Boston Post, Massachusetts, June 5, 1921

In 1921 Bebe Daniels was cruising in her Marmon Roadster with current beau boxer Jack Dempsey (and her mother, chaperone for proprieties sake). When they crossed the into Orange County she was pulled over for speeding - she was going 56 ½ MPH. The judge in the case was notorious for giving steep fines to anyone going above the speed limit, as well as jail time for anyone going over 50 - and Bebe was no exception. She told the motorcycle officers at the scene that she’d been speeding because her radiator had sprung a leak, she wanted to get it fixed before more trouble ensued, but they didn’t buy it.. neither did the jury.

She was sentenced to 10 days in jail, although some critics were unimpressed when she was gifted a full bedroom set (including a rug and a phonograph) from a local furniture store for her Santa Ana cell, claiming that it looked like a boudoir scene from a movie. They also ridiculed the fact that her mother stayed with her for the majority of the term, and  weren’t impressed when she bragged about her guest book which she claimed had racked up 721 signatures from visitors while in the clink. On her first day in jail the judge who sentenced her welcomed her with a bouquet of roses. She was pretty upbeat about the whole thing though, telling the sheriff that “This is a comfy little place, anyhow. It will be sort of a quiet vacation.”

Judge Cox later fined former Secretary of the Treasury and future California Senator Williams Gibbs McAdoo and his son, William Jr, separately for speeding in his jurisdiction within a week of each other.