People have always behaved… questionably, but in Hollywood from 1930-1950 if you came up on criminal charges the “go to” guy to get your case successfully argued was Jerry Giesler.
Let’s start with Mr. Chaplin, who was brought up for charges under the Mann Act for allegedly transporting an under age Joan Barry to New York for immoral purposes — he was acquitted. Mr. Chaplin was well known for consorting with young women. However, here’s the irony — Miss Barry filed a paternity suit against the actor the following year, and even though blood tests determined Charlie Chaplin was not the child’s father he was ordered to pay child support. His legal troubles were just beginning…
Jerry Giesler conferring with Charlie Chaplin in court when he was charged with violating the Mann Act in 1944:
Jerry Giesler got Errol Flynn off on three charges of statutory rape:
At a party at Tommy Dorsey’s apartment Dorsey and a colleague of Bugsy Siegel’s, Allen Smiley got into a fight with an actor named Jon Hall. Hall was beaten so badly he required facial reconstruction. Here we have Tommy Dorsey’s jubilant wife bestowing a kiss on Jerry’s cheek as Allen Smiley and her husband look on. Yes, another victory for Jerry:
A couple of years later Robert Mitchum was busted for smoking pot (yes, my darlings, illicit substances have been around since way before 1948). Giesler argued the case directly before a judge. Mitchum got off with a misdemeanor and a sixty day sentence. Here he is sentence completed:
