The Daily Publicity Grind Of A Soon-To Be-Dismissed Almost Star

Studios of the day often assigned players to screwy promotional chore. Here it is Dorothy Sebastian obliged to pick up a latest edition of Screen Mirror from the local "News-O-Mat," located at a near-to-MGM service station. Remember service stations? I barely do. There are self-service stations where one can splatter overpriced gasoline all over clothes whilst filling a tank. Note Dorothy enjoys option of Liberty or Collier's among News-O-Mat purchases. Both publications are gone now. For that matter, Dorothy's News-O-Mat was probably taken down and relocated off within moments after this image was taken on February 7, 1931. Here might have been an only News-O-Mat that ever was, come and gone within an hour of Dorothy posing. The image would have been used as a fashion tie-in as well. Chances are it was 75 degrees the day Dorothy posed in a smart coat and matching cap. I wonder if she understood complex studio machinery that engulfed talent in those days. Likely not. She merely showed up, stood where they told her, and collected a pay packet. It was around this time that MGM let her go. Why? Dorothy had co-starred with Joan Crawford and Anita Page in Metro's Dancing Daughters/Maidens/Brides trilogy, and was Buster Keaton's leading lady in Spite Marriage. He called her "Slam-Bam" Sebastian, or was it "Slam-Bang"? Either label evokes vivid imagery. She was temporary mistress to Keaton and helped wreck his first marriage. This may have been part why MGM let her go. Sebastian had an awkward voice for talkies. Too low, and too southern (an Alabama native). She also bore resemblance to Joan Crawford, and Metro needed only one of those. I once mistook Dorothy for Joan via bought stills from one of those Tim McCoy "historical" westerns made by MGM in the late 20's. Sebastian drifted to Columbia for a few jobs, then further down with poverty row independents. She'd be back with Keaton in one of his better Educational comedies, Allez Oop. That was 1934, and, not to be unkind, but Dorothy had kind of let herself go. She was married to pre-Hopalong Cassidy William Boyd at the time, but they were done by 1936. Ongoing irony saw her back at Metro for 1939's The Women, a bit part as a shop-girl beside once star partner Joan Crawford. I wonder if Joan took Dorothy to lunch, slipped her needed cash after talking over times when fate had been kinder. Did Metro generate condescending publicity about loyal friend Crawford extending charity to a washed-up colleague? Studios used this device a lot. We take care of our own. Must have been rough on Dorothy. She wanted a career back, but never got it. DeMille used her as an extra in Reap The Wild Wind; he was good such gesture, togas for DeMille often filled with needy silent era vets. Dorothy Sebastian died young in 1957 (born 1903). I read Buster Keaton could not even remember Dorothy when his wife told him of her passing. Maybe he just said that to avoid trouble with the missus over an old girlfriend. Pretty sad either way.