Late one night in February 1922, a woman returned to her luxurious bungalow in Los Angeles' Westlake neighborhood.
To her surprise, her neighbor, renowned Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor, still had his lights on.
The next morning, she was awakened by a horrifying scream.
Henry Peavey, Taylor's cook and valet, frantically ran through the yard shouting, “Mr. Taylor is dead!”
Peavey had discovered Taylor's lifeless body on the floor.
He had been shot in the back.
Witnesses reported hearing what they thought was a car backfiring around nine o'clock the previous night.
One couple even saw a man leaving Taylor's home.
The police compiled a list of suspects that included a mentally unstable stage mother, drug dealers, a love-struck teenage cinema star, and members of a gay opium cult.
Headlines such as “Jealous Man Hunted as Slayer of Taylor!”
and “Taylor Murder One of Most Baffling Cases Ever Given to the Los Angeles Police” captured the public's attention.
Details of Taylor's scandalous private life emerged, including the discovery of p0rn0 and a collection of women's lingerie in his bungalow.
Additionally, it was revealed that Taylor had abandoned his wife and daughter in New York to join the Klondike gold rush.
His wife and daughter were shocked to see him appear onscreen during a movie while they were in the audience.
Taylor's murder marked the beginning of the end for the freewheeling era of Hollywood.
Until stricter regulations were imposed in 1934, the film industry produced provocative silent films like “Flesh and the Devil” and “The Temptress.”
Female leads challenged societal norms, as exemplified in Warner Brothers' 1933 film “Female,” which featured an ambitious woman executive unapologetically engaging in casual relationships.
However, Taylor's murder triggered a series of events that would suppress such content.
According to the police, the last person to see Taylor alive was Mabel Normand, a popular Hollywood actress.
Some claimed that Taylor was passionately in love with her, although others argued he was gay.
Normand was addicted to cocaine, and Taylor had attempted to help her seek treatment.
He even went as far as reporting her dealers to the police.
Many suspected that someone from the drug ring had murdered Taylor to prevent him from interfering further.
Another theory implicated Charlotte Shelby, the mother of Mary Miles Minter, a young starlet whom Taylor had mentored.
Minter had romantic feelings for him, but Taylor rejected her, stating he was too old for her.
Rumors circulated that a piece of lingerie found in Taylor's house bore Minter's initials.
Shelby, known for being an overbearing stage mother, was furious about the alleged relationship.
In the following years, both of Shelby's daughters, including Mary, accused her of the murder.
Edward Sands, Taylor's former valet who had previously stolen from him, emerged as another prominent suspect.
However, the police could not locate him.
An anonymous confession letter arrived from an “educated” man in Atlantic City.
In 1964, as Margaret Gibson, a silent film star who had worked with Taylor, lay on her deathbed, she confessed to killing William Desmond Taylor in front of a priest and a group of neighbors.
Despite numerous confessions, questionable motives, and several biographies claiming to reveal the true killer, Taylor's murder remains unsolved.
The scandal severely damaged the careers of Minter and Normand, and it left a lasting impact on the film industry.
Hollywood was already facing criticism, with some accusing it of being run by “cocaine-crazed s**ual lunatics.”
Conservative political and religious groups demanded movies with “correct thinking” and “wholesome” storylines, leading to the enforcement of censorship bills nationwide.
The previous year, silent film star Fatty Arbuckle had been accused of rape and murder, further fueling the desire for stricter control in Tinseltown.
To fend off government censorship, the studios hired William H. Hays, who established a self-policing system known as the Production Code Administration.
Profanity, miscegenation, “s** perversion,” and “white slavery” were strictly prohibited.
Even the use of the flag and excessive kissing were to be approached with caution.
Actors were required to adhere to moral behavior clauses in their contracts.
Hollywood's lax self-regulation ultimately led to the need for higher moral standards in 1934.
Films had to obtain certification from the Production Code Administration before release.
Gone were the days of inventive plots and subversive female leads, replaced by more chaste narratives.
In the movie “It Happened One Night,” released that year, a scene featuring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert sharing a hotel room was made modest by hanging a sheet between their beds, while Colbert wore nun-like pajamas.
For the next three decades, prudishness prevailed on the silver screen.
Hollywood had undergone a transformation due to Taylor's murder, forever altering the portrayal of American culture in films.
