Nattova slapping episode, Part 2

     Part 2 of the "slapping" saga matches Part 1 for absurdity, but it could be lots of hooey. Judge for yourself.

AVENGES FACE SLAPPING

Edith Kelly Gould Assumes Offensive for Toots Pounds Against Russian Dancer

London, Sept. 15 [1925]

     Toots Pounds, now in America, should be pleased to know that her face has been avenged. A few weeks ago, while she was appearing in "Sky High" at the Palladium, a Russian dancer, Nattova, grew angry after long quarrels and smacked Toots' face violently.

     A few days ago Edith Kelly Gould, who is friendly with the management, saw Nattova walking on Bond street. Miss Gould rushed up and smacked her so violently across the face that the Russian girl was knocked across the pavement.

     "Why did you do that?" called Albert de Courville, the producer. "Fancy behaving like that on Bond street!"

     "It's a good thing it was on Bond street," Edith said. "If it had been on a side street I'd have killed her."

     Nattova is due in New York in a few weeks.

Variety, Oct 1925 

    ■When Variety of Sept. 16 [1925] reached London a howl went up over the story on the foreign pages about Edith Kelly Gould slapping the face of Nattova, the Russian dancer. It also stated that Miss Kelly afterward remarked: "If it had been on a side street, I'd have killed her." Nattova is the same dancer said to have slapped Toots Pounds when both were in "Sky High" at the London Palladium. 

    The howl appears to have come from the Kelly-de Courville side of the unpleasantness. Nattova, the one slapped, has yet to be heard from. Variety was requested by cable to deny the slapping story as someone must have hoaxed Variety into printing it, the cable said. 

     Also Variety's attention was called to the legal aspect; that to say anyone had said she would have killed another person, and with killing a crime almost anywhere excepting in Chicago, that Variety had laid itself wide open for a libel action.

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     But who was Edith Kelly Gould? I do believe that she was the second wife of the son of the notorious Jay Gould. From Wikipedia:

     Frank Jay Gould (December 4, 1877 – April 1, 1956) was a philanthropist and the son of financier Jay Gould. He was the owner of French Riviera casinos and hotels.
     He was born on December 4, 1877 to Jay Gould and Helen Day Miller (1838–1889). On December 1, 1901 he married Helen Margaret Kelly and had twin daughters, Helen Gould and Dorothy Gould (1904–1969). They divorced in 1908. The Wichita Daily Times, Wichita Falls, Texas, wrote: "Frank Jay Gould and his wife who was Helen Margaret Kelly have separated and it is said Mrs. Gould has brought action looking for a legal separation. Jealousy on the part of Mr. Gould, due, it is said, to the homage paid Mrs. Gould, who is a beautiful woman, by other men."
     Gould's second wife was Edith Kelly, whom he married in 1910. Edith was the sister of Hetty Kelly, who was Charlie Chaplin's first true love.

     And Albert de Courville? He was a director of theatrical productions and then, later, of films. Again, form Wikipedia: 

     Albert de Courville (1887–1960) (born in Croydon, England) was a director of theatrical revues who turned to making films in the 1930s. His two most famous films, both featuring Jessie Matthews, were There Goes the Bride (1932) and The Midshipmaid (1932). He also directed The Wrecker, an adaptation of Arnold Ridley’s play of the same name, and Seven Sinners (1936).