Hollywood Madonna

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by Bernard F. Dick


  69 “by setting up a romance”: Lawrence Guiles, Tyrone Power: The Last Idol (New York: Doubleday, 1979), 15.

  69 “perfectly terrible”: Nancy Nelson, Evenings with Cary Grant: Reflections in His Own Words and by Those Who Knew Him Best (New York: William Morrow, 1991), 77.

  69 “I don’t mind”: Warren G. Harris, Cary Grant: A Touch of Elegance (New York: Doubleday, 1987), 144.

  70 “Loretta idealizes,” “I don’t blame him”: Constance McCormick Collection, Vol. III. USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  Chapter 9. Heeding the Call of the Wild

  71 “the dominant primordial beast”: Jack London, The Call of the Wild and Selected Stories (New York: Signet, 1998), 19.

  73 “National Legion of Decency”: Jack Vizzard, See No Evil: Life inside a Hollywood Censor (New York: Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 1971), 35.

  73 “sex affair,” “lady friend,” “The Call of the Wild,” American Film Institute Catalog, F3, Feature Films, 1931–40 (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1971), 272–73.

  74 “Studio contracts contained a morals clause”: David Bret, Clark Gable: Tormented Star (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007), 24.

  74 “George Cukor’s homosexuality,” “producer Anderson Lawler”: Patrick McGilligan, George Cukor: A Biography of the Gentleman Director (New York: St. Martin’s, 1991), 184.

  76 “I thought she knew”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 29.

  77 “the tomb … hewn out of rock”: Donald Spoto, The Hidden Jesus: A New Life (New York: St. Martin’s, 1998), 238–39.

  78 “He set a cap”: The Crusades, folder five, Paramount Collection, Margaret Herrick Library. Subsequent production details derive from this source.

  78 “Loretta has been in ill health”: Los Angeles Times, 22 August 1935, A1.

  Chapter 10. The Great Lie

  79 “The radio dramatization”: Lux Radio Theatre Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  81 “You are the glory”: Daily Missal of the Mystical Body, ed. Maryknoll Fathers (New York: P.J. Kennedy, 1956), 1201.

  81 “elephant ears”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 144.

  81 “All I know”: “The Call of the Wild,” American Film Institute Catalog, F3, 273.

  81 “She was identified”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 71.

  82 “On 4 July”: Los Angeles Examiner, 4 July 1937, I, 3.

  82 “I am the happiest girl,” “I can’t tell,” “bring herself to disclose”: ibid.

  83 “In one version”: Box 28, 15, Jane Ardmore Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  83 “In that account”: Scrapbook #2, Jane Ardmore Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  83 “I don’t want them”: Los Angeles Examiner, 20 June 1937, N5.

  83 “she was a lesbian”: Samantha Barbas, The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 153.

  83 “Guests could either receive”: ibid., 186–87.

  84 “The day that Liza called”: Scrapbook #2, Jane Ardmore Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  84 “Parsons: So you think”: Program 71, 27 April 1947, folder 8, Louella Parsons Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  85 “Louella never wrote”: Box 15, folder 426, Hollywood Women’s Press Club Records, Margaret Herrick Library.

  86 “Buckner claimed he was innocent”: Los Angeles Times, 2 December 1938, 1.

  86 “It would be nice”: Los Angeles Times, 3 December 1938, 2.

  86 “I have the fullest expectation”: New York Times, 24 December 1938, 32.

  86 “Am I going to marry”: Los Angeles Times. 13 January 1939, A1.

  87 “in a spot”: Box 28, folder 15, Jane Ardmore Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  87 “iridescent water lily blue”: Los Angeles Times, 1 August 1940, A1.

  Chapter 11. Return from the Ashes

  88 “Oh, my child”: Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Chapter 11 (New York: Signet, 1964), 516.

  90 “expecting little, if any, opposition”: A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn: A Biography (New York: Random House/Ballantine, 1989), 215.

  94 “exhaustive tests”: Los Angeles Times, 1 October 1936, 10.

  94 “sunny face,” “joyous voice,” “blessed child”: Helen Hunt Jackson, Ramona: A Story (New York: Roberts Brothers, 1886), 45.

