USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Los Angeles from the mountains to the sea : with selected biography of actors and witnesses to the period of growth and achievement, Volume III > Part 63
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Mrs. Robertson was educated in a convent at Atlanta. She mar- ried in Georgia in 1886 Matthew S. Robertson, a Georgia gentleman. They have one son, Ardis Robertson, who was a captain in the United States Army. He was one of the first to enlist at the Presideo in San Francisco, went from there to Camp Donavan at Fort Sill, and after being sent to France was the chief billeting officer for the division from Fort Sill. He contracted pneumonia, was sent home on furlough, later was to be returned to the front in France, but the armistice was signed.
MRS. MARY GISH, who resides at 616 South Serrano Street in Los Angeles, is the mother of two very famous daughters who reside with her, Lillian and Dorothy Gish. It is perhaps needless to say that these two girls are among the bright and particular stars in the world of art today as pictured on the movie stage.
Lillian Gish was born at Springfield, Ohio, and Dorothy at Dayton in that state.
Mrs. Gish and Mrs. Pickford have for many years been friends and neighbors and their children grew up together. Later they went their separate ways. After the girls had been away at school a year, Dorothy in Virginia, the mother promised them a visit to New York. While there they attended a picture show and then for the first time they had a view of their early friend, Mary Pickford. The following day they called at the Pickford's studio, and though she was out Mr. Griffith received them cordially and requested the privilege of taking their pictures. The fol- lowing morning he telephoned them to come to the studio and invited them to work in the moving pictures. Both girls were, of course, de- lighted, and not long afterward they found Mary Pickford and family, who were delighted that the Gish girls had decided to join them.
The Gish sisters entered the moving picture world in 1913 under Mr. D. W. Griffith, then director of the Biograph. The Biograph at that time had such stars as Mary Pickford, Blanche Sweet, Mae Marsh, Lil- lian Gish remained with the Biograph two years, and then went with
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Mr. Griffith in the Majestic, also the Fine Arts until he launched into business for himself. The greatest pictures in which Lillian starred were "Hearts of the World" and the "Birth of a Nation."
Dorothy Gish made her first appearance with the old Biograph Com- pany in "The Mountain Rat." She also appeared in "Old Heidelberg" and became one of the popular stars of the Fine Arts organization, ap- pearing in "Atta Boy's Last Race," "Stage Struck," "The Little Yank," "Children of the Feud," "The Failure" and "That Colby Girl."
Dorothy Gish was chosen for an important role when Mr. Griffith projected "The Birth of a Nation." Later she achieved equal success in "Intolerance," but came into her richly deserved fame as the little French girl, Grizette in "Heart of the World." Her participation in this last film necessitated a visit to Europe. Mrs. Gish accompanied the girls and they were there eight months. On the voyage over they passed through the submarine zone, and during five days spent in London were witnesses of an aeroplane raid in which many places were destroyed, including a schoolhouse where ninety-three children were killed. "Hearts of the World" was taken in a village ten miles behind the firing line where they could hear the shells explode all the day. The parts of the film used in the picture showing the activities of the German armies were German made films captured by the Allies. The scene of the dugout is an exact reproduction of the Crown Prince's dugout, which was captured by the Allies.
Dorothy Gish is now a star with the Paramount organization, has a company of her own, and has made two films, entitled "The Hope Chest," and "Battling Jane." Plans are being made for other films, the scenes of which are laid in France and Italy. Lillian Gish is at this writing finishing a new pictures, which has not yet received its title.
JOSEPH TOPLITZKY, though prominently connected as a Los Angeles real estate man, was in early life a promising actor on the stage and his introduction to Southern California was in theatrical circles.
He was born at New Haven, Connecticut, December 25, 1884, a son of Meyer and Ida Toplitzky. He attended public schools to the age of fourteen, but beginning at ten was playing child parts with stock and other companies, and continued his work with the theatre until 1900. He performed in companies of such celebreties as Andrew Mack, Chaun- cey Olcott, Otis Skinner, Sir Henry Irving and the late James Neill.
