Word: normand
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...when William Desmond Taylor's houseman came to work and discovered the film director's body lying faceup on the floor. When the police arrived an hour later, they found Taylor's Los Angeles bungalow swarming with reporters and souvenir hunters. The press made much of reports that Mabel Normand, the heroine of Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops comedies, was seen rummaging through desk drawers in search of her old love letters. A Paramount executive was sitting in front of the fireplace burning papers. A man claiming to be a doctor examined the corpse and announced that Taylor had died...
...Both Normand and Minter were regarded as suspects. So was Minter's fiercely protective mother and manager, Charlotte Shelby, who happened to own a .38. So was the houseman, Henry Peavey, who had recently been arrested for soliciting young boys. Or was it some drug dealer angered by Taylor's efforts to get Normand off her cocaine habit? Or one of several lunatics who made false confessions...
...accoutrements of drugs and sex led to the creation of the Hays Office and its puritanical Production Code. For nearly 30 years, Hollywood films were forbidden to show even a married couple making love or to allow the use of words like pregnant or virgin. The careers of Normand and Minter were ruined, but nobody was ever prosecuted for the Taylor murder...
...Charlotte Shelby, who not only wanted to protect her daughter from Taylor but also had a yen for him herself. According to this scenario, the ultimate stage mother locked up her love-hungry daughter on the night of the murder. Minter escaped and fled to Taylor's house. When Normand came by on a social visit, the girl hid upstairs in the bedroom. Mama arrived with her trusty .38 just in time to see her daughter descending the stairs. Assuming the worst, she opened fire. The case was never solved because Shelby used most of Minter's movie earnings, nearly...
...comforts of a top beach resort. Many of the yachts come equipped with such amenities as freezers, stereos and video recorders, and are custom-designed to make sailing relatively easy. With a push of a button, the commodore can weigh anchor and head for open water. Says Normand Bremner, 51, a Dallas anesthesiologist who was cruising the Grenadines last week: "Bareboat sailing is like a luxurious type of camping. You fend for yourself, do what you want, and you don't have to worry about putting up your tent at night...