1972

Paige in B&W appears in the 1972 edition of “Gowland’s Guide to Glamour Photography.” However, they are not recently taken photographs and she wouldn’t have been paid.

This B&W photo is from the same photo session as the color one used in the 69/70 Ridgid Tool calendar at right.

1971

It was around this time that Paige moved into a carriage house in Westwood, near UCLA and the “Playboy Mansion” famously sitting in Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. Also famously, the estate was discovered by “constant companion” Barbi Benton driving around one day. Apparently she scaled the mansion walls to take a closer look.

1972/73 cont…

According to the Daily Mail report of 2014, Paige complains to (neighbor who lived in lower 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.”

“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

“I know she dated Huston for a while and had just gotten back from a trip to Ireland with him.”

Background

Huston fled Hollywood in disgust over the Huac Tactics and moved to St. Clerans, an estate in Ireland. He lived there as often as possible from 1953 to 1975.

Huston’s 4th wife Rikki Soma found the estate and the couple moved in with their two children Anjelica (2) and Tony.

 Huston’s daughter, Oscar winner and director Anjelica, lived there as a child and wrote about her childhood and coming of age at the estate and what it was like having John Huston as a father and losing her mother Rikki Soma when she was a teenager.

Melanie is quoted in Daily Mail that Paige had “just returned from Ireland,” after a visit there to Huston.

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. She is quite a character herself.

Her first husband was screenwriter Wally Green.  They have a son named Collin.

Celeste Shane Huston Background:

 “Cici” grew up in a wealthy Beverly Hills family with three brothers.  Her father owned a few successful car leasing companies and rented out his yacht to celebrities like Frank Sinatra. (See chapter: The Shanes of Beverly Hills)

Cici 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 around 12 years old during these years and knew both Paige and Cici at Sepulveda Stables.

It’s a factor which places Celeste and Paige in the same world.

One of Cici’s long time best friends is actress Jill St. John.

My chapter entitled “The Shanes of Beverly Hills” delves deeper into Celeste Shane Huston and her brother David Shane, a key player in Paige’s story.

END.

Back to John Huston:

After a Sexully-charged, Whirlwind Courtship And honeymoon phase, John and CiCi’s marriage became strained in Ireland.

Cici he spent time living (visiting really) at St. Clerans at the beginning of her handful of years 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 estate.

“Cici was as out of place at St. Clerans as anyone could possibly be,” said John Huston of his ex, by that point.

When Cici was asked she said “I wasn’t prepared for the eleven servants, the mistresses, Betty O’Kelly, Gladys.”

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.

Betty O’Kelly was a close friend and manager of the St. Clerans estate. Tony Huston referred to her as “Dad’s hot water bottle.”

Both women were devoted to John Huston.

Cici said she observed several employees behavior, looked at some financial books, and concluded they 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 Courage and Art by Jeffrey Myers.

Huston was frequently absent due to directing films all over the globe and money matters did not interest him. He had a lax attitude about what his employees and assistants were supposedly doing with money.

 Cici wanted most of the staff fired but Huston refused.

She also encouraged him to sell the estate to cut down on his expenses.

This created a lot of tension.

Of the pampered 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: (the actor ) Danny Huston.

 Cici resented the monthly allowance (and breakfast in bed) afforded to Zoe.

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… a letter from Cici Huston to her parents found in Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyers.”

Zoe claims that Cici forbade Huston to cast her in the movie “The Man Who Would Be King.” It was the part that went to Shakira Caine.

Zoe felt then and still does, that this was a major missed opportunity for her as an actress.

John and Cici left Ireland and returned to Cici’s place in the Pacific Palisades at some point.

I t was becoming obvious to John Huston that his own spending and gambling habits were making the financial upkeep of the estate impossible.

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 response to me.

Their divorce was finalized in 1977.

Huston called his ex-wife Cici “a crocodile.”

John Huston and Paige were both painters in addition to being horse lovers; these factors may have played a role in their “connection.” I believe by necessity she visited Ireland in 72, 73 or 74.

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.

It seems Eloise 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.

Cici in a letter to Huston from Courage & Art.

Itse

Also, from what I’ve read in these bios, Huston had a meanstreak in his personality that he would at times, unleash on the very ones most likely to be wounded by it.

Example: In the Daily Mail article, Melanie tells of Huston hiding Paige’s shoes, “it really bothered her,” even though “it was a little thing.”

In another chapter, I wrote that Cici and Paige both boarded horses at Sepulveda Stables in Sherman Oaks.

Celeste messaged me once that she was the one who introduced Paige to Sepulveda Stables. No I do not have it. Take my word for it or not.

At the time I read her message, I had already learned 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 looks grade school age in them.

Diana Cotterell lived close to Sepulveda Stables as did several of her classmates, like Joan Edwards, who boarded a horse there in the 1950s.

That would mean Cici knew Paige as Diana in grade school. I find this unlikely. She gave no indication she knew her as Diana.

Paige was tight-lipped about her past or any future plans and “more focused on the present moment,” was said to me by her good friend Veronika.

Celeste, in the early 1960s along with actresses Donna Reed and the aforementioned Jill St. John, boarded horses at Sepulveda Stables according to the website where I found Diana Cotterell’s school pictures.

Maybe Paige and CiCi met in the early 1960s, but not before.

Given what Melanie’s story says in the Daily Mail and the sale of St. Clerans, Paige’s visit must have been

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. (as did Hugh Hefner.)

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.” connected to show business purchased Paige’s ticket to Ireland for the visit.

A visitor to St. Clerens during these years was Bill Gardner.

Another connection to Paige.

This is the same Bill Gardner from the Pasadena Art Museum chapter.

• 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. 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 associated with Paige Young. See chapter on PAM-Venice Beach, and Richard Sample chapters.

Legendary LAT columnist Jack Smith sees Huston and Hefner with others including an “unidentified sex object,” possibly Paige Young, at a backgammon tournament in 1972. The observation by Smith happened around the time Cici and Huston tied the knot. The little group partly inspires the title of the article:

Allegedly the cast and crew of the film Chinatown spent some off-the-set time at the Playboy mansion. The cast, of course, includes Huston and director Roman Polanski.

This would have been the same timeframe that Paige was hanging out at the Playboy mansion “scene,” such as it was, 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, episode 8.

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

There was an indication of what Paige was doing in her life when I found the following item on ebay.

It looks like Paige was still modeling in the early 1970s; she appears in some Electrochemical Company photographs, credited to Peter Gowland, probably taken in 1972 or 73.

I suspect Gowland had her in mind immediately for this assignment; he knew Paige needed the paycheck and would be willing to appear topless or nude.

Obviously, it’s quite tame by today’s standard

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. A calendar I guess. 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 girl. I recognized her and informed the seller.

Mormon Temple with Angel Moroni who lords over the Westwood neighborhood where Paige Young lived and died only few blocks away. Her friend Veronika spoke to me about this statue.