Loretta

A fabulours 1934 shot of Loretta Young - one of the most prolific stars of the '30s and '40s. She did 9 films in 1933 alone, and began as a teenager in the '20s. Her career was really over by the time I began cinemagoing,(her last film was in 1953), but she also had a major career in television with her popular tv series.

Loretta became an iron butterfly later on - there are several amusing jokes about her religious side and her swear box, but back in the '30s she was incredibly lovely in films like MIDNIGHT MARY, LADIES IN LOVE, the typical depression waif in Borzage's MAN'S CASTLE with Spencer Tracy (they had a romance but as both were Catholic could not divorce and re-marry), ZOO IN BUDAPEST, De Mille's THE CRUSADES in '35 and CALL OF THE WILD with Clark Gable, they had a location affair which resulted in a daughter which Loretta adopted. There were also seveal with Tyrone Power, and THE BISHOP'S WIFE in '48 with Cary Grant and David Niven, and her Oscar-winning role in THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER in '47. More at Loretta label. One of the most fascinating stars then.

John Kobal's 1985 book "People Will Talk" contains a lengthy interview with her which is quite fascinating as Loretta looks back over her career and life: On the studio system: "I have no regrets, but I regret its passing for those working today, because it is virtually impossible to become a lasting star. In what we call the good old days, there were never less than 20 or 30 fabulously important stars in the business at any one time. Well you can't name that many today. And those stars worked all the time. Now they tell me two thirds of the theatres are closed all over the country. In those days they were all jammed full. I think television also has a great deal to do with it because it's so easy to turn it on at home and it's free. But still to me the calibre of the motion picture, when you get a picture that is good, it does make money. Of course now they say its just coining money. Yes, it is, at a little theatre that holds 300 people. But not at the Music Hall or at the Roxy, where you had to fill it five times a day with 3,000 people."