Paige Young in Los Angeles.1971-1973 #1. John Huston & Wife Celeste Shane. St. Clerans. Bill Gardner. Writer Jack Smith Sees Huston and Hefner at Trendy Backgammon Club. Move To Westwood. Modeling. NSFW. Update 3/18/2023
Posted on July 30, 2020
1972 Paige appears in the ’72 edition of “Gowland’s Guide to Glamour Photography.” Left.
The photo appears to be taken from the same photo session as the one used in the 69/70 Ridgid Tool Co. calendar.
It’s her only appearance in any of the Gowland instructional books that I have viewed, which is most of them.
1971
It was around this time that Paige moved into a carriage house in Westwood, near UCLA, after feeling “antsy,” while living in a large house in the Trancas Beach area of Malibu. This was told to me by Paige’s friend Henry, who offered Paige a rent free room in his large house, along with other renters.
The house was off Broad Beach Road and across from the Trancas Market.
Paige told Henry that the “isolation” of the location was interfering with her ability to paint.
1972/73 cont…
According to the Daily Mail report, Paige complains to (neighbor who lived in a duplex in front of the carriage house) Melanie about her relationship with famed film director John Huston:
“She (Paige) said she had an affair with John Huston, and that he had done things to her, abused her. I remember one incident in which John hid her shoes to make her think she had gone crazy. It was a small thing, but she was really bothered by it.”
“I know she dated Huston for a while and had just gotten back from a trip to Ireland with him.”
Daily Mail 2014
Background:
John Huston owned and lived part of the year in an Irish estate named St. Clerans. The location is in Galway, Ireland and his ownership went from from 1953 to 1975.
Huston’s daughter, Oscar winner and director Anjelica, spent many years there as a child. She discusses this in detail in her memoirs.
Melanie is quoted in Daily Mail that Paige had “just returned from Ireland,” after a visit to Huston.
The St. Clerans estate was sold sometime in 1973/4 but wasn’t completely vacated by John Huston until 1976, according to Celeste Shane Huston in an online comment.
Paige Young’s visit is in the same time frame of John Huston’s marriage to Celeste Shane Huston, Huston’s 5th marriage and “CiCi’s” 2nd.
Background:
Celeste Shane Huston’s first husband is screenwriter Wally Green. They have a son named Collin.
Known as Cici, she spent time living (visiting really) St. Clerans during her marriage to Huston.
Celeste was (and is) involved with horses and boarded at least one at Sepulveda Stables in the early 1960s. I talked with a woman who was 12 years old during these years and knew both Paige and Celeste at Sepulveda Stables.
It’s another factor which places Celeste and Paige in the same world.
Cici visited Huston’s St. Clerans, Ireland estate as a newlywed, it was August/September of 1972. She brought along her son Collin and his caregiver Maricella, who also acted as Cici’s “maid.” His dad Wally Green also visited his son at the estate.
Cici grew up in a wealthy Beverly Hills family with three brothers. Her father owned a successful car leasing company and rented out his yacht to celebrities like Frank Sinatra. (See chapter: The Shanes of Beverly Hills)
Another love of CiCi’s in the late 1950s and early 1960s was famed Hollywood hairdresser Gene Shacove. Los Angeles Times June 22, 1958
(One of her best friends during that time and for many decades was actress Jill St John.)
After a whirlwind and Sexully charged courtship And honeymoon phase for John and CiCi, the marriage turned sour in Ireland.
Huston later said “Cici was as out of place at St. Clerans as anyone could possibly be.”
Cici said “I wasn’t prepared for the eleven servants, the mistresses, Betty O’Kelly, Gladys.”
Betty O’Kelly and Gladys Hill were assistants with a fawning devotion to Huston. Hill co-wrote scripts with him.
Cici observed the women and several employees of the large staff and felt they were taking advantage of Huston by overcharging him. Huston was frequently absent due to directing films all over the globe, plus he was not that interested in managing money. Huston had a lackadaisical attitude about what the employees and assistants were doing, and that drove Cici crazy.
Cici wanted most of the staff fired and Huston refused.
This created a lot of tension at St. Clerans.
Of the treasured horse’s caretaker Cici said, “I caught him with quadruple charges for horseshoeing. I know about horses. He couldn’t screw me around.”
Cici was especially outraged by the visit of her husband’s young mistress, Zoe Sallis, who of course brought along her out-of-wedlock son by John Huston: Danny Huston. Cici resented the monthly allowance (and breakfast in bed) afforded to Zoe.
Zoe claims that Cici “forbade” Huston to cast her in the movie “The Man Who Would Be King.” A part that went to Shakira Caine. Zoe felt and still does, that this was a missed opportunity for her.
