Paige Young in Los AngelesNames in Paige’s Phone Book: Desmond & Jonathan Guinness, Michael Butler of “Hair,” Hef & Joni, Cosby, Feminist Women’s Health Care Center, Samson DeBrier. Last Home. 12/10/2025.* Very LONG.
Posted on October 6, 2023
This entry will make more sense if you have read at least the 2nd half of this website.
I was in Los Angeles in April of 2023. I visited with Melanie Myers from the 2014 Daily Mail story. She also appeared in the 2022 Secrets of Playboy documentary on the A&E channel.
During our interview, Melanie showed me an old piece of paper with phone numbers and names written on it. She had copied these from Paige’s personal phone directory after her suicide.
Melanie and B.J. Royale were preparing to share the task of calling Paige’s friends to tell them the news of her suicide.
And to tell them that Paige wanted them to have a certain of her paintings or other personal art objects.
Basically, a will.
B.J. Royale and Melanie lived in a duplex in front of Paige’s garage apartment in 1974.
The 3 shared a yard where Paige walked around nude or topless and Melanie “did not like it. ”
She added, “Paige and B.J. were pretty good friends,” but that she herself was not close with Paige.
Even so, Melanie said she ended up hearing an earful from Paige about a “sex tape” involving “Cici Huston‘s brother.” (David Shane)
B.J. Royale was a niece of actress Loretta Young, star of Hollywood films and TV in its’ Golden Age.
Royale, aka Betty J. Hermann, has a film credit for The Trouble with Angels, 1966. IMDB
This film was a box office hit. It stars Hayley Mills, a Disney actress. She was a bonafide box office star in the 1960s. I remember it shown on TV in the early 1970s.
Melanie made me a copy of her original notes and I took photos.
The names I saw on Paige’s phone list gave me clues and provide some insight into the last years of her life.
Both Desmond and his brother Jonathan were in Paige’s phone book upon her death. Jonathan is the older of the two and outlived his younger brother. Jonathan is a well-known author and alive as of November 2025.
I learned that Foster is a niece of Loretta Young.
Her mother was Loretta’s sister, actress Sally Blane.
Paige’s neighbor B.J. Royale, Hermann and Gretchen Foster were cousins.
B.J. or Betty Jane Hermann, was the daughter of Loretta’s sister Polly Ann Young.
Melanie told me she met and knew Gretchen Foster due to knowing B.J.
Melanie had no idea that Paige had also known Gretchen.
Paige and BJ were fairly good friends, according to Melanie, so this must be the connection.
BJ Royale died a few years ago. She did not speak with the directors of Secrets of Playboy. I know they reached out to her.
Melanie said she got the impression that B.J. had zero interest in talking about Paige, and one reason may be that she “married and moved to Bakersfield where she was in high society.”
According to Melanie, Paige “willed a beautiful large pastel-colored painting, of horses,” to B.J. . But that Mrs. Hermann never wanted to talk about Paige.
Betty June was contacted by Secrets of Playboy. B.J. told them “I wasn’t there the weekend of the suicide.” And begged out of speaking on camera.
(I was told this by a researcher on the series. Too bad, because there was so much to ask Betty June besides the suicide weekend.)
This lady took whatever she knew, or remembered to her grave. Melanie and B. J. and Paige attended were at a Playboy mansion party together where they although Paige went separately.
Betty Jane Royale doing the starlet routine, Van Nuys News March 7, 1968
Her name was in a few gossip columns of the day, one of them as being a member of an exclusive club: The Daisy
Joni-(Hefner)
She is Hugh Hefner’s longtime assistant and personal secretary from the Chicago mansion days.
In my opinion, Joni Mattis took actions to “cover up” Paige’s suicide and scene and notes and letters left at her home, only a 10-minute car drive from the Playboy Mansion.
Perhaps Joni initiated the cover up by anticipating what Hef would want.
Another scenario is Joni contacted Hef and he told her what to do.
I can’t find out if Hefner was in the LA mansion on the dates of Paige’s suicide or in the Chicago mansion or somewhere else. Articles and Hollywood columns and Melanie’s story suggest he was present in the months leading up to Paige Young’s suicide and gave several parties. This was clear from items published in newspapers.
Joni and Hef/Playboy took actions. Their goal was to prevent the sensational news of Paige Young’s suicide from going anywhere near the press.
This action would have required cooperation from LAPD. Please see chapter of LAPD report and death certificate.
Melanie in Daily Mail-“police read some of the note to me… most vitriol for Hugh Hefner and John Huston.”
Melanie told me that that Paige’s mother (Donna) and sister (Constance) came the next day to pack up her belongings including paintings. “Connie” appears on Melanie’s list of phone numbers, identified as Paige’s sister. Melanie did not remember their names.
The Playboy corporate headquarters remained in Chicago until 2012. Hefner’s ” constant companion” and mansion finder and partial decorator Barbi Benton, parted sometime in 1976.
Hef then started a relationship in 1977 with his next #1 girlfriend:19-year-old Sondra Theodore from San Bernardino.
The Proximity Factor
Paige lived in Westwood, a 10 minute car drive to Holmby Hills. The local police had a friendly relationship with Hefner and the mansion employees.
Many former LAPD officers became Mansion security according to Secrets of Playboy. (PJ Masten) I believe Masten dated one of them at one time.
Hefner received reports on a regular basis from employees. They informed him about goings on at the mansion. This included employees and visitors, said PJ Masten.
The LAPD certainly knew who the hell Hugh Hefner was when they were greeted by Paige’s mural at her suicide scene 2 miles from the Playboy mansion.
