# Thelma Todd

Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy." Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, she is remembered for her comedic roles opposite ZaSu Pitts, and in films such as Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers and a number of Charley Chase's short comedies. She co-starred with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily. She also had roles in several Wheeler and Woolsey and Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (The Bohemian Girl) featured her in a part that was cut short by her sudden death in 1935 at the age of 29.

## Early life

Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to John Shaw Todd, an upholsterer from Ireland, and later, a superintendent of streets, an alderman, and Lawrence's commissioner of health and charities in 1912 and Alice Elizabeth Edwards, an immigrant from Canada. She had an older brother, William, who died in an accident in 1910. She was a bright and successful student. Intending to become a schoolteacher, she enrolled at the Lowell Normal School (now University of Massachusetts, Lowell) after graduating from high school in 1923. As a student, she earned money as a model, entered beauty pageants in her late teens, gained the attention of Elks Lodge 65, was crowned 1925 Miss Lawrence, and won the title of 1925 Miss Massachusetts. While representing her home state, she was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout. She was offered a slot at the Paramount Players School in Astoria, Queens, New York City, at a time when Paramount Studios was training would-be-actors in acting, diction, athletics and manners. Of the 16 members of her cohort, only Charles "Buddy" Rogers also made it to Hollywood. Todd later found work, in 1929, at Hal Roach Studios.

## Career
### Film

During the silent film era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the talkies, she was able to expand her roles when producer Hal Roach signed her to appear with comedy stars such as Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy.
In 1931, Roach cast Todd in her own series of 17-to-27-minute slapstick comedy shorts. In an attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy, Roach teamed Todd with ZaSu Pitts for 17 shorts, from Let's do Things (June 1931) through One Track Minds (May 1933). When Pitts left in 1933, she was replaced by Patsy Kelly, who appeared with Todd in 21 shorts, from Beauty and the Bus (September 1933) through An All American Toothache (January 1936). These shorts often cast Todd as a levelheaded working girl doing her best to remain poised and charming despite numerous problems and her ditzy sidekick's embarrassing antics.
In 1931, Todd starred in Corsair, a film directed by Roland West, with whom she became romantically involved.
Todd became highly regarded as a capable film comedian, and Roach loaned her to other studios to play opposite Wheeler & Woolsey, Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, and the Marx Brothers. She also successfully appeared in dramas, such as the original 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade, where she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow. She appeared in around 120 feature films and shorts in her career.
Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935 and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. It was her last role before her untimely death at age 29. Although she had completed all of her scenes, producer Roach had them re-shot, fearing negative publicity. He deleted all of Todd's dialogue, and limited her appearance to one musical number.

### Sidewalk Cafe

Originally built in 1928, by architect Mark Daniels, as the Castellammare housing tract business block, in August 1934, Todd opened, in partnership with Roland West and his wife, actress Jewel Carmen, Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway, Castellammare, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. The ground floor of the building housed the restaurant. On the second floor, Todd and West lived in adjoining ocean-view apartments—with only a sliding wooden door separating their bedrooms— and held parties in the adjacent, private nightclub named Joya (for West's ex-wife Jewel Carmen) that took up the rest of the second floor. The third floor, hexagonally shaped, had a dance floor and bandstand. It attracted a diverse clientele of Hollywood celebrities, and many tourists.

## Personal life

Todd was briefly married to Pat DiCicco, who supposedly had ties to the mob. The relationship was volatile and DiCicco was abusive to Todd, resulting in her filing for divorce and changing her will to leave him only $1.

