Mary Jo Tarola Profile

Mary Jo Tarola

	(Mary Jo / Joanne Tarola)
27 February 28	is born in Portland, Oregon, to Joseph B. and Mildred B. Tarola
30	she and her parents reside in Portland, Oregon
47	becomes princess of the Portland, Oregon, Rose Festival
?	changes her name to Linda Douglas
?	changes her name back to Mary Jo Tarola because her parents want her to keep her own name
Late 51	meets theatre agent Pat DiCicco at a party. He’s the ex-husband of heiress Gloria Vanderbilt Stokowski and the late actress Thelma Todd.
March 52	columnist Louella Parson reveals: “Handsome, dashing Pat DiCicco is in love for the first time since he and his tennis champion (Lace Panties) Gussie Mooran parted company. The lady who has Pat’s affection and interest is Mary Jo Tarola, RKO starlet…”
July 52	she and Pat DiCicco are noted at the Band Box
September 52	columnist Harrison Carroll knows: “Pat DiCicco’s bride-to-be, Mary Jo Tarola, says the ceremony will take place here sometime before the Christmas holidays. Mary Jo just had her option picked up by RKO and expects to continue her film career…”
Early November 52	is expected to marry DiCicco on November 22
Mid-November 52	is expected to marry DiCicco on December 8
Late November 52	columnist Hedda Hopper tells: “Pat DiCicco tells me he and May Jo Tarola will be married December 12 probably in Phoenix. If so, they’ll stay there a week. If they’re married here, they’ll spend a week in Honolulu…”
December 52	columnist Harrison Carroll mentions: “On a recent African safari, Pat DiCicco was writing letters to fiancée Mary Jo Tarola every time the station wagon stopped but David May finally coaxed him into having cocktails with a couple of girls…”
12 December 52	marries Pasquale “Pat” DiCicco. He’s 43; she’s 24. It’s his third and her first marriage. Dan Topping is among the guests. The couple spends their honeymoon in Honolulu.
May 56	columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reports: “Gloria Vanderbilt and her fiancé, Sidney Lumet, barely missed running into her first husband, Pat DiCicco (with his own bride) at Romeo Salta’s the other night…”
January 60	confirms that she and DiCicco are separated and have been talking to attorneys. “We may work it out, though. It’s too early to tell.”
27 July 60	divorces DiCicco in Santa Monica court on testimony he left her to set up permanent residence in Nassau in the Bahamas and refused to have children
November 60	Arthur Loew, Jr., takes her to see “the sensational new show at Max Loew’s Viennese Lantern…"
June 61	is a twosome with Andy Williams at Pat Boone’s opening at the Cocoanut Grove
December 61	columnist Walter Winchell thinks: “baseball executive Hank Greenberg’s favourite curves belong to Pat DiCicco’s recently unlatched mate, Mary Jo…”
February 62	columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reveals: “When Pat DiCicco’s estranged bride, Mary Jo flew in from California the other night, she was met at the airport by Hank Greenberg, who drove her to the Pierre…”
August 62	she and Marilyn Monroe are scheduled to double-date in Los Angeles with Greenberg and his friend Joe DiMaggio, but Marilyn is found dead
November 65	columnist Louis Sobol knows: “Hank Greenberg and his fiancée, Mary Jo Tarola dined at the steak Casino – but where non-committal on their long delayed marriage plans…”
January 66	columnist Jack O’Brian reports: “Mary Jo Tarola (Ex-Mrs. Pat) DiCicco is decorating an apartment in new York which might account for the huge grin on millionaire ex-bat king Hank Greenberg’s phizz…”
	O’Brian returns to her: “The Hank Greenberg-Mary Jo Tarola rumors zero in on a March wedding march…”
18 November 66	marries Jewish Henry Benjamin “Hank” Greenberg, the American League’s most valuable player in 1935 and 1940, who finished his career with 331 home runs. He’s 55; she’s about 37.
July 73	O’Brian is back to her: “baseball hero Hank Greenberg, now a venerable tennist of Bobby Riggs age and sneaky power, in ‘21’ and living again in Manhattan after moving to Bel Air, California, because lovely wife, Mary Jo Tarola, wanted it; now they’re back to stay…”
78	she and Greenberg reside on Miradero Drive in Beverly Hills
4 September 86	becomes the widow of Greenberg, who dies at age 75 from cancer at his Beverly Hills home. He is also survived by two sons and one daughter from a former marriage, two brothers, a sister and eight grandchildren.
10	as Mary J. Greenberg she resides in Beverly Hills
May 17	dies at age 89 in Los Angeles

Sources: Giseld Dervishi, Indiana Evening Gazette, The Lowell Sun, The Lethbridge Herald, The Monessen Daily Independent, Nevada State Journal, Oakland Tribune, Valley Morning Star, The Coshocton Tribune, The Modesto Bee, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Burlington Daily Times-News, The Daily Gleaner, Mansfield News-Journal, The Paris News, New Castle News, The Frederick Post
Recommended Books:
Links: Filmography