Gladys Royal Belzer(1888-1984)

Gladys Royal Belzer was born Gladys Royal on July 18, 1888. She was born in California to two transplanted southerners and always had a southern accent. She had two younger sisters before the death of her mother when she was five. After the death of her mother, her father brought her and her two younger sisters to live with a series of aunts and uncles. After several years her father came to pick up the three sisters, and he, his son by another woman, and the three Royal sisters moved to Denver. The Royal family lived in Denver for a short time before Gladys caught the eye of a very attractive man the same age as she. His name was John Earle Young. They married sometime in 1907 when both were 18. Everything was not great though. According to a story told by their daughter Sally (Elizabeth) to their granddaughter Judy (the daughter of Loretta Young) the night before the wedding a border of John's mother came to Gladys and told her that she was pregnant with John's baby. According to Sally this woman told her that John had a wooden leg and that she would not have known that unless she had slept with him.

Even with all the heartaches John and Gladys managed to bring a healthy number of children into the world. In 1908 they had Polly Ann, in 1910 they had Elizabeth Jane(who later changed her name to Sally Blaine), in 1913 they had Gretchen (Loretta) and in 1913 they had John Royal. They moved a lot during their marriage and twice Gladys left her husband to go to different places.

Around 1914 the Young brood relocated too California and lived near Glady's sister. In 1916 Gladys found John with their maid and kicked him out. She told him that she never wanted to see him again. He reportedly told her "Gladys, you never will" and he kept his promise.

After John left, Gladys and the children moved into a house that they converted into a boarding house so that they had some money coming in. In 1920 Gladys divorced John. In 1923 Gladys married one of her borders George Uncus Belzer and the family moved yet again. Two years after the marriage Gladys and George had another baby named Georgianna.

During this time the Young girls where growing and all three of them went into show business. No matter how in demand they got they always came home to mama and gave her most of the money that they earned. During this time Gladys also got into decorating houses. She would buy or rent a house and decorate it and then rent it out to actor friends of her daughters.

In the early 1930s Glady's daughter Loretta was a big star and was making a lot of money for the time. Loretta bought a house in Hollywood and she, Gladys, Georgianna, and George or "Mutt" moved in. By this time Gladys and George were still married, but they felt more like brother and sister than husband and wife, so in 1934 they divorced.

From 1935 to 1941 Gladys and Georgianna still lived with Loretta in her mansion. Then in July of 1941 Loretta married Thomas Lewis and decided to move to another house. Gladys was designing this house, but when the repairs went over she redesigned the house they had been living in and she and Georgianna moved.

From then on Gladys decorated houses for the stars as well as the numerous houses that the Lewis' lived in. She also watched as her daughters got married and started having children - eventually having 16 grandchildren.

In the early 1980s she started to slow down. She started to have mini strokes and early in October of 1984 she had a stroke that ended her life.