18. A Mogul’s Grudge
Howard Hughes’ “personal contract” with Jane Greer was as creepy as it sounds: soon after she signed, Hughes told the teenager that he never wanted her to marry anyone. At first, that was no problem for the inexperienced Greer, who initially liked Hughes. As she put it years later: “I found him rather endearing, like a child. His idea was to go to the amusement park … He won a large collection of Kewpie dolls for me“. When Greer welcomed the attentions of other men, however, Hughes’ jealous side came out, and give rise to a prolonged grudge against the budding actress. Hughes taking Jane Greer out to amusement parks was all well and good – for a while. Things got awkward, however, when Greer welcomed the attentions of other men who saw her as a woman and not a child, and had more in mind than taking her to amusement parks.
Hughes wasn’t the only one captivated by Greer’s 1942 modeling photo. Star Crooner Rudy Vallee was also smitten, and tried unsuccessfully to get her address from Life magazine. When he eventually found it, things got complicated. Greer might have liked hanging out with Hughes, but an eccentric tycoon treating her like a child with trips to amusement parks was no competition to a star singer romancing her like a woman. Rudy Vallee swept Greer off her feet, and after a whirlwind courtship, they wed in 1943. Hughes seethed with jealousy. Whatever the legality of the “no marriage” clause in Greer’s personal contract, Hughes had meant it, and felt betrayed. So he went from doting to destructive, and set out to wreck Greer’s career.