John and Cici left Ireland and returned to Cici’s place in the Palisades at some point.
Theie divorce was finalized in 1977.
John Huston and Paige were both painters in addition to being horse lovers; these factors may have played a role in their “connection”.
He wasn’t one to indulge in “one-night-stands.”
Huston was a womanizer and had several marriages, flings, short and long-term affairs with numerous women over the decades and apparently of all ages. This was apparent after reading two biographies of John Huston:
“The Hustons” by Lawrence Groberl. published by Scribner’s.
“Courage and Art” by Jeffrey Meyers.
Also, from what I’ve read, Huston had a meanstreak in his personality that he would sometimes unleash on the ones most likely to be hurt by it.
Example: The Daily Mail story Melanie tells of Huston hiding Paige’s shoes, “It really bothered her,” even though “it was a little thing.”
As I have previously written , Celeste and Paige both boarded horses at Sepulveda Stables.
Celeste messaged me that she is the one who introduced Paige to Sepulveda Stables.
When I read her message, I already knew that Paige boarded her horses at the stables located at Sepulveda Blvd.& Hatteras since grade school when she was known as Diana Cotterell. (See related chapter)
“Diana Cotterell,” gave 2 school photos to the owners of the Stables which were published on a website about Sepulveda Stables. Diana definitely looked grade school in these.
That would mean Cici knew Paige as Diana in grade school and I don’t buy it. She gave no indication she knew her as Diana. Paige was tight lipped about her past.
Diana lived nearby Sepulveda Stables as did several of her classmates, like Joan Edwards, who boarded a horse there in the mid and late 1950s.
As did Celeste in the early 1960s along with actresses Donna Reed and Jill St. John. I can believe they met at that time.
Given what Melanie said in the Daily Mail and the sale of St. Clerans, Paige’s visit was likely and necessarily 72-73, even early 1974. If so, she may have witnessed or even been involved in the drama between Cici, Betty, Gladys, and Zoe Sallis. According to biographer Jeffrey Meyers, Huston enjoyed women fighting over him.
I had an email exchange with Celeste Shane Huston and she confirmed that she and Huston knew Paige and they “were only trying to help her.”
She denied that Huston and Paige had affair. She wrote that 2 prominent lawyers purchased Paige’s ticket to Ireland for the visit.
Another visitor to St. Clerens during these years was Bill Gardner.
The same Bill Gardner from the Pasadena Art Museum chapter. He knew both John and Celeste Huston as did Paige.
- William Louis Gardner and #CelesteHuston on some of the #horses in #StClarens #Manor in #Ireland, back when #JohnHuston owned the estate. #Hollywood #1950s #1960s #vintage.
The following paragraph is what Bill wrote on for his author page on Amazon.
William Louis Gardner started his career getting a diploma from the Pasadena Play House in the fifties. The US Air sent him to Pasadena, California to learn film and television production. During his education at the Playhouse he was sent to do on-the-job-training at ABC, CBS and NBC. He spent time on the on the sets of Colgate Comedy Hour studying, observing and watching the process of television variety type shows. Bill became acquainted with the Martin & Lewis show, Jimmy Durante Show, Danny Thomas Show, Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Milton Berle Shows. After William left Hollywood he joined his squadron and wrote and produced films for the US Air Force. When he was discharged from the Air Force he returned to Hollywood and went to work for Mickey Rooney as his assistant and manager for ten years. After he joined Jonathan Winters as his manager. In 1965 William moved to Ireland and joined director, John Huston, as his assistant. He worked on John’s films in England and Morocco. John sent Bill to East Africa to do pre-production for a film Bill had written called “The Games End”. The film has yet to be made. William, left the industry in 1972 and came back to California and moved to Montecito and became a real estate broker. He formed a Real Estate office in Santa Barbara and retired thirty five years later to write a novel “Confession of a Hollywood Agent” and numerous screenplays. His novel “The End of the Game” struggles with Africanization, intrigue and murder to save the elephant. Present, Bill keeps on writing.
scribd.com
He mentions Jonathan Winters and John Huston, both associated with Paige Young.
Famous LA writer sees Huston and Hefner with others including an “unidentified sex object,” possibly Paige Young, at a backgammon tournament, sometime in 1972. The observation by Smith happened around the time Cici and Huston tied the knot.
I have never seen a photo of the two men together or Huston at the Holmby Hills mansion.
Allegedly the cast and crew of Chinatown spent some off-set time at the mansion. The cast, of course, includes Huston and director Roman Polanski.