As I continue to read about the history of the LAPD, I realize their Mythic status is based on historic facts. It has been a corrupt institution from the beginning. This fact is well expressed in the movie L.A. Confidential.
So really, it is not surprising that information unflattering to Hugh Hefner could be buried and made up to be like it just didn’t happen.
I am not in any way saying Hugh Hefner is directly responsible for Paige Young’s suicide.
But it is about the image.
Particularly at this date.
Bobbie Arnstein was arrested in Chicago, only 9 days before Paige’s suicide, on highly exaggerated cocaine charges.
Joni and Hef could have sincerely believed that by burying Paige’s story they were helping Bobbie and Hef from unjust prosecution. ( And persecution.)
There was more motivation than usual to justify hiding, burying and lying about Paige’s suicide (and everything she left behind incriminating Hugh Hefner, his friends and other men.)
PJ Masten in Secrets of Playboy talked about “an awareness that negative press was to be avoided.”
Jennifer Saginor, Secrets of Playboy and author of the book Playground said on a podcast Power,“Hef was always image conscious.” Hefner had the power to have Saginor’s book tour interviews suddenly canceled as she has recounted.
Jim Ellis, a former body guard for Hefner, early 1980s, said in Secrets of Playboy, his “job was not only protecting his clients physical being, but also their reputation.”
I believe that there was an opportunity for Playboy to shut this whole Paige Young thing down.
And the opportunity was quickly grabbed.
Hugh Hefner and Joni felt relieved I imagine.
Why does Paige Young’s entry in the Playmate Book, say “drug overdose” ?If they knowingly made that up, why that manner of death was chosen is beyond me.
END
Michael Brandon, too many. Cindy Manay brings nothing.
Looking at the list, so far have not found anything on Larry Fisher.
Steve Moress, listed below Joni-Hefner, opened a museum and shop of acrylic arts in 1974 at 2360 S. Robertson Blvd. It was open for several decades selling to interior decorators, but is now closed. I called several numbers for a “Stephen Moress” but none of them were working numbers. He’s about 80 years old now.
The following screenshots are from a real estate website. They show the interior of Paige’s carriage house/apartment over a garage in Westwood. It is located down the street from the Mormon Temple. The apartment was built over a garage in 1940. It is where Paige lived the last years of her life. She committed suicide there. Among her belongings was a suicide note mentioning names she said were complicit in her downfall. There was also a will. A mural proclaimed “Hugh Hefner is the devil.” Her belongings included many of her paintings. A few unfinished. All her personal belongings.
These real estate photos are all the world has left of this particular place of what is “old Los Angeles.”
In this case, a carriage house over a garage. It was built in 1940 by Kathryn Eddy, who appeared in walk-on parts in silent movies.
Unless there are photographs lying in some attic or in a landfill placed decades ago?
All original built-ins, since gutted. Paige had a large black refrigerator a man bought for her and called it a “coffin,” said Melanie. This visit reminded me of another LA trip.
The place Paige was born as Diana Lee Cotterell is 1933 Griffith Park Blvd. It was originally a Christian Science Maternity center. The building was being torn down on the day I was visited. (See related chapter)
The builts-in of the 800 sq. foot apartment were being ripped out the day I visited; the place was being completely renovated.
UPDATE* I found Samson and it is the infamous LA character SAMSON DE BRIER.* PLEASE SEE RELATED CHAPTER
The next section provides information on the Michael Butler entry found in Paige’s phone book. . Top right below sister Connie Smashey’s contact information.
I am confident he is the same Michael Butler most famous as the millionaire producer of Hair: the famous “Tribal Love Rock” musical.
Butler brought Hair to Broadway where it was a smash hit.
Dubbed by the media as a “hippie-millionaire”
A detailed description of Michael Butler and his upper crust background in the article below by Eugenia Sheppard. It appeared in newspapers across the country in 1968, the year Hair opened. Also the year Paige Young was a Vietnam–era Playboy Playmate.
Mary Blume wrote an eye-opening article about Butler in the LAT. Oct. 11, 1970.
Three marriages so far and a production company in LA “Natoma” And an avid polo player.
Page 1
It’s been several incarnations over the decades. The building was repainted this look for the filming of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
Page #3 of the LAT article. Butler was and avid polo player and played the sport with the wealthy elite around the world. Including Santa Barbara County as seen in the next articles.
San Fran Examiner June 25, 1971
San Francisco Examiner, May 1, 1972
Last I checked, this Butler website was being maintained well. You can see the entry about his good friend Celeste Huston.
Like Paige Young and John Huston and Celeste, there was the “horse connection.”
It appears Michael Butler lived a long and fulfilling life full of adventure and artistic creation.
I’ve read that he was comfortable as an “out” bi-sexual for most of his life.
What I found from this 1960s and 1970’s era, was that he was quite the “Ladies (only) Man.” This can be seen in the articles I’ve posted.
The Playboy Club moved from the classic 1960s Sunset Strip location and relocated to the new ABC Entertainment Center, set in new, modern, latest Century City.
At some point in the 1970s, the Playboy Clubs were starting to seem passe. I’m not sure exactly when. By 1974, the “pubic wars” were played out by the media. Penthouse magazine won by outselling Playboy magazine. On the stand or subscription, I don’t know but Playboy’s profits started to slide probably around this time.
Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City. When you have time, this is the best resource for the history of Century City.
https://martinostimemachine.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-old-century-city-mall.html
Celeste Shane Huston and Paige Young had 5 people in common: John Huston, Bill Gardner, Samson DeBrier, David Shane and Michael Butler.
