Damned in Paradise: The Life of John Barrymore

John Kobler is probably best remembered for his biography of the notorious gangster Al Capone. It was a solid book and it still holds up rather well despite being superseded as to some details by a few subsequent historical research revelations contained in newer books about the Prohibition Era. This biography of John Barrymore, however, proved to be much more memorable in my opinion. I am somewhat surprised that it is not better known as it is an engrossing account of triumph and tragedy, idealism and dissipation. It must have been providential that Barrymore was cast as Jekyll and Hyde; few actors have lived both roles so completely as he did in his private life. Art does imitate life sometimes. John Barrymore was one of the finest actors of his generation. Regrettably, many of his best known surviving films date from the period when his career was in decline and he was reading from cue cards and appearing before the camera simply to pay his numerous creditors. While Barrymore made many sound films, he was past his prime (he was forty-eight in 1930) and had only a few occasions to demonstrate his full range during the Thirties. While he appeared in highly acclaimed roles in "Grand Hotel," "Counsellor at Law," "Dinner at Eight," and "The Twentieth Century," he frequently played supporting roles such as the recurring role of Colonel Neilson "The Bulldog Drummond" series or prestige cameos in big budget extravaganzas. In the final years of his life, Barrymore engaged in alcoholic self parodies such as "The Great Profile," "The Invisible Ghost," and "Playmates." Barrymore died in 1942 of cirrhosis and pneumonia and did not have the opportunity to act in any of the better and more realistic film dramas that were made as the Hollywood film industry matured in the Forties. Unfortunately, most of Barrymore's best film performances date from the silent era. He was active in the industry almost from its inception, but many of his early films have been lost. Likewise, there is very little that remains of his Shakespearean roles on celluloid. For example, there is only one filmed monologue of Barrymore as Richard III from an omnibus picture made during the pioneering period of the talkies. Similarly, he filmed a screen test of "Hamlet," but the production was abandoned. Laurence Olivier was honest enough to admit that his own interpretation of the Prince of Denmark incorporated much of what he had learned from watching the athletic Barrymore play the part on the London stage years earlier. Barrymore did appear in the lavish MGM production of "Romeo and Juliet," but in the supporting role of Mercutio. Kobler described how good a performer Barrymore was when he was the toast of Broadway and London. For a time, Barrymore was earned salaries as high as $75,000.00 to $150,000.00 per week in the movies. The Barrymore and Drew families had been theatrical performers for generations and John and his two siblings became accomplished actors as well. The

John Barrymore, "The Great Profile," was one of the Twentieth Century's more beautiful, and notorious actors. Gene Fowler's "Good Night, Sweet Prince," published shortly after Barrymore's death, did a pretty good job of chronicling his doings. But Fowler, who was close to Barrymore in life, published less than everything he knew. So along came John Kobler, a sturdy freelance and former star crime reporter for "PM", newspaper that pioneered the "you are there" style, to rectify the situation. For "Damned in Paradise," Kobler drew upon Fowler's unpublished material, previously unpublished letters and diaries,and interviewed about 50 people, some of whom only then felt free to tell it like it was. He produced 374 indexed, illustrated pages of fully-buttressed, horrifying detail about Barrymore's hellish life in Hollywood, London and New York. Barrymore sprang from two of our more legendary theatrical dynasties: the Drews and Barrymores. His brother Lionel and sister Ethel were almost as honored and famous as he was, and little Drew Barrymore is enjoying a successful career herself. John achieved great stage success on both sides of the Atlantic, notably as "Hamlet," and left us a gallery of cinematic portraits of some stature: "Beau Brummel," "Don Juan," "Captain Ahab," "Dr. Jekyll-and Mr. Hyde," "Svengali." He played opposite Greta Garbo in "Grand Hotel,"opposite Carole Lombard in "Twentieth Century," and how many actors have ever been able to play first-rate tragedy and comedy? He was an intelligent, hard-working, hard-drinking, man; who, by preference, spent his time with intelligent, hard-drinking, hard-working people. By Barrymore's own testimony, during his 14th year he was seduced both by his father's second wife, and by the fruit of the grape. (Doctors agreed that he had been an alcoholic since his early teens.) He married four times, pursued any number of additional women, amassed and spent several fortunes, collected rare books and animals. Presumably he occasionally enjoyed himself, though there's not much of that in this all fornication-no fun book. There's much more on the dark side of this film and matinee idol's life, in fact, than many people may care to know. As when we find him near death, sick in bed with damaged liver and kidneys, legs grotesquely swollen with fluid he was unable to pass, insisting that his daughter Diana, then 21, call a prostitute for him. We are able to judge just how damaging Barrymore's home was, and how the sins of the father can be visited on the sons, as Diana later became an alcoholic herself,committing suicide at age 38; while her brother, John Jr.,also became an alcoholic. John Jr. fathered Drew Barrymore, beat her severely when she was a child. Drew herself was a preteen drug addict who appears to have miraculously gotten herself straightened out. It may not have been Kobler's intention, but the author surely illuminates the heavy costs of living trapped by the machismo ideal. Bar