This would have been the timeframe that Paige had been hanging out with Hefner at the mansion “scene,” such as it was, at least on an occasional if not regular basis.
Paige was witnessed at the Playboy mansion near the end of her life as recounted by neighbor Melanie Myers, who herself was invited to the Mansion. This is told in the Secrets of Playboy documentary.
These were the last years of Paige’s life.
Chinatown was released 2 months after Paige Young’s suicide
More about John Huston ahead.
NSFW
Paige was still modeling in the early 1970s; she appears in some Electrochemical Company photographs, credited to Peter Gowland, probably taken in 72 or 73. Tame by standards even then, I suspect Gowland had her in mind immediately for this job; he knew Paige needed the paycheck, and she would be willing to appear topless or nude.
There is an association between Electrochemical Company and the Ridgid Tool Company, Gowland’s long time clients. Paige appears in the 69/70 Ridgid calendar at the top of this chapter.
Paige was one model of a few featured in this series which looks like it was a gift for special clients. A calendar I guess. Ann Cushing and Brook Mills, two Gowland favorites, are the others. Plus one I don’t recognize.
The models all go uncredited including Paige, her “Playmate” status is not indicated anywhere. She is portrayed in this series, like the others, as an anonymous girl. I recognized her and informed the seller.
1970/1 Pasadena Art Museum With Warhol Wearing A Rudi Gernreich Dress. Artist DeWain Valentine. Venice Beach Studio. Art Scene LA. Updated 5/11/23
Posted on July 21, 2020
Around May 15, 1970, A Paige Young appearance at the Pasadena Art Museum was recorded by LA gossip columnist Marvene Jones and her photographer.
The occasion was a gala for the new Andy Warhol exhibit.
Warhol himself makes an appearance, obviously a big deal.
From the Los Angeles Evening Citizen 5/16/1970
More on Paige’s date Bill Gardner.
William Louis Gardner
United States
William Louis Gardner was born in Minnesota and finished school there. He
From Bill Gardner’s website.
joined the US Air Force and worked at the Pentagon in the Target Library of the world. Went on to the Pasadena Playhouse to learn television and movie making. He got a job with actress Marion Davies at her home. There He met a movie agent and started a career in Hollywood. William Louis Gardner has worked in Hollywood as the agent, personal secretary, PR advisor and manager for for Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Jill St.John, Bobby Van and director, John Huston. William Gardner is the author of two books, “Confessions of a Hollywood Agent,” and “The Games End.”
According to the article, Paige Young and Andy Warhol discuss a role for Paige in an upcoming Andy Warhol film.
Marvene Jones also says that Mr. and Mrs. DeWain Valentine made up a foursome that evening with Paige and Bill Gardner. Valentine had an exhibit of his large size cast polyester resin pieces at the Pasadena Art Museum, right along with the Warhol exhibit which focused on Warhol’s use of repetitive images.
DeWain Valentine was a rapidly rising artist in the 1960s Venice art scene.
Valentine was a major player in the new “Light and Space” art movement, along with artists Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, John McCracken, Fred Eversley, Doug Wheeler and more.
Many of these artists lived in Venice Beach due to the cheap rent.
A brief Background of the Los Angeles Art scene:
Before the Light and Space artists emerged, the Cool School or Ferus Gallery artists, had already established themselves beginning in the early 1950s. Many of them lived in Venice Beach, a dilapidated beach town past its’ former glory, dotted with oil rigs, trash in the once beautiful canals. The rent was dirt cheap. Nobody in “respectable” society would want to live there and it was considered dangerous.
The Ferus Group, includes: Ed Keinholz, Wally Berman, Billy Al Bengston, Ed Ruscha, Robert Irwin, Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman, and the curators and owners of the Ferus Gallery who helped bring them to renown, Walter Hopps and Irving Blum.
These artists loved the freedom to explore and experiment, and “do their own thing,” with art; they lived and worked far away from the competitive New York City art scene and its’ snobbish critics.
Alongside this art scene happening in Venice Beach in the 1950s and early 1960s, the “Beatnik Scene” was flourishing.
LA’s Venice Beach, San Francisco’s North Beach and Greenwich Village in NYC., created a new pop-cultural icon:
The beret wearing, cigarette smoking, coffee drinking, poetry spouting, bongo playing, establishment thwarting: Beatnik.
Beatnik fashion in the 1950s.
The Ferus Gallery gang famously interacted with Andy Warhol during his well documented stay in Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Warhol drove with actor Taylor Mead, assistant Gerard Malanga and painter Wynn Chamberlain from NYC to LA. This was for Warhol’s 2nd showing ever and 1st appearance at Ferus.
