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The next big event in Joan's life occured on July 28, 1931
during the filming of She Wanted a Millionaire, on location in the Stone Canyon section of Bel Air, then open country.
Joan was riding a horse up the bridle path to the location site. The animal was in an agitated state, and when a camera
car unexpectedly came speeding down the hill, the horse panicked and bucked, and Joan was hurled through the air, crashing into
a tree. She was taken by ambulance to Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, where it was revealed that she had a broken hip and
three broken lumbar vertebrae. "I was most relieved to find I hadn't broken a single fingernail," Joan later joked.
The leg joined to the fractured hip was pushed up two inches shorter than the other, and for a time, it was feared that she
might never again walk correctly, but fortuitously expert medical attention remedied the impairment.
During her recovery time, Joan had also received a string
of get-well letters from Gene Markey, a screenwriter she remembered meeting earlier at a dinner party at Constance's
home. The witty and fanciful tone of the letters delighted her, and later in the fall, once she was up to receiving
visitors, Gene began to drop by her apartment frequently. Gene and Joan's three-year-old daughter Ditty hit
it off immediately. Once Joan was reasonably ambulatory, her doctor suggested a recuperative cruise through the Panamal
Canal. While she was away, Gene looked in on Diana on a daily basis. Joan returned in mid-November to complete
work in She Wanted a Millionaire. Just before Christmas, it was announced in the press that she and Gene were
engaged.
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| Applying for a Marriage License, 1932 |
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| Joan and Gene with the justice of the peace, March 12, 1932 |
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| Agua Caliente, Mexico, 1933 |
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Joan was confined to bed for three
months and was unable to return to
work for six months. The period of
convalescence was made bearable
by the presence of her mother, who
stayed with her until the fractures
mended. For about nine weeks, Joan
remained in a body cast fortified with
a wooden frame and a horizontal rod
placed between her legs to help speed
the knitting of bones. Her recovery
permitted her time to reflect on a
love-triangle situation with John
Considine, Jr. Considine sent flowers
and telegrams, but Joan heard through
friends
and family that he and Carmen
Pantages were still an item. All of his
calls were refused. By early October,
Joan was able to maneuver around her
apartment on crutches. She had spent
so much time in the body cast that
essentially she had to learn to walk all
over again.
They were married on March 12, 1932,
at The Town House, the luxury Holly-
wood apartment hotel where Joan lived
while convalescing. Constance was her
matron-of-honor, but Adrienne was not
present due to the death of her mother
in New Jersey. Richard Bennett was
also not
available, as he was busy
playing Cyrano
de Bergerac in Santa
Barbara. After
the civil ceremony con-
ducted by Judge
Lewis R. Work, the
Markeys tossed a
wedding breakfast for
their 50 guests.
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Joan Bennett, Diana Anderson, Diana Markey, Melinda Markey, Melinda
Beno, Stephanie Wanger, Stephanie Guest, Shelley Wanger, Shelley Mortimer, John Marion Fox, Gene Markey, Walter Wanger, Richard
Bennett, Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett, Barbara Downey, Adrienne Morrison, Adrienne Bennett, Mabel Bennett, Mabel Morrison,
Adrienne Ralston Fox, www.joanbennett.net
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