SANTA MONICA, CALIF., Jan. 15 – (AP)
Movie actress Frances Farmer was taken from the county jail to the psychopathic ward of the General Hospital today and a petition was filed in superior court asking that she be given a sanity hearing.
The petition was filed by Dr. Thomas Leonard, Alhambra, Calif., psychiatrist, who said she told him:
"I hear voices day and night and they bother me."
Dr. Leonard also stated that the blonde actress feared people were "putting things in her food and drink" and this caused her to be ill and distracted.
Miss Farmer had started serving a six-month sentence for violation of probation, imposed in a drunk driving case. She resisted arrest and had to be taken forcibly from a Hollywood hotel to jail. The warrant for her latest arrest was issued on the complaint of a movie studio hairdresser that she was knocked down by the irate actress.
Dr. Leonard stated in a report to Judge Dudley S. Valentine that he asked Miss Farmer if she struck the hairdresser and received this answer:
"It’s none of your _________ business. Besides, the question is insulting, irrelevant and impudent."
Date for the sanity hearing will be fixed later by Judge Valentine.
Actress Unhappy Since Divorce, Says Mother
Frances Farmer has not been happy since her separation and divorce from Leif Ericson last June, her mother, Mrs. Lillian V. Farmer, said yesterday.
"I hope her father will be able to fly down for the hearing Wednesday," Mrs. Farmer said. "Just as soon as I can I will sell my house and fly down also. I had planned to do that anyway, but now I wish I could have been there before this happened."
Mrs. Farmer said her daughter needs a rest of six months or more.
"A layman can’t understand an emotional, high-strung person like Frances," the mother explained. "I think I know more about her than any other person in the world. Frances is unbalanced from her past year’s experience of frustration in her career."
N. Y. Stage Club Hits Treatment
NEW YORK, Jan. 15 – (AP)
Genius, Inc., professional theatrical club, recorded itself today as being "shocked" by the treatment accorded to Frances Farmer, stage and screen star, given a six-month jail sentence in Hollywood for violation of probation of a drunken driving charge.
A telegram, which Shepard Traube, producer of "Angel Street," said he framed, was sent to Police Judge Marshal Rickson, Los Angeles police court, bearing the names of more than 300 theatrical people protesting his "harsh decision," in the Farmer case.
"We, the undersigned," the telegram stated, "are shocked at the harsh decision in regard to Miss Frances Farmer. However unfortunate recent events have been, she is a gifted artist and should be accorded sympathetic treatment."
Among the signers were John Golden, producer; Edie Dowling, actor and producer; the Yacht Club Boys; Claire Luce, actress; Reginald Denham, director of the stage play "Nine Girls"; Dick Osborne, Maine summer playhouse owner, and Leo Shull, president of Genius, Inc.
Article appeared in The Post-Intelligencer - January 16, 1943
Provided by Ulrich
Fritzsche M.D.