In fact, it was Warhol’s first trip to LA.
The Ferus ‘Studs’ the new generation of artists, young abstract painters, ceramicists and assemblage makers who had been flying under the wire now were the featured artists at the Ferus Gallery.The Gallery was ripe for the adventurous artists who would set the new bar in contemporary styles. The Ferus Gallery had belief in the performance of their work and was one of the first galleries to support it.
Ferusgallery.com
For much more detail on this art movement which established the Los Angeles art scene as one on par with New York City or even Europe, see the documentary “The Cool School,” available on Netflix.
The Light and Space movement emerged from the Cool School in the mid-1960s.
DeWain Valentine, originally from Ft. Collins, Colorado, developed a type of polyester resin material that allowed him to make large scale pieces like the one shown below. Previously the material would crack when making a piece this size: approx: 17 1/4x 17/4 x 7/8.
Richard Sample
told me that after he moved to a studio-home in Venice (late 1960s) he invited Paige to move in with him.
I think it was Richard’s father, artist and western jewelry maker Charlie Sample, who was able to get Richard the studio space in Venice Beach.
I asked Richard the location and he said he could not remember it, but that it was close to the ocean and his artist neighbors and friends were DeWain Valentine and Larry Bell. (See Chapter: Interview with Richard Sample)
Paige refers to her “new Venice art studio” in several interviews with Playboy magazine and US newspapers in 1969 and 1970. (See chapter: Most Public Year 1969)
Richard Sample and Paige Young joined the community of Venice artists, but were “not working with the new materials,” to quote Paige in a 1969 interview. She was referring to her neighbors and friends, Valentine, Bell and Irwin, not named.
I have found the location of this Venice studio: 62-68 Market St.
Research and interviews show that Robert Irwin lived across the street from Valentine. This was not mentioned by Richard Sample. At one point I asked him if he “knew Ed Ruscha or Robert Irwin” and some others. He did not recognize those names, he was definitive about Bell and Valentine.
Richard Sample’s niece Ellen Sample remembers visiting her uncle and grandfather Charles Sample at the art studio/home in Venice. Charles also had a retail storefront in addition to his studio.
Ellen, a child at the time, remembers hearing a lot about the man named “Valentine.”
Richard and Ellen both recalled being able to see the beach from the studio. 62-68 Market St., a block from the ocean, is a large structure and was divided amongst many artists who rented their own studio according to Ellie. This is why the address lists a range of numbers.
Richard Sample is listed with an address of 63 Market St. Venice, in a newspaper marriage announcement, 1968.
Ellen texted me a story: her Uncle Richard sublet the Venice studio to Paige at one point.
Ellen recalls “tensions” about Paige with Ellen’s aunts. These women were the wives of Charles Sample and his sons.
Ellen said her own mother was not bothered by Paige living at the studio, but that she did “go with her sister-in-laws to see what was going on at the studio. ” Ellen says the most tense time was when Paige’s Playboy issue was current and shortly after.
Richard Sample told me he was forced to ask Paige to leave the Venice studio because she never paid him rent. (See chapter Richard Sample interview)
I asked Ellen if it was possible that Richard felt pressured to ask Paige to leave due to the tension.
Ellen said she thought it was possible.
DeWain Valentine has spoken about this Venice studio in several art magazine interviews; the influence it had on his art and on the art of his many fellow famous artists. This includes Larry Bell and Robert Irwin, particularly the years of the 1960s and early 70s.
DeWain Valentine lived in and eventually purchased the 62 -65 Market St. building.
Several records with his signature and name can be seen in public building archives from LA County, now available online. Copy of one seen below.
61-65 is the address listed here.
DeWayne Valentine spent many years living and creating art in Hawaii.
He passed a year ago as I write this, February 2, 2022.
From the Documentary “The Cool School.” Market St, where Valentine, Bell and Irwin had studios. And Richard Sample and Paige Young lived briefly.
Updated 03/07/23. Playboy January 1969. Playmate of the Year Contest. Winner: Connie Kreski. Anthony Newley. James Caan.
Posted on July 15, 2020
Paige’s photo appears in the January 1969 issue of Playboy magazine. It’s also the 15th anniversary issue of the massively successful magazine and empire. The issue shows all 12 Playmates of 1968, a brief update accompanies each one.
The contestants are in the running for the soon-to-be-named Playmate of the Year 1969. The Playmate of the Year was a big deal. A higher status title than Playmate of the Month obviously, it meant more photos, more publicity and more money.
Connie Kreski
The winner was born Constance Kornacki in Wyandotte, Michigan. She grew up in a strict Polish Catholic family.