Mr. Toplitzky came to Los Angeles with his parents in 1900, being then sixteen years of age, and was soon employed as an usher at the Los Angeles Theatre with H. C. Wyatt. Later he was with the Mason Theatre and in time had achieved the responsibilities of assistant to Mr. Wyatt. He left the theatre in 1911 to engage in the general real estate business, and since then has handled downtown and acreage property and has been markedly successful in this field. He is president of the Cross Land Company, is interested in several oil properties and has offices in the H. W. Hellman Building.
Mr. Toplitzky is a republican in politics. July 10, 1912, he married Elsie B. Crossley and they have one daughter, Beth, born in 1918.
1
JOHN P. JONES. California forty-niner, former United States Sena- tor from Nevada, justly called "the father of western development." John P. Jones of Santa Monica has a great and impressive dignity as a figure in western history.
SHOTofHighly
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Of Welsh stock, he was born in Herefordshire, England, near the Welsh border, January 27, 1829, son of Thomas and Mary (Pugh) Jones, who came to America in his infancy. He was reared at Cleveland, had a common school education, but life itself gave to him an education such as no university in the world could bestow. The circumstances that led him to come to California are best recounted in his own words: "Times were bad just before the discovery of gold in California. It was the era following the Mexican war, prices were down to the lowest ebb, and there was little available money in the country. The bottom almost dropped out of everything, and many of the young men decided to seek new field's of endeavor in some other part of our country. I was twenty years of age at the time, living with my family in Cleveland, which at that time was a village of only one thousand people. I contracted the 'California fever,' as it was called, and a party of us banded together and sailed in the one hundred sixty ton lake schooner Eureka for the coast of California. We sailed from Cleveland, going through the Welland Canal and down the St. Lawrence. The voyage was made around Cape Horn, and though it was a long, hard trip it was filled with interest for us all, and we reached California in September, 1849, in the same little bark in which we had left Cleveland. I immediately scampered for the gold fields."
He enjoyed the rough life of the mining districts and for a number of years, until 1867, lived in Trinity county, and was elected by his fel- low miners as sheriff. That was his first important office, and for more than forty years he was almost constantly in some office of public trust. He served as a member of the State Senate of California from 1863 to 1867, and in the latter year moved to Nevada, where he engaged in the development of mines, though in later years his mining interests ex- tended to Alaska, Mexico and Central America.
In 1872 Mr. Jones was elected United States Senator from Nevada, and was in the Senate consecutively for thirty years, a service seldom exceeded by length in the history of that body. More than that he was one of the most forceful figures of this august organization. He went to Washington when many of the issues of the Civil War were still problems of national discussion, and gave a vigorous dissent to other members of the republican party on the subject of the "Force Bill." But the chief influence he exercised in that body was his authoritative knowledge of finance and economic questions. Many of the ideas which he skillfully advocated years ago have developed as permanent policies of the nation. including the Federal Reserve Bank, elastic currency. He was an ardent bimetallist, and it was his views on that subject that caused him to sep- arate himself from the republican party, though he reaffiliated with the republicans when the money question ceased to be an issue. As a member of the International Monetary Commission which met in the city of Brussels, Belgium, he was author of the gold-silver report said to be the most conclusive documentary presentation of the facts on record.
Senator Jones proved to be one of the stanchest friends of the old soldiers of the Civil War, and the Soldiers' Home near Los Angeles owes its existence largely to his well directed efforts and plans beginning in 1887. He donated four hundred fifty acres of ground as a site for the institution.
Only rarely does a single life involve so much history as that of Senator Jones. As a concise review of the high points in his career per-
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haps the best account is that which appeared in the Los Angeles Examiner December 25, 1910.
