UHCL alumna digs deeper into silent star’s past for documentary ‘Finding Jobyna’
Contributed by Kate Gaddis, UHCL alumna
An hour away from the city of Nashville, Tenn. is the small city of South Pittsburg. This small city has a history with one Hollywood star, Jobyna Ralston. The actress was born on Nov. 21, 1899 in South Pittsburg, Tenn. and lived there until 1919, when she was 20-years-old. She left for New York and Hollywood and never looked back, until 1923 for a small visit.
My name is Kate Gaddis, a UHCL alumna, and I have been studying Jobyna for many years. Having been raised with silent and classic cinema, I tended to pick out the ones people had never heard of; especially films with a woman like Jobyna Ralston.
I had embarked on the journey towards making the documentary “Finding Jobyna” in 2012, but it would take a few years before I really got anywhere. I wanted to know more about her career, and more importantly, her personal life. I did not know about that side of her, only the brief career that she had.
When people ask me, “Why Jobyna?” I responded with, “Why not?” Jobyna Ralston had this amazing career and the just fell off the face of the Earth. She created the Marx Brothers and the Little Rascals and no one knew about it. She left Hollywood pretty abruptly. There is so much mystery surrounding her life and being a fan, as well as a friend of her son, I wanted to finally create a documentary that explores all that. The good and the bad.
Jobyna died in 1967 from pneumonia and had been forgotten by society. In 2015, I managed to contact and establish a friendship with her son, Richard “Rick” Arlen. Unbeknownst to me, in August of 2016, he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that only got worse in the midst of 2017. He died of lung cancer on May 8, 2017 at the age of 83.
After what took three years to plan, I finally booked my trip to South Pittsburg to film my “Finding Jobyna” documentary. Before I even got there I sent an email to the South Pittsburgh Historical foundation. There was a chain of emails from historians, family members and even Billie Hill, the niece of Jobyna’s childhood friend.
I arrived in South Pittsburg on April 13, 2018. I met with Carolyn Millhiser, the Historical Foundation’s secretary, who provided articles and copies of photos that have never before been seen.
I then got the chance to meet with Jobyna Ralston expert Dennis Lambert who had been studying Jobyna for many years. Lambert wrote a small book about her and has a very extensive photo collection that he has invested a lot of money in. When I met with Lambert, it was interesting to compare what we both had researched.
Jobyna loved animals and had dogs all her life. In Lambert’s book he writes, “According to Mary Arlen, Jobyna’s daughter-in-law, ‘Joby’ loved animals and would leave items for the raccoons, squirrels and other four-legged critters that might wander into the yard.”
One subject talked about was the relationship Jobyna had with her second husband, Richard Arlen Sr. I asked Lambert if Arlen had been physically abusive towards Jobyna to which he said, “He probably did, I wouldn’t be surprised if he abused her.”
After all, when Arlen left her in 1938 and did not come back until 1945, she sued him on the grounds of cruelty and desertion of wife and child. At the time, her son Rick was 12-years-old when Arlen came back for the hearing and finally be legally divorced.
It became apparent to me, that in some photos, I could see where she was hit. Where she covered up her face with powder. It’s hard to see at first, but when you look at it more closely, it’s there.
I ended up getting in contact with Jobyna’s cousin, Duke Raulston, who was super excited to speak about his famous cousin. Duke was forwarded one of the emails that I sent to the Historical Foundation. We meet at a little place called the Dixie Freeze, which is the South Pittsburg version of the Dairy Queen. He was really kind and told me many family stories, that I had not heard before.
“Jobyna’s brother, Angus, has three children,” Duke said. “One of them, a daughter, whose name is also Jobyna.”
I informed him that I had found that out and had tried to reach out to Jobyna L. Raulston about a month before.
“Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back, she’s a little quiet on talking about her aunt and her daddy,” Duke said. “I only spoke to her on Facebook once.”
Duke works for the South Pittsburg Newspaper, a TV station and many other wonderful things. He is so amazing and I value this new found friendship.
The smoking and the alcohol did not help her in the end. Instead, it backfired, presenting lots of strokes, rheumatism, and finally pneumonia which killed her. She managed to have enough money to live on until she got older.
Rick once told me that by the time his mother died, she barely had money left. Luckily, her son was an architect and helped pay some of the hospital and nursing home bills. Jobyna died in a nursing home in California. She never made it back to Tennessee.
When I was in South Pittsburg, I could feel her presence. I know she knew I wanted to know answers, and she was there skipping down the road just like she had before. “Finding Jobyna” is being made entirely on a no budget and will be shown on Vimeo soon!
Also published on Medium.