## Death

On the morning of Monday, December 16, 1935, Todd's body was discovered inside her chocolate-colored 1934 Lincoln Phaeton convertible. Her Lincoln was parked inside the garage at the home of Jewel Carmen, wife of Roland West. Todd was wearing a mauve and silver gown, mink wrap and expensive jewelry, Carmen's house was approximately a block from the topmost side of Todd's restaurant. Her death was determined to have been caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. West is quoted in a contemporaneous newspaper account as having locked her out, which may have caused her to seek refuge and warmth in the car. Todd had a wide circle of friends and associates and a busy social life.
Police investigations revealed that she had spent the previous Saturday night (December 14) at the Trocadero, a popular Hollywood restaurant, at a party hosted by entertainer Stanley Lupino and his actress daughter Ida. She had a brief but unpleasant exchange there with her ex-husband, Pat DiCicco. However, her friends stated that she was in good spirits and were aware of nothing in her life that suggested a reason for her to commit suicide. She was driven home from the party in the early hours of December 15 by her chauffeur, Ernest O. Peters.
LAPD detectives concluded that Todd's death was accidental, the result of her either warming up the car to drive it or using the heater to keep herself warm. A coroner's inquest into the death was held on December 18, 1935. Autopsy surgeon A. P. Wagner testified that there were "no marks of violence anywhere upon or within the body" with only a "superficial contusion on the lower lip." There are informal accounts of greater signs of injury. The jury ruled that the death appeared accidental, but recommended "further investigation to be made into the case, by proper authorities."
A grand jury probe was subsequently held to determine whether Todd was murdered. After four weeks of testimony, the inquiry concluded with no evidence of foul play. The case was closed by the Homicide Bureau, which declared the death "accidental with possible suicide tendencies". However, investigators found no motive for suicide, and Todd left no suicide note.
Todd's memorial service, which drew large crowds to view the open casket, was held at Pierce Brothers Mortuary at 720 West Washington Blvd in Los Angeles. The body was cremated. After her mother's death in 1969, Todd's remains were placed in her mother's casket and buried in Bellevue Cemetery in her hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

## Legacy

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Todd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Blvd.