Nothing comes up for Gus Prall at the top left.
Note below that David Shane is listed right below a Geo. Roberts on the left hand column, an X through it.
Shane is an important character from several other chapters. He was a man with a large 1970s mustache like Michael Butler, business owner set up by his successful Beverly Hills rental car owner father, and the brother of Cici Shane (Mrs.John) Huston.
Shane was a visitor to the LA Mansion and possible holder or keeper, and partner in Paige’s “sex tape.”
See chapters with Shane in the title, and Secrets of Playboy, episode 8.
LAT Nov. 1, 1973. I think the CC Playboy Club opened earlier in the fall. Paige lived about a 3 minute drive from Century City. There is no record of Paige as a Bunny at either club in Los Angeles. Richard Sample says she did some kind work at the Playboy Club on the Sunset Strip in the mid-1960s. but he never saw her in the Bunny costume. Paige lived close to Century City and the Playboy mansion was close by as well.
Charity performance of Cabaret was performed at the opening. It has since been demolished.
*Notice the advert below for the Classic Cat. They too, present Cabaret to an audience. (June 1973)
Playboy Club Move announcement, and for the Classic Cat Performance of Cabaret and A mexican restaurant actually named speedy Gonzales.
Marty Tregman is a long time realtor in Santa Monica, he doesn’t remember Paige. Jon Von Newman…. came up with nothing. Brian Wilson is a common name so I can’t say this with the genius writer of the Beach Boys music group.
And right below Brian Wilson,
I was intrigued with the entry “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw”
And I found many articles in the newspaper archives.
Turns out this Health care center played an important, but under recognized role in the 2nd Wave Feminist movement.
There were many services that Paige might have used at the “Feminist Women’s Health Center 746 Crenshaw” (FWHC)
You will see evidence of this through newspaper articles written at the time, both local and national.
This FWHC was one of, if not the first, women’s self-help health centers in the nation.
A brief context of the times is important and mostly forgotten.
“The Women’s Lib Movement” was in the mainstream news and discussions at home and parodied on TV shows.
I can remember this when I was in 6th grade.
Feminism/ Women’s Liberation was more active in the early 1970s.
More so, than the 1960s.
I say this despite the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan in 1963. The movement flourished in a main-stream way in the early 1970s.
Let’s review some history to show you what I mean:
1972: The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced. 22 states, quickly ratified. This same year Title 9 was made a law.
Domestic violence safe houses, rape crisis centers, help lines and self-defense classes for women proliferated in the 1970s.
There were Media reports and editorials about equal pay for equal work and sexual harassment in the workplace.
There were reports about limited job opportunity and gender discrimination in housing and credit. Another topic was the implementation of subsidized childcare and wages for housework.
1973: The Roe V.Wade case. A woman’s right to an abortion become national law in January of 1973.
One exception was California:
Abortion was legalized in California in 1967 with the passage of the Therapeutic Abortion Act. This law allowed abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s physical or mental health was in danger. In 1969, the California Supreme Court further ruled that women had a constitutional right to privacy, which included the right to an abortion. This was before the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade decision. credit Google AI
<<<<<<<Article by Linda Zink in Long Beach, explains what the Feminist Women’s Health Care Center was about. Excerpts from this article are throughout this section.
1974 – Housing discrimination on the basis of sex and credit discrimination against women is outlawed by Congress.
1975: An influential book about sexual violence and rape, “Against Our Will” by Susan Brownmiller was published.
In this environment many women were exhausted yet fed up with their treatment by almost always male doctors.
OB/Gyns were considered the experts and authorities on female bodies. This caused anger and resentment by women of all ages.
They turned the anger into public activism.
The health and reproductive branch of “Women’s Liberation” is symbolized by the worldwide success of the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves.” The book’s influence is significant. The book was published in 1970 and is now on its’ 9th edition.
You or someone you know probably own a copy. Or seen it somewhere. It’s probably been banned somewhere.
Our Bodies, Ourselves originally sprang from feminist “consciousness-raising” courses held in Boston in the late 1960s. Group members gave presentations about topics considered taboo at the time, like masturbation, postpartum struggles, and birth control — which was then illegal for unmarried women in Massachusetts. NPR website 4-8-2018
2 women who became activists lived in Los Angeles and Orange County were mothers:
Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman. Together, they started the Los Angeles Feminist W0men’s Health Clinic. They taught classes to women on how to be the expert on their own reproductive health. This includes fertility control with the method called “menstrual extraction”
August 25th 1972 Long Beach Newspaper.
Quote below from Los Angeles Conservancy, an historic architecture preservation society.
It is from their website as part of their nomination for historic status of the FWHC building at 1027 Crenshaw.
“Women’s Self-Help One clinic was the first in the nation and consequently placed the Crenshaw Women’s Center at the genesis point of the women’s self-help movement. Founded by Carol Downer and Lorraine Rothman, the clinic became a model for the national movement. In 1972, the Center was raided by police. Ms. Downer had applied yogurt as a cure for a yeast infection and was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. She was acquitted and the platform and publicity of The Great Yogurt Conspiracy raised the consciousness of the nation and helped make woman’s clinics a national movement.”
Historic status was denied.
The raid happened at 1027 Crenshaw Now I am not so sure. Press articles give the address as 746 Crenshaw as seen below. I am now thinking both locations were raided.
The Women’s Center opened at 1027 S. Crenshaw. LAT Jan. 9, 1970
Many classes and lectures were taught at this location.
