Writer/director Jack McDermott info... more sought

I have been researching an old Hollywood Hills estate and recently
confirmed that it was once owned by silent film writer/director John W.
"Jack" McDermott (1892-1946). I know he bought the property in 1937,
possibly after the Depression forced the previous owner into default.
In 1946, when Jack died at age 54, the property passed to E. J.
McDermott, who may have the younger brother, Edward. I am trying to
find some biographical info about him other than what shows up at IMDB.
Ultimately I would like to contact descendants if that should prove
possible...I don't know if Jack married and/or had children.

Can anyone provide or point me toward further infoprmation about this
gentleman? Googling him certainly turns up an intriguiung anecdote
(though I would like to verify it):

"Jack McDermott was a Hollywood film writer and director during
the 1920s and 1930s. McDermott is described as one the "biggest
jokester in Hollywood film history".
"One of McDermott's favorite gags was to take a guest for a ride in
his Model T Ford. He would drive recklessly through the mountains, and
when his passenger complained he would yank the steering wheel from its
column and throw it out the window -- the car was actually steered by
specially-installed foot controls.
"It is also said that the McDermott home was known for wild parties.
The house featured secret tunnels and sliding panels, and one very
special room where everything was upside down. Rugs and furniture were
fastened to the ceiling, and drapes, pictures, and even the chandelier
hung 'upwards'. McDermott deposited inebriated party-goers there and
would watch through peepholes as they came came to in the disorienting
chamber."

I might know where the scant remains of that house are, but I need to
know more about Mr. McDermott to be sure.

Thanks.

Rowan

Rowan wrote:
> I have been researching an old Hollywood Hills estate and recently
> confirmed that it was once owned by silent film writer/director John W.
> "Jack" McDermott (1892-1946). I know he bought the property in 1937,
> possibly after the Depression forced the previous owner into default.
> In 1946, when Jack died at age 54, the property passed to E. J.
> McDermott, who may have the younger brother, Edward. I am trying to
> find some biographical info about him other than what shows up at IMDB.
> Ultimately I would like to contact descendants if that should prove
> possible...I don't know if Jack married and/or had children.
>
> Can anyone provide or point me toward further infoprmation about this
> gentleman? Googling him certainly turns up an intriguiung anecdote
> (though I would like to verify it):
>
> "It is also said that the McDermott home was known for wild parties.
> The house featured secret tunnels and sliding panels, and one very
> special room where everything was upside down. Rugs and furniture were
> fastened to the ceiling, and drapes, pictures, and even the chandelier
> hung 'upwards'. McDermott deposited inebriated party-goers there and
> would watch through peepholes as they came came to in the disorienting
> chamber."
>
> I might know where the scant remains of that house are, but I need to
> know more about Mr. McDermott to be sure.


Here's a taste of "The Strangest House in Hollywood," from
PICTURE-PLAY (July 1927):


* * * * * * * * * * *


John McDermott calls it his "crazy house." A low, rambling
structure, strung out along the face of a cliff high above Cahuenga
Pass in Beverly Hills, it greets the eye as a thing part Egyptian, part
Turkish, part Navajo, and with such touches of modern architecture as
may be found anywhere "east of the water tower."

There are angles reminiscent of igloos constructed during the Eskimo
renaissance, and others suggesting medieval castles with moats and
drawbridges. There isn't another house like it in Hollywood, nor, in
fact, in the entire world.

It is made of studio props!

John McDermott is a scenario writer for Famous Players-Lasky-- just
a man trying to get along on a salary of something like two thousand
dollars a week. Three or four years ago he found himself in need of
physical training, but didn't want to waste his time and energy in a
gym.

So he decided to build a home with his own hands, the like of which
no one ever had seen. It would dazzle with originality, with plaster
gods, sliding panels, underground passageways, good books, and mystery.

He had seen motion-picture sets of exquisite design, used an hour or
two, then discarded when the picture was finished. He had seen these
artistic creations lie for weeks and months disintegrating in the sun
and rain, when, if they had been salvaged, they would have lasted for
years. This gave him the idea for his hillside home, and he began
collecting.

The walls of John McDermott's house were made from composition board
discarded from sets at the Universal studio.

The girders were salvaged from the enormous palace built for THE
THIEF OF BAGDAD.

Some of the roofing came from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

The tip of the smallest tower was cut from the broken propeller of
an airplane wrecked during the making of Buster Keaton's THE NAVIGATOR.

The tombstones built into the wall had been made for THE HUNCHBACK
OF NOTRE DAME.

Some grinning skulls of cement were found on the old Metro lot when
that historic spot was abandoned.

A huge, slant-eyed goddess, modeled in plaster, was salvaged from a
set of Nazimova's SALOME.

A table McDermott placed in his living room had originally been
built for ROBIN HOOD.

The great oaken door was taken from Norma Talmadge's THE SONG OF
LOVE.

A wooden pulley above a well-- in the living room of the house--
came from Mary Pickford's TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY. A fence was
plucked from the scraps of Rudolph Valentino's THE EAGLE. And three
small cannons on the parapet had originally been made for THE SEA HAWK.


* * * * * * * * * * *


The article, which goes on from there, includes interesting photos
of the interior and exterior of the house. It was definitely a
weird-looking place, but fabulous, with minarets and cannons on the
roof!