That is all that can be said with some certainty. Every account of this I've read differs in the particulars
- Mel Torme's biography of Buddy Rich says Dorsey attacked with a knife and cut off part of Hall's nose after Hall made a pass at Dorsey's wife.
- Time Magazine reported this...
Tommy Dorsey, trombonist, swung on Jon Hall, beautiful, bronzed cinemactor. Hall's doctor said that Hall ended up with a broken nose, cut nostril, stabbed neck, sliced head and face, requiring 50 stitches all told. Bystanders reported that Dorsey was joined in the melee by three other men. Scene: Dorsey's Hollywood apartment. Ostensible cause: Hall embraced Dorsey's wife, Actress Pat Dane.
- L.A. Times
A jealous Tommy Dorsey reportedly pummeled husky film hero (“Hurricane”) Jon Hall after the actor, according to a Los Angeles Times story, “paid undue attention to (the bandleader’s) actress-wife Pat Dane” at a raucous nightcap party at the Dorsey apartment. The Times reported that actor Eddie Norris (former husband of actress Ann Sheridan) “darn near got killed . . . during the celebrity-infested brawl . . . when he tried to act as peacemaker” between Dorsey and Hall, who “came out of the fracas with his classic nose almost severed from his suntanned face.”
- An Australian paper carried this...
Antonio Icaza in the news...
Getty Image of Dorsey and his wife after being indicted for assault
Getty image of Jon Hall showing his injuries
Ultimately, it was all dropped. I'm going to say someone got to the judge...
Jon Hall in The Hurricane (1937)...
