The MGM Fixers Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling

Joseph Edgar Allen John "Eddie" Mannix (February 25, 1891 – August 30, 1963) 

was an American film studio executive and producer. He is remembered for his work protecting Hollywood stars as a "fixer", a person paid to disguise details of the stars' often colorful private lives to maintain their public image. Among his most lasting contributions to Hollywood was a ledger he maintained that lists the costs and revenues of every MGM film produced between 1924 and 1962, an important reference for film historians.

After working as a bouncer and then treasurer of the Palisades Amusement Park, he became involved in motion picture exhibition, eventually working his way up to general manager within MGM in the 1920s.

The Eddie Mannix Ledger is in the Margaret Herrick Library, at Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study.

Personal Life

Mannix was married twice and had no children. He married Bernice Fitzmaurice in 1916. Mannix had numerous affairs during the marriage but the couple remained married due to their Catholicism.[ However, in late 1937, Bernice petitioned for divorce claiming that Mannix physically abused her and also cited the affairs. Before the divorce was officially filed, Bernice died in a car accident outside Palm Springs, California on November 18, 1937.

After Bernice's death, Mannix began living with actress and Ziegfeld Follies dancer Toni Lanier with whom he had been having an affair. They married in May 1951 and remained married until Mannix's death in 1963.

Mannix was tangentially associated with the death of actor George Reeves, the star of the Adventures of Superman television series. Reeves had begun having an affair with Mannix's wife Toni in 1951.Mannix reportedly approved of the affair, which was considered an open secret in Hollywood, as he was involved in a long-time affair with a Japanese woman. As Mannix and his wife were Catholics who did not believe in divorce, the arrangement continued for the next several years. Reeves ended the affair in early 1959 and soon became engaged to socialite Leonore Lemmon, which devastated Toni. Reeves died of a gunshot wound to the head at his home on June 16, 1959. His death was ruled a suicide, but controversy surrounding that ruling and the circumstances of his death began. Rumors arose that Mannix, who was also rumored to have had mafia connections, had Reeves killed for seeing his wife. Kashner and Schoenberger's partially fictionalized biography Hollywood Kryptonite states as unsourced fact that Lanier, via Eddie Mannix's criminal connections, ordered Reeves murdered. This theory was endorsed by publicist Edward Lozzi, who stated in 1999 that he had witnessed Toni's deathbed confession.

During his career at MGM Mannix apparently also left a trail of forced abortions, sham marriages and several other unsolved murders in his wake. He covered up the Rape of Patricia Douglas at an MGM Party by a salesman David Ross, He paid off lawyers and a district attorney to sweep it under the rug as chronicled in the documentary Girl 27

Patricia Douglas

Affair with actress Mary Nolan

Mary Nolan 

Shortly after signing with Universal in 1927, Nolan began a relationship with another married man, studio executive Eddie Mannix. Mannix used his clout to further Nolan's career and was responsible for her loan outs to M-G-M. Shortly after Desert Nights was released in 1929, Mannix abruptly ended the relationship. This angered Nolan, who threatened to tell Mannix's wife Bernice of their affair. Mannix became enraged and beat her unconscious. Nolan was hospitalized for six months and required 15 surgeries to repair damage Mannix inflicted on her abdomen. While hospitalized, Nolan was prescribed morphine for pain. She eventually became addicted which contributed to the decline of her career.

Later years and death

Mannix suffered from a weak heart. By 1959, he had survived several heart attacks and used a wheelchair. On August 30, 1963, he died of a heart attack at his Beverly Hills home at the age of 72. He is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles County.

Howard Strickling

Howard Strickling (September 25, 1896 – July 16, 1982) served as head of publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures from the late 1920s into the late 1960s.

Biography

He was born in West Virginia; Strickling was in charge of the publicity surrounding MGM's films, and the studio's stars for what most film buffs consider the heyday of the company. He was also the voice-over announcer on several trailers for famous MGM films including Gone with the Wind, and all three theatrical releases of The Wizard of Oz (1939, 1949, and 1955).

Strickling was also well known in Hollywood as one of MGM's "fixers", along with studio vice-president, Eddie Mannix. Strickling and Mannix are the subject of E. J. Fleming's book The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine (2004). According to the book, Strickling and Mannix were responsible for covering up or working to tone down several scandals, including pregnancies and abortions, surrounding high-profile MGM talent.

Strickling retired in the 1960s. He was married from 1930 until his wife died, in 1980. He died in Chino, California; on July 16, 1982, aged 85.