  95 “but the most beautiful”: ibid., 499.

  98 “He pared down the budget”: Memo from Zanuck to Ed Ebele (Production Dept.), 14 January 1937, Café Metropole, Twentieth Century-Fox Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  99 “Eliminate all references”: “Conference with Mr. Zanuck on Revised Final Script of 3/10/37, 15 March 1937,” Love under Fire, Twentieth Century-Fox Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library. The film’s production history can also be found in this file.

  Chapter 12. Addio, Darryl

  103 “adapted from James M. Cain’s”: James M. Cain, Three of a Kind (New York: Knopf, 1944), 3–118.

  104 “To coincide with the remake”: James M. Cain, Everybody Does It (New York: Signet, 1949).

  105 “I just didn’t like”: Peter Bogdanovich, John Ford (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 69.

  107 “Once she learned”: Fred Lawrence Guiles, Tyrone Power: The Last Idol (New York: Doubleday, 1979), 13.

  107 “In other words”: ibid., 15.

  107 “his salary was raised “: Hector Arce, The Secret Life of Tyrone Power (New York: Morrow, 1979), 136.

  107 “At Power’s funeral”: Guiles, Tyrone Power, 312.

  111 “Darryl, I won’t”: “Loretta Young, ‘I’m Still a Ham,’” TV Guide, 19 October 1957, 10.

  Chapter 13. The Price of Freedom

  113 “Loretta insisted”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 116.

  114 “semi-independent producer”: Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 96.

  115 “complete control of all production matters”: Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), 140.

  115 “wounding, but not killing, him”: Bernstein, Walter Wanger, 275.

  116 “drew the line at $50,000”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 116.

  116 “gleaming white office”: Bernard F. Dick, The Merchant Prince of Poverty Row: Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993), 72.

  118 “time and feeding”: Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (New York: Washington Square Press, 1960), 3.

  123 “revenge on Loretta”: Bob Thomas, King Cohn: The Life and Times of Harry Cohn (New York: Bantam/Putnam’s, 1968), 249–50.

  123 “came in under budget”: Daily Committee Meeting Reports, The Lady from Cheyenne production file, Universal Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  Chapter 14. Loretta Goes to War

  127 “luxury of starting”: Paramount Collection, China production file, box 21, folder 3, Paramount Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  128 “military escort”: Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1943, 10.

  128 “greeted on her return”: Los Angeles Times, 23 February 1943, A3.

  128 “$2,500 a week”: Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (New York: Pantheon, 1988), 350.

  128 “he convinced Universal”: ibid.

  129 “the film became Ladies Courageous”: Bernstein, Walter Wanger, 185–86.

  Chapter 15. “Age cannot wither” (but Hollywood Can)

  133 “agonizing experience”: William Luhr, Raymond Chandler on Film (New York: Ungar, 1982), 32.

  135 “Goetz turned to Leo Spitz”: Bernard F. Dick, City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1997), 136.

  135 “brokered a merger”: ibid., 138.

  136 “adopted the alias”: Bernard F. Dick, Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 200
1), 114.

  136 “He operated”: Andrew Sinclair, Spiegel: The Man behind the Pictures (Boston: Little, Brown, 1987), 37.

  137 “When Welles wanted the script changed”: Charles Higham, The Films of Orson Welles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 100.

  137 “a joyless experience”: Sinclair, Spiegel, 43–44.

  138 “recalled the way”: James Naremore, The Magic World of Orson Welles, rev. ed. (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1989), 123.

  138 “despite occasional bouts of illness,” “having to work”: International Pictures Collection, The Stranger, Daily Production Reports, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  Chapter 16. Thrice Blessed: A Reunion, a Replacement, and an Oscar

  139 “Wallis immediately rose from his seat”: Bernard F. Dick, Hal Wallis, Producer to the Stars (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2004), 73.

  140 “star,” “friend”: Hal Wallis and Charles Higham, Starmaker: The Autobiography of Hal Wallis (New York: Macmillan, 1980), 20.

  141 “contracts imply”: The Perfect Marriage production file, Box 79, #205, Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  143 “according to Douglas Dick”: personal interview, 11 July 2001.

  143 “She now insisted”: phone conversation with Douglas Dick, 20 May 2008.

  143 “arbitrary stand,” “legal steps”: letter from Wallis to Loretta, 10 June 1948, The Accused, Box 221 (x–y correspondence), Hal Wallis Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  144 “When you were”: phone conversation with Donald Spoto, 11 May 2008.

  146 “Selznick came upon an obscure play”: Dore Schary, Heyday: An Autobiography (Boston: Little, Brown, 1970), 140–46.

  146 “sold the rights to RKO”: Rudy Behlmer, ed., Memo from David O. Selznick (New York: Avon, 1973), 427.

  146 “I honestly feel”: Schary, Heyday, 144; “plunged into the role”: ibid., 145.

  148 “Her knowledge”: Joseph Cotten, Vanity Will Get You Somewhere (San Francisco: Mercury House, 1987), 85.

  148 “it opened at the Golden”: Bernard F. Dick, Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006), 109.

  149 “When Fredric March opened the envelope”: Mason Willey and Damien Bona, Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards, ed. Gail McColl (New York: Ballantine, 1987), 179.

  151 “he screened a number of films”: Bernard F. Dick, Claudette Colbert: She Walked in Beauty (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008), 15.

  151 “which reaped profits”: Richard B. Jewell, with Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story (New York: Arlington House, 1982), 228, 231.

  151 “Fast served three months”: Victor Navasky, Naming Names (New York: Viking, 1980), 36.

  151 “if the hearings had not been”: Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community 1930–1960 (Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 1980), 283.

  153 “How much does Miss Young charge”: Lloyd Robson, Oh Dad! A Search for Robert Mitchum (Cardigan, Wales: Parthian, 2008), 170.

  Chapter 17. The Return to Fox—and Zanuck

  156 “a great Catholic,” “a great script”: Memo from Zanuck to producer Sam Engel, 6 July 1948, folder 1, Come to the Stable production file, Twentieth Century-Fox Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library. Further details about the film’s production history derive from this source.

  156 “a comedy about faith”: Memo to Engel, 1 March 1948, ibid.

  157 “an American raised”: “A Brief by Oscar Millard, 1/7/48,” ibid.

  160 “Despite some unfavorable press”: Annette Bosco, Mother Benedict: Foundress of the Abbey of Regina Laudis (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007), 332.

  160 “unreal,” “contrived,” “crude”: Michael Abel to Zanuck, 8 May 1950, #2444-1a, Half an [sic] Angel production file, Twentieth Century-Fox Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  160 “totally unacceptable,” “without dignity,” “breasts,” “the unconscious”: Letter from Joseph Breen to Jason S. Joy, 12 April 1950.

  161 “on 23 April 1951”: Eric Bentley, Thirty Years of Treason (New York: Viking, 1971), 382.

  162 “My only worry”: “Transcript of a 2 May 1950 Conference with Mr. Zanuck on Temporary Script, “ #2444-2, Half an Angel (Half Angel) production file, Twentieth Century-Fox Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  Chapter 18. Slow Fade to Small Screen

  163 “although he includes it in his filmography”: Dore Schary, Heyday: An Autobiography (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979), 373.

  165 “it was not Loretta”: folder 96, Y/Z, Sidney Skolsky Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  167 “a low-budget production, “time clause”: Because of You (“Magic Lady”) production file, #1708, Universal Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  168 “filmed over twenty-five days”: Daily Production Reports, It Happens Every Thursday production file, #1726, Universal Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  Chapter 19. Radio Days

  171 “which aired on CBS”: Connie Billips and Arthur Pierce, Lux Presents Hollywood: A Show-by-Show History of Lux Radio Theatre and Lux Video Theatre, 1934–1957 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1969).

  171 “there was a read-through”: John Dunning, On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 378.

  174 “charity children”: Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (New York: Random House, 1950), 51.

  174 “Reader, I married him”: ibid., 489.

  177 “was broadcast to members of the military”: Dunning, On the Air, 238.

  178 “Bolingbroke (to Gracie)”: Irving Sette, A Pictorial History of Radio (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1967), 81.

  179 “LORETTA: George always looked”: Script #525, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  180 “a friend,” “do as you truthfully,” “beautiful fruition”: Loretta Young, folder 502, Gladys Hall Collection, Margaret Herrick Library.

  180 “the bleak western part”: Father Patrick Peyton, All for Her: The Autobiography of Father Patrick Peyton, C.S. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967), 11.

  180 “Joyful,” “Sorrowful”: The Holy Rosary: Mysteries and Meditations (Conception, MO: The Printery House/Conception Abbey, 2004).

  181 “a network made up of four stations”: Christopher H. Sterling and John M. Kittross, Stay Tuned: A Concise History of American Broadcasting (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1990), 157–58.

  181 “to kneel and recite”: Father Patrick Peyton, All for Her, 125.

  181 “Gladys advised her”: Joan Wester Anderson, Forever Young (Allen, TX: Thomas More, 2000), 218.

  181 “Loretta presented her”: ibid., 41.

  182 “Loretta may well have had a vision,” “Medjugorje solidified”: ibid., 261, 264.

  182 “her Noble Contribution”: Loretta Young, The Things I Had to Learn, as Told to Helen Ferguson (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 249–50.

  183 “Then, when you get them”: Father Patrick Peyton, All for Her, 126.

  183 “proved an essential cog”: ibid., 129.

  183 “The family that prays together”: ibid., 144.

  183 “The inaugural program”: available through Audio Classics Archive (www.audio-classics.com). This invaluable archive includes many Family Theater broadcast CDs. For specifics, contact [email protected].

  184 “the finest feminine speaking voice”: Loretta Young, The Things I Had to Learn, 252.

  185 “By 1949”: Charles Higham, Hollywood at Sunset (New York: Saturday Review Press, 1972), 67.

  Chapter 20. Another Medium, Another Conquest

  186 “Holiday Hotel”: The title was soon changed to Don Ameche’s Musical Playhouse; see Tim Brooke and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present (New York: Ballantine, 2007), 621.

  187 “never get another script,” “n
ext natural step”: Chicago Tribune, 6 December 1989, 7.

  187 “Producer Jerry Wald”: Los Angeles Times, 10 March 1960, B9.

  188 “I can give a better”: Dean Jennings, “Indestructible Glamour Girl,” Saturday Evening Post, 28 May 1960, 108.

  188 “Loretta felt they were friends”: “Loretta Young and Television,” publicity release, n.d., Hal Humphrey Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

  189 “[Loretta Young] has succumbed”: Los Angeles Times, 18 September, 1952, 30.

  189 “Loretta and Lewis splitting the stock”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 246.

  190 “I am not going to interfere”: Hal Humphrey, The Mirror, 24 June 1953, 35.

  190 “It’s hard to explain”: Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1953, 32.

  191 “for spiritual reasons”: USA Today, 11 December 1989, 03D.

  191 “tops,” “end this affair”: Photoplay, November 1948, 6, 8.

  191 “A producer”: ibid.

  191 “These letters seemed”: Movieland, December 1945, 14+.

  192 “ambiguous replies”: Movieland, March 1948, 8+.

  201 “Loretta was honored”: For a list of her awards, see Loretta Young, The Things I Had to Learn, as Told to Helen Ferguson (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), 246–54.

  201 “In fall 1953”: William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932–1972 (New York: Bantam, 1975), 473–513.

  202 “she was rushed to St. John’s Hospital”: Los Angeles Times, 11 April 1955, 1.

  203 “abdominal adhesions”: ibid., 1 July 1955, 26.

  203 “finally discharged”: ibid., 2 August 1955, 11.

  203 “Finally, I have”: Lewis, Uncommon Knowledge, 277.

  203 “called her own meeting”: ibid.

  203 “It was awfully hard”: Gregory Speck, “Loretta Young,” Interview, May 1987, 63.284; “her weekly schedule”: Loretta Young Production Schedule, July–March Inclusive, Helen Ferguson Public Relations, Hal Humphrey Collection, USC, Cinema–Television Library.

 

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