THE
HEROES
ISSUE
2020
ART&CULTURE
EMBRACEMAGAZINE.US
80
Jean & Chloe: Secrets of Fox Hills Drive One of the most enduring romantic relationships in Hollywood history was between a silent screen actress and a Broadway showgirl.
STORY BY STEPHEN MICHAEL SHEARER ARCHIVES PHOTOS BY ©STEPHEN MICHAEL SHEARER ARCHIVES
T
he relationship between former silent screen actress Jean Acker Valentino and Broadway showgirl Lillian Chloe Carter lasted over 50 years. Born Harriet Ackers on October 23, 1893, in New Jersey, Harriet changed her name to Jean Acker and began appearing in vaudeville in the early 1910s. By 1918 she was in motion pictures. The young woman soon caught the eye of actress Grace Darmond, who became her mentor and lover. Jean was featured in such silent pictures as
Checkers (1919), The Round Up (1920) with “Fatty” Arbuckle and See My Lawyer (1921) with her former lover Grace Darmond. Eventually Jean began a brief affair with Russian actress Alla Nazimova. Nurtured by Nazimova, Jean was part of the “Sewing Circle,” a group of lesbian and bi-sexual women forced in that era to hide their secret lives. At such a gathering Jean met struggling actor Rudolph Valentino. They married in November 1919, their wedding night a disaster. Jean locked her bridegroom out of their hotel bedroom, and the marriage was never consummated. (Jean later
“Jean Acker Valentino, c. 1934. Her home at 2146-2148 Fox Hills Drive held the secrets.
