Clifton Webb - Early Life

Early Life

Originally called Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck, Webb was born in a rural part of Marion County, Indiana, which would, in 1906, become Beech Grove, a self-governing city entirely surrounded by Indianapolis. As a result, virtually all printed sources give the larger city as his place of birth. He was the only child of Jacob Grant Hollenbeck (1867 – May 2, 1939), the ticket-clerk son of a grocer from an Indiana farming family, and his wife, the former Mabel A. Parmelee (aka "Parmalee" or "Parmallee"; March 24, 1869 – October 17, 1960), the daughter of David Parmelee, a railroad conductor. The couple married in Kankakee, Illinois on January 18, 1888, and separated in 1891, shortly after their son's birth.

In 1892, Webb's mother, now called "Mabelle", moved to New York City with her beloved "little Webb", as she called him for the remainder of her life. She dismissed questions about her husband, Jacob, who, like her father, worked for the Indianapolis-St. Louis Railroad, by saying, "We never speak of him. He didn't care for the theatre." The couple apparently divorced, since by 1900, Mabelle was married to Green B. Raum, Jr. New York City's 1900 U.S. Census indicates Mabelle and her son were using the surname Raum and living on West 77th Street with Green Berry Raum, Jr., a copper-foundry worker, who gave his position in the household as Mabel's husband. Raum was the son of General Green Berry Raum, former U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue and former U.S. Commissioner of Pensions. Webb's father, Jacob, married, as his second wife, Ethel Brown, and died in 1939.

According to the birth records, 1882-1889, of Marion County, Indiana, Book H-3, pg. 369, Clifton Webb was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 19, 1889. He was born at 305 Mississippi Street in Indianapolis. Some sources say Beech Grove, but this is not the case. Mississippi Street no longer exists. Its name was changed to Senate Avenue which is on the near west side of Indianapolis. In Webb's autobiography (Published in July 2011) Webb states, "The house in Indianapolis where I was born and which I dimly remember..." Webb's birthplace is listed as Indianapolis in The Internet Movie Data Base, Who's Who in America, the New York Times obituary (Oct. 13, 1966), The Indianapolis News obituary (October 14, 1966).