk riding habit with a skirt that reached half way to her knees. Soon everyone was questioning how such a dreadful thing could happen to such a beautiful person.
At 10:30 a.m. Carlyle Robinson, the publicity director for Chaplin, announced to the public that Chaplin would personally take part in the search. There were already about 400 people scouring the countryside when Charlie appeared with his riding horse. He was truly worried about Claire and spent several exhausting hours searching. When the posses regrouped at noon, there was still no trace of Claire. In a fit of desperation, Charlie announced that he was offering a reward of $1,000.00 to anyone who could find Miss Windsor.
The hours ticked by as the afternoon turned to evening. It was about 8 p.m. when Mrs. Stella L. Dodge thought she heard a faint cry outside her window and went to investigate. The San Francisco Examiner gave the following dramatic account of the discovery:
"Summoning her last ounce of strength in a final outcry for help, Claire Windsor, motion picture actress, who has
been missing since Tuesday, dropped unconscious beneath the window of Mrs. Stella L. Dodge's home in
Hollywood Park late tonight. Her face was cut in several places by blows either inflicted by an assailant or sustained
in a fall in the canyon of the Hollywood Hills. Miss Windsor had fallen face downward within a few feet of the Dodge
home, Her face was grey with a deathlike pallor."
Another newspaper gave an even more grim description of Claire:
"Her features were black and blue and swollen almost beyond the point of recognition by blows and exhaustion.
Blood from her injuries gave her face a ghastly hue."
"Summoning her last ounce of strength in a final outcry for help, Claire Windsor, motion picture actress, who has
been missing since Tuesday, dropped unconscious beneath the window of Mrs. Stella L. Dodge's home in
Hollywood Park late tonight. Her face was cut in several places by blows either inflicted by an assailant or sustained
in a fall in the canyon of the Hollywood Hills. Miss Windsor had fallen face downward within a few feet of the Dodge
home, Her face was grey with a deathlike pallor."
Another newspaper gave an even more grim description of Claire:
"Her features were black and blue and swollen almost beyond the point of recognition by blows and exhaustion.
Blood from her injuries gave her face a ghastly hue."
Mrs. Dodge immediately called Dr. C. W. Cook, who was a family physician and a police surgeon. Upon arrival at the Dodge house, Dr. Cook "made hasty attempts to resuscitate the unconscious form" by administering a hypodermic and first called for a police ambulance and then to the Angelus Hospital to reserve a room. Rosella Cronk, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown from the suspense over her daughter's disappearance, was informed that Claire had been found safe and that the 33 hour ordeal was over. She and Chaplin raced to the hospital upon the news. At the hospital, Dr. Cook immediately barred the press from seeing Claire, explaining that she "was in a critical condition from exhaustion, exposure and lack of food, and that any strain might cause a serious relapse."
The following day, the Hollywood police began their investigation by interviewing Claire and making their report. From this report, the press dutifully recounted that when Claire was found "her nose was bleeding and her head bore a sever stone bruise, caused apparently by her fall from the horse she was riding through the steep trail. An examination by Dr. Cook showed no fractures. Her clothes were not torn and her hair, strangely enough, not disordered." Claire's explanation was "I remember that my horse reared after becoming scared--then I fell. I know nothing of what happened after that." The press did not question nor show any interest in discovering how she could have eluded the police and bloodhounds for 33 hours in a simi-comatose condition.
The next day, Stella Lillian Dodge and her husband Howard Isaiah Morris appeared at the Chaplin studio to claim the reward. Charlie was ready to pay the $1,000 to the couple but was stopped by his publicity agent who suggest that he first confirm the couple's claim with Claire. At the hospital, Carl Robinson was one of the few to gain access to Claire. Upon entry into her room, Claire was lying restfully, her face still quite pale. Carl began the conversation. Claire hesitated and seemed to have difficulty speaking. The skeptical Robinson happened to glance over to her riding boots which were still as immaculate as the last time they were polished. He leaned forward and noticed that the dark circles under the eyes and pale appearance of her face was in fact artfully applied makeup. When confronted with the truth, Claire came clean. Carl informed Charlie who was not let in on the publicity stunt. Luckily, the young couple who found Claire were talked out of the reward and Charlie was spared his $1,000. But the damage was done and his affections for the fair Claire evaporated.
It may have been a mean trick to play on poor Charlie, but the stunt was a complete success in kick starting Claire's film career. It was so successful that Hollywood Gossip columnist Gee Gee observed how "Many girls out in California are seriously considering getting kicked off a horse to find out how much they are worth in the way of a reward to their lovers." Little Billy Windsor learned from the experience too, and later created his own headlines by faking his own kidnap story to gain the attention of his hard working mother.
54 years passed before Claire made a public confession of the publicity stunt to Walter Wagner in his book "You Must Remember This." In the interview, Claire admitted for the first time that Lois Weber was the mastermind behind the scheme: Lois had found the cabin in the mountains where Claire hid, called the newspaper to inform them that Claire was missing, and also convinced Chaplin to offer the reward. And to top it off, she had thought things out to a logical conclusion and came up with the temporary amnesia explanation of events.
If this planned publicity stunt was the beginning of Claire Windsor's career, a stoke of fate half a year later could have ended it just as quickly. Claire's name made headlines again as the last dinner guest of director William Desmond Taylor the night of his now infamous murder.
BELOW: Claire Windsor is on the right, resting on the arm of the bench.