## Selected Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Co-stars | Notes |
| 1926 | Fascinating Youth | Lorraine Lane | Charles "Buddy" Rogers | Lost film |
| 1926 | God Gave Me Twenty Cents | Dance-Hall Girl | Lois Moran Lya De Putti | Uncredited Lost film |
| 1927 | Rubber Heels | Princess Anne | Ed Wynn Chester Conklin | Lost film |
| 1927 | Fireman, Save My Child | | Wallace Beery | Uncredited |
| 1927 | Nevada | Hettie Ide | Gary Cooper William Powell | |
| 1927 | The Gay Defender | Ruth Ainsworth | Richard Dix | Lost film |
| 1927 | The Shield of Honor | Rose aka Flora Fisher | Neil Hamilton Dorothy Gulliver | |
| 1928 | The Noose | Phyllis | Richard Barthelmess | |
| 1928 | Abie's Irish Rose | | Charles "Buddy" Rogers Nancy Carroll | Part-talkie |
| 1928 | Vamping Venus | Madame Vanezlos the Dancer / Venus | Charles Murray Louise Fazenda | |
| 1928 | Heart to Heart | Ruby Boyd | Mary Astor Lloyd Hughes Louise Fazenda | |
| 1928 | The Crash | Daisy McQueen | Milton Sills | |
| 1928 | The Haunted House | The Nurse | Larry Kent | Lost film |
| 1928 | Naughty Baby | Bonnie Le Vonne | Alice White Jack Mulhall | |
| 1929 | Seven Footprints to Satan | Eve Martin | Creighton Hale | Produced as both a silent film and part-talkie |
| 1929 | Trial Marriage | Grace Logan | Norman Kerry Sally Eilers | |
| 1929 | House of Horror | Thelma | Louise Fazenda Chester Conklin | Produced as both a silent film and part-talkie Lost film |
| 1929 | Unaccustomed As We Are | Mrs. Kennedy | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Edgar Kennedy Mae Busch | Short |
| 1929 | The Bachelor Girl | Gladys | William Collier Jr. Jacqueline Logan | Lost film |
| 1929 | Cherchez la Femme | Hortense | | |
| 1929 | Her Private Life | Mrs. Leslie | Billie Dove Walter Pidgeon | First full length talkie |
| 1930 | Her Man | Nelly | Helen Twelvetrees Phillips Holmes | |
| 1930 | Another Fine Mess | Lady Plumtree | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy | Short, Uncredited |
| 1930 | Follow Thru | Mrs. Van Horn | Charles "Buddy" Rogers Nancy Carroll | |
| 1931 | No Limit | Betty Royce | Clara Bow Norman Foster | |
| 1931 | Command Performance | Lydia | Neil Hamilton Una Merkel | |
| 1931 | Chickens Come Home | Mrs. Hardy | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy | Short, Uncredited |
| 1931 | Swanee River | Caroline | Grant Withers | Lost film |
| 1931 | The Hot Heiress | Lola | Ben Lyon Ona Munson Walter Pidgeon | |
| 1931 | Aloha | Winifred Bradford | Ben Lyon Raquel Torres | |
| 1931 | The Maltese Falcon | Iva Archer | Bebe Daniels Ricardo Cortez Dudley Digges Una Merkel | Alternative title: Dangerous Female |
| 1931 | Broadminded | Gertie Gardner | Joe E. Brown Ona Munson | |
| 1931 | The Pip from Pittsburg | Thelma | Charley Chase | Short |
| 1931 | Monkey Business | Lucille Briggs | Marx Brothers | |
| 1931 | Corsair | Alison Corning | Chester Morris | Credited as Alison Loyd |
| 1931 | On the Loose | Thelma | ZaSu Pitts | Short |
| 1932 | The Big Timer | Kay Mitchell | Ben Lyon Constance Cummings | |
| 1932 | This Is the Night | Claire Mathewson | Lili Damita Charles Ruggles Roland Young | |
| 1932 | Horse Feathers | Connie Bailey | Marx Brothers | |
| 1932 | Speak Easily | Eleanor Espere | Buster Keaton Jimmy Durante | |
| 1932 | Klondike | Klondike | Lyle Talbot | |
| 1932 | Deception | Lola Del Mont | Leo Carrillo Nat Pendleton | |
| 1932 | Call Her Savage | Sunny De Lane | Clara Bow Gilbert Roland | |
| 1933 | Air Hostess | Sylvia C. Carleton | Evalyn Knapp James Murray | |
| 1933 | Cheating Blondes | Anne Merrick / Elaine Manners | Ralf Harolde | |
| 1933 | Fra Diavolo | Lady Pamela Rocburg | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy | Alternative titles: Bogus Bandits The Devil's Brother |
| 1933 | Mary Stevens, M.D. | Lois Cavanaugh | Kay Francis Lyle Talbot | |
| 1933 | You Made Me Love You | Pamela Berne | Stanley Lupino |
| 1933 | Sitting Pretty | Gloria Duval | Jack Oakie Jack Haley Ginger Rogers | |
| 1933 | Son of a Sailor | The Baroness | Joe E. Brown Jean Muir | |
| 1933 | Counsellor at Law | Lillian La Rue | John Barrymore Bebe Daniels Doris Kenyon | |
| 1934 | Palooka | Trixie | Jimmy Durante Lupe Velez | Alternative titles: Joe Palooka The Great Schnozzle |
| 1934 | Hips, Hips, Hooray! | Amelia Frisby | Bert Wheeler Robert Woolsey Dorothy Lee Ruth Etting | |
| 1934 | The Poor Rich | Gwendolyn Fetherstone | Edward Everett Horton Edna May Oliver | |
| 1934 | Bottoms Up | Judith Marlowe | Spencer Tracy Pat Paterson | |
| 1934 | Cockeyed Cavaliers | Lady Genevieve | Bert Wheeler Robert Woolsey Dorothy Lee | |
| 1934 | Take the Stand | Sally Oxford | Jack LaRue Gail Patrick | |
| 1934 | Lightning Strikes Twice | Judith 'Judy' Nelson | Ben Lyon | |
| 1935 | After the Dance | Mabel Kane | Nancy Carroll George Murphy | |
| 1935 | Two for Tonight | Lilly | Bing Crosby Joan Bennett | |
| 1936 | The Bohemian Girl | Gypsy queen's daughter | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy | |