I've only really started to research Genevieve Tobin's life, and I'm already starting trying to figure out why. Don't get me wrong, I'm doing it because I want to do it. But what do I hope to learn from this? What is the narrative of this obscure woman's life?
Yesterday, I became fascinated with her marriage to
William Keighley. Keighley is a character hard to read-- a stage actor turned film director from Philadelphia. He developed a British accent after working with a Shakespearean repertory company, and seems to have strived for much of his life for culture and class. This contrasted with the movies he's best remembered for, a number of typical Warner Brothers' films produced competently like
Picture Snatcher,
Dr. Monica,
'G' Men, and
Each Dawn I Die.
Keighley also hosted Lux Radio Theatre from 1945 to 1955. I mention this because Radio Mirror featured a piece about him from April of 1945 called
"I call him Keighley" -- a biographical piece written by none other than Genevieve Tobin.
I was pretty thrilled to find a piece that Tobin had written, and even more excited to see that it really touches on how and why she ended her career. You can read the piece if you want, and it contains a lot of interesting little bits.
There's a number of stories about Keighley that probably sounded a lot more romantic back then than they do now, such as telling his wife she was offered a part in a picture the same day it was beginning to shoot-- and while they were on an airplane.
There are a lot of other interesting details, too, such as Keighley and Tobin's around-the-world honeymoon in the late 30s. Interestingly, they stopped in Japan-- where I live-- and even visited the Buddha at Kamakura, which is pretty cool.
Anyway, just another piece to the puzzle.
Danny