This location was nominated for historic status.
Screen shot from Summer of 2024 of 1026 Crenshaw.
The Great Yogurt Conspiracy received wide press coverage due to its’ humorous title and the absurdity of the charges. This article explains more what it is:
“Carol Downer revolutionized the women’s health movement, learning how to perform abortions and vaginal self-examinations, and teaching other women how to, as well. From the website Feminist Current, an interview with Carol Downer conducted about 3 years ago.
Last column in Zink article. 5/13/73 Mentions support from Gloria Steinem and others for the Great Yogurt Conspiracy, and happiness after the acquittal:
The “yogurt conspiracy,” arrest and acquittal caught the attention of cultural icons like Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug and Dr. Benjamin Spock, bringing national attention to the LA activists.
“Lorraine Rothman was a founding member of the feminist centered Self-Help Clinic movement and a major mover of many successful behind-the-scenes projects. With Carol Downer, she worked on the concept of menstrual extraction as a viable women’s home health care technique; and, in 1971, she invented the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit, which was patented n 1974……… Rothman’s collaborative relationship with Downer and the self-help clinic movement began when she attended an April 7, 1971 meeting organized by Downer to discuss women’s reproductive rights and abortion. At the second meeting, one week later, Rothman shared her idea of a safe home health care tool, demonstrating the prototype of the Del-Em menstrual extraction kit. Shortly afterwards, Downer and Rothman founded the Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) in Los Angeles; Rothman went on to open a second FWHC in Orange County, closer to her home and family. Over the next two decades, Rothman traveled widely, taking the Self-Help Clinic concept to women’s groups both in and outside the US....”Archived interview subject description at CSU Long Beach.
746 Crenshaw, the address Paige had in her phone book, location was demolished in the 1980s and replaced with this monstrosity.
Carol Downer continues to lives in Eagle Rock and has been working in disability and immigration law for many years. She has lived a life of activism in women’s reproductive rights and the international peace movement.
She believes that women should not depend on the current legal status of a woman’s right to an abortion. .
Downer still advocates for women to learn the self-care or self-help method of abortion. She wrote a book on the topic in the 1990s.
For more details, see the Carol Downer entry in the Embryo Project Encyclopedia.
END
She wishes to remain anonymous so I will refer to her as “Veronica.”
Veronica told me she heard Paige’s death announced on the car radio as she was driving. What she heard caused her to pull over, too shocked to continue driving. She tried later to call the radio station but couldn’t get through.
Veronica met Paige at the Malibu beach home she shared with husband Frank.
Paige had been brought to the home by Joe Rank, an art lover collector, he worked in radio and lived nearby.
Veronica never saw them together again. Paige and Joe remained friends. She thinks Joe possibly knew about Paige’s background and family.
By the end of the 1970s Rank was the founder of a very successful clothing company. (More details at the end.)
Veronica said that Joe Rank knew Paige quite well and I should contact him.
I have tried, unfortunately, with no luck. He would be in his 80s or 90s now.
The only place Joe or Joseph Rank turns up in newspaper archives is as a Spanish language radio station owner.
And this is probably the same Joe Rank who knew Paige Young; Veronica said he was in radio at the time he brought Paige to the house.
Veronica said it was during Paige’s “Playboy days,”
The two women stayed in touch until the end of Paige’s life.
Veronica said Paige told her that Bill Cosby was an “art patron.” He was helping her to stay in her Topanga Canyon cabin home and art studio.
Veronica thought it was “nice of Bill Cosby to help her out.” She thought nothing sinister about it. Paige did not say anything sinister about Bill or the arrangement.
Veronica concurred with others I have interviewed, that Paige often walked around topless or nude. She remembers Paige being naked or topless and playing in volleyball games. The “the beach boys” who hung around “were very pleased.”
Veronica thought it might be explained by Paige’s personality which could be described as “high and low” or “hi-lo.”
Veronica told me about an occasion that Paige used LSD and experienced a “bad trip.” Veronica stayed with Paige and helped her through the ordeal. Veronica was motherly to many of the young people who showed up at her home even though she was still young herself, in her 30s and had a husband and two young daughters.
Her husband Frank enjoyed “collecting people,” wrote Veronica. And many young people would hang around their beach house socializing and playing games.
I’m grateful to Veronica for her permission to use this image.
Veronica remembers buying groceries for Paige, at a store located at the bottom of “Fernwood & Topanga Canyon Dr.”
And the Safeway on Sunset & PCH, later Vons.
This happened about once a month for quite a while. The “2 friends would chit chat and catch up on news.” Paige never wanted more food than she could physically carry.
This was before her move to Westwood. After that Veronica didn’t see Paige as much but they talked often on the phone.
She remembers just vaguely that Paige mentioned her about her own art studio in Venice Beach, a block away from the beach. (See 2 chapters: Venice Beach, Richard Sample.)
(Dennis Hopper has a connection to Paige as he knew the artists that Paige knew, Larry Bell and in the same building: DeWain Valentine. Robert Irwin lived across the street at this time in Venice. Veronica remembers Hopper at events around town)
Paige sometimes expressed her suicide ideation in phone conversations with Veronica.
She did not discuss Hugh Hefner or John Huston, David Shane, Desmond Guinness or a”sex tape.”(See related chapters)
Several times Paige needed a ride to visit her sister, but Veronica never met the sister: Constance/Connie.
The last time the friends had a phone conversation, Veronica noted an “echoey sound in the background, sounded like Paige was in a bathroom.” Veronica tried to lighten the mood by asking her about the echoey sound and said,”Paige are you already in heaven?” Paige laughed and they hung up the phone with Veronica feeling Paige was in a better space.
