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Mabel was working, busy with her new film, getting her health problems under control and going regularly to the theater with her friend William Desmond Taylor, the Paramount director. Bill and Mabel liked the same things and were able to talk about books and the theater. A truly horrifying thing happened February 1, 1922. Mabel went to pick up a book that Bill had gotten for her. Bill walked her to her limousine. Sometime after he walked back to his bungalow someone shot him as he worked on his income taxes. The murderer was never found. There was never any serious thought that Mabel was connected with the death of her friend. The police questioned her extensively and she had to testify at the inquest. The murder sold newspapers, but Mabel didn't kill William Desmond Taylor nor did she know who did. Sadly, a young actress at Paramount by the name of Mary Miles Minter was caught up in the press's feeding frenzy. Mary was never able to recover and left films. Production on Suzanna was stopped. When Mabel returned, she looked dreadful. |
Suzanna was finished, but the negative publicity caused by the murder of her friend Bill Taylor and the ongoing trials and tribulations of her early co-star and dear friend Roscoe Arbuckle, damaged Mabel's career. Many states banned the Arbuckle films and since Mabel was in many of them, she was banned also. Mabel needed to get away. During the summer, Mabel sailed to Europe. Mabel made her second trip on an impulse to spend Christmas of 1922 in England, and returned to the States in February 1923. |
Never had Mabel Normand looked so lovely. Her long rest and exposure to new vistas apparently had good effects. She was blooming. Sennett had tried six other stars in the role before he called Mabel back to Edendale to make The Extra Girl. This film is one of her best surviving features. Her walk through the studio with a lion on a leash as if it were a big dog is equal to anything done to that date by Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd. During the shoot, Mabel fell from a horse and broke her collarbone. While in the hospital she met another patient by the name of Norman Church. She was soon back to work on The Extra Girl. |
| Mabel had attended a New Years party where her chauffeur shot the host, Courtland Dines. He wasn't killed, but Mabel owned the gun used in the shooting. Horace Greer, the chauffeur, was found to be an escapee from a chain gang, and was living under an assumed name. Headlines and rumors multiplied daily. Mabel was in the middle of another scandal. The driver said he shot Dines defending Mabel's honor. The court found him not guilty of assault. Dines refused to testify. The public found Mabel guilty of poor judgment. Mabel's films were again banned in a number of cities. |
| The scandals of Mabel's life were taking their toll. Taylor's murder, then the Dines' incident, and even her friend Arbuckle's trials had tangentially damaged her reputation. Now she had to contend with Mrs. Norman Church. Mrs. Church claimed that while her husband and Mabel were both in the hospital, they had developed a "relationship." Mabel was incensed by the accusation, and sued Mrs. Church for libel and half a million dollars. Mabel lost her case. |