She became a Michigan nursing school student and then a Playmate as Connie Kreski in January of 1968. Around the same time she moved to London and met singer/songwriter Anthony Newley.
Connie appeared to look much younger than her 21 years. This is why Anthony Newley cast her in his 1969 film “Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?”
Connie plays Mercy, Anthony is Heironymus and his wife Joan Collins plays his wife in the film named Polyester Poontang. It was pretty much a flop and skewered by the critics.
Connie Kreski met another powerful man in London and began dating him: Hefner’s partner and close friend at Playboy: Victor Lownes. Lownes was head of the Playboy Club and casino in London during the Swinging Sixties.
Detroit Press Nov. 17, 1969 BetteLou Petersen celebrity column.
Well known to those who have read some 1960s social history, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate had their wedding reception at the London Playboy Club in 1968; Lownes, Hefner and Polanski were close friends.
Connie and Victor are seen together with several mourners at Sharon Tate’s funeral, on film footage seen on youtube.
Victor Lownes is the person seen in a famous photo holding up a collapsing Roman Polanski at Sharon Tate’s funeral.
Connie has about 10 TV and film appearances after “Hieronymus.”
She appeared as a guest on the Merv Griffin and Joey Bishop talk shows.
April 6, 1969. Long Beach Press Telegraph
She go-go danced on Laugh-In, was introduced on Playboy After Dark TV show by Hugh Hefner as “Connie Kreski, our Playmate of the Year.” Connie does not say one word the entire show.
She did have more lines on other episodes of PAD, mostly the ones from 1970, the last year of the program.
San Francisco Examiner Nov. 8. 1970 below
The People, London. Aug. 23, 1970
Valley Times Mar. 25, 1969
Kreski’s newspaper press indicates she was signed to a contract with Universal Studios.
Universal signed an extraordinary number of models, beauty contest winners and starlets in the 1950s and 60s.
After a few years Connie’s contract with Universal was dropped which merited one sentence in a Hollywood gossip column.
Detroit Free Press April 27, 1969
Connie appeared on a memorable 1970 episode of Love American Style starring Kaye Ballard, where she plays a topless waitress.
Her last credit is the mini-series Aspen from 1976.
Connie had a high profile romance with actor James Caan in the early and mid-1970s. She was identified in Hollywood news articles as his “girlfriend” and “ex-Playmate.” They got together fresh off Caan’s star making turn in the Godfather; he was much in demand by directors and studios. And by beautiful young women as well, according to several interviews at the time.
Playboy Mansion regular James Caan speaks about girlfriend Connie Kreski in NY Daily News Oct. 8, 1972
Below is from an early/mid 1970s Playboy feature on men’s jewelry with Connie and boyfriend James Caan.
It was determined that Connie Kreski died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 48 in 1995. Laennec’s is a cirrhosis most associated with alcohol abuse over time.
What happened in her life that caused it to end this way at the age of 45?
What happened to her friendships with Hefner and Polanski and that crowd? And James Caan?
Connie Kreski is rarely mentioned in any pop culture forum. I find that strange given the people that she was seen hanging out with.
Many of these people continue to generate attention and conversation. Some are still alive, many dead. Most recently, Connie’s ex and Playboy mansion regular and good friend of Hefner, James Caan passed away on July 6, 2022. His death drew numerous accolades and a film festival is in the works.
Unusually, Caan lacks a dedicated biography. This will likely be forthcoming.
Caan hadn’t been asked about Connie since the 1970s.
Like Paige Young, Connie’s cause of death
is incorrectly identified on the internet. It usually says “blocked carotid artery” or “cancer.” Connie’s entry in The Playmate Book, mentions her death in Beverly Hills, 1995, but doesn’t state a cause. I have included closeups of her death certificate.
Connie married Louis Edelman in New York in 1986 and they set up a marital home in Los Angeles/Beverly Hills.
Connie died in March of 1995 at age 49. She died before her about 10 years older husband, Louis Edelman.
Official cause of death for 1969 Playmate of the Year Connie Kreski.
I corresponded with Connie’s stepdaughter Barbara Cooper. She told me that Connie became pregnant and lost a baby boy (named Zachary) when she was 6 months along. This tragedy also occured in 1986.
Cooper told me that after the loss, Connie began an obsession with calorie counting and losing weight and on top of that she abused alcohol.
It’s no wonder then, that she died so young.
Barbara told me how consistently kind and sweet Connie was to her daughters and to everybody.
She said that Connie never talked about Playboy, Hefner, any of the Playmates, or her days in Hollywood.
More on Connie Kreski and her brief time in the spotlight
Paige Young in Los Angeles. 