"Senator Jones is the oldest young man in America today-that is to say, he is eighty-one years young, and 'everybody who is anybody' also knows that the Nevada Commoner, as he is affectionately called by his intimates, is living his well earned ease in his magnificent villa at Santa Monica, enjoying peaceful and happy years after his long service in the United States Senate. Thirty years in the Senate brought Senator Jones a reputation for statesmanship of the practical, constructive kind capable of grasping large problems of state during the period of far western formation ; and now in his advanced years the wisdom that he gained throughout his long, varied and honorable life makes him one of the nation's sages in retirement. A visit to Senator Jones is consequently something to be looked to with pleasurable anticipation, nor is the visitor disappointed ; for in spite of his large wealth and many honors Senator Jones retains always his spirit of democracy, being still one of the plain people-a hale, hearty American. It is to be regretted by all lovers of American history that Senator Jones will not write his memoirs. He has been many times asked to do so but has persisted in his refusal. Briefly, his objection is that writing is a serious business that should be left in the hands of a few persons who are filled with the high resolve to write history in exact terms. The senator is by nature so thorough that he would not attempt to tell the story of the past unless he refreshed him- self with the exact details in each instance, and this, of course, would necessitate an examination of hundreds of records ; and at his time of life he has no inclination for such serious study. He owes himself leisure.
"Senator Jones enjoys life in his magnificent mansion overlooking the ocean at Santa Monica, and from the broad veranda the scene is in- spiring, with its sweep of sea and shore for many miles. It is such a home as a modern philosopher might well choose as a safe retreat from the world, within easy access of a great city, yet far enough away to insure peace and quietude. Here, with his beautiful home and his ex- tensive garden of palms and other semi-tropical trees, fruits and flowers, Senator Jones may well recall at times the historic past, through an epoch-making period bristling with momentous issues in which he played a personal part of national importance. Senator Jones still has the quick penetrating gaze that was characteristic of the stirring mine superinten- dent at the great Crown Point mines in the days when the ‘bonanza kings' had yet their everlasting fortunes to dig from the silver lodes in the bowels of the earth. And the figure of the old Comstock days, run- ning into the hundreds of millions, fabulous as they seem, are verified by his personal experience. 'It was not that the ore was so extraordinarily rich, as some writers say, but because of its tremendous quantity,' said Senator Jones, many years after, in reply to questions on this phase of his many-sided life. He passed quickly, however, to other topics, for it is characteristic-and in this he differs sharply from all other American sages-that Senator Jones will not indulge in what are commonly termed reminiscences. He is more likely to ask his visitor the latest news than to go back into the distant past in his own well stocked memories. As a result there is a 'down-to-the-minute' aspect about his talk that is as surprising as it is unexpected.
"Pioneer, gold-seeker, sheriff of Trinity County in the early days. politician in state and nation, friend of great characters such as Grant,
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Conkling, Blaine, Harrison, Zach Chandler, Sumner, Thurman, Allison, Hale and many others of the Old Guard; familiar with the inner sig- nificance of that inner and astute accomplishment known by the softer name of diplomacy; and informed in the secrets of the department of state in regard to many matters of American history-such for example, as those involved when President Harrison appointed Senator Jones as a delegate to the international monetary commission at Brussels-in spite of all this prodigious, many sided background of history, as well as of social anecdote, Senator Jones remains true to his determination not to put pen to paper with his observations and revelations of men and mem- ories of the past.
"From early days Senator Jones had to struggle for his success. No man ever gave him opportunities that did not have to be worked out by unceasing diligence in order to win, and in the many conflicting and difficult scenes and situations through which he has passed he has shown his strength as a man of sagacity and resourcefulness. His are the hearty, straightforward ways of the 'forty-niner,' and he knew all the famous old characters in San Francisco and in the mining camps through- out the vast district that in later years was to be carved into the states of Nevadah, Utah and Oregon, as well as California. As he sits by his fireside and smokes his cigar, in mental review passes a long procession of strange characters-rough mining men, now and then interspersed with some figure that was destined to become historic in the marts of trade or finance, such as the Crockers, Huntingtons, Floods, Fields, Mack- ays and the other gold or silver kings half a century ago; and then the scene changes and under the shadow of the dome of the capitol the Senator beholds before the eye of imagination other great figures on the national stage, in the stirring days of reconstruction-names that the lover of his country will not willingly let die. And among the names that will ever be marked on the roll of national honors and national services of an enduring kind, the foundation stone in the upbuilding of more than one far western commonwealth, is that of Senator John P. Jones, the sage of Califoria, pioneer of 'the days of old, the days of gold, the days of '49,' who in spite of the honorable weight of eighty years is still a man of the passing moment, in touch with the deep-moving currents of the hour.
