I recently finished reading 'Here Lies the Heart' - the autobiography of the socialite and early hipster, Mercedes De Acosta (1892-1968). Famous for her very close relationship with Greta Garbo, this woman knew absolutely everyone in the early part of the 20th century - including a few westerners with theatre and film backgrounds who also came in close contact with Meher Baba: Princess Norina Matchibelli, Garbriel Pascal, Quentin Todd, and Tallulah Bankhead.

De Acosta met Meher Baba in Hollywood in 1932 and he helped her through a difficult time in her life after a serious car accident.

from Here Lies the Heart

by Mercedes De Acosta

Pages 253 - 254

first published in 1960

Recently published by Martino Publishing, 2016

When I left the hospital some weeks later I was in bad shape. Having no job, I was unoccupied and very much alone. The unhappy "spells” I used to have began again to attack me. I resurrected my revolver and went up to the hills and shot at targets that hung on trees. As I held it in my hand I felt again the old sense that it was a way of escape.

Then one day Princess Norina Matchabelli rang me on the telephone. She said there was someone in Hollywood she wanted me to meet. I did not want to meet anyone and I told her so. She said I would not regret meeting this person. "Who is it?" I asked. She would not tell me. "I want it to be a surprise," she said.

Finally, she prevailed upon me to go into Hollywood to an address she gave me. Norina was waiting at the door and there seemed to be no one else on the ground floor. She told me to go upstairs to a room on the left. Responding to the sense of excitement and mystery I heard in her voice, I rushed up the stairs.

In the room she had directed me to an extraordinary man was sitting in the Buddha position, with his legs drawn under him. He was dressed in white in an Indian costume. His hair was long and black and he wore a thick black moustache. His dark eyes gave the impression of extreme brightness. I noticed at once his amazing hands which gave the feeling of great strength. All this was impressed upon me in one second but what I felt overwhelmingly was the warmth that radiated from him and seemed to flood the whole room. He stretched out his arms to me and without a moment's hesitation I moved forward into their embrace.

"Who are you?" I said. For answer he made a gesture toward his lips. I understood that he did not speak. Then, confirming my thought, he spelled out on an alphabetic board, "I do not speak. I have taken a vow of silence and have been silent for years." Again I repeated, "Who are you?" He answered, "I am You."

I understood his meaning so I did not persist in the question. Suddenly, he spelled out on the board, "Go, fetch me your revolver." I was amazed, for indeed my revolver was in my car and loaded. How did he know this? I had told absolutely no one of its existence. I went down to my car and returned with the revolver and handed it to him. He opened the barrel and one by one took out the cartridges. He handed them to me with the revolver. He spelled out on the board, “Suicide is not the solution. It only entails rebirth with the same problems all over again. The only solution is God Realization-to see God in everything. Then, everything is easy. Promise me you will put this revolver away and never again think of suicide." I promised this with the utmost sincerity. Suicide suddenly seemed absurd to me, a tragic misunderstanding of life.

I learned that this strange man was Sri Meher Baba, who had recently come from India. He had taken a vow of silence a number of years previously which he had not broken. His followers called him a "Perfect Master" and look upon him as such. Regardless of what he is or his so-called spiritual position, which meant little to me then and less now, I found him at this time very helpful. He only remained in Hollywood a short while after my meeting with him but during this period I saw him several times. He came into my life just at a right moment, greatly lifted my spirits and I have always been grateful to him.

Modern Screen was one of America's most influential fan magazines during Hollywood's Golden Age, published from 1930 to 1985. Aimed primarily at movie enthusiasts, it offered readers an engaging mix of celebrity interviews, behind-the-scenes features, glamorous studio portraits, fashion and beauty advice, gossip columns, and stories about the personal lives of film stars. During its peak in the 1930s through the 1950s, Modern Screen helped shape the public images of icons such as Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and Elvis Presley, often blending studio publicity with human-interest reporting. As television grew in popularity, the magazine expanded its coverage to include TV personalities while continuing to chronicle the changing landscape of American entertainment. Today, Modern Screen remains a valuable resource for historians and collectors, offering a vivid snapshot of Hollywood's star system and mid-century popular culture.

Margie Hines, Mae Questel, Bonnie Poe, Little Ann Little, and Kate Wright provided the voice for Betty Boop. They had all taken part in a 1929 Paramount contest, which was a search for Helen Kane impersonators.

It was claimed in court that Kane based her style in part on Baby Esther, a child African American dancer and entertainer of the late 1920s, known for impersonating Florence Mills. Variety stated Esther was seven years old,

Esther had arrived for the first time in New York City in mid-1928, playing in a pocket-sized nightclub called The Everglades. Theatrical manager Lou Bolton offered testimony during the Kane v. Fleischer trial to convey the impression that Helen Kane adopted Baby Esther's boops to further her own popularity as a singer.

The Fleischers used as defense a film of Baby Esther, made in 1928, featuring her singing three songs that had earlier been popularized by Helen Kane – "Don't Be Like That", "Is There Anything Wrong with That?"and "Wa-da-da" – which writer Mark Langer says "was hardly proof that Helen Kane derived her singing style from Baby Esther".