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All Hail Jinx Ballantrae!

marie prevost and doggy

March 27, 1927
Portland, OR 

Moving Picture star Marie Prevost travelled all the way to Oregon to exhibit Jinx Ballantrae, one of the handsome Cairn Terriers trained by her husband of three years, leading man Kenneth Harlan, at the Portland Kennel Club’s fifth annual show. And for the first time ever, a Cairn Terrier was named best in show. We’re sure it had little to do with the pretty lady on the end of the lead, though. After all, her three Cairns also swept up all the prizes at last years San Fernando Valley Kennel Club meet.

marie prevost and kenneth harlan

A month later, Miss Prevost and Mr. Harlan would exhibit their Cairns at the first annual Glendale Dog Show, Miss Prevost clad in a handsome green John Held sports outfit. Also on the floor: Francis X. Bushman and Harold Lloyd with their Great Danes and Arthur Rankin with a whippet. This time, the silver cup was taken by Lloyd Bacon and his Wire Haired Terrier, and Jinx Ballantrae let out a terrific growl that was heard all the way to Tujunga. And in May, Miss Prevost filed for divorce from Mr. Harlan on grounds of cruelty, complaining that he kept her up all night before shooting days with drunken phone calls saying he’d be home soon, and that when he did come home he brought unsavory people with him and made lots of noise in the swimming pool. But everyone knows that Jinx made her do it, still miffed about his hometown loss.

And if we point our futurist’s spyglass further still, we see 1937, and that unpleasant business with alcoholic Miss Prevost starving to death and being gnawed on by another little doggy. Ugh, put the spyglass down. Let’s leave the pretty lady, her handsome husband and frisky pups to enjoy their moment in the sun.

Published by

Kim Cooper

Kim Cooper is the creator of 1947project, the crime-a-day time travel blog that spawned Esotouric’s popular crime bus tours, including The Real Black Dahlia. She is the author of The Kept Girl, the acclaimed historical mystery starring the young Raymond Chandler and the real-life Philip Marlowe, and of The Raymond Chandler Map of Los Angeles. With husband Richard Schave, Kim curates the Salons and forensic science seminars of LAVA- The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. When the third generation Angeleno isn’t combing old newspapers for forgotten scandals, she is a passionate advocate for historic preservation of signage, vernacular architecture and writer’s homes. Kim was for many years the editrix of Scram, a journal of unpopular culture. Her books include Fall in Love For Life, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth, Lost in the Grooves and an oral history of Neutral Milk Hotel.

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