"A veritable sage under his own vine and fig tree, surrounded by his many admiring friends and enjoying the esteem of thousands of Americans, from ocean to ocean, Senator Jones is rounding out of life of singular heights, lights and shadows of fortune; past misfortunes are now long swept away, and he may enjoy his well earned leisure as guide, philosopher and friend. What memories of our nation's great men, what spirited incidents, what history-making epochs now pass in reminis- cent view before his mind, linking him with the forces that built up the far west-while in the usefulness of his life rather than in any personal reward Senator Jones find's his real and enduring satisfaction. Long after he has passed from the scene his work will live after him, for it has been of the sort that endures, laying, as he did, some of the great foundation stones of our far eastern commonwealths-stones which, though invisible, are necessary to the support of the broad structures that have come afterward and on which men are still building higher, till the ultimate, perfect plan comes within the ken of a happy and contented people who will one day enjoy all the blessings foreseen as in a vision by such fathers of the republic as John Percival Jones."
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D. M. LINNARD. It is only obvious logic to assert that Southern California would represent only a small part of its present significance to the world at large if its hotel facilities and comforts had lingered behind other phases of development. Hundreds of the men who have become permanent residents and have given their business ability and re- sources to the improvement of Los Angeles and the state gained their first liking for this country on account of the comforts they enjoyed in its hotels.
No one man has done more to convert the hotels into a great and vital asset, particularly at Pasadena, which for years has been one of the world's most noted winter resorts, than D. M. Linnard, who is now man- aging director and executive head of corporations capitalized at twenty- five million dollars, with half a dozen splendid hotels in California and in the East.
Mr. Linnard began his career as a landlord in Pasadena. It is appropriate to review briefly the hotel history of Pasadena. The first hotel, a small one known as the Lake Vineyard House, was erected in 1880. Four years later T. E. Martin of San Jose built the Webster Hotel at the corner of Colorado Street and Fair Oaks Avenue, and subsequently this became the Grand. During the early eighties Mrs. Emma C. Bangs bought several acres between Orange Grove Avenue and Arroyo Seco, below what is now Colorado Street, and conducted a boarding and room- ing house there. After her death in 1903 the Crown City Investment Company bought the property and subsequently built what is now the Vista Del Arroyo Hotel. Walter Raymond opened the Raymond Hotel in 1886 at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars. This was really Pasadena's first tourist hotel. It was burned in 1895 but subsequently re- built on a larger scale. In 1886 was also opened the Carlton, built by a syndicate. The Painter was put up near the foothills in 1887, the name being changed later to La Pintoresca. It was burned December 31, 1912, and was never rebuilt.
What later became the Green Hotel was started in 1887 by E. C. Webster. Colonel Green took over the property in 1891, and the present Green contains five hundred rooms and is famed the world over.
In 1900 D. M. Linnard in order to learn the hotel business managed a Pasadena boarding house, a large one, but far from being a hotel. In less than twenty years he has become one of the greatest hotel men in the West and in fact in the entire country. He has had a genius for consolidation of hotels and systematic management of enormous prop- erties. For a time he had the management of the old La Case Grande Hotel, and in 1903 bought the first unit of what is now the Maryland, which had been built a year or two before by Colin Stewart. He at once started on ·a general plan of enlargement, vastly increasing the size and facilities of the Maryland. He also conceived the idea of an auxiliary bungalow system to supplement and improve the service of the main hotel. At the present there are thirty-four bungalows on an eight-acre tract, all operated in connection with the Maryland. The original Mary- land was burned April 18, 1914, but was at once rebuilt, with the splendid structure which thousands know and have patronized as their home in California. Myron Hunt was the architect of the present Maryland.