Paige one time had checked herself into the UCLA Psych Center but was released in a just a few days.
Once Paige told Veronica “she said she had cured all the patients at the ward.”
Veronica said she never believed that Paige would actually go through with suicide.
Separately, Melanie told me about one time driving Paige to the UCLA Psych Ward. She remembers Paige “returning from the ward with a very strange man who worked at the hospital.”
He lunged at Melanie, Paige suddenly appeared with a gun and he bolted. Without pants on she said and added “it was the same gun she used on herself.”
Paige probably took advantage of the 51/50 law, which began in California in 1967.
“In California we have a law (5150) that the police (or yourself if you may harm yourself) can commit you for 3 days to a hospital for psych care. If you are pronounced no longer liable to harm yourself or others or decide you want to leave voluntarily you can after three days.”
Veronica does remember Paige’s expressing she did not have enough money for paint.
She told her to just wait a few days and would help her out with that.
Paige was dead before that happened.
Lack of money was a recurring problem for Paige.
She did not know Paige to own a car, says Veronica.
Paige did not talk of her past or any future plans. She seemed to always exist and speak in the present moment.
Melanie said does not remember Paige owning a car.
I personally think Paige sold her yellow Mustang seen by Sample in Malibu 64-67. Also seen by her cousin Christian/Chris in Sherman Oaks in 1964 as described to me. Paige made Chris a cup of coffee during his visit to her apartment. She told him about her divorce from Mark F. Segal.
Paige did not mention the violence and threats I viewed in her divorce papers. I told Chris about and he said “Oh, she would not have put up with that.”
No one I’ve communicated with who knew Paige say they can remember a time when she talked about her childhood. She never mentioned her family or her background. Veronica says Joe Rank may have known something of Paige’s family members.
Chris said he and his mother were contacted by Connie Smashey, Paige’s sister, to tell them the bad news of Paige’s suicide. Chris told me that Connie had a seemingly indifferent attitude about Paige’s death and he got the impression of “good riddance.” Chris said this made he and his mother sick to their stomach and angry and they did not stay in touch with Connie.
Aca Joe History
“Joe Rank, a Los Angeles broadcasting executive who had managed KMEX-TV, the Spanish language TV station in Los Angeles, moved to Mexico in 1973 to establish a printed tee shirt business on the beach resorts which were booming with international tourism. By 1978, Rank had shops in 75 stores in Acapulco, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Mexico City, plus tee shirt shops in 15 of the popular Carlos n’ Charlie’s bars and restaurants throughout Mexico.
In 1983, the name was changed to Aca Joe and product distribution was limited only to Aca Joe owned or franchised stores. The line was expanded to include pants, jackets, sweaters, and more than just tee shirts. After changing to this more exclusive distribution of the product, the stores were swamped with customers. Lines were formed in front of the stores with people waiting to get in at all hours of the day.
The success of Aca Joe did not go without notice by international investors, and soon a deal was made with American partners for the expansion of Aca Joe outside of Mexico. William Meyer became Rank’s partner in Aca Joe International and the first stores in the U.S. were opened in the Bay Area of San Francisco, with shops in Union Square, Sausalito, and the Stanford Shopping Center.
The U.S. shops were very successful, and to provide financing for expansion, the new U.S. company filed for listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Prospects for the future of the stores were bright, and in 1985 Aca Joe International was the fastest rising stock on NASDAQ” From the ACA Joe website.
Joe left LA and had moved to Mexico in 1973, before Paige killed herself.
Below are some photos of Paige’s over-a-garage apartment and where she stage her death.
Away from the backyard and duplex.
I’m looking up from the alley. This window faces the building next door. There is a bit of yard between trees house and fence, I did not see that part. It’s where Paige kept the Akitas she wanted to breed and Melanie complained about them barking. LAPD reports talks about a man named DeWitt to whom Paige wrote instructions to take her dogs. (See chapter on death certificate.) Veronica thinks Paige was going to try and make money from breeding the Akitas.
These windows face the alley. Garage had storage in it but no cars says Melanie. The window on far left is likely Paige’s bedroom.
1971-1973 #1. John Huston & Wives Ricki Soma & Celeste Shane. St. Clerans in Ireland. Hollywood Publicist Bill Gardner. LAT writer Jack Smith sees Huston, Hefner and “Unidentified Sex Object” at Trendy Backgammon Club. Westwood. Modeling. Celebrity Connections Update 5/13/2025. Long. SOME NSFW.
Posted on April 7, 2023
1972
Paige Young appears in the 1972 edition of Gowland’s Guide to Glamour PhotographY, Cover Below.
The photos were obviously taken during the Ridgid Calendar shoot, 4 years earlier.
. Peter Gowland is well-known to a niche audience.
The B&W photo from Gowland’s Guide to Glamour, is from the same photo session as the color one, used in the 69/70 Ridgid Tool calendar. So Paige wouldn’t be paid of course, for the ’72 appearance in the newly published book.
1971
Around this time, Paige moved into a carriage house in Westwood. It is still standing near UCLA and the Playboy Mansion.
1972/73 cont…
According to the Daily Mail report of 2014, Paige complains to neighbor Melanie, about 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.”
Daily Mail Dec. 2014
In case you don’t know, John Huston directed several classic movies including The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King, The Misfits, Prizzi’s Honor, to mention only a few.
Despite his fame, few know that John Huston’s oeuvre as a director, actor, writer and narrator is vast.
