The other day I was walking along Orange Street in Beverly Hills when I saw this interesting Moorish/castle-style home. Of course, I looked it up in the newspaper archives when I got home, and found that back in the 1940s it was the home of French couple Alma and Joseph Pouilet.

Alma was the cook for Cary Grant, the article states, and she had been sued by 22-year-old blonde Jean Bowen after an incident several weeks earlier on December 24, 1946, at a drive-in restaurant.

The Pouliets and Jean and her husband Jack were sitting next to each other in booths, and Jean apparently objected to the Pouliets speaking French, seemingly because she thought she overheard Alma calling her a “pig” (though whether this was after she objected is unclear). Anyway, a scuffle followed between the women, and Jean alleged that Alma tore her clothing.

In court, the feisty Alma joyously admitted “I called her worse than that, but her high school French is no good, and she misunderstood me.” The “jabberer” then had her 30-day jail sentence suspended, and paid a $10 fine “with a smile.”

In the “aftermath” it seemed the Pouliets had been divorced, presumably in part because Joseph had been arrested for carrying a knife and threatening Jean. And of course, Jean (picture below, left) and Alma (right) were suing each other for $10,000 damages.

Joyeux Noël to all!