Henry E. Huntington in 1914 bought what was known as the Went- worth Hotel, then incompleted because of financial difficulties encoun- tered by the firm of promoters. Mr. Huntington took it over after a
Francia theselfmes
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million dollars had been expended, engaged the service of Architect Myron Hunt, and in 1914 the present Huntington was opened with D. M. Linnard as manager.
In 1917 Mr. Linnard organized the California Hotel Company with a capitalization of four million dollars. He and members of his family held most of the stock. The company bought the Huntington with its. four hundred and fifty rooms, and the Green with its five hundred rooms, and since then he has operated them as well as the Maryland, which contains four hundred rooms. In the same year he took the management of the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, subsequently acquiring the lease, furnishings and equipment. In the winter of 1918-19 he assumed the management of the Palace Hotel at San Francisco, and then bought the Potter at Santa Barbara and renamed it the Belvedere. In June, 1919, the Ambassador at Atlantic City was opened under Mr. Linnard's man- agement, and the same month he completed negotiations for the erection of a six hundred room hotel in New York to cost ten million dollars, to be called the Linnard. He also let the contract for a five million dollar hotel in Los Angeles to be known as the California.
In less than twenty years the Linnard name and the service it represents have become an institution on the Pacific Coast and also at two of the most congested travel centers of the Atlantic seaboard.
FRANCIS S. MONTGOMERY engaged in the practice of law in the City of Los Angeles shortly after his graduation in Georgetown University, District of Columbia, and while he made an admirable and successful record in the work of his profession, the impaired health of his father- in-law, Victor Ponet, led him to assume active supervision of the latter's large and varied capitalistic and business interests in the year 1912, and since that time this service has demanded the major part of his time and attention. He maintains his residence at Hollywood. He is now the president of the Ponet Company, with headquarters in Los Angeles.
Mr. Montgomery was born at Concordia, Kansas, June 23, 1878, and is a son of Pius L. and Sarah (Stanton) Montgomery. The late Archbishop George Montgomery, who served as bishop of the Catholic diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles, California, from 1894 to 1903, was the eldest brother of him whose name initiates this sketch.
Francis S. Montgomery acquired his preliminary education in the parochial and public schools of his native place, and in the furtherance of his higher academic education he completed a course in the college of arts of Creighton University, in the City of Omaha, Nebraska, from which institution he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then entered Georgetown University, District of Columbia, in which great institution he pursued courses both in philosophy and law and from which he was graduated in 1907, with the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Laws. Shortly after his graduation he came to California and was admitted to the bar in this state. Thereafter he was engaged in practice at Los Angeles until, as already noted, he assumed executive duties in connection with the business affairs of his father-in-law.
Mr. Montgomery gives his political allegiance to the republican party. He and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, besides being a member of the Newman Club in Los Angeles.
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On the 3d of July, 1907, at St. Victor's Church, Hollywood, Cali- fornia, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Montgomery to Miss Gertrude Ponet. Mrs. Montgomery received the best of educational advantages in her youth. She attended one of the leading convent schools in the City of Los Angeles, and later was a student in a representative Catholic educational institution in the City of San Francisco, besides which she attended Notre Dame Convent in the City of Brussels, Belgium. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery have traveled somewhat extensively since their marriage, but they never fail in appreciation of and loyalty to their home state. They have four children, Victor Ponet, George Francis, Francis Joseph and William John. The year 1920 finds the eldest son a student in the Academy of the Holy Name at Santa Monica, he being eleven years of age, and George Francis, aged ten, and Francis Joseph, aged seven, are likewise attending this institution, the youngest son being four years of age at the time of the preparation of this article. On other pages will be found a memoir to the late Victor Ponet, father of Mrs. Montgomery.
VICTOR PONET. It was well within the powers and ambition of the late Victor Ponet to have marked the passing years with large and worthy achievement, and he was one of the honored and influential pioneer citizens of California at the time of his death, which occurred on the 7th of February, 1914. He was in the most significant degree the archi- tect of his own fortunes, and in his progressive career in California his activities conserved not only his individual success but also the well being of the communty at large.
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