“I know she dated Huston for a while and had just gotten back from a trip to Ireland with him.”
The “trip to Ireland” Melanie mentions, happened during the time that John Huston was married to Celeste Shane Huston.
Background
John Huston did live in ireland on an estate named St. Clerans, near Galway.
He lived there as often as possible from 1953 to 1975, when he wasn’t traveling around the world directing films.
Huston’s 4th wife Ricki Soma, located the estate and The couple moved in with their two young children, Anjelica and Tony.
Huston’s daughter, Oscar winning actress and director Anjelica, lived at St. Clerans as a child. She wrote about coming of age in Ireland as essentially Irish in culture, with two American parents.
Huston identified with being an Irishman and even became a citizen January of 1964.
He had long been disgusted with the investigations by the House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during what is known as the “Communist witch hunts” era. Begining in 1947 and continuing throughout the 1950s.
From my source biography: Courage and Art by Jefferey Meyers.
Memoir about St.Clerans childhood.
Anjelica Huston’s memoir, describes her famous father and her relationship with him and his larger than life personality.
And her beautiful and artistic mother whose life ended tragically young.
A little background on Celeste Shane Huston.
John Huston marries Celeste Shane in 1972.
“Cici” grew up in a wealthy Beverly Hills family with three brothers. Her father owned a successful car leasing companies and rented out his yacht to celebrities like Frank Sinatra. (See chapter: The Shanes of Beverly Hills for more details.)
There are many stories about step-mother Cici in Anjelica Huston’s 2nd memoir Watch Me.
(Basically they got along.)
This was Huston’s 5th marriage and “CiCi’s” 2nd.
LAT June 22, 1958 Before John Huston and Wally Green, Celeste had a short lived marriage to Gene Shacove. Shacove was a prominent Hollywood hair stylist. He was an inspiration for the character of George in Shampoo, the classic Warren Beatty 1970s movie. I’ve also read Jay Sebring
The chapter “The Shanes of Beverly Hills” has more information about Celeste Shane Huston. It also explores her brother David Shane, a key player in Paige’s story.
After a Sexully-charged Courtship And honeymoon phase, John and CiCi’s marriage became strained in Ireland. 1972 continued.
Cici spent time living (visiting really) St. Clerans at the beginning of her short marriage to Huston.
She brought along her son Collin and his caregiver Maricela, who also acted as Cici’s “maid.”
Dad Wally Green also visited his son at the Irish estate during this time span.
Cici was as out of place at St. Clerans as anyone could possibly be,” said John Huston remembering those days.
When Cici was asked she said “I wasn’t prepared for the eleven servants, the mistresses, Betty O’Kelly, Gladys.”
Ending Credits to Gladys Hill on the John Huston film Fat City 1972. Location filming in Stockton, California. Star Stacy Keach on street.
Gladys Hill was an assistant on several Huston films, a co-writer on some, including Reflections in a Golden Eye.
Hill acted in 3 Huston films, the most famous being Night of the Iguana.
Cici said of Gladys, “ I loved Gladys and hated her at the same time. She had too many people inside her. One day she’d get drunk and tell me everything and the next day she’d be awful..”
Betty O’Kelly was a close family friend and manager of the St. Clerans estate.
Tony Huston referred to her as “Dad’s hot water bottle.”
Cici said of Betty: “Betty O’Kelly was a terrible woman. She looked like an old leather shoe, a prune face, hard, nasty piece of work. But she was very loyal to John; she was in love with him.”
Both Betty and Gladys were completely devoted to John Huston for decades. They supported him in the running of his life.
Cici said while at St. Clerans, she observed several of the employees’ behavior and took a peek at the financial books. She concluded many were taking advantage of Huston by overcharging him.
….”she was horrified by the seething sexual history of the estate and the rampant theft by the Irish staff…” from Huston biography Courage and Art by Jeffrey Myers.
Huston had often been absent over the years, busy directing films all over the globe. Money matters did not interest him.
He had a lax attitude about what his employees and assistants were doing with his money.
Cici wanted most of the staff fired but Huston refused.
Of the horse’s caretaker Cici said, “I caught him with quadruple charges for horseshoeing. I know about horses. He couldn’t screw me around.”
CiCi encouraged Huston to sell St. Clerans to help cut down on his expenses.
This all created a lot of tension.
ZOE SALLIS
Another drama at St. Clerans was Cici’s anger about the visit of her husband’s young ex-and sometimes current mistress, Zoe Sallis.
The visit was ostensibly about bringing her young son fathered by John Huston: Danny.
Huston was still married to Ricki Soma at the time Danny was born.
Angelica Huston was about 11 years and said in her memoirs how it devastated her when she learned the news.
She quickly grew to love Danny.
Cici resented the monthly allowance (and breakfast in bed) afforded to Zoe.
Zoe Sallis said that Cici forbade Huston to cast her in the movie “The Man Who Would Be King,” filmed in 1975.
The part went to Shakira Caine, whose husband was co-leading man with Sean Connery.
Michael Caine and wife Shakira are seen on the set in Morocco. >>>>>>>>>>>
Zoe felt then, and still does, that this was a major missed opportunity for her potential career as an actress. (Sallis has a youtube channel)
Her blame on Cici is understandable but misplaced.
Huston could have pushed the issue to cast Zoe. I don’t think it was worth it to him, in that moment, to upset Cici and have her around when she was in a pissy, bitchy and jealous mood.
That’s how little he cared.
By 1975 the marriage was at its’ end.
John has the women around for amusement. Zoe is back to ‘see her boy.’ Ha ha. She is here to ask “Big Daddy’ whether she should turn Jewish…THANK GOD I’m not madly in love or I would be destroyed by him as he’s done to these three I mentioned (Gladys, Betty and Zoe). Also, Eloise is another wreck of John’s, as well as the Italian countess (Valerica Alberti) and Tony’s poor mother! I can see it so clearly! He is the devil!”
It seems Eloise (another girlfriend) and you have been screwing each other for years and that you are a wonderful ‘ball.’ I am fucking bored with hearing about who you fucked and especially since you put me with all you ‘OLD’ bangs.
In a letter from CiCi to her parents from Courage and Art, Jeffrey Meyers.
According to biographer Meyers, Huston enjoyed women fighting over him. (as did Hugh Hefner)
insightful review of Courage & Art
by Todd McCarthy.
One could construct several categories for the women in Huston’s life. There were the quick conquests; as Celeste says, “John would screw anything that wasn’t nailed down.” Some of these were actresses, including Zita Johann, Mary Astor, Ava Gardner and Eiko Ando. He also had five wives: first sweetheart Dorothy Harvey, aristocratic Irish beauty Lesley Black, actress Evelyn Keyes and model/ballerina Ricki Soma (Anjelica’s mother) and then the wealthy, self-possessed Celeste. He was faithful to none of them and generally tired of them after a while, which runs contrary to his pattern with the women who make up a third category, the long-standing mistresses. With de Havilland, the refined and sophisticated Marietta FitzGerald Tree, French actress Suzanne Flon and Zoe Sallis, the mother of his son Danny, to name four of the most important of his long-term lovers, Huston conducted affairs that continued, on and off, across many years and marriages. He sired three children.
Illuminating this hitherto unexplored but obviously central aspect of Huston’s life helps Meyers round out a fuller portrait of the man than has previously been offered; he clearly conveys his subject’s allure, cruelty, intellectual thirst, game-playing, paradoxical emotional intensity and distance, callousness and egoism. Meyers does not mention it, but I always loved Orson Welles’ remark to the effect that his friend excelled at playing Mephistopheles to his own Faust. He was, indisputably, a complex figure, and Meyers catches that while also writing with evident haste.
From the Hollywood Reporter by Todd McCarthy. Nov. 2011
John and Cici left Ireland and returned to Cici’s house in the Pacific Palisades, at some point in 1973.
In this last full year of Paige Young’s life, I believe she continued her friendship with the Hustons.
John stayed on long enough in Ireland to film The Makintosh Man with Paul Newman, partly filmed in Ireland. (The duo had filmed Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean two years earlier.)
Huston cast a young Victoria Principal in a small role in Judge Roy Bean. She posed for Playboy during this time due to some contractual obligation as part of promoting the film. As I recall the photo spread is non-explicit.
John Huston finally threw in the towel over St. Clerans when he realized he could not afford the upkeep, large staff, Danny and Zoe, Allegra and Gladys.
The St. Clerans estate was sold sometime in 1973/4. John Huston did not completely vacate it until 1977, according to Celeste Shane Huston in an online response to me.
Given what Melanie’s story says in the Daily Mail and the sale of St. Clerans, Paige’s visit must have necessarily been in 1972 or 1973.
Their divorce was finalized in 1977.
John Huston and Paige were both painters besides being horse lovers. These factors may have played a role in their “connection,” whatever it was.
Paige, John and Cici were all horse lovers and riders.
From what I’ve read in these bios, Huston had a mean-streak in his personality.
And when he unleashed the mean-streak, it was mostly aimed at the ones most likely to become upset over it.
In the Daily Mail article, Melanie tells of Huston hiding Paige’s shoes. “It really bothered her,” even though she knew “it was a little thing.”
I wrote that Cici Huston and Paige both boarded horses at Sepulveda Stables in Sherman Oaks. This I know because there was information and photos of on an alum website, no longer found.
Celeste facebook messaged me once that she was the one who introduced Paige to Sepulveda Stables. (No I do not have the emails saved, they were lost. Take my word for it or not.)
I had already learned that Paige boarded her horses at the stables located at Sepulveda Blvd. & Hatteras, in Sherman Oaks, by the time I read Cici’s message.
Paige had boarded a horse at the stables since grade school age when she was known as Diana Cotterell. (See related chapters)
“Diana Cotterell,” gave 2 school photos to the owners of the stables. These photos were published on a website about Sepulveda Stables.
Diana definitely looks grade school age in them.
Diana Cotterell lived close to Sepulveda Stables as did several of her classmates, like Joan Edwards.
That would mean Cici knew Paige as Diana in grade school.
I find this unlikely. She gave no sign she ever knew her as a child named Diana.
Diana changed her name sometime between the ages of 16-18, to Paige Young.
Paige was tight-lipped about her past I have been told by 3 sources.
She was also quiet about any future plans. She was “more focused on the present moment,” said to me by her good friend Veronica.
Richard Sample to me, said Paige never talked about her past or childhood.
Cici, in the early 1960s, along with actresses Donna Reed and the aforementioned Jill St. John, boarded horses at Sepulveda Stables according to the website.
(Maybe Paige and CiCi met in the early 1960s, but not before.)
Cici in a facebook message exchage with me
denied that Huston and Paige had an “affair.”
And that she and John Huston “we were only trying to help Paige” (Presumably, due to Paige’s emotional troubles that resulted in a suicide.)
She wrote that “2 prominent lawyers.” connected to show business purchased Paige’s ticket to Ireland for the visit. Paul Caruso was one.
Bill Gardner
A visitor to St. Clerans during these few months of John and Cici’s Ireland honeymoon was Bill Gardner.
Here is a photo of Bill and Cici posted by Bill to his Instagram account.
- 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. (from Bill’s social media.)
This is the same Bill Gardner from the Pasadena Art Museum chapter.
Another connection with Celeste Huston to Paige Young. And he was another horse lover.
The following paragraph is what Bill wrote for his author page on Amazon. Numerous celebrities are mentioned.
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
Gardner is quoted twice in the Jeffrey Meyers biography of John Huston, identified as a publicist/ friend.
Notice that Gardner mentions Jonathan Winters and John Huston, both linked to Paige Young.
Cici Huston wrote a nice compliment on Gardner’s Amazon author page.
Legendary LAT columnist Jack Smith sees Huston and Hefner and an “unidentified sex object,” possibly Paige Young, present at a backgammon tournament in 1972. The observation by Smith happened around the time Cici and Huston tied the knot.
The group partly inspires the title of the column:
Allegedly the cast and crew of the film Chinatown spent some off-set time at the Playboy mansion.
The cast, of course, includes Huston and director Roman Polanski
This time frame coincides with the years that Paige was hanging out at the Playboy mansion “scene,” on an occasional, if not regular basis.
Paige was seen at the Playboy mansion near the end of her life. In fact, weeks away from. This is recounted by neighbor Melanie Myers, who herself was invited to and attended a party the Mansion. Melanie talks about this in Secrets of Playboy documentary, episode 8 and to me personally.
Paige attended with BJ Royale, neighbor in Westwood.
More about John Huston ahead.
Chinatown was a major hit movie and an instant classic. It was released June 20, 1974 about 2 1/2 months after Paige Young’s suicide
NSFW
It looks like Paige was still modeling in the early 1970s.
However it’s the only modeling I’ve found since the Playboy years.
She appears in some Electrochemical Company photographs, credited to Peter Gowland,probably taken in 1972 or 73.
Maybe used in gift calendars for clients? I’m not certain.
They are rare.
I suspect Gowland had Paige in mind at once, for this assignment.
He knew Paige needed the paycheck and that she would be willing to pose topless or nude.
Obviously quite tame by today’s standards but still NSFW.
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 shown at the top of this chapter.
Paige was one model of a few featured in this series, possibly a gift for special clients. Ann Cushing and starlet 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 model or “girl.”
I recognized Paige and informed the seller.
Los Angeles Mormon Temple with Angel Moroni lording over the Westwood neighborhood where Paige Young lived and died. Her friend Veronika remembered this landmark statue near Paige’s carriage house.
END
What is the connection with Desmond Guinness (see related chapters) and John Huston?
Paige Young was acquainted with both men, and she was friends with Huston’s 5th wife Celeste Shane Huston.
A renowned socialite, party animal and generous host, Guinness entertained the international jet set at his home, Leixlip Castle. Those who visited included British royalty Princess Margaret, her husband Lord Snowdon, and Lord Mountbatten, A-listers such as Jacqueline Kennedy, film director John Huston, Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, and his stepfather the British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, his mother Diana Mitford’s husband.
.
Desmond Guinness Obituary in The Irish Times August 29, 2020.
Did Paige Young meet Desmond Guinness when she stayed with John and Celeste Huston at St. Clerans in 72-73 ish? Possibly.
Desmond always had a place to stay with eager hosts when he visited Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
John Huston in his bedroom St. Clerans, his Georgian Mansion.
More on Anjelica Huston’s mother Ricki Soma.
Enrica Soma was the 4th wife of director John Huston and mother of actress Anjelica. Here she appears on the cover of Life Magazine by Philippe Halsman.
Because of the attention Ricki received from the Life Magazine cover, she was pondering a possible movie career.
was photographed with Marilyn Monroe and others starlets as “up and coming” actresses.
John Huston came into her life and pretty quickly she abandoned that idea. I’ve read it was after see her Life cover.
Ricki married Huston and had 2 children. She devoted her life to John, Anjelica, and Tony.
She earned a reputation for her naturally exquisite taste in decorating and was collecting unusual antiques and wearing exotic “bohemian” clothing years before it was the popular thing to do.
Basically, she was a trend setter who didn’t get much recognition for it when she was alive. (Much like Brooke Hayward Hopper, and Marina Guinness)
Ricki became a “Wife #1“at St. Clerans when Huston invited his mistresses or girlfriends for a visit. Or they dropped in unannounced.
She tolerated it for a long time.
But Huston’s girlfriends and his lack of interest in her, finally pushed Ricki past her limit. She moved to London in 1960.
Ricki gave birth to a baby girl in 1964 named Allegra whose father is John Julius Cooper, an Englishman who inherited the title Viscount Norwich upon his father’s death in 1954.
Ricki remained married to John Huston from 1950 until her untimely death in a car accident in 1969.
John Huston adopted Allegra after this tragedy and financially supported her for a long time. I have read that John Julius Cooper and his wife were willing to raise Allegra despite the social scandal and gossip it would cause. (But I’m not sure.)
And I’m not sure Huston was any more attentive to Allegra as a child than he was to Angelica and Tony.
I need to research this aspect more deeply.
Allegra wrote a memoir: Love Child.
Anjelica and half-sister Allegra are very close as are Anjelica and half-brother Danny Huston. I don’t know about Tony Huston.
Anjelica wrote in her memoirs that she and “full” brother Tony were very different from each other and not close siblings growing up.
Paige Young in Los Angeles
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Paige Young